mine, Pontiac would have the hood problem figured out. The fact that western PA gets really nasty winters does not help with the first problem, however. So I started watching the local dealers to see who had gotten any WS6 T/A's on their lot. It took until January of 1999 before I found one. It was a black coupe. The dealer was only allowing serious buyers to test drive it, and I knew that I was at least a year away. And I wanted red, until I saw the 30th anniversary edition. WOW! It really blew me away. Finally a new car that could stand up to a 1978 Bandit! The one I saw was at a regatta at Raystown Lake where we keep our boat. The local dealer in Huntingdon had traded another dealer for it. It was a convertible, and in western PA it is not practical to have a convertible for the 65 sunny days a year that we get. Not to mention only about five evenings a year where you can keep the top down. No, we wanted T-tops. Financially we were not ready, either. So the summer of 1999 was almost over when my local dealer got a black convertible in. I convinced Diane (my wife) to come and take it for a spin. We had heard all of the rumors that GM was going to stop production on the F-Body after the 2001 model
year. After a wonderful run with the top down, I was able to talk her into ordering a 2000. The typical lead time in 1999 was 5-6 months (so our dealer told us) and they had allocations for 2000. We ordered our baby on Labor Day 1999, with an agreement that if it came in prior to April 2000, they would store it indoors until we were ready.
Our TA coupe was ordered with the following options from Wright Pontiac in Wexford, PA:
WS6 Performance and Handling package (Ram Air)
Upgraded seats with power lumbar and bolsters
12 disc CD changer with in-dash cd player
3.23:1 Performance Axle
Electronic traction control
Bright Red exterior/ Ebony leather interior
Five-spoke 17" wheels
Northeast states emission
Yeah, as you can see there is no six-speed manual transmission with the Hurst shifter. Diane does not drive a standard and has no desire to learn. We all must make compromises! I got everything else, so I cannot complain. Well, we had our first "scare" when I stopped into Wright Pontiac in early November 1999. They told me that the car had just come out of Pontiac production and was headed to ASC for the WS6 modification. I could expect the vehicle by Thanksgiving. PANIC! We were not due to pay off our truck until March... As it turns out, they had the wrong vehicle. It was a black WS6 for their own stock. However, the (almost) correct vehicle rolled off the production line on January 12th, 2000 and headed to ASC. It was ready to be shipped on January 14th. Now came decision time. It arrived in Wexford on January 21, 2000. I went down to see her, and true to their word they put it inside a storage garage until we were ready. However, I wanted to get her home to my garage as soon as we got a relatively warm, dry
(as in the roads being dry) day. We payed the truck off early by dipping into the savings, and picked her up on February 5th. I think that Wright Pontiac figured we could not resist taking her home when they agreed to keep her until we were ready! Anyway, I said, "the (almost) correct vehicle" on purpose. She came with an in-dash cassette instead of the cd player. Wright told us that GM would not build it with two cd players, but I have seen that combination in many TA's. I did not want them to exchange the factory unit (typically you end up with a refurbished unit) and I did not want them taking her dash apart. The TA's I have seen with an in-dash CD and a CD Changer may have been dealer installed...
So we took her home and have been doing the Car Cruise circuit for the second year now.. She gets lots of folks looking at her (still not all that many WS6's around Pittsburgh) even though GM has removed the allocation system for the Ram Air Package. The ASC production number was 3225 for the 2000 model year. Production for the WS6 Package was a total of 8,421 for model
year 2000. 8,189 were Trans Ams and 232 were Formulas. Now I know why they have discontinued the Formula WS6 for 2001. We plan to keep her for the show circuit, so mileage will be low and she will remain stock. The only "modification" was a K&N air filter. For links to other 1998+ Trans Ams and Formulas, link to: Wayne's 1998 Trans Am with WS6 Enjoy his site and check out his links page.
On June 17, 2001 we just turned 2000 miles!