Green89IROC305

Am I correct to assume that this car was the 8583rd gm vehicle produced for the 87 model year? The door plastic has production date 8/86.

Also from what I can gather is the original purchaser custom ordered this Camaro. He stopped short of the 350 engine. For original price it seems to have cost around 22,000-25,000 I think.

Also I want to kill the person that put the 92 Heritage rims on this car. Wow sorry I forgot to add the pic to the thread.

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

I would think that the 8/86 would be the later build for a 86 and I would think the cost would be more around the $18-$19,000 area.

Green89IROC305

The model year for the car is an 87 for sure. Usually around august the cars built are for the next model year, or so I have heard. The base for the IROC was 17xxx as I recall. With the options on this, IROC level 3 roof console, t-tops among others, the price list I found somewhere made it seem about 22-25k optioned out, was looking for confirmation on that. More for curiosities sake than anything. To the build number 108583, 8583 is the number of cars made before mine. Is that only thirdgens or gm vehicles as a whole?
If as a whole, being under 10k for an entire model year is a neat claim I can make.

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

I always was under the impression that their was 2 builds for the model year,but you do have an 87.here's a link.
https://www.thirdgen.org/1987-chevy-camaro

Green89IROC305

Thanks. You could be right about the two builds thing. I just remember reading somewhere that typically cars produced after august are for the next model year.

scottmoyer

The '87 model year was started in August '86, so yes, your car is an early build for '87. The VIN sequence number is strictly for fbody production at that factory. In '87, there were two factories, Norwood and Van Nuys. Your car should have the better paint as it's a Norwood car.

The price varies for an IROC-Z based on the option package you selected. The Camaro Z28 base price was $12,819. Your car with package 1SC added $3204 and a $414 destination price puts your car at a base of about $16500 without the other options added. My car was fully loaded and came in a tick over $21k.

By taking the base price of a 1SC IROC-Z, add the options that you have in addition to 1SC, I came up with a price around $19,600. That includes destination charges. You might have a couple hundred added in that I didn't grab up, but the car was not priced over $20k when new.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

There aren't "two builds", no matter what's on some "enthusiast" web page.

Vehicle assembly plants run more or less continuously. Cars come out at the rate of one every x # of seconds, however many hours a day, all year long, unless there is insufficient demand for the particular model of car being built at that plant; in which case they reduce production first by eliminating overtime, then be increasing the takt time (which can only be done up to a point), then by eliminating shifts, then by totally idling the plant the last 2 of which were all but impossible in years past due to union contracts and therefore were last resorts only. The mfrs have been able to get somewhat of a handle on that situation in recent years, which is why there's no such thing as "program cars" any more, or those money-bleeding "year end sales" that was when about half of the total year's purchases were made, since no one in their right mind would buy a car any other time during the year because everybody knew that doing so would have cost thousands more; the mfrs aren't forced to overproduce the way they used to have to.

New model year cars hit the showrooms right near Labor Day (Sept 1ish). It takes time - over a month - to build up enough inventory in enough variety, ship the new cars from assy plants to dealerships, prep them at the dealers, etc. etc., to be ready to do meaningful business on or about Labor Day. Most of the car companies shut down the lines in late May or early June, do any changeover type work for a few weeks, and are back in production by mid July; otherwise there would be no cars on the showroom floors on Labor Day.

Scott's description of the VIN generation is exactly accurate. Each assembly plant starts its sequence #s at some arbitrary point, and the # just increments from there. So, the 1st 11 of the VIN tell the country, company, body style, restraint system, engine, year, and plant the car was built at; the last 6 are the sequence # which may not have started at 0 (usually doesn't in fact... for our cars, Camaro sequence #s usually started at 100001 and Firebird ones at like something like 600001). Since there were 2 plants making them for many years, there could theoretically have been 2 cars with identical VINs except for the plant code although this isn't real likely. Most assy plants only make one body type of vehicle, so you won't have a situation where sequential VINs are assigned to a Camaro, then a truck, then a Caprice, then a Cavalier, etc. But since a given body is (was) built in multiple flavors so that each "brand" could have their "unique" product which usually meant nothing more substantial than different stickers (e.g. Camaro/Firebird), Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, Olds, & Cadillac could all have their sequence #s mixed, if all were built at the same plant for a particular body style, as ours were.

His price estimation also agrees well with what I recall from that time frame. I wasn't in the market for a new car in 87, but I had been a few years before, at which time I bought one, and was again a year or 2 later, when I didn't; I can tell you that list on a fully loaded Z28 in the 83-84 time frame (say, L69 w T-tops and all power) was in the $15000ish range, and in 88-89 it was $20 - 21000 (L98, again w all the trimmings). Nobody paid anywhere near that though. At that time, on these cars, most sold for around $2000 - 2500 below list. Maybe a little higher discount in the 87-88-89 range because of economic conditions; maybe a little less discount all year except Aug & Sep, and maybe ALOT more discount in those 2 months of "year end sales" especially on the less-popular or more brutally over-produced colors and option combinations.

The "better paint" comment has to do with California emissions regulations that made it impossible to use VOC based paint out there (go visit LA in about early April, you'll INSTANTLY understand why); so they had to use water-based paint there, which at that time, was pretty crappy. The Norwood plant used oil-based paint right up to the end. Nowadays virtually ALL cars have water-based paint; the technology on that has come A LONG WAY since the mid 80s.

Green89IROC305

yeah I know all about the better paint, sadly my paint was not maintained, the clear is flaking off and is sun faded. Appreciate the info on assembly procedures, and the estimated cost. I wonder why the site I found sometime last year listed the base price on the IROC at 17xxx. Sadly I cannot remember what that site was.

Thanks for answering the question on the build order. I was under the impression that it was sequential for all Chevy models. Either way I like that my production number is so low, for no other reason other than knowing it was one of the first Camaro's produced in 87.

Cheers guys.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Quite a bit different from the price "real" cars ACTUALLY PRESENT AND AVAILABLE AT THE DEALER list for.

If you've ever seen a "base" car, you'll know what I mean... like, how many IROCs have you come across, that had the 305 TBI, manual trans, no power anything, no A/C, AM radio only, 15" wheels, no T-tops, vinyl seats, rubber floor mat instead of carpet, etc. etc. etc. NOBODY wants a car like that, and the factory KNOWS it, therefore they didn't produce them. Even if the "ad copy" "says" "starts at {whatever}", doesn't mean there's ACTUALLY any such thing in existence.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

I should have mentioned:

Go visit an assembly plant sometime. Any plant, any mfr. There's a Honda plant in Columbus OH, a Toyota plant in Georgetown KY, and the Vette plant (my personal fave) in Bowling Green KY, all within a few minutes' drive of where you are. Too bad the Norwood plant is gone, that'd be even closer. Although, if you know where The Urology Group's new bldg. is in Norwood, right by the 562 at Montgomery Rd, you can see that site from their front entrance. Not much to see now except a railroad loading dock and some weeds, though.

There's an amazing amount of spank-off crap posted on "enthusiast" web sites that is just plain drivel and made-up fantasies by people who are "enthusiasts" but have no connection with and no knowledge WHATSOEVER about how the car business ACTUALLY works. In fact I'd bet that 95% or more of the "experts" on "history" on this site, especially the Firebird people (you know who you are) have NEVER STEPPED FOOT inside a car mfr facility; and consequently have not the foggiest vaguest remotest hint of a whiff of a glimpse of a CLUE how the car mfrs ACTUALLY function, but instead are just shooting off their mouth about what they "wish"it was. Go visit a plant and become an expert. I HIGHLY recommend the Vette plant. Drive down there in the evening, get a room, and take the early tour. It's worth EVERY PENNY it'll cost you.