This is more of a cool story than anything else.... When I was 16 I picked up my first 3rd gen, a black '89 RS with the 2.8L and A/C. That was about all that was in her. I drove that car hard and fast whenever I could. Oftentimes it got me into more trouble than it got me to where I was going. About 5 years ago money was tight and times were tough. I had wrecked the car a few years before and only drove it occasionally and it was sitting in storage wasting away. An offer came up for the car and I decided to sell her. When I went down to look at her for what I thought would be the last time, you could really tell that I was just a kid when I bought her, and she had seen many better days. A trip through the community college autobody class had left half of the car in primer (the passenger half.... ) and that little wreck I talked about had "wrinkled" the nose..... Wrinkled it in by about a foot and a half anyways. The hood had some funky garage spray painted red to orange faded Heritage stripes, and the 5 years I had worked as an custom MECP stereo installer had reeked havoc on the interior panels....custom deck mounting in the center A/C vents, speaker pods on the door panels, and a mini-wall had once replaced the back seats. These were all great times (minus the wreck...it was funny too tho...well, it was later anyways), and I couldn't believe I was about to let her go. But with his promise of getting her running again and a couple of hundred dollars, she was loaded up on a trailer and was gone. I had my camera with me for that one last pic of her riding away. That pic is of my old, primered, wrecked, barely running, "custom" painted '89 RS disappearing around the corner and out of my life forever...... But wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was on the phone with a guy the other day and I had said that I had a few Camaro's and he said.... "you know, I got this Camaro that I have been trying to get rid of for a while now, but no one will ever come up with any money for it." He started describing it to me and you will never believe what it was....... I paid the guy 1/3 of what I sold her for and my baby is coming home again. Sure she's a pile of junk that is going to need 10 times what she is worth in new parts, and sure it smells a little like this guy raised chickens inside of it, but you know what.... She's MINE!!!!!! My ol' girl will ride again and that's all that counts. I never thought that I would ever see that car again, and here she is. I have found my baby and I am bringing her HOME! I hope those of you who let them go and want them back have the same luck as I did. I am sure I paid to much, and I am sure that there will be days that I cuss this car like I hate it, but those days will never be outweighed by the days that I look back on her and smile and say........ THIS IS MY CAR !!!!!!!

Congratulations. Thats a fantastic story. Lets see some pics

I still have my first car, the '84 Trans Am. Somebody will have to pry it from my cold dead hands to get it.

I want to see pictures!! nice story!

Thats an awsome story.I saw one of my old cars at pic-a-part once

Damn Bro, you made me cry.

I had a similar thing happen to me... To resume it up fast, I got a clean 88 GTA, sold it because I was in need of cash... Always regreted it... I dreamed of the car every night... 1 year and a half later, the guy sold it back to me cause he got a baby with his girlfriend. Now I won't let it go so easily!

Ohhhh noooo.....not the roachmaro.....I thought that car was dead and gone for good (crushed or something). I guess that some cars just never die. Anyway, car has a lot of history/stories with it (and I am sure your dad is just thrilled that it is back..hahahaha). Get her looking good, and dont forget to fix that mag-light dent on the quarter panel.

My first car, 91 RS Camaro, was wrecked by the kid I sold it to within a few months.

Same thing here... I had a 1988 Sport Coupe 2.8 (First Camaro)and It was in MINT condition, always had low miles, and I loved that car, and sold it in MINT shape to a kid, and then it got smashed within a few months... I would take that back in a second if I could... Lot of good times...

Great story... I'm never gonna let me 89 RS go.. It was the first car I bought. It's paid for.. Plus it's worth more to me, then anyone would want to pay... Since I know I wouldn't get much for her.

My Dad's first Camaro was a 82 Berlinetta, 2.8, A/C, Luxury package. Baby Blue.. It was a cool car back then.. It sucked when he sold it. Thus I'll never make the same mistake he made.. Why because after a couple years he traded it in on a Buick, bought it back a week later, then sold it two years later again..

Sad but true. This is likely the case for all our cars.

Great story though. I know for 911rsq this car is priceless just like mine.

ill never let my '89 Formy go, even if it is only an LO3 - plus even after 20 yrs down the road collecters wouldnt b pissed at my mods bc it isnt a factory 350 n all that, it jus a perfect car for modding.

Thats sweet! I still have my first vehicle, Its in a storage unit in another state, MANY people have said I sould just sell it..But nope. I will never get rid of that vehicle. I know the attachment you get with your first truck/car..That is soo great you got it back!

Hey guys..... been off the boards for a few days. Thanks for all the great comments and emails. I am digging for my pics of it leaving for the "LAST" time and am gonna try to get them posted. I got my title back and she's still in my name...hahahahahhahaha.. I guess it was meant to be. All that time and no one transferred the title to their name. Oh well.. I haven't gotten the chance to go out and get her yet, but have started to make plans for her. I am gonna have to see how bad she really is before anything is set in stone, but I think a rebuild with a killer small block ought to do the trick.....and prolly some paint and body work (you'll see when I get those pics posted )
My dad kinda laughed when I told him she was coming home. Where I live, there really isn't any extra parking, so I put my "projects" down at his shop. He REALLY likes that. So far, the '90 Camaro convertible and the '87 Z28 are down there, so there might as well be another...right????

Well, I have tracked them down....... Here is a pic of my ol' girl as she is sitting on the trailer getting ready to leave. You always remember them in much better shape. The paint (primer) was a repaint gone wrong, as I let a budy of mine in autobody class try and repaint my car. He did a great job of sanding her down and smoothing her out..... Then he dropped out..... (nice huh??)
The "Herritage Stripes" were for fun....besides, it was alreay half primer.....
Then the cherry on top, the wreck into the traffic light....
I am sure the car is in "much" better shape now that is has been sitting outside for a few years.....
I will also be posting a link to the Cardomain site I set up for the restoration of her......

Here's the link to the CarDomain.com page that I have set up for her. You may have wondered why CrazyN8 called her the RoachMaro.... or, after seeing the pic, you might not have. Either way, she got her name for a pretty obvious reason.... She was all roached out and I never did anything to "fix" it. The name stuck and she has been lovingly been refferred to as "The Roach" ever since.....
Here's The Roach

The ol' Roachmaro finally made it home. After buying the car back several months ago, my schedule has been so packed that I never got a chance to go and get her . The Super Chevy Show was in Indy over the weekend and I had the car trailer out, so on Sunday when we got home I decided that in the morning my ol' girl was gonna truly come home. I had the trailer hooked up already from the car show, so we were ready. After a few hours of messing around doin' other stuff in the morning, it was finally time. I called the guy whose property it was on and told him we were enroute. After nearly running out of gas on the way there, our trip ended at a small house in the middle of nowhere with a, for lack of better terms, pasture next to it. Out in the weeds, waaaaaaay out there I could just barely see the top of her . I backed the trailer into the field and realized this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought. He had her pretty much buried in there behind all kinds of stuff. We dropped the trailer and backed the truck up to the front of her and pulled out the ol' loggin chain and looped it around the front bumper bar where she had been crashed so many years before. I crawled inside and much to my dismay, there was no steering wheel . I climbed back out to get some tools to try to bypass the key cylinder so I could put it in neutral and as I just got out of the car it started to RAIN....... (keep reading, it gets better)

I figured she was all torn up and I had most of the parts anyway, so I just crawled back in and grabbed the shifter and have her a big Yank..... She popped into drive and I shoved it back to neutral. Problem 1 solved. Problem 2, get the car out around all the crap. I jumped back into the truck (soakin a$$ wet) and drug her out of there...around the old boat trailer and the rusted field plow, and all the other scrap metal this guy was collecting. I got her out in the clearing where some grass had been mowed and we unhooked the car and hooked the truck back to the trailer and backed her up to the front of the car. The hard part's done.....right???? Nope...

I think the curse of this car decided to strike down on us at that exact moment, because the rain that was falling was stronger,faster and more painfull than any rain I have ever been out in. To make it even more fun, the lightning was flashing all around us and the thunder created by it all shook us to the core. Still, we decided to load her up. We had come this far already. Our only real choice at this point was to use the logging chain and come-a-longs that I had brought just for this instance. We pulled and pulled and pulled until the car was half way up on the trailer. Meanwhile the lightning was darn near blinding us, as it was litterly every 3 or 4 seconds and only miles away from us. Then it happened......

I was ratcheting up on the come along and Mike (my buddy who was helping me) was near the front of the trailer getting the other come-a-long ready to pull and KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM . I felt the lightning strike down in the field less that 100 yards away from me. We both felt it. The electricity in the air was unreal. There isn't much that scares me these days, but I will tell you what... I was in the cab of that truck in no time flat, and I don't remember the trip from the trailer to the truck cause it was so quick...

We sat in there, soaked to the core for about 5 minutes, assuming it was gonna let up a little. It didn't. We went back otu and continued on our task. It was finally up on the trailer and strapped down and ready to go. I pulled to the edge of the field by the guys house and we honked and waved as he stared at us thru the window like we were some kind of fools out there pickin up this crappy old car from his house. As I turned out onto the roadway the rain stopped and the sun came out . It was a bright sunny drive home. I think the ol' girl decided that maybe it wasn't quite so bad to be coming home after all.......

As you can tell, it was startin to get sunny out. This is taken from my front porch as we pulled up......

Bookmarking this thread.

I'm assuming we can return here to read about progress, right?

What are the plans with this car? Back to the original 2.8 liters of fury?

this is a beutiful thing. my first car was an 88 samurai. one day i will have another one. and i will jack it sky high, put a kick engine in and paint it army green.... one day....

Thats awesome man, keep us posted!

That's a great story. Hope it all works out!

I was browsing the cars for parts on ebay once and came across my first car. I put my heart and soul into it, new engine, tranny, rear, interior, etc. All that was left was paint, when I got rear-ended. Anyway, I went to look at the car and the guy I sold it to ruined it. Gutted the interior, cut off the exhaust, spray painted random things... it was a mess. I let it go, even though it was only like $500.

Honestly, I don't know what my plans are for her yet. I have the vert project going and hopefully it will be in full swing here soon. I will def. be working on the ol' roachster little by little. I am sure the tired old 2.8L has shot craps by now and is gonna end up beside the garage somewhere (unless anyone wants it ). Iam thinking that a 350 will someday find a home in the engine bay. I am sure to keep it all updated here, so keep checkin it out. It's gonna be a fun one...

Here is a list of the evil things that were done to my car while she was away......

1. Alternator taken off and bolts discarded...
2. Keys were lost (VATS car)
3. He tried to bypass the VATS.... didn't work.....
4. He took the steering wheel off to aid in bypassing the VATS.
5. He tried to pry the key cylinder out of it's slot and broke it.
6. He tried to pry on the outside of the column and broke it too.
7. He took off the rear bumper and tail lights and got rid of them.
(Strangly enough, I have the original rear bumper cover too )
8. He disassembled most of the interior. It's okay cause I want it out anyway.
9. A family of mice decided to use my ol' car as thier new home (smelly)
10. She was left in a field all by herself, with no one to talk to... . She has become a little depressed, but I am sure with a little attention, she will make it thru

Awesome story. I wrecked my first car (91rs) and have bought 2 others to try and make it up.

I wrecked my first one too..... I bought 6 more to make up for it and STILL ended up with my old one back

that is an increadable story dude. I sold my 4 banger to some kid now i think he recked the thing cause i havent seen it in a good 4 months...

It's hard to see someone tear up what you had spent soo much time on. My RS was in really good shape for the longest time (Check out the pic of the driver's side.....it's really clean). I let a buddy of mine try to fix a dent in the fender on the pass side and he took it to body shop class and primered up the whole passenger side. Worst of all, he used the wrong primer and it rusted thru in nooooo time. He dropped out of class before he fixed it and there she was..... all "F 'd" up.

Hopefully this weekend I will be down getting the interior out of it and getting it all cleaned up and stored. I am gonna try to start pulling the accessories and unneeded engine components here soon too. I have big plans for this ol' girl.....

glad to hear you have your car back, as much as i hate my car sometimes, i love it to death and would be heart broken if i had to sell it

it killed me to sell my 87 iroc. after 2 fenderbenders, and getting 7mpg on premium gas i let her go. sold it to a guy with 4 other irocs and he is now restoring it. it was my first camaro.

hope i can buy it back someday.

great story. keep us all updated on resto progress

seems too far gone...thats gonna cost a lot of time and money

its his first car your first car can never be too far gone

yah, ns. My Iroc is in rough shape but im not gonna drop its.. first car i ever really worked on (aside from stereo equipment).. i never wanna give her up

It's not really that far gone if you look at it. The quarter is gonna need some work in the area of rust (obviously), but other than that the body itself is pretty straight... Some new fenders, a new nose, paint, and she's on her way.....
A new engine wouldn't hurt either...
Besides, how many cars on here get all of those things before people show them off. Engine, paint, and interior....the 3 basics to building a great car.....and suspension of course..... I guess 4 basics.....

Awesome dude!!!! Major congrats!

I paid $350 for my first car, a 1982 Firebird SE. Paid another $350 for an engine for it, a 2.8 out of an 86 FI Camaro. I had the Firebirds original engine and used the top end to convert the Camaro engine to the original carb. I had her 2 years, wrecked her twice, put about $5K into her in NAPA parts, they should have sponsored me, lol.

I traded her not running with spun bearings (ran her out of oil off roading of all things when I busted the pan, two different times!!! I used JB weld, lol) for a 1960 El Camino SS that ran but drank oil like gas, lol.

You inspire me to go find my car and buy it back after 9 years, which I could do if I weren't dead broke. I know I could find her, it was a small town I lived in. I just hope she hasn't been scrapped.

I lost my virginity in the front passgener seat of that car too, my ex-wife hated that, lol. But now shes an ex so I can buy her back when I get the cash!

Don't ever let her go again man!!!!!

Alex

Alex....
Go for it man. Although mine may not look the greatest now, she will soon. There is nothing like the feeling of bringing her HOME. I know it's hard to see, but I am grinning from ear to ear in that pic of her on the trailer coming home... ----------> <---------- Just like this. I have heard a lot of stories from a lot of people since I posted this up and I think your's kinda tells it the best. It may not be that the car was soooo great or that it won all the trophys at all the shows, but it is what you did with (or in) your car that makes you smile each and every time you see it.

I have been going over ideas that I have had for this old girl for some time and I think that I have finally found my direction on it. I will hopefully have some updates on the progress next week when I will finally get some days off.. (as you can see, I am writing at 4:30 in the morn after work). I hope to have the interior the rest of the way out and have the inside all cleaned up. I used to run this car as a stereo car back in my professional installer days and I had nearly forgotten how much Dynamat is in this ol' girl. It sure will be a quiet ride when she's done.... .

Plans:
I know I am gonna go with the 91-92 ground effects and front and rear spoilers and a set of grid tails (cliched, but I have wanted to do that since I got her). The 2.8L and matching 700r4 are coming out and the rear will be swapped for a disc brake rear. I would LOVE to go with a LS1 and 6-sp conversion, but TIME is the major obstical there. A full, yet streetable, rollcage needs to be in there, some custom wheels, and the darkest black paint on the market for the outside...... There are TONS more mods to be done on her, but this is just the start..... Whattya think ?

P.S. Progress is being slowed by the introduction of the newest member of the family...... '92 RS 5.0L that I picked up the other day for a daily driver.....

man how many thirdgens do you have now? lol i wish i could park my first and only thirdgen and restore her and still drive a thirdgen.

Hahahahaha..... 5
'92 RS 5.0L - The one I just bought
'91 Z28 - Code38
'90 RS Convertible (Project)
'89 RS - The one this thread is about....
'87 Z28 - Was soooo cheap I couldn't pass it up.... 4 Sale
and I just got rid of an '87 IROC that I bought as a driver, but ended up parting out and junking....it was thrashed and rusted out.
The new one I just bought needs a little work cause the kid I bought it from just put it in a ditch. Needs 2 fenders, front spoiler, pass side ground effect, and pass side tail light. The castle nut broke and the wheel came off the spindle, so I will be putting a new spindle and A-arm on the pass side just incase something got bent. It's really a pretty clean car.

thats great to hear, i've been following this thread for awhile now, and i cannot wait to see more progress on it, but i'd love to see some pictures of it now!

If you've been following along, then I should have some updates tomorrow. The front end should be coming off in the morn. I have to get some panels and it should get some paint and be back together soon......

My first thirdgen is a 1989 IROC-Z black hardtop 305 TPI auto. I am very proud to say that since 1997 I still have her today and for a long time to come.

I don't think I am ever gonna let her go again. It looks like crap now, but someday soon that will all change. I had planned to do a lot of work on it today, along with the '92 RS, but of course, on my first real day off in over 3 weeks and it is pouring outside. My driveway looks more like a river than a place to park my cars....

ahhhhh the life of the rich

The rich ???? I am by no means rich. I work my butt off at my job and put the rest of my time into my cars. I live in a small house with my girlfriend and have a small garage that is almost too small to do any major work in, but we manage. Just because I have 5 cars doesnt mean I am rich, it means that I have found them for the right price and worked on them to make them nice. In my case 5 cars makes me smart, not rich......

Damn 5 cars...lol

I am hoping to get them all lined up at this old antique train depot next door to my house and get some good pics of them all lined up....... Of course that's gonna be like 10 years from now when they are all done....

I have 6, 4 of them are thirdgen's 1 is a 2002 silverado and 1 is a 1999 envoy, and i am by no means rich, I have $40 to live off of for the next 2 weeks.