Apparently Greenlight Collectables is currently in the works to make a 1/18 scale 1989 TTA, apparently there will only be a limited run of 3500 units, Also there is suposed to be 3000 Black units & 3000 Red units of a 89 GTA.

NO PICTURES YET, but you can pre-order them, they are suposedly going to be released in December... here is where I found it:

TTA DIECAST 1989 Pontiac Firebird Turbo Trans Am Indy 500 Pace Car
BLACK GTA DIECAST 1989 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA Black
RED GTA DIECAST 1989 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA Red

Thought I would give everyone a heads up.

 

I am a little weary of Greenlight. Their 1980 Indy Pace TTA turned out to be a 1979 TA repaint that was made by Yat Ming. As a 79 TATA (Tenth Anniversary TA) the car was great, but the Indy car was a Turbo car with a Turbo hood (similar to the Third Gen 82-84 TA hood). Greenlights model had a shaker scoop!

Overlooking a signifigant detail like this really makes me wonder if Greenlight could make a decent 89 TTA. I really wonder if the TTA and GTA will end up having the same engine.

 

I agree!
I'll wait for the release myself.
I do "collect" all year Birds, but still haven't bought their '80 Indy just for the reason above. Make the wrong parts on the car, and sell for double the money.
I just hope they get it right this time.

George

 

I remember that goof with the 80 TA... I just ordered a K.I.T.T. car from them, and I was fairly impressed. It was the first car that Ive ordered from them. They ship fast! Anyway...the detail on the car was pretty darn good! The sweeping light actually looks good, the t-tops come out, ejector seat works kinda...but most importantly , the body of the car looks good.

My point is they already have the basic mold for these other thirdgen 1/18 models. It wouldnt be too hard to change the bumpers, mess with the lights alittle, new dash and console, new wheels... Its not like they are starting from scratch.

I just hope they dont mess it up! Ive been looking for a diecast thirdgen TA for years now... Or even a glue together model!

Justin

 

I've talked with the folks from Greenlight last year about the 1980 Pace Car and was told that they "inherited" the tooling for that particular car. According to their sources, they did not have enough lead time to change the hood and the engine.... but are aware of the incorrect features. It was either do the diecast as they did.... or not do it at all. So I can understand that decision; I might not totally agree with it, but I understand.

They told me that the '89 TTA will be 100% accurate.... I offered to help them with authenticity or promotion in any way possible, so we'll see if they take me up on their offer.

 

Owning an '80 Pace Car at the time the model came out, I bought one. I too was shocked when I opened the package and found the 6.6 liter hood and scoop. The decals and interior made up for it, IMHO. Even though, as a purist, I'm saddened by the deception, it's still displayed prominently on my shelf, as there are no other examples out there.

I will probably buy one of the Pace Cars and a red one, as the 3rd gen diecast world is seriously lacking, in part thanks to GM for it's exorbitant licensing fees.

 

After owning the real thing, I think I will be gettign one as well.

 

So are you guys going ahead and pre-ordering now? Or are you going to wait until production starts?

 

Frankie I find that very interesting. When I spoke to someone from Greenlight at SEMA 04 he insisted the car was accurate. I tried to explain to him the hood detail, but he insisted the actual pace cars had shakers, I was laughing all day long...

The "GTA" in their photo has fender vents, and the TTA is a notch back...this outta be fun...

Either way I will be happy w/ a 1/18 thirdgen.(In addition to KITT) If I have to do some body and paint work, then I'll just hafta do it.

 

Good Eye on the GTA with Fender vents... but I dont think the GTA is a notch. I believe its the way the light is hitting it. It would be cool if they did make one fo the GTA colors a Notch though.

 

Actually the picture of the TTA is an edited image of a TTA taken infront of the Indianapolis 500 Museum back in 89. The car used in the picture had a notch back on it. Notice the base-model/Notchback spoiler.

 

Hmmm... for some reason I have no memory of ever seing that picture. Not that I think I have seen all the pictures in the world of the TTAs, but I have seen just about all the promotional ones that Pontiac or Indy released. I also don't remember ever seing any notes that any of the cars were made with a notch back.

 

Ill search around for the pic. The hatch was never used on TTA's it was just for this promo pic...

A pic of the Notchback can be found here: http://www.89tta.com/indyscrapbk.htm

 

Hey Dan,
Didn't you ever get KARR yet in 1/18th scale? I did!
Back when these cars were new, alot of companies produced smaller diecast, and even RC cars. Most were 1/64th scale, but quite a few were 1/24th scale. And made of metal.
I have the Nikko 1/12th scale '84 black and gold Trans Am RC car, with the gold Turbo Hi Tech wheels, and I know TADan has the same version, but with the Pepsi stickers on it. Plastic though.
If anyone is after the white 1/18th scale Z-28 in metal, the local hobby shop around town has one, for $19.99. Shipping would be more though.

George

 

Hey guys, I found this website. It doesn't say who the maker is (as far as I can tell), but maybe these would be worth checking out.

http://www.nationaldiecasters.com/firebirdtransam.htm

 

WEll now... that is a rare car indeed. I wonder why its not noted in any foot notes on production specs?

 

Is Greenlight aware that the interiors were not "Charcoal" but Black, at least the seating surfaces were. The IP and the Center console were charcoal granted.

The link that jkinrade posted states "Charcoal".... I hope not.

When I first read about the 89 TTA a few months ago I contacted Greenlight and I was contacted by someone that is a member of the boards, or at least he recognized my login.

What surprises me is that none of these companies want to invest in a little time to actually make the tooling universal. I could forse where if you made a 1:18 Formula for example, and made the bumpers removable, they could add ground effects, different bumpers and seats and whala! you have a GTA. With a little engenuity they could make almost every model Firebird from 82-92, THe Trans Am obviously would requre another body mold for the vents... The Camaro would be easier as little changed on them as far as body panels, the only differences were the ground effects...

One of the key reasons for not making a 3rd gen by GMP was the amount of different engine offerings... I think it was a cop out as TPI made the 3rd gen.

On a side note:
Whats interesting is I bought myself the Revell 1:16 scale '87 Firebird GTA and I have the 1:16 scale '82 Firebird by Revell, I am going to make myself a Formula... now all I need is ROH wheels, bumpers from an 85-90 Firebird, and the tail lights from a 1991.... seems impossible but I think I might be able to make the odd parts on my dads little CNC machine when I get time.

dream on I guess..

 

Can't really remember but I think that "one" car was more promotional than anything else. No TTA's were made with a notchback as far as I can tell.

 

there was one GTA that left the factory in 1989 with a notchback. it could be this TTA. also the greenlight site says that the intirrior of the TTA is to be white. funny, i always though they were tan/cammel. in fact there is no such thing as factory white intirior on ANY thirdgen .

also, i want this truck.

 

The truck, huh?
I'll take all the cars, as well as that sign!

George

 

Be great if they make these, but not much of a fan for inaccurate models. Most times if the car can be seen through the box and looks bad, i skip it no matter what it is.

I wonder if we could get Welly modle company to make some 3rdgens. I bought some of there Back to the future models and a basic delorean, the detail was awesome, one mistake was they used the BTTF deloreans overhead console in the basic version.

Didn't sunstar or some company make a 1/18th scale pace car or Z28 one time. Perhaps they could also be convinced into this.

As for rare Trans am toy, try this:



Rarest one I got so far as trans am is consurned, just waiting for the right 3rd gen now.

 

Whaty about the 84 15th Anniv Car?

It had white leather seats, steering wheel... etc.

 

I'll wait to see prototypes of the model first.

Doesnt anyone else get scared when they cant even get pictures of the cars they are making right?

Not too mention they have made other vehicles with incorrect markings/parts/pieces.

I'm not jumping on preorder bandwagon till I see some good hard proof that they are making it 100% factual.

later
Jeremy

 

I would tend to agree with that one.

 

I'll keep an eye on this... but yah, I hope it's a good replica and not like some 3rd gen models I have with Camaro bodies and Firebird dashes etc etc

 

i stand corrected. never knew that. sounds like it would get dirty easy. most people have a hard enough time with the tan/cammel.

 

I have yellow centers in my Mustang's seats and they are hard to keep clean.

 

^... wtf?

 

Read above, reply to keeping white seats clean knowing that people have issues with Tan/Camel

 

But we're talking about models...?

 

Read above... a question was posed about white interior.. so I replied and it went form there.

Thread Police shows up when no flaming is going on...

 

Yes sunstar did make a 1/18 82 Pacecar model, good work too pics to come

 

Any news on these? I'd love a die-cast GTA replica to go with my plastic models

 

No progress that I'm aware of. I sent Greenlight a letter about a month ago asking if there has been any progress on these cars.... and got zero response.

I too have the '82 Indy Z28 by SunStar and love it. I'd gladly accept a GTA in the same quality.... somebody should suggest it to them a a possible future release.

 

ONE of the things that really made me wonder is why someone never figured out the differences between the models, with a little tweaking they could easily make just about any 3rd gen Firebird model with a single chasis.

2 CHasis Base Firebird, Formula SE & GTA. and of course the TA had the holes in the fenders...

They would need 3 hoods (4 if you included the 85-86 S/E) 6 Sets of bumbers, 3 different ground effects (4 if you include the 83 Pace car and 84 Trans Am ) and 3 spoilers... they could do 3 Sets of seats, the base seats, Recaro seats and the Ultima (GTA) seats. And then they could make Several WHeels & tires IE Cross lace (GTA style) 88-92 Formula, 84-87 TA/Formula wheel, and then some bowling ball caps for the 82-83's... THen there are the Engines... do a TPI, CFI, L69 and a LG4...

Heck they could make any car...

After my list now I know why GMP told me that there were too many variations in the 3rd gens to consider doing one. They told me that they looked into it but because of the wide variety of engines, appearance issues between the Trans Am, GTA, Formula etc that it would be difficult to pick just one.

John

 

Any info on any of this? As far as I can tell, you can till preorder from various places, but nowhere does it show a release date..

 

THe last info I had was est Feb 2008...

John