cerberus

By scotiapilot at 2012-02-19


Steven ordered my car new, he also owned since new a 1969 Z28 he purchased as a GM plant employee.


Here are some interesting things he said in brief:

He ordered 6 months prior to release of the 85 IROC
He says that GM said they were only to make 2000 for the public and after the first 2000 were ordered they opened it up to 20000
He said the order forms early on did show Black as an option...but later it did.
G92 vs G80, He said that the GM plant employees all thought the Gov Loc was far superior to the LSD and in order to get the G80 locker it had to be special ordered as the G80.
After Van Nuys was closed GM Arlington got a few transfers. He siad the Van Nuys employees told him stories of drunk workers horrible production assembly and one story of a guy who was so drunk he puked in a Camaro and they didnt clean it up but just installed carpet over it and let it run. Fit and finish ws job none.

He showed me that the 85 IROC TPI was recalled for overheating hei controll modules and the TPI spark plugs were replaced and gapped to .035 as that kept the modules from overheating.
He showed me the campaign sticker on my car. they also recalled the car for an idler arm issue.

Ill think of more as i recall. Pretty interesting

Dartht33bagger

How did you find him?

cerberus

He still lives in the same house he did when he bought the car. Address on the docs I got with the car.


He even gave me all his photos and the original lic plate it came with.

camarosrock1989

iTrader: (1)

That is really a amazing story, very nice. Did he say he wanted the car back? lol
How many owners after him and before you?

puma1552

iTrader: (1)

Very cool, car is gorgeous.

Dmans85

Great story overall. Sickening part about the puking. I can just see a few of the guys around the drunk laughing it up as the car went along the line.

cerberus

He also said fit and finish of Van Nuys cars were less than others. He went around the IROC pointing out different parts, panels etc that should have been trimmed or cut to fit correctly and the van nuys plant guys did not do it. Sad to hear but happy to hear how much he took pride in his job.

By scotiapilot at 2012-02-19

camarosrock1989

iTrader: (1)

And it still looks that good! Nice that you take pride in your car!

cerberus

Thank you very much, he was thrilled at the paint. Said it was perfect, I will install the decals here in a few weeks, we just had a baby so my time is limited.


He saw that the circa 1985 radar detector he installed in it back in 85 was still working and in the same place was awesome.

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

You care to point out the details of where things were supposed to be trimmed to fit? Im having a hard time imagining what parts these are.

cerberus

Plastic trim, where you lift the rear glass near the roof, Front air dam and skirting,

He showed me where the car was supposed to have "rosebud" fastners that the factory should have installed but somebody on the line didnt.
Kick panels to floor trim area's, most of the interior plasti trim pieces.

He said the interior guys had tools to trim plastic etc. to get a flush fit. If the piece didnt fit they were to find one that did.

camarosrock1989

iTrader: (1)

I believe it, look at all the guys on here that complain about why things don't line up. A lot of threads on messed up interior and the rear glass. The doors, list is endless. would love to see more picture's of the inside of your car!

mr396

Very cool story! When he says the G80 had to be special ordered what did that entail. We need to find out more on the G92/G80 in the 85 IROC.

cerberus

He said that he and other employees just agreed about "locking vs LSD" and he checked that option. Nothing more.
When I asked about g92, in a very Texan twang he said "nah, g80 was the thing to get".
I his 69z had black interior and he said the order docs didn't have black as an option yet. This must account for the few irocs with blue/black color combo.

cerberus

He also said everybody knew about the roof cracking when ordering t-tops and most plant guys in Arlington ordered non t-top cars.

cerberus

Sorry to keep reposting but im remembering things he said.

DECALS, he said they were crap. Always messed up fromt he factory like the guy doing them must have been drunk too.

cerberus

Another piece of info, dirty radiator reservoir tanks. He said all new GM cars in 1985 had a 1x1 inch wax tablet put in the tank, he said it was stop leak and thats is what made most tanks dirty looking after a short while.

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

Where does the T-top roof crack? The hardtop roofs crack too... I guess it must have just taken them a lot longer.

cerberus

I think you have to put yourself in the mindset of 1985, GM plant employee, etc. I would imagine he saw, heard, and read things we see 25+ years later.
I am thinking the Ttop models cracked first and eventually the non t tops did. The car was only 3 years old at that time too.

Motown

This whole thread is beyond amazing. Not only did you find the original owner of your car, which is cool enough as it is, but this guy was also a plant employee.

I highly doubt this came up, but was there a reason why fog lamp switches for 85 IROC-Z cars were sometimes below the headlight switch, and others like mine are on the dash below the headlight "pod" like where your left knee would be?

Keep the posts coming as you think of more things that he said.

One of the best threads Ive read in a while.

Benjamin1

A very interesting read. I have an 85 IROC loaded - including T tops and G92. Car is immaculate with only 5,000 miles, totally original.

cerberus

Damn good question, mine is below bezel too.

cerberus

What type of limited slip unit do you have? please post pics? Is it metric gauges?

mr396

Welcome to the best thirdgen site on the web. Could you post a photo of your spid?

mh82camaro

yeah very nice thread. awesome you found they guy. yeah keep posting everyting and anything you can think of...its goo to hear from the inside about what they did to our cars and what the could have done but didn't etc. flaws he knows about...eveything. by the way your car is beautiful....

cerberus

thanks,I take great pride in my car.