chazman

iTrader: (4)

So, completely as an aside, my black, '89, hardtop, would have been 1LE 112. At the very last moment, since this was intended as my daily driver, I added AC.

The rest is, as they say, history.......

Griffbl

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Sort of. Pretty much all current brake upgrades involve cutting the caliper mounting ears off the stock spindles, and drilling/tapping for an adapter bracket to bolt a better caliper onto the car. There are a variety of sources that offer spindle modification services, or modded spindles, along with all the rest of the parts to complete a conversion.

But. 1LE brakes aren't the best available, and since they're oddball 1LE thirdgen specific, the parts are harder to come by and more expensive than the alternatives. The "LS1" brake upgrade is cheaper, and more likely to be able to be serviced with parts you can get at the local parts store. 1LE calipers, rotors, pads, will have to be ordered, and may not even be available.

Griffbl

I am mostly a Ford Guy, (Mustangs mostly) so much of this GM stuff is new to me. I have owned 2nd Generation T/A's between 1970-1976, and a couple of 1970 1/2 Z-28's, but the 3rd Gen Iroc's interest me some today, and I know little about them. Would a 1990 5.7 TPI example be considered an "MPFI" car?

thanks so much!

Brad

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Yep. Multi-Port Fuel Injection. Ie everything except TBI.

67restoproj

lots of great discussion on the white car. overpriced? My question is what is it worth ?

Time2Fly

So much so that Chevrolet continues to use that terrible moniker on the new "junk" they're trying to push off on people.

MY87LT

iTrader: (2)

The 1LE brakes were at the time the best available. Of course, now we have several options to adapt.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Although I think the 6th gen Camaro is pretty ugly, the 1LE version of it is a badass ride and the one I would get if I were in the market.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Probably half of the asking price. If it were to go through a major national auction.

I can mostly agree. I'm sure there were better brakes available if a person had the coin, but for GM... Now there's really no reason to go 1LE with the other options available. I put together a 1LE setup last year, still not sure what it's going on, but in retrospect it wasn't a very cost efficient package to assemble. I wouldn't do it a second time.

PurelyPMD

iTrader: (3)

Well that's an interesting turn of events - you actually own 1LE specific parts Drew? What's next? Fabricating a swinging pickup are you? LOL

Griffbl

Well, i think it would likely do better than 1/2 the ask, if a real, well attended auction, with no reserve. But that is only my opinion! The seller is asking $44k now. STILL too high. I got a kick out of Drew's comments as to air conditioning, which I can understand. I live in Dallas, and it is SMOKING hot here, so A/C is great to have.

I do view this car a bit differently than do some, and also maybe less so on a practicality basis. I view this car, to me, as a relatively rare example of a 1990 vintage muscle car. What I mean by that is that it is literally more like my 1970 1/2 Z28 than other, newer similar 1990's examples. It has manual windows and door locks, as did my 1970 1/2. (Heck, to be fair, even a bunch of later 1970's Trans Am's had power windows and locks!) It has no A/C. It has no rear window defroster in the glass, and no cruise control, just like my 1970. It is a radio delete car. 1990 is the latest year model I have ever remembered seeing that! There are other examples I am sure I have left out, but the point is, the car is RAW. It does have advantages to those cars of 1970 also, and many! It is tight, rattle free (or should be), has a very useful hatch vs. a miniscule spare tire dominated trunk, electronic ignition, which sure beats points, and a TPI system, which sure beats a carb. It has much better visibility than most muscle cars. It has vastly superior brakes and suspension vs. muscle car standards. Heck, in this form it is probably lighter than a 1970 1/2 Z28, and it has Overdrive! So I guess I look at it as a 1990 rendition of a muscle car, of which there were precious few......but that is just me. I kind of like some of the Rough edges. It certainly isn't about the fastest or best handling, as even a new ecoboost mustang or camaro v6 example would trounce this thing in every performance aspect. What I see is about the last time cars LOOKED different, and were readily identifiable. Heck everything new today looks kind of blob like, but with a few old styling cues from the past.

That being said, those who say you should have A/C etc. have a good point. Creature comforts makes the car vastly more useable. A/C is critical here in the Spring and even Winter as a dehumidifier and window defogger. Cruise control? It would be nice to have as I would drive this thing some! So would a rear window defroster. (If I could order one of these today, I would probably opt for cruise control and the rear defroster, and leave off A/C as to the weight and miniscule performance difference which most surely exists only in my own mind . I hate it that these cars are cloth, or seemingly almost always seem to be. I even prefer vinyl to cloth, and of course leather to vinyl, as I can just wipe it off! As others have pointed out, I think a stripe would help the appearance immensely....and it could be removed later to keep it original. But, again, to each his own. Thanks to everyone, especially Drew, for getting me up to speed as to how these cars were equipped.

PurelyPMD

iTrader: (3)

What I like about the 1LE program is that it was the first time that GM (specifically Chevrolet & Pontiac) built a car to go to the track since the corporate edict outlawed that in the early 60's. GM was getting beat by Ford and the engineers were tasked with job to change that, and change it they did.

Although some of the parts later made it into broader production, the 1LE program was a specific collection of everything that was good in 3rd gen production of the time and nothing else. Like mentioned above you got the good gears, the good motors with the HIPO cams, the lightweight driveshaft, (in the first two years) a specific fuel tank baffle, specific bushings, springs and shocks that were computer selected and the one item all of the haters like to boil it down to brakes. Keep in mind these brakes required a larger spindle and bearing and located the wheels further out on the corners for better handling. A/C was not necessary and not allowed, the R7U cars did include power windows and locks but most of the cars were low option strippers, without even a radio.

Win these cars did and accomplished the task set forth by GM. They meet all of the traditional earmarks of a collectable car - highest horsepower offerings of their day, low production, race pedigree, special options not available to the general public. With over 2 million of the third gen Camaros and Firebirds built there were only 1532 1LE cars built. Chevrolet produced 1,360 of them with Pontiac only building 172.

Value will always be a subjective thing but I've said before & will say again here, I believe that when the run up in third gens is complete, the 1LE's will lead the list.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

No Sir. My fuel pickup is strictly monogamous.

Time2Fly

Do some research on the history of the RPO ZR1. It's purpose was similar to the RPO 1LE. What's more, ZR1 as well as 1LE have both been reused by GM in the 21st century to sell supercars. However, there aren't any Corvette enthusiasts out there bashing early ZR1 cars.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

No one is bashing 1LEs either. The mythical nature of the 1LE is just a little out of touch with reality. It's a bit out of hand when almost every listing for a 1LE, claim it has equipment that never existed.

MY87LT

iTrader: (2)

Oh I've heard several people at car shows talking about how crappy the C4 ZR1's compared to the new Z06. It always happens. And it's usually the people that have never owned or driven a Corvette period.

scottmoyer

The original ZR1 was also a different Corvette than the rest. It wasn't just a brake option, stolen from another car in the lineup. It had a different engine, wider rear end, wider tires, etc. If the 1LE had similar optioning, it would carry a much higher desire from 3rd gen owners. Any time a car gets an engine the rest of the lineup doesn't, that makes it special.

Time2Fly

Scott, you're referring to the C4 Corvette here. The early ZR1 optioned cars aren't C4 cars, they're C3 cars (1970 to be exact) and it was the C3 cars I was referring to in my post. In 1970 ZR1 started as an option similar to 1LE on the C3 cars, by the time the C4 cars got the ZR1 option in 1990 your description above is correct.

PurelyPMD

iTrader: (3)

I'll add that the 1LE wasn't "just a brake option, stolen from another car in the lineup" as research has proven the caliper although similar to the corvette, was not a part found on any other vehicle made by GM, neither was the spindle, and although the casting of the rotor was shared with other vehicles was drilled specific for the Camaro.

They did share the same engines as the rest of the lineup but had a wider front stance and at least in their first 2 years of production had parts outside of the brakes that were not found on any other 3rd gen.

PurelyPMD

iTrader: (3)

That's very cool & I hadn't known about those - cooler still that they built 1 convertible in 1971!

MY87LT

iTrader: (2)

And let's not forget the ZR2
http://www.superchevy.com/features/1...nvertible-zr2/