i was thinkin the other day about how strange the situation was when i bought my car, i figured id share with yall and see if anyone else had something a little weird about meetin their third gen...

ok so my parents and i had been out all day looking for a car to buy me, by the end of the day with no luck i decided to give up for now and just go home, well as soon as my dad got home he got on the internet and found an 89 camaro, reluctantly i decided to go with him to look at it, the guy selling it had us meet him in a tom thumb parking lot ( not to strange these days to havesomone meet u somewhere other than ur house right?) well as soon as i saw it i wanted it, bright red, crazy loud( no exhaust at the time) it was beautiful, so we took it for a test drive and decided to buy it, the only thing my dad didnt do was cheack the title :-\ so as soon as we handed the guy th cash he started running away across the parking back to his house,i yelled to my dad and he imeadiatly jumped in the car to check the title, it was not the correct title for the car and it was in an ohio envelope, my dad took off in the car after the guy ( maybe now a stolen car) but with no luck he didnt find him, so my dad then drives to the police station explains the stuation and calls the guy from the number on the for sale ad, he answered and said that he didnt have time to register it he just got it from a buddy that was trying to pay him back with the car but it wasnt stolen, the police ran the plates and he was telling thr truth, so finnally i got my car and now i love it, weird tho huh? lets hear yalls stories...

 

I posted in a thread over at cz28.com about dream cars. I said my practical dream car was a triple black 89 IROC convertible. The very next day, a friend of mine found a black 89 IROC convertible in the for sale section. The next weekend I was on my way to Virginia (from Michigan, what a damn drive!) to pick her up.

Now the work begins. . . . .

 

I bought my car in 99 for 3500. Loved it, but didn't have the money to do what i'd like with it. Ended up yr and a half down the road blowing my 2nd trans and burnin up the fuel pump, so got rid of it. 2 yrs later came across it for sale again at the SAME car lot!!!! The guy tryed to sell it to me as a 350 car saying it wasn't the same car. So I told her the VIN number of my old car which was the same, he still lied about it insisting its not the same car. I went home, came back 15 minutes later with the old key to it I still had, got in it in front of him and fired it up! LMAO it was priceless to see the look on his face. Got it for 400 less than he wanted for that. Hows that for irony?

 

well i had been lookin at late model thirdgens(91-92) for several months. I was so tired of my truck and wanted a sports car badly. I knew a RS was what was in my price range, so i didn't even bother looking at Z28's. well after almost giving up hope of finding an RS in good condition, my girlfriend saw a Z28 for sale(she didn't know it was a Z) when she took her niece to the hospital. She knew i was looking at those cars so she wrote the number down. So just out of curiosity i called and went to look at it myself. As soon as i saw it i knew i had to have it. Near perfect paint, interior, and 5.7 engine, i wouldn't let it slip from me. So i convinced my parents to go look at it. Lucky for me, my mom really like it too, so they agreed to loan me the extra money for the car. So the day after they looked at it, I drove it home, and have vowed to keep the car until I the day I die(hopefully).

 

I bought my T/A at a motorcycle shop in Lima, OH. Apparently, the previous owner traded it in on a motorcycle because he just got devorced and told the shop owner that he was finally free. Luckily, I found the car and have enjoyed my baby for about 2 years now. His loss, my gain.

 

My mother has worked for the same Pontiac dealership since the late 70's. I pretty much grew up there. During the summers I would help clean cars and sweep floors and stuff. I became a huge fan of Firebirds and F-bodies. In 1985 I was 12 years old and working during the summer and they got in a black and gold Trans Am. Went on the showroom floor. I used to make sure that car was spotless. I was completely in love with the car. When it got sold 2 months later I was crushed. Flash forward to 1994, I had just sold my car and was looking for something new. Mom calls said I should come down to the dealership after work that they got in a trade I might be interested in. Got down there and she had it cleaned up and sitting in front for me. It was that same car. The original owner traded it in on a new 94 TA. I bought it that day.

 

I had a friend, not a close friend, but someone we traded favors with every once in awhile (my husband would fix the friend's cars, the friend would come over and help us when we built our garage, etc) who I went to see one day in '02 and noticed a new car in his driveway. A red '85 Trans Am.

Well, I'd always wanted a Trans Am, especially after I had to give up my first '85 to the junkyard. So I inquire about the car and ask my friend if he wanted to sell it. He said "nope" and I left it at that for the moment. I pestered him off and on for awhile, but he wouldn't change his mind.

Keep in mind this guy knew as much about cars as your average housecat. He told me it didn't run, this, this and that were wrong with it, etc etc etc. His girlfriend had bought it for $500 bucks and had planned to give it to her daughter. But you know, no one there knew what to do to fix it and they were all dirt poor so it just sat there.

About a year later, I found out both the friend and his girlfriend were crack addicts. They'd been selling stuff off left and right to fund their habit and he called me asking if I wanted to buy his '78 Toyota. Call me cruel if you will, but I have no tolerance for drug addiction so I saw my chance and took it.

I asked if he wanted to sell the Trans Am. "Nope, never gonna sell it" he said. And that was that, so I thought. An hour later, however, his girlfriend calls. Do I wanna buy the Trans Am? You bet your crack addicted butt I do!

I was prepared to give her a thousand no questions asked. I hadn't even sat inside the car yet, but I knew what it was worth to me and the exterior of the car was superb save for a few chips in the paint. She says "How about $600?". I was there check in hand that night.

We get there, no one's home. The key's in the car and we brought a battery with us, so we proceed to check things out. The hubby plugged a few vaccuum leaks and she was running just fine. This, we didn't tell to our "friend" or his woman though. We just pocketed the key and came back the next day to pick it up.

To make a long story short - We paid for it, I met the girl at the DMV to switch the title over to my name and she promptly left to go buy some crack. I promptly drove my dream car home. After making sure there were no crack rocks hidden under the seats of course.

We've since severed our friendship with these people, but the guy actually called and asked me not too long ago if he could HAVE the car back because they'd never paid for it and the owner before them was going to kill him. Haha! Yeah. Riiiight.

Too bad, so sad. MINE NOW!

 

My car was bought new back in 1988 in Garden, Michigan, in 1993 it was a trade in, in Phoenix Arizona!!
It was sold to a Dutch second hand car dealer on holiday, who took the car to The Netherlands by ship, in 1994 I bought it, at first I wanted a Corvette, but they were too expensive overhere, the black Firebird Formula 350 was the closest thing to a Corvette.
After all, the Firebird Formula is even rarer overhere, only a handfull are sold, so I like it more than a Vette at last!

 

the search:

i spent about two and a half months looking for a clean 91-92 Camaro convertible. After all that time, i find this nice black 91. everything i want, i test drove it, it was great. the dealer wanted too much. so i went home and thought about it. the next day i decide to get it. i call the dealer, only to find it sold right after i left yesterday! damn. so i goto the motorcycle shop i usually hang out at... a friend there reminded me the new autotrader comes out today.. so i go across the street and pop in the local 7-11.. i thumb thru it, and there she is.

the cars history:

the story of the car started back in 90. this older gentalman ordered the car from the dealership. he got pretty much every option you could want. he took excelent care of the car for a few years, then for reasons not told to me, he stopped driving it.. it remained parked in his garage for the next several years.

after that time, he took it to his local chevy dealership, and had it brought back from storage. everything on the car has always been GM or AC delco. he had everything done by the dealer. after getting the car back he drove it for only a short while before he realized that he just couldnt take the hassle of getting in and out of it. hes a older gentalman with either a artificial hip, or hip surgery (not sure) and he just couldnt get in and out of it.. so with a heavy heart he sells it to some guy..

this guy buys the car for his wife and two kids (kids roughly 6 and 8). he works at Firestone, so the car gets new Firestone firehawks (worse tires ever) and new brakes. he gives it to his wife, only to discover that the kids dont fit in the back.. there is no way this will work out for her as a daily driver with the kids.

he doesnt even have the title in his name yet, but he puts the car in auto trader. this is when i meet him. being leery of buying a car thats not in the guys name, i talk to the old man and orignal owner of the car. he not only tells me of the info, but tells me that in the spare tire well, he stuck the orignal papers for the car.. everything was there....except they had remained in the tire well, and the rain had gotten them soaking wet.. they were all stuck together. so i can read some of it, but most is unlegable.

 

My dad told me that I could buy some foreign car and do whatever I wanted to it, or i could wait until I was 18, and have my Camaro with a V8. (he wasn't too crazy about the power)
I told him that there was no way I was going to settle for anything less than an IROC-Z. It was my dream car. I spent so many nights just surfing this site, and looking on autotrader.
A machine shop behind my girfriend's house had a red Iroc sitting back there for at least 2 years. I always looked back there at it on my way to the mall. It was hit in the front end, had no fenders or front clip..
My girlfriend and I were out walking one November evening, and I decided to go take a look at this thing. 305, auto, t-tops, damn window was down. Called the guy up, and he said he'd get rid of it for $700. I practically ran down there and he fired it up for me. First crank it fired right up. Brought my dad down and he told the guy to hold it because we wanted it. And i told him to put the window up so it didn't get snow inside the car.
I could have done a flip right there! Car had minimal rust and was originally assmbled in the Van Nuys plant. It was the most beautiful hunk of metal I had ever seen. Pure artwork, and I was only 16!
May 25th is rolling around, and I'll be 18. Car's finally almost done!

 

My senior year in HS my friends sister had a Teal green 88 IROC Z that didnt run, had a fuel injection problem. My friends dad told me he would sell it to me for 2000$ and I asked my dad if he could help me out and he said no, I needed something more sensable. Even though I was entering the army a month later and I would be able to pay it all in a matter of months. Bottom line I didnt get the car, but I ended up with a 91 S10 with a 4.3L which was very fast! Had some Cameo package on it too. Fast forward to march 2002 when I get out of the army, I come home for a bit and a new friend of my mothers had an 89 IROC Z, blue with a 5.7 for sale. He wanted 2500$ but I didnt have the money at the time. In November he ran into some money problems and offered to sell me the car for 500 bucks. Needless to say, the title was in my name the next day and I wonder how I ever spent so long without one!

 

I purchased my 1991 RS w/ 52k from a FORD dealer.

I hated the color but had to have ttops and 5 speed. Still dislike the color after 9 years though.

 

My story will top EVERYONES!!
The year was 2001 I was working one day and was speaking with someone about TA's and Camaros, he was saying how they were a dime a dozen but so much fun to not only drive but fix up/make faster. So i was driving down one of the main roads near my house and there sat a Bright Red Z28, had a little rake on it with larger wheels on the rear and the right price "2400" No chips/dents. Bought the car. Later found out tranny was ****, none of the gauges except the Spedo and Tach worked. Bought a rebuilt 700r4 tranny, had a buddy of mine drop it in, new water pump, new rims, 1500$ stereo.
Well come to find out that I had other bills that needed to be paid (My jeep that wasn't paid off yet) or my dad was going to take the car from me. Well, i ended up having to sell the car because of the bills. Put the selling price at 3300$ cause i figured no one will buy it for THAT MUCH! Yea well someone calls and says they are visiting with their friend and noticed my car for sale and wants to come see it. He comes with his friend and tests drives it. Loves it. Says he only has a travelers check, so im thinking "Sure Travelers checks are insured" he tells me to write his info down off his Drivers liscence, and gives me 2 phone numbers to reach him. Pays FULL Price for the car, i hand him the keys, he leaves. 3 days later check bounces after i cashed it at my bank. I paid off all my bills so i had 0 money and a -3300$ balance in my checking account.
Called police and gave info. Everything phoney.

Year and half goes by, im driving around for my job and i notice a Z28 that looks identical to mine. So i follow it. Dude pulls up to a house. I write down the address and went back later that night around 2-3a.m. with a flash light and the title and keys. I check vin#......ITS MY CAR!!
(Here i stop with keys ready to get in and drive off, I call the cops and tell them i found my car come get it!!) They say "Its not registered as stolen...it is retitled to these people blah blah blah"
My dad is long time friends with the chief of police and a few leutenants at the city station so he calls and talks with his friends, finds out that the dective who was working on my case retired and never put it on NCIC as stolen. Im furious. Im yelling at the cops on the phone telling them the car was never paid for, the bank is verifying everything im telling them and they still want to "Investigate" i tell them they can do their d*** investigating after i have my car back. I stopped driving by the house to check if my car was there because it just sat in the same spot everynight.
Cops finally decide to go get my car, but whats this??....Car isn't there? How can that be? The people SOLD the car to someone.

Another 1 1/2 - 2 years later almost.

About 3-4 weeks ago (Today is 5/6/04) im sitting in my office. I look over at a picture of my car and wonder where it is and what its doing, then I reminise *SP* about the fun me and old red had together and decide to do a VIN search on the internet for 18$. The car pulls up and says it is registered in a city about 30 min away from me and was registered back in December of '03.
I got so excited i just about fell out of my chair. I call the cops *its 10 pm no detective on duty* and tell them to go take my car back. "We can't do that we need to investigate we will have a detective call you back in the morning" He doesn't call me back so i call that next afternoon. No one gave him the message.
Well after 2 days he calls me back and says the car is in another state but will be back in state that coming friday. He spoke with the owners and explained everything. They had dumped a bunch of money into the car because when they got it, it wasn't running. So i naturally feel bad because if i would have gotten it back a year and a half ago they never would have bought the car and spent money on it. I still however want my car back because it is still my car, never was paid for but it is now, i paid for it TWICE! It was more expensive the second time i paid for it, AND I didn't even have the damn car!
Drove down to the city on a friday and picked my car up! YAY
:lala:

Paint is more faded, they switched the interior out with a TA leather interior, but never vacuumed the inside of the car so it looked terrible. They supposedly put a 350 motor in and another 700r4 tranny, a B&M shift kit. My wheels are gone and replaced with some terrible looking stock wheels. Rust spot on the hood under the half bra. and enough dirt caked on it that i think they either went out and rallied it the day before the cops took it from them OR they just never bothered to wash it?
In the 3 1/2 or so years it was gone i got married and bought a house etc. Wife says "Oh good we can sell it and use the money for something fun." Yea........NO! I told her we are keeping the car FOREVER. I have 2 other cars both in better condition and worth MUCH more then the camaro, and the nicer of the two is now parked in the driveway, and the camaro in the garage. Im in the process of making her what she used to be, with another color of course and some engine mods.

Try and top that story

 

I had worked two jobs for most of two years to buy me a newer TA, but since i was working all the time and had a free car to drive my dad covinced me just to save my money until i could pay for a car in full with extra cash left over. Well i got laidoff from one job and just decided to leave the other (I was graduating HS a decided what the hey i need a break) so im sitting with almost 11,000 in the bank (not enough for a decent LS1) i do what ever other 18 yo does and splurge. Well around june im looking in the paper for a cheap car(dont know what just something cool) and see an add for a $3300 90' GTA 98,000 i look up what a GTA is and find out its a TA. i make my mom go look at it with me (she hates it because it has big dent in the right quarter panel) The lady seems reluctent to start the car but does anyway but only for 5 min, I tell her ill get back to her and she says shes in a hurry to sell it. Two days i go back with my dad and theres only a 15 yo kid there and he begins to tell us who hes raced, how he put the dent in it, and basiclly how he tried to destroy it. So me and my dad figure we can get it for $2000. Call the brother (the real owner who in the reserves) and make the offer, he declines. 2 days later he calls me back says asks if the offers still good and i (knowing i got the upper hand) tell him to tell me everything thats wrong with the car. which include big dent frame bent, ****ed up radio wiring that caused the gauge lights no longer to work and THE CAR WONT HOLD WATER BECAUSE OF A STRIPPED BOLT HOLE WHERE THE THERMOSTAT HOUSINGS AT all done by little brother when he left for basic training. So i offer $1400 he gets upset but takes. I was out of town so i had my dad pick it up. About i week later we take the intake manifold off get the hole recaped and drilled put it back on and it runs beautfully and we take a cruse. The next morning the cars gone!!! i call the police and they find the little brother with it (he was pissed that they were selling it and kept a set of keys to the car). So the dude calls me says he sorry please dont press charges hes girl works at the pontiac dealership and can get me a new igintion and locks at half price i say no he has to pay for, he eventually makes hes brother pay and i had my car.

so in total i paid $1400 for the car $90 to get the manifold fixed, $300 to get the body work done and repainted black (my dads a body man and painter) and $600 for tires. so for at a grand less then asking price i got pretty good deal.
I still havent fixed the gauge lights fixed (im to cheap to get it done and to tall 6'3 to do it my self.

 

Picture it: Waco, Texas...year - 2000.

We had 88 pick up.

Gary had 84 Z.

Gary tells my hubby (Lynn) that he's looking for a truck.

Lynn tells Gary, "I'll trade you my 88 4x4!"

Gary laughs.

2 days later, Gary is at Lynn's work...with the Z. (68000 original miles).

Traded title-for-title.

Lynn shows up at MY work..the rest...is history.

 

Picture it: Waco, Texas...year - 2000.

We had 88 pick up.

Gary had 84 Z.

Gary tells my hubby (Lynn) that he's looking for a truck.

Lynn tells Gary, "I'll trade you my 88 4x4!"

Gary laughs.

2 days later, Gary is at Lynn's work...with the Z. (68000 original miles).

Traded title-for-title.

Lynn shows up at MY work to get my "okay" (HECK YEAH! I'VE ALWAYS WANTED A 3RD GEN CAMARO!!!!!)

The rest...is history.

 

I looked for a Nova for 3 years with no sucess....Looked at Monte Carlos and everything...I wanted GM muscle...My friend had a Camaro sitting in his barn...He wrecked it when he was 15, He was 19 then. It had been sitting in his barn since....No nose,fender,hood, smashed hatch, very very dusty. Got the old LG4 running and drove it home at night with one headlight and the alignment so off it was squealing going straight .6 months later it was my daily driver with all replaced body parts. 1 year later came a 350 Th-350 swap and $600 worth of exhaust. All new interior, billet grill etc...Now all my good stuff is being swapped into an 86 Iroc cause I am still struggling with suspension problems due to the wreck (bent subframe) But for $200 its a decision I will never regret, Even though I've dumped over 4g into it... Hooked on Thirdgens for life... 2 years so far....The rest of my life to go!!!

 

this used car lot had a 92 Z sitting out front. I stopped to look, it was out of my price range, so I bought the RS next to it...although later I figured the payment would only have been $40 more a month...

Now the weird thing: the very next day the Z was stolen off the lot and totaled. If I would have bought it, maybe it could have been saved?

 

Amazing story. glad you got your baby back!:hail:

 

well how about this. The RI registry wouldnt let me register my monte carlo ss without a registration from the previous owner. So after a few different tries I finally got a cop to get it. Then when I finally did register the car the car my mom drove to the registry to do it got stolen. And I ended up junking the monte cause of bad rust problems.

Nate

 

Traded a set of rims for the title to my 83 t-top TA

 

ok no offense to black people but i know you people like to keep everything !!!! ahh!! come on lol..well anyways, i went around near my house and notice a camaro..82-92 rs, i peeked in it and saw a 5 speed !! which i need!! all of a sudden i hear HEY! HEY! i said "what man" he goes "what you doin on my property" i go "you want to get that car off your hands cause i'll buy it from you" then he said " no i drive that car all the time..!!!! WTF the car to this day still has weeds growing huging the car all around it looks like its not driveable but i needed the tranny and swap from an auto to man... what the hell...dont you people just hate that stuff. car has never moved.. its BS

 

I was searching for a camaro/bird for about a year (98-99), wanted a 4th gen but couldn't afford one. I saw a green 91 in the ads and called the dealer but he said it was sold but they have a light blue one they just got in. I wasn't really sure about it I was thinking like 'baby blue' and didn't want to see it but my dad convinced me to. We had a hard time finding it as there are several different dealers with the same name. I happened across a red 95 V6 5 speed bird that I liked but we kept looking for the 'light blue 92'. We found the right lot but no camaros. I found the guy I talked to on the phone and it was in the garage so we follow him and he drives the car out.

My first impression was no way yuck. There was a strip of paint missing of the hood and was showing primer. The fender right behind the wheels was all scraped up and the interior was clean but blah to me. It did have a V8 which I really wanted (though I knew little of the LO3 at the time). My dad kinda liked it and gave him a $100 down payment. As they were going to repair the car.

For some reason I decide to buy it without seeing the finished product or EVER taking a test drive.
I go back to the dealer a week later, cashiers check in hand as it was sitting in the lot all I could say is WOW, they did an awesome job repainting the car, it looked immaculate (and it wasn't light blue as he said it was teal). So I took my test drive on the way home after buying it.

5 and a half years later I still have her and still looks great.
Not the best story but not common.

 

Wow, talk about a post back from the dead, people just dont look at dates...

 

Wow, talk about a post back from the dead, people just dont look at dates...


__________________

all the dates i see are from 2004 so what are you talken about?!?
SLOWFIVEOHsoslow

 

Here is my story. I saw it. I liked the body line. I drove it. I liked it. I needed some wheels for highschool. I bought it. Don't get any boring and simplier than that.

 

Still a pretty interesting thread regardless of 'age'. I used to hate 3rd gens and swore I'd never have one. My friend's friend had a red '85 IROC that we used to cruise around in, and it was "ok", but I'd never confess to liking it. He did take exceptional care of it, which I repsected - cosmedically I should say, mechanically he ran it into the ground. About the time he got a flashy fox-body Stang, the Camaro started running like crap. He didn't know beans about how to fix it, so whenever I was at his house I punished him with $20 offers for the car.

Eventially he wanted to buy a crotch-rocket from an impound lot for a mere $2000 but he needed the money NOW, so I was the first person he called. I was tired of driving my Nova every day and wanted to make it a track-only car, so I figured TPI, overdrive, 4 wheel disc, pretty comfy driver, so I went for it.

After I got it, I adjusted the timing and drove it every day. However, after driving it, the tranny took a dump, so it sat for a long time. I didn't really care, but then I decided to get it going again, so after dumping some cash into the tranny, the brakes went out, so I let it sit again for another long time.

Then after dumping more cash into the brake system, the engine finally takes a dump, so I let it SIT AGAIN for a very long time. I dumped a ton of cash into the engine, then once I thought it was stable, it was almost stolen and was not in drivable shape for a while, so it SAT AGAIN.

I got it back together, had the paint fixed, got all new stereo and rims, and was finally happy again. Then..... the friggin' motor TOOK A HUGE DUMP on me and it is NOW SITTING.

I think this car has sat the most and cost the most of any car I've ever owned. I love the car of course, and feel the only way to get out what I've put into it at this point is to drive it out, so I better enjoy it.

 

Well i had a 91 infinity Q45 i was trying to sell so i could by a 3rd gen.I saw an 88 GTA for sale on gtasourcepage.com that was a few hundred miles from me.I emailed him and asked if he would be interested in a trade plus cash.Well he just so happened to be looking for a bigger car.We met ,i drove his car and he drove mine.I traded him my Q plus $75!That car was a money pit and i would have paid much more for the trade!

 

this kind of post is ALWAYS good...dont matter how old it is...

Josh

 

Good point, And I agree, I was just surprised to see it again....

Wasnt trying to ruffle any feathers, just sayin it had been a while... It had been like 3 months since anyone posted... Its all good man! We're all here for a good cause I was just jokin around... Also sorry to get off topic, I read in your sig your planning on going pearl white... I'd suggest a color called Oxford White, it has lots of pearl and looks awesome, Thats what I painted my car No hard feelings

 

And since I dont have much for full pics on here since the original totalled pics, Heres one picture, Sorry for the crappy quality and size

 

One Day ( few yrs back) , i went down my fathers shop to help him out. And out near the gas pumps was a Beautiful 1991 Z28 black. I asked my father who owns it. And he gave me the keys and told me to start it. I looked at the odometer and it said 10 thousand somthin (cant rem exact) original miles. I was shocked. This was the exact car my dad wanted to buy for about 10 yrs (it was orgianly a customers car) So ever since then its been great. Weird thing was, i had no idea what kinda car it was (i was 14)

 

i had actually been looking at the fox body mustangs =D
87-93, but theyre more expensive than camaros, n there was no decent one in town, and my dad didn't want me to travel 500km's just to check a car out, so I looked in the paper and saw a 82 camaro z28 for sale, carbed 350 swapped from the previous owner. camaros are so pretty. but yeah, as soon as i heard her start it up o_O i creamed my panties n had to have it. lotsa edelbrck stuff under teh hood. was stored winters, no rust, amazing condition for a 22yr old car. bought it for $3400.
got new ball joints, new tires, new rims, new hood. all paid for by myself. so it's a 8000+ car now, n im 18 so i'm not really swimming in the cash. so now my uncles n family makes fun of me if something doesnt work. i mean come onnnn if i wanted a reliable car i would have bought a honda. but really. what kind of 18yr old wants to drive a honda only the ones who are made to. we all know everyone wants a V8

 

I had a 71 Chevy p-up that I was going to restore with a new cab and all but my son took it out and rearended someone. It had a 400 sbc in it. After rescuing it from the towing company (they wanted to keep the truck and not let me take the motor out), I brought it home. Asked my mechanic what car I could put my 400 in. He told me any chevy would work. So, I found the 84Z28 for 500 bucks. It needed to be restored. I had my friend rebuild the 400 as a high performance engine to put in the Z. Just as we were getting ready to finish the engine build some guy at work backs into my Z.

Banged up the right front fender and hood. His insurance company totals my Z and wants to take it away. I said no. Had to threaten them with bodily injury if anyone came to the house to get it. So, I settle for 2700 bucks and buy the car back for 400 and give it to my other kid. I then go out and find another car to put my motor in. Run down to Phoenix and find this couple leaving for Minnesota and they need to sell the car asap. They want 2200 for this 85Z28 tpi honey.

I hem and haw about certain things being wrong and act like I am not sure I want it or not and his wife pipes up and says, We'll take 1200 for it. I hesitate somemore and proceed to tell the guy that there is a lot of work that needs to be done to the Z. (wink) I tell him I'll give him 1000 cash. He takes it and I ride home happier than a pig in ......I then proceed to buy my new 700r4 raptor with the leftover money and the rest is history. We have three Z28's in the yard. The 84, 85 and the new 95. Also got rid of the wife's voyager and picked up a low mileage 01 blazer. Life doesnt get any better than this.

Moral of the story is: Never let your wife say anything when trying to make a business deal. Especially when selling or buying a car.

 

short version of the story of my first camaro:

after working at my summer job all day, my dad picked me up from work. it was near the end of the summer, and i had been saving for a car all year... (i was 15)

well as im looking thru the paper, im naming off cars... mostly sports cars and motorcycles.. getting a no on almost every one.

finally i mention a camaro... a 82 pace car camaro. he said call em, and tossed me the phone.


i did, went and checked it out that weekend... bought it, drove it home... and it sat... for weeks... i had to fix a TON of stuff on it... but i learned alot.

 

lol its cool... i was just sayin that cause i get introuble for searching and replying to topics by accident that are years old and i wont notice it then i get a nice message from a mod!! ugh lol but that white looks good.. cant really tell too much cause the quality of the pic.. but i think the guy already orderd the paint.. oh well still will look good for the time being.

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Hey tpiroc what size are your z06's.. mine are 10.5 in rear and 9.5's in the front.. are yours 18"s and if so what drop did you choose... all suspension wise.. private message me please or send an instant message or email me at Sean001134 thanks man later!!
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sry for all the off topics but i had to do it

 

I was selling a grand prix and some kid ran into it with his truck in the parking lot at work. He took off and one of my employee's writes down his plates and descriptions. So I call the cops and while I'm filling out the report with the cops the kid calls and says he's the one that hit my car and that he doesn't have any insurance and a warrant and would like to take care of it himself. I tell the cops everything I know anyway and meet with the kid later. I tell him he did around $500 worth of damage to the car and how would he like to take care of it. Says he can't afford it but has this 82 z28 that burns oil a bit. I take a look at it and decide to go for.
found out the cops arrested him a week later though

 

One Saturday morning I'm out in the front yard discussing death by junkyard with my lawn mower when this young kid from down the street quietly rolls down the street pushing a shiny black '88 Formula. I told him that most of my neighbors start with Harley's when they decide to take their machinery for walks, but he fails to see any humor in that.. He's furious because he has gone thru another clutch. The first one cost him $500 a month ago and now the car won't go into gear. .. He's so peeved he says for $500 he'd sell the car right now..I said push 'er in the drive and I'll get your money! He comes right back with the title, so next I call my mechanic( who makes housecalls) and tells him to come over. It turns out the slave cylinder has cracked, so Monday I go over to GM and get a new one. Tuesday I am a verrry happy guy..ripping around town in my Firebird. A couple of days later my girlfriend goes tooling around with one of her buddies, I get a call- the 'Bird won't shift into gear.. We get it towed home and I call Mr. Housecall. He discovers that the slave cylinder is cracked.Same as the last one.. We go over to GM parts and the great counterman tells us that I have bought more slave cylinders in a week than he has sold in 5 years.. He calls district and they tell us a bad batch of cylinders was floating around all with the same casting void in the PVC.. They overnited a unit from Calif that had been built at a different time, and that was the end of the problems..I loved this car and swore I'd never sell it..But...

 

I swore I'd never sell it. I started to restore it, little by little. Got all the upholstery redone. A couple of times a week I would stop in at Denny's to eat and the manager there kept eyeing the 'Bird and telling me she wanted to buy it from me for her husband.. I told her it would take $3500 cash-I figured that would cure her, but one day she brought her husband by and they had the money, so GREED got the best of me and it was bye-bye Birdie! Neither one of them had ever driven a stick before, and they really didn't strike me as Thirdgen Addicts, so I told them if they ever wanted to sell it, come see me first.. Off they went, I was sick for selling, I missed that 'Bird...I thought I'll just hunt me up another one...Well, that hunt took me ten years till I finally found 'Bird #2. Meanwhile, I never saw 'Bird #1 around so one day at Dennys I asked her about it, and she said her husband traded it in on a new one.. I was sick. The next summer I'm out in a salvage yard picking up a part and I look over and there she sits, all crunched up in the front..I knew it was 'Bird #1 because I had different fabric put on the sunvisors and the shop had sewed them on with a weird double stitch.. I was sick...I had owned several Vettes in the late '60's, and I never missed them..
As a footnote, I originally got the "fever" in Pittsburgh at the annual Regatta which is a week long drunken affair for boaters with all the big manufacturers showcasing their stuff.. In '92, Pontiac set one of the Firehawks out in front of my hotel, and the image of that machine is forever burned into my Department of Covet..Months later I thought I would pick up a leftover at the local dealer, but I had missed the boat, fair and square.. The '93's were on the lines.
This is an interesting thread, tell some more of yours, and when I get time, I'll post the buy of 'Bird #2..

 

Well, here's another one for your reading pleasure.

My first Camaro, an 84 Sport Coupe, is not much of a story, really. I needed a car after my Dodge Shadow convertible died on me, and a good friend of mine was selling the 84. I had very little money at the time, so his dad let me pay off the car monthly and handed me the keys. It was a pretty bare-bones car, but it did have an LG4 under the hood. I felt the beginning of my addiction take hold as the V8 pulled me into my seat as I took off, something the 4-banger Shadow could never do. Shortly afterward, I found this site and became a newb.

About a year later, I get hit in the fender trying to make a left turn across two lanes in the rain. The other guy slid into me in the passing lane. Realistically, it wasn't anybody's fault according to the police, but technically it was mine. The other driver and the police were understanding and I eventually settled with the other driver without insurance involved.

Again, I needed a car. I put out a plea for help here on TGO (read here) and buy the 86 Sport Coupe that I have now from a member here, NastyEssCee. I swapped a lot of the interior from the 84 into the 86, and I still have the carburetor in pieces in a box in my garage. Problems with the apartment I was living in forced me to move and junk the 84.

Jump to a year and a half later. I've slowly brought the 86 back up to par from near certain annihilation. I finally got a decent place to live and a good job, and I'm heading over to meet up with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. On my way back home, I see a Camaro parked in front of a pharmacy with a for sale sign on it. I slam the brakes so I can pull into the parking lot... it was dark out, but it looked nice. It's a teal 92 RS, lowered with a cowl hood and some kind of aftermarket exhaust sticking out the back. I was in love... it's exactly what I wanted to do to the 86, except sitting right in front of me. I wrote down the VIN and did a VIN lookup here on TGO. Yup.. a 92 RS. L03 engine, automatic trans, t-tops... it was a perfect project car. I called the owner on the spot and he said to come back the next day.

The next day I take it for a spin so I can get a feel for it. It doesn't run all too strong and the front GFX is hammered. He wants almost three grand for it... I offered $2200. He said he'd get back to me.

Mind you, at this point I didn't have $2200 on hand. I was hoping to get a loan... I refused to let this car slip from my fingers. A friend of mine calls me up the next day and tells me he saw an identical RS, all stock, also for sale in the area. I take a look at it, call the owner, take it for a test drive. Wow, what a pile of garbage that car was. Cracked windshield, destroyed dashpad, interior trim in the hatch was a mess, plastic t-tops looked like they were ready to fall apart, really bad paint job that "his professional friend" did for him, complete with rust on the wheel-well lips, and the engine stalled as I pulled up to park after driving it. He wanted $3800 for it! I laughed and said have a good day.

Finally, the owner of the other RS calls me and says if I still want the car, it's a deal... $2200 for the car and the stock hood. I told him yes, but I still didn't have the money. I tried getting a bank loan, but it didn't fall through. So I basically stalled him for two weeks until I had all of the money. And now... it's all mine!

 

Well, I came across my 1985 z28 at my JVS where i was taking modern automotive technology. It was in the body shop and everone always was messing with it. Taking it out just to run it, and what not. When i first saw the car, oddly enough, I just KNEW that it would be mine. I wasnt even looking for a car at the time. My current car was in great shape and ran like a top. However, I still seen myself with that car. Finally, a couple months before school let out, nobody had bought it. (The car had been donated to the schools automotive shop by the financial aids son who has a medical condition with his eyes, and has since gone nearly blind.) Just messing around, and not being too serious, I aksed my instructor to call up the owner, whom he knew, and see if he'd take a grand for it. I knew the owner did not want to accept less than 2k for it, but i figured it was worth the shot. I mean i was really hooked on it after taking it out for a spin around the block, even though it was bogging and clearly needed help. A few days later , my instructor got back with me and said he hadnt got ahold of the owner yet, but would try again before we closed up shop. Well, my instructor came over to me later before class ended, and said YES, the owner wuold take 1 grand for it! Now, I got serious, i thought, holy crap, here i have a chance to get this great condition camaro z28 that just needs a tune up and 91k original miles with headers and performance exhaust already on it for only 1k. So...I did not have the money, and asked my dad to let me borrow it. After much pleading and promising to pay him back, he said ok. deep down i think he really wanted to buy the car for me anyway, cause we are close like that. Well, that was about 7 months ago, and this camaro is back and running like a raped ape. It's getting taken care of like it should be, and I plan on never getting rid of it. It will have to break in half first.

 

interesting buying story , not really but i wasnt expecting to buy a thirdgen...we were always a family of two cars, 4 [people=4 drivers, when 4 drivers have to get somewhere its kinda hard sharing one car...so we ended up with just one honda one year because my parents sold my brothers since insurance went sky high. i drove the honda for about a year until a stupid snow storm came and i ended up parking a pole in my car , totaled it ...so we ended up without a car , my parents were tired of borowing cars from my family so i was telling my father we should be me something old, i was always into montecarlos and one day walking home from skool i ran into one in a dealer, color was all faded but the interior was amazing, i wanted it so bad the guy wanted 1200 for it... i went home did a carfax and found out that the car had crazy mileage..somewhere in the 250 thousand+++, and the dmv reported it rollback, the odometer read 70 thousand miles.. then i started to read the inpsection part and this car damn near had to get somethign replaced on every inspection...so my father talked me out of it, then when i gave up i ran into a firebird, not knowing anything about them i wanted it so bad, it looked like a freaking corvette! , just by curiousity i went to ask the dealer how much he wanted, the guy said 1600, had 115XXX miles on it, so i brought my father over before he closed, put a down payment and here i am today with my bird, im lucky i put something down on it because people were even going to give him more then 1600 for it , the day i went to pick it up there was like 5 guys talking to the owner because they wanted it

 

Looking through the paper...

"No, you can't have that ('79) Firebird... (you're only 16 so) you aren't getting anything with a 454. I don't care if its only $1500"

"So how about this '83 Camaro, its a Z28 with a 5.0 HO..."

"But dad, thats a 305...."

"Good engine to learn with, you'll kill yourself with that 454... and its a 5 speed too! That Firebird is only an auto."

Two weeks later my '83 had a 350 in it, LOL