was looking for a beater while I fixed up my 74 camaro. This car I bought from an old man ended up having a 500+ hp mill in it, upgraded suspension, 10" wide 17" tall wheels all around and a non-working air conditioner. Fell in love with the ultra stiff suspension, motor that could almost do high 9's, and 4" exhaust that woke up car alarms at 1,500 rpm down the street. Been working on both camaros since then, and love both.

ever since i was like 5 Ive loved camaros and always have wanted a yellow with black stripe 69 z28 with a 4spd, cant afford that and then saw a 86 camaro when i was like 10 and ever since i loved 3rd gens and ended up getting a 91 z28 with 61k orig miles as my first car. It had the 305 and was auto black with red interior with ttops no power cept power steering. Loved that car never really relized it till i traded her im kicking my *** for tradeing it cpesialy for a ford. I learned my lesson never trade a low milage z for a POS bronco shoulda never got rid of that.

Well my love for camaro's started when my dad had bought an 82 Z when i was about 10. The car simply amazed me, it only had the LG4, but man it sounded mean and when he mashed the pedal in. that car took off like a bullet. 2 years later he blew the engine by running it out of oil and sold it for $300

I had always loved the look of the car, sound of it, everything to do with it. and i knew i wanted one. So when i turned 17, i bought my 85Z

I seen this guys car




This is what made me want one

Just the look of it. There are few cars that actually made it to production that look as unique as a thirdgen. Something about it's hard angles and boxy sleek look that makes kids, young ones who really dont know anything about cars, to look at it and immediately place it in that special category of car reserved for race cars. Not sure how to really explain it. The design just triggers something in most people that sets it apart from any other sports car. It doesn't look expensive, like a corvette, yet in the minds of most people, it's in some elevated category because of that. It looks fast, but not a toy for some mid-aged rich man. A new car just doesn't cause the same reaction.

As worn and in bad need of a washing and repainting, i still get plenty of attention from it. Though, the real reason i got into third-gens is because i needed a car and this was the first one i looked at. After seeing it, i couldn't see myself settling for a beater. I just hope it holds together long enough for me to be able to give it some proper repair time. I got that feeling it's gonna be one of those cars that you hear older men (dads/granddads) talk about how they wish they still had so and so car that they had to get rid of when they had kids. Luckily no kids, just poor paying jobs.

My step-father had a bare bones 92 Camaro, only option (i think) was a 305. My mother hated it but I liked it. He eventually killed it and bought a Nissan. I mostly bought my Firebird because I need something to drive while I work on my 74 Nova.
Alex

I agree, and that's what made me fall in love with these cars. They have almost an exotic look to them that I think still holds up almost 30 years after they started making them and 20 years after they stopped making them. Even today I don't see a car that remotely stands out like these cars do. At least not for an ungodly amount of money.

for some reason i have always wanted a 78 trans am but i didnt have the cash for one in decent condition so i was looking for something other than a beater truck when my brothers friend came over and said i have a 82 trans am for sale i was like...idk i didnt realy know much about 3rd gens and all but i decided to purchase it(only 1500) and its slowly grown on me, now i love my t/a.
im glad i made the choice to get it.

This thread is way better than the "what don't you like about your thitrd-gen" one. Back in '81 when my '70 z/28 was my only car I remember seeing the news release for the "all new Camaro" in Motor Trend. I instantly fell in love with the appearance of the new car. I new I would have one some day. When the IROC was introduced it was even better. I bought my IROC with the money from the sale of my "70. Still love it!!!

well i had always been into muscle cars, specifically chevy novas(still love novas!) anyways a few years back a buddy of mine got a 1991 or 92 mustang. he told me all about it and how they were made like that throught the 80's and stuff and i was like "well i though all cars in the 80's sucked but i kinda like this one" so then i started looking at cars from the 80's trying to weave out the cool ones (all 8 of them. lol) and i came across the camaro. i instantly fell in love with them! now i just bought my first one about 4 days ago!!

i just made an album. check it out and tell me what you think!

im 18 by the way...

I wanted a project car, cause i was bored as hell in my off time. i found my 88 formula with only a dented fender (but the rest of the body was perfect), and original TBI (not together of course) for only $300 delivered. you can't turn that down. Also i had a 85 camaro in high school. it was a bad mutha for a v6. so i guess you could say nostalgia played a part.

I wanted something with muscle, and it had to be a GM product. I was looking for anything with a rear wheel drive and a V8 (mostly G and F body cars, but all the G body's were expensive), and found a clean looking black on gold '84 Z28 with t-tops and an HO 305 and I grabbed it.
AN F body was really my top choice for a few reasons, I think they look really mean, you can put just about any rear drive engine or transmission in them, and there's enough aftermarket support for these cars you can pretty much do any mod imaginable and build one of these absolutely any way you want with nearly all bolt in parts. And lastly from what I've seen (and I'm putting on my flame retardant suit...) the the third gen F body is the cheapest GM car you can buy in good condition, with rear drive and a V8 already in it.

I got my 1986 Iroc z witha 350 TPI and all kinds uf upgrades for 150.00 my friend owed me money. And hes owns a towing business. car was towed. owner never picked it up. Needless to say he lost it and i got it. SWEET DEAL!!

for me i grew up in the 80's and going to high school the only guys who could afford to have this car were the dope boys. so when you saw one on the block it was something special to see. i loved the body style from the moment i saw it. i had a hotwheelz car back then, the yellow iroc with black stripes and man as a kid i would sit and wish, even dream about someday owning one. i can remember a specific dream i had one time where i had the power to turn small toys into larger real life objects! and i used my powers on the Iroc and took off like a bat out of hell. now with the acuisiton of my 86 vert Z28 and soon to purchase 88 vert IROC, the dream has become a blessed reality! LONG LIVE THIRD GEN>>>>>>>>>

I used to think these cars were so ugly, just because ive never seen really nice ones, but around christmas of 07 or early 08 i had a friend whose dad had an 86 Iroc it was white with the red and blue pinstripe around the bottom, it had t tops and the louvers in the hood, me and my friend used to sit out in the backyard and she would get mad because i would just sit there and gaze at this car, it even had the gold 16" irocs on it, it was a beautiful run down heap, it was completely messed up, it had a carbed 305, and that at the time had the biggest rat i have ever seen living on its intake, i just fell in love, her mom wanted to get rid of it, but i didnt get it because they lost the title that wasnt in their name, so i decided to put my 81 Silverado on craigslist for trade for thirdgen camaro and got my own 89 RS, with a title =] i love it, it is constantly giving me problems, and i constantly work on it and constantly cuss it, but ill never get rid of it!

I was born in 1978 which means that, when I started looking at cars at the age of 12 from a perspective that I would actually drive a car in the forseable future, the cars on the road at that time were the cars of the 80's and early 90's mostly.

To be honest, I kind of got stuck in this era and frequently get together with people I knew at the time to discuss life nowadays and remember how blessed childhood was. STupid thing to do maybe but I kind of prefer reflecting on the past over looking at the bleak reality of computer-engineered-one-in-a-million generic production vehicles of nowadays where it becomes ever more difficult to tell an audi from a VW by the roof line since they share 90% of all components. This of course goes for other brands as well.

Looking at the overweight, safety feature stuffed SUV's being sold as sportscars nowadays, I once made a decision to drive a 90's vehicle rather then any newfangled piece of machinery, even if it does involve rebuilding it from the ground up before it's driveable.

The 3rd camaro's and firebirds as well as 2nd gen RX7's always struck me as having the perfect shape for a car. They might not be practical or economical but offer more then enough creature comfort to take me over shorter and longer distances when desired.
2+2 seater sportcars always caught my attention. I like driving and these cars are generally made for just that purpose.

The big advantage 3rd gen F-body cars as well as 2nd gen RX7 have is that the engineers were smart enough to place the engien in exactly the spot where it belongs, and with that reducing the tendency of a car to spin out in corners when hitting the accelerator and with that correcting the natural order of things.

I looked long and hard for a 3rd gen F-body in good shape in germany and when I found one I grabbed my pocket money, drove the 200 miles/350 km to the carshop that had it for sale, drove the car and bought the one parked next to it

Well I got mine for free... So yeah

When I was about 6 I remenber the 82's hitting the dealership lots. I lived in a town where we passed a pontiac and chevrolet dearership alot. I thought they were the most awesome looking cars that I have ever seen.


__________________________
83 Z28 crossfire : Sold
83 Berlinetta : Sold
84 Z28 : Sold
89 Firebird Formula 305 : Sold
91 Formula 350 : No plans to sell

no particular reason for me...I wanted any Firebird/TA I could get my hands on and finally had my 92 Firebird land in my lap for $800 and she runs nearly perfect. Prior owner was very nice to her aside from her exterior and typical sun damage to the interior.

What was originally going to be my 'beater' car to give my F150 a rest since he does have about 300k miles on him, is turning into my restoration project play toy

i was 15 and my dad took me car shopping picked up a 1988 GTA black loved it but i loved the front end of the 91 92 camaros so ihave my 91 now and ill have it forever now the wife bought my 91 for me

While I was growing up my dad had a 1989 Rs 305 5-Speed

It was red and was so cool and fast(I was 9 last time it ran)

Just always loved that car growing up and when I sold my GTP I found one for 900 bucks(only an auto v6 but still loved the look)

OK so when I was a kid my brother bought a new 78 Z. Since then he has had a 69 and a 74 Z. I myself loved the early second gens but I love the sleek styling of the third gen also. My first Camaro was a 84 Z but I wasn't able to do much with it and sold it. Now I am working on a 89 RS.

I was 16 and it was my last year of highschool and all i wanted was a V8 with that musle car sound. I found it on craigslist for only 400 bucks but it looked like crap, but it was cheap so thats why i got it. After a year restoring it to what it is now and two years of owning it i wouldn't want anything else.

well i guess i'll chime in. i have always been into hot rods. my dad, and my uncles & cousins were all into hotrods and drag racing. i got hooked when i was about six years old. my uncle took me to the Gator nationals in Fla. been a gearhead ever since. it was actually my wife who wanted a camaro. she asked me to find her a z28 for under three grand. i found two rs's for 1.500 and 1.700. she said, "i told you i wanted a z28" so finally i found an 87 z28 for 3500. talked the guy down to 3000 and brought it home to the wife. she loves it. now we have two. the 87 and an 83. the 83 is our track car.

Its cheap, got mine for $1000.
Looks good and I wanted one when i was a kid.

The carb on my 1970 datsun truck decided to let go all over my exhaust manifold while I was warming it up before work. Figuring that the truck was clearly a death trap, I looked for the cheapest car to drive while I fixed it up. Came across an '88 firebird with a 305 tbi. I've still got it and will be doing a transmission swap this week, but I've got my eye on a late 80's trans am GTA at the impound yard that has the parts car I'm raiding. If the owner decides to leave the car, I can snag it.

i am 24 years old and i bought mine b/c i just a muscle car fan. My dad owned a 69 chevelle and a 72 nova. and chevy camaro ecspecially 3rd gen has always caught my eye. just the set ups alone are just a great car.

Well I got into it by almost buying a 79' Trans Am for 125 needed lots of work but I had the time. But the guy sold it so i was out of luck but continued to look. I feel in love with 67-69 Camaros and just wanted the Camaro title and then I was on Craigslist and found a beautiful 90' Z28 Camaro which was oringinally a RS but switched. Had a rebuilt 305 TBI in it. Body had 141000 miles on it but have no clue on engine. Interior was plain grey and did not like much but I loved the red and the mopar style hood it had. It was lowered 3" all the way around kinda stupid from the guy who did it since I am 4th owner of it I dont know who did it. I bought it for 1900 but needed new tires, brakes, and some minor engine work. But over all great shape paint redone 4 years ago. I bought it when I was 14 and now I am 15 and the car is my life and spend alot of time on it. Lost girls because of this car from working on it.

I had just graduated from high school in 1993 and the new 4th gens were just coming out. Fell in love with them, but being 18 I was unable to afford one. Researched the previous generation and fell in love all over again. Now I have both generations.

Your awesome kid... This post made me laugh and time warp to when I was 14-15...

I think the reasone i like them is because its a happy medium of a nice beefy lookin muscle car, and affordability. The parts are a dime a dozen, and in the future i think that all us who jumped aboard the f-body train will find that these cars are gonna be the next true american muscle. Ya know..... like the old Cuda's, and chargers, 69 camaros, and so on. Im 30 years of age, and no i didnt have a ****** when i was growing up.....lol!

Thank you. But yeah it seems alot of us got it young or wanted it when they were young so i guess Camaros just hit the teen group hard and later on as adult they buy them and some when there in there teens.

I know this post has been here for a while but i thought i would throw in my 2 cents. My sister bought an 82 camaro s/c in like 1997. It was as base model as you could get i think. It had a 305, 200 metric trans(yuck), and a/c. I loved that car. Then she desided to get a 88 GTA 350 and wanted to get rid of the camaro, so i bought it, drove the crap out of it and wrecked it several times. Ended up selling it for 500 bucks to a buddy and we made it go fast, 10.80s with a bunch of nitrous. It went bang. Later down the road my sister had a baby and wanted to get rid of the old GTA so i traded her for my 97 bonny ssei. I still have the car today and will probably keep it forever! Should be twin turbos through a HSR and world product heads. 2009 here we come haha

I got my third gen ( 92 camaro) because I was getting a little too involved with making my 00 trans am a 1/4 mile car. The trans am is my baby and I felt I should keep it more of a go fast street car. So I started looking for a diff. 4th gen but everyone kept saying they were heavy, and they are. I finally settled on a third gen camaro after seeing some pics of them in strip trim, man they look hot. not to mention they weigh less. Right now the camaro is all stock, crappy white paint, bubbling tint. By the time I graduate from college it will be going 10's.

I moved down to Florida, and had a Celica, didn't like it. My friend had a 1984 T/A and that car looked awesome and I loved the sound. Soon after i sold my Celica and Bought a 1992 Camaro RS 305 5speed, i didn't even know how to drive a stick until XD I was 17 now 18 and still loving the car, I can say I will definitely never get rid of her.

I was actually looking for a mustang, my whole family has been a ford family since more than 1/2 of my family worked there for 15 years plus. I had always driven junk most of my life. starting with a 93 tempo, then an 84 ford ltd, hyundai scoupe, 89 jeep wrangler, 94 cougar, then a 98 ford taurus that was given to me that i hated.

I prayed everyday that it would get totaled and I could buy something that i wanted. One day driving home from the household that bought me the car I got rearended totalling the taurus and I was not as happy as I had thought I would be lol. I got 5k in insurance money and started looking for 5.0 fox bodied cars. after looking forever I decided to start looking for other cars as well. I actually looked at 4 3rd gens all rs cars.

I was just cruising when I saw a 90 irocz that looked in decent enough shape and the guy wanted 5,000 for the car and wouldnt budge but I decided that it was the car I wanted and bought it. I paid entirely too much money for it but after spending the money to replace the hood and a semi-decent paint job it looks and runs good minus where the timing i think is off. I love that car though just tpi cars are a pain in the *** to build, definatly not cheap thats for sure lol. either way 3 years later and im still in love with it.

and im 24 years old

I fell in love with camaro's when my cousin showed up to my door in a white with blue stripes 1980 Z28, in my eyes there isn't anything better than a camaro, fast or slow beautiful or ugly camaro rules.

International Race of Champions... wanted my own every sence...

I needed something cheap right after and 80 year old guy ran a red and smacked my 68. 1st 3rd gen was a $800 black 88' 305 T-top Z. Turned out to be more fun than a barrel full of monkeys. 6 3rdgens later....

http://www.fquick.com/68_RS_SS_Ragtop

Looks like a leftover of the real deal. Was it one of the actual IROC cars from the track?

No, like my 65 Shelby it is a knock off... but wait, I think they are both better than the originals! At least I can drive them both and have fun, and that is what life is all about!

$250 and I was 17, just after having gotten my N. Needless to say, I was badass for about 20 minutes until I realized what $250 really got me. It picked up chicks for a while, but it just took too much work and too much money, with school and all. Now a job and a summer off from school gets me some disposal cash and has rekindled my interests. I really just want it to be my summer driver (to the beach, meets, etc), but if I can really make 'er fancy on the cheap, I'd make her my daily driver.

I've always thought most post '92 cars have no charcter. They are all so damn bubble shaped. Can't stand the mid 90's camaros. They are like an offensive lineman...strong and fast, but kind of pudgy. 3rd gens's were sleek and angular. Not to mention, growing up in semi-rural Tennessee, third gen camaros and firebirds were about the only thing besides a pick-up truck that was acceptable for a man to drive...If you don't know what I mean, drive though a trailer park the south sometime, lol...

Seriously though, I like to take my 91 vert to Panama City and cruise the strip...I love it when I'm a few cars behind a brand new mustang GT and no body even looks at it, but then people turn and point at my car. Ours cars had some serious style and class!

The reason i love tem so much is because i grew up around them. My dad had 4 of them ( 2 irocs) It was pretty much genetic. Too me these cars just look bad ***. Its something about them that just cant be explained.
I have a picture of me when i was little sitting on the hood of my dads brand new 1987 yellow iroc-z. He loved those cars and how they were back then. When i was 16 he suprised me with a white 87 iroc hardtop. Currently on the lookout 4 one that i can keep 4ever!

I'm on my third one these days. At first, I thought it was Knight Rider, seeing as I grew up in the 80s. but I liked the Camaro's more than the birds, so that couldn't be it. Then it finally came to me after some soulsearching. My love of 3rd gens is thanks to my favorite 80s cartoon, MASK. See below.





Apparently my career in the automotive field and my love for third gens is all thanks to a cartoon made specifically to sell toys to kids.

i was 16. my brother had previously owned a p.o.s. '89 trans am and was currently driving a v6 '97 camaro (automatic trans, as you can imagine, the car was a joke). i didnt have any desire to own a camaro or firebird myself. then suddenly, i saw the hottest white third gen camaro i'd ever seen. i dont remember where, i dont remember anything about it. all i remember is, i wanted one. bad. 2 weeks later my parents spot a black 92 rs in a home depot parking lot. called the kid, met him. the car was in great condition and the previous owner was the original. ran great (minus a few electrical hitches like a speedo that would randomly stop working, pretty 'lol' at 70 on the parkway) new stock exhaust, almost no rust at all on the entire car. the interior was in incredibly good condition. the rear seats were newly re-upholstered and looked fantastic, even the normal stains and wear that you'd normally find werent there. the only thing inside the car that looked beat was the dash. which is still cracked (im not paying $100 for a new dash, are you junkers insane?!). and i love the car. i still do. for 4 years i have never once wanted another. i stand by my word, i do not want to trade it for any other car in the world. it has become my dream car, and i plan to drop an ls2 and a manual trans in it and make it my weekend car. maybe that'll motivate my dad to take the cherry red 70 chevelle convertable out of the garage and finish that off too :P

My love for Firebirds and Camaros began early, growing up my aunt had a burgundy '81 Z28 that I loved. The power of it, the speed, the racing seats, I loved it. Then my uncle got an '89 RS and brought it by the house to show off in his usual style, he had already gotten a sound system thrown into the back and he got the cops called by bumping the stereo too loud in the Navy Housing parking area. I was instantly in love.

When I was 14 my aunt killed her Z28, burned it out with no oil and seized up the motor. She told me that when I came back to California, since I had always loved the car, if I was willing to fix it I could have it. Before I returned that following summer she'd already junked it. I was heartbroken.

Just this past March I was looking for another junker to drive around, having driven a Mercury Mystique into the ground in a year on a $400 investment. And while looking around I found a '92 Firebird V6 for sale for $500. When I went to look at it, I noticed the engine was sweet, thought it had no exhaust, a craptastic interior, and needed a new hood and left front fender, the car was also in need of smogging and registration, so I talked the guy down to $300 and told him I'd handle the other stuff myself. I never looked back, I love that the car sets off car alarms just cruising through the neighborhood, love the speed, just wish to the stars I knew more about it so I could fix it up. I have a pioneer head unit and no idea how to hook it up, and right now the thing is parked in front of a grocery store because it won't start. I still love it dearly and as soon as I find out how to re-establish spark on the starter, it's straight to the carwash and then the strip, body damage and all...

I remember being a teenager with 69 ss 396. Used to race a 77 in the production class at the local track. Saw a players car on the road, and knew that I had to have one. 20 years later, bingo! The interesting thing about it is the car was in my hometown the year after I moved. Found it in Alberta, flew out drove home and it is being restored as we speak. Pretty cool to find a car that had travelled from Hudson Que, to St. Albert Alberta. Well It will be given to my kids in 10-12 years from now. Probably with some hard miles in between!! ( the 77 and 69 are long gone, as well as a lot of other toys as well.)