Shortly after I sold my first Trans am I came upon an ad for a red 1991 Trans am GTA with automatic transmission and T Tops.
The car was fairly priced and was located in a small town not too far away from Sofia city. I got a friend of mine and we went to see it. It was in much better condition compared to my first Trans am. It was imported almost brand new in Bulgaria and spent all it’s life in the same town. The seller was the second owner. I quickly figured out that I like it and managed to get a pretty good deal (again). The car was still titled to the previous owner and we had to wait for him for the notary contract. The wait turned to be unexpectedly long. I got nervous and at one moment I told my friend that I am giving up from the car. My friend is a talkative guy and I expected a long speech. But he just sat on a bench next to us and said he is not moving from there until I don’t get the notary contract. I had nothing to do and just sat next to him and the seller and we continued waiting until the previous owner finally showed up. We made the notary contract in time and headed back to Sofia. The car performed very well with no issues. The first thing I did after I bought it was to repaint all the ugly yellow spoilers back to red color. I was still living in students’ town and enjoyed driving the car there for several months. Students town is full of universities, hostels and students and is a fun place for young people.
As time went by the car started doing a strange issue. At times while idling it just died. It will start up again immediately and will not do this again in the same day. I didn’t have the knowledge nor the time to investigate, because very soon a friend of mine brought a fellow who wanted to buy the Trans am. He offered me a very good price and since I have always dreamed of a 1978 Trans am I decided to sell it. The story with the 1991 Trans am GTA does not end here at all.
We became friends with the new owner and he enjoyed the car for a year or two. The idling issue started appearing more often and at one time the car didn’t start anymore. It was parked in a garage in the suburbs of Sofia and stayed there for several years. One day we got in touch with the owner and discussed the car.
By then I just sold my fourth Trans am and had no collector car at the moment. We met up and I was glad to figure out that except for the starting issue it was pretty much in the same condition from when I sold it. By quite a coincidence I bought it back on the exact same day exactly 10 years after I sold it. After an extensive investigation with the help of a very good friend of mine we managed to figure out the issue, fixed it and the car fired up. So it was running again. I redid the brakes, made an extensive service of the engine and cooling system. And one day I invited the ex-owner for a short ride. He was very glad to see the car running again and decided he wants it back.
But he is not very lucky with this car. A few months later the Trans am refused to start up again. This time it is a different issue and it is not running again for more than a year. We’ve discussed the starting issue but no outcome yet. A new chapter will begin with this car I expect.
