Tampa



The Tampa is a two-door compact featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and seen only in one cutscene in The Lost and Damned. It returns as a fully-drivable car in The Ballad of Gay Tony.

GTA San Andreas
The Tampa in GTA San Andreas resembles a 1965-1969 Chevrolet Corvair, except it isn't rear-engined and it has a grille. It has plain steel wheels, and mismatched paint on multiple body panels, indicating it was put together with spare parts from a junkyard. It also appears to be over-scaled and in comparison to some under-scaled cars, as it looks much larger than an old compact. The Tampa is one of the gang cars used by the Da Nang Boys, a gang based in San Fierro.

The Tampa's performance is, at best, below average, with sluggish acceleration and mediocre top speed, as well as heavy steering and unstable cornering.

Modifications
In TransFender:
 * Color (allows the car to feature a single tone body color)
 * Hood Scoop (two varieties)
 * Hood Vents (two varieties)
 * Exhaust (three varieties)
 * Spoiler (three varieties)
 * Side Skirt
 * Nitro (three varieties)
 * Wheels (ten varieties)
 * Bass Boost
 * Hydraulics

The Lost and Damned — The Ballad of Gay Tony
In The Lost and Damned, the Declasse Tampa appears in the opening cutscene in front of the Pay N' Spray. It is also featured in the BradyGames Strategy Guide for the episode. There was speculation by fans that the vehicle was available to drive outside of the cutscene, and the claims were backed up by lines in the game code which specify the handling and animations of the car. An email sent by Rockstar indicated that the car was not actually drivable in the game. It does, however, return in The Ballad of Gay Tony and is a common sight early in the game.

The front of the Tampa resembles a 1970/1971 Dodge Dart; the roof and sides of the car are reminiscent of the '68-72 Chevrolet Nova (but with less of a fastback profile); the rear is reminiscent of a 1968 Dodge Charger. The stripe across the back is similar to the bumblebee stripes on Dodge vehicles. Being a muscle car, its engine sound is similar to that of a Sabre GT or Dukes. It can be seen sporting one all-over color, or with a double-stripe scheme.

Trivia

 * The Tampa (when introduced in GTA San Andreas) is possibly the first "beater" car drivable in the GTA series.
 * In the mission Nines and AKs, the player goes to do some target practice, and has to eventually shoot at a Tampa's gas tank using a pistol, making it explode, and passing the mission. It has a unique numberplate reading "FELTCH".
 * Even though the car can be upgraded to an excellent state at a mod shop, it will always have crooked license plates.
 * During the mission Yay Ka-Boom-Boom, the player has to destroy the Loco Syndicate's cocaine factory in Doherty with a rigged Tampa. The rigged Tampa has a unique numberplate reading "TIMEBOMB". Another modded Tampa is used in the mission Puncture Wounds. The Tampa is modded with stinger traps to burst the tires of the vehicle needed in the mission. Although, if the Tampa is saved in a garage, it will not have the ability to drop stingers.
 * The default radio station in GTA San Andreas is K-JAH Radio West.

Locations

 * GTA San Andreas
 * Can be found parked at the used car lot in Jefferson, Los Santos.
 * Can also can be found driving in the Easter Basin and Garver Bridge region in San Fierro along with the Buccaneer and the Manana, both used as the Da Nang Boys' gang cars.


 * The Ballad of Gay Tony
 * Can be seen in traffic in southern Algonquin.