There's an ad in the local newspaper a junkyard selling a rare 1985 IROC-Z special addition "Magnum" with no motor. How rare are these cars and what so special about them? Is this worth looking into? Are there any restoration parts available for this car? The only info was able to get in the web is a person named Denis Mecham who modified F-bodies in the early 70's. 1st and 2nd gen Camaros and Firebirds, but no mention about third gen F-bodies. Is this really a rare car? Can this car be a collectable item like the COPO or 1LE of the 90's? Does anybody have more information about the Magnum IROC-Z?

" Why was the "Mecham Magnum" IROC-Z started?:

Back in the 1960's there was the Modified Yenko Camaro and the Shelby, the 1980's had the Mecham Racing out of Glendale, Arizona. Dennis Mecham, owner of Mecham Design, Performance, builds winning SCCA (Sports Car Club Of America) Trans-Am race cars. His company also modifies and sells F-body Cars for the street-and activity they're pursued with the Firebird Trans Am since 1977..

Mecham Racing decided to try and do the same for the IROC-Z.


What exactly is the "Mecham Magnum" IROC-Z?:

In April of 1985, Mecham Racing began offering a modified IROC-Z to the racing public (customers). Essentially this modified IROC-Z was a stock IROC-Z where they then added goodies from the extensive Mecham catalog.


What were featured in the "Mecham Magnum" IROC-Z?:

How much and what were added to the customers Mecham Magnum IROC-Z depended on the buyer's wants. However the basic Mecham Magnum IROC-Z Camaro ran a blueprinted port-injection system for optimized fuel and timing curves for the 305 V8. This increased horsepower by about 25-30, depending on year model. You could also specify a mildly warmed over 350-H.O. V8 (Street Legal) or the wilder, non-smoggable 350/350 Macho engine dressed to deliver 350 bhp. This last came with a Holley carb on an Edelbrock manifold, GM HEI distributor, and Tri-Y exhaust headers. Finally, and again for off-road use only, you could add a Chevrolet 406 V8 spitting out 400 bhp on regular fuel, a Doug Nash 5-speed, and a Dana 44 rear axle.

Suspension modifications included lowering the car an inch all around, adding Koni adjustable shocks, and increasing the spring rates slightly by adding new units. The Mecham treatment further included new swaybar pivot bushings and specific alignment settings.

On top of all that, there were 16-inch Ronal wheels and VR50 Goodyear Gatorback tires which gave even the base Magnum a skidpad number of .95g. And from there on, the sky became the limit. Trim items included the Mecham competition aero rear wing, a 4-spoke leather steering wheel, 170mph speedometer and matching tachometer, special decals and striping, Recaro seats, and special paint colors."

the question is how much does the guy want for it?

He wants $8000 which I think is too much for a car with no motor. But, how can I tell if this is a genuine Magnum IROC

Interesting.

Ya, asking too much for no motor.

Especially considering what Iron Duke said, it seems like most of the mods were in the engine. Everything else can be done to the car for pretty cheap. And if it doesn't have an engine, it probably doesn't have those Ronals anymore either. Definitely not worth $8k.

I'll called this ad and it's a wholesaler liquidator up north, according looks like this car was sitting in the back of a dealer lot for some time. He claims this vehicle was recovered from a police auction a decade ago in New York state. Question is, what's it doing up here and why has no one took interest for this car. Especially if it's a rare breed.

As was said, the majority of the Mecham IROC-Z was the engine. Without it, what is it really worth? A 69 Z28 with a CE block is still a 69 Z28, but the value is considerably less than one with the original 302. The same is true for the ZL1. If it's a ZL1 without the original engine, it becomes 1 of 69 VIN decoded ZL1s, but does not bring the value of the cars with their aluminum block 427s. I don't believe Mechum was even close to acheiving the status of the Yenkos, Bergers, Danas or Baldwin Motions, so future value is up in the air. Tell them you'll give 'em $8k with the engine and $1k without.

If the engine is gone, chances are the Doug Nash 5-speed is also gone. And it apparently has a rearend, but I'd wonder if it's really the Dana.

And as someone suggested, there's a good chance the wheels aren't even the Ronals.

Did they say what condition the Recaro seats are in? Prolly not very good, being 22 years old.

As it sits, it's just another "project." So I'd agree, no more than $1,000.

I think one of the sad things is the fact that the VIN would not hold anything special to denote it as a "Magnum" In short, remove the engine and you have another IROC-Z.

At most $800 w/o engine.

John