...And ya'll completely missed the 85-90 Firebird side ground effects on it. They match up perfectly with the front and rear, and since they don't have emblem cutouts were perfect for my car. Basically my '88 IROC is going to be factory RPO-code correct, my Z/28 is my car to have fun with and express my artistic side.

And for all the purists out there...With the exception of the interior (which was pretty well F@#$ed when I bought it) I still have all the original parts for my '83 Z/28. I didn't trash anything or do anything irreparable to the car, and all my body parts were sourced from junkyard donor cars.

 

idk what they are from but i want those tailights

 

82-84 tail lights. My car had them originally, but years of south Texas sun and lots of neglect made them crack and extremely brittle.

 

my 87 gta that is just picked up for 2700 has 115000 miles

 

WOW! You STOLE that GTA!! Did you verify the miles??

 

Bought my IROC last year, paid $6,900 all original with 92,000 miles.

 

$600 sat in a field for 5 years put about $400 in it now, no rust no bondo only had a dented up hood and ruined paint on the bumper fascia from previous owner hitting a deer.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...to-when-i.html

 

Yes I know the original owner.... the car has been in storage the past 9 years.it has dealer installed c and c t-tops car has no rust anywhere interior is mint aside fworking.rom the factory radio not

 

EllWell that explains the price and the miles because there is no way that car would have been on craigslist for less than $4k to $5k.

 

oh and here is a after i did the paint outside with a tarp nailed between trees to stop wind dust>.>

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...re30444-a.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...0&ref=gnr-next

 

yeah im excited about it ive been after him to sell me the car since i was 16 and im 31 now so it was a long time coming!!

 

Wow, looking at a lot of the cars you guys listed I wish I'd had the funds to spend a few thousand dollars to buy a nicer third gen from the get-go. Since I didn't, mine requires a bit of work....

I paid $500 on Craigslist for an '89 Trans Am WS6, manual tranny, with hardtop. Car had no engine. Interior is good, dash is mint (except the pod that holds the radio/climate control, which has 4 holes drilled in it for something, missing the radio and it's trim plate). Body is straight, no rust, needs paint (areas of faded color, areas of peeling clear coat). Wing is split from age. Bought the car two years ago.


Pic from Craigslist ad (front sits high because of no engine):



There was moss growing on the outside (everything has moss in my state, lol)...



Weekend I brought it home. After a bath (no engine yet, hood detached and lightly sitting on it):


Car, plus moss, sans engine, for $500.

 

Paid $2,300 and drove 5 hrs to go get it (from Northern Va to Myrtle Beach) with my gal. Brought it home and took out the carpet and seats to start my restore.! 1987 IROC 5.7 t tops. going to paint it Toyota Dark Red. Figured I paid $800 more than i should of, but finally have the car of my dreams. This is my 5th 3rdGen and my last. Want to restore it as best that I can. Mainly want it to be reliable and fun to drive.. Bought some mint 2001 Trans Am seats at a salvage yard which should look really nice. My goal is to have it road ready and running good by june 1st for a road trip to Texas! Pics are of "my goal" and of it present day.

Stone

 

Stone,
The best of luck

 

1988 Iroc Z, paid $6,800 last March 3/14/11 with 91,000 original.

 

1991 Z28. TPI350 auto tranny with 176k miles. $500 plus $300 for tranny rebuild. Has a kinda cool story. I bought it from the original owner. He worked at the Van Nuys assembly plant and walked this car down the line. When the plant closed he took a job at the Kansas City GM plant. Drove the car to Kansas and it was his daily driver until the front seal went out of the tranny.
He told me that the hood was installed in 92. He took it in for a oil change and they didn't get the hood latched. It flew up and broke the windshield and put a big dent in the roof (can see the bondo above windshield on the drivers side in pic below). Destroyed the original hood too of course. Before I bought it the Z it sat for 2 years in his driveway with a puddle of tranny fluid running out from under it. I bought it for the motor to put in my 85 T/A (ended up selling the T/A). After seeing it and hearing the story didn't have the heart to tear the Z28 apart either so it sat in the barn for a year before I finally got a chance to mess with it. It is my daily driver now. Will slowly fix it up. Chevelle is done, so needed another hotrod project

 

very nice project that nice hood

 

What have you done to it over the past TWO years? Do you have an engine installed? Paint? How does it look now?

 

Bought for $600 off craigslist. 2.8(junk). Came with a 700r4 (also junk), and all the interior was previously removed, BUT he did put it in a nice box and give it to me.

 

Found mine on Craigs List back in October like it is in this pic, for $3600.00. Since then, I've done a few suspension upgrades, new rear gears and am currently changing the hood back to stock.

 

Unfortunately I had to put all my car projects on hold over the last two years, shortly after I bought it. I picked up the car in July, and in September bought a house. The house is a fixer upper, so all time and finances went straight to the house (fixing roof, plugging air gaps in the walls, installing insulation because there was none, rewiring circuits because the builder sucked, etc). There was also a change in jobs.

A temporary engine (just to get it running) was bought and installed two weeks after I got the car, and as we speak I am acquiring the few items it needs to run (MAF and dist., then hoses from NAPA). The car was slated for a new paint job over this last summer, but summer weather never came....it rained all year, including summer. August was the only month it didn't rain, but by then other things needed immediate attention. I am hoping for a real summer this year so that I can paint it (it sits outside). I picked up a Fiero GT steering wheel (installed) and a 400ci bottom end for a SBC which will be built up for 600hp and installed later. Weather permitting, I am going to make a big push to get the car on the road and looking decent this summer since I finally have time again. Keep your fingers crossed for no rain after April.....

 

I bought mine Feb 10, 2012 for $9k in New Jersey and drove her all the way back to TX. 1989 IROC Convertible LT1/T56 6pt Roll Cage 58k miles.

 

Looks like you got a bargain. NICE ride.

 

that was a good story, thank you!

 

here's mine paid 3k in very nice shape

 

Paid roughly 2k for mine back in 2007 bought from the original owner was a blk/tan 82 recaro car, interior was garbage, this is how it sits now:

I now have waaaay too much invested in it and havent stopped spending yet

 

'88 GTA, L98, 87,000 original miles, 99.9% original (guy had replaced the muffler and ignition coil, everything else was as it left the factory). I paid $4200, drove to Kansas City, MO for it, then jumped in and drove it back to Texas without a hitch. Been having fun with it ever since.






I think I did well.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...third-gen.html

-cal30sniper

 

Cal30sniper, I envy you so much.....

 

How my '83 Z/28 looked when I bought it for $1000 in 2006...

How it currently looks...

 

Engine compartment went from this...

To this...

 

Interior...

And now...

It's still got a long ways to go, and I haven't decided on the final look yet. The paint is a rattle can job for now, planning on a complete strip down and back to primer for a while soon to fix all the minor defects. Going to go with either a 2" cowl hood or a 427 ram air cowl hood. Wheels are getting exchanged for 15 x 7 Cragar Quick Tricks in the next couple of months. The interior still needs finalizing, and the door panels are prototypes (yet functional). Eventually will upgrade the drivetrain to an LS based one. In all done on a low budget as time and funds allow, with lots of junkyard parts.

 

That is a sweet looking car, I love the resto-look, a one off is very cool. Do you have int pics?

 

way nice, paid 8,000 for mine, a long time ago, it had only 40,000 on the clock and looked good, needs paint now. lots of mods, and a cheap paint job thats fading now, but have a few more mechanical things to do before paint comes round again. pic is on my avatar.

 

I know the feeling. After spending several years trying to get my Formula back on it's feet after a really ratty, hack job restoration by the previous owner, I decided never to go that route again. This time, when I started looking for a third gen, I decided to save my money and wait until I found the nicest one possible for what I could afford. I looked over about 60% of the US, from Nevada to Alabama and everything in between for nearly three months before I found that one. (And that was a lot of craigslist searching, haha).

Fewer and fewer left in this kind of condition, and less every day. I almost feel bad modifying it, but I'm keeping all of the original stuff so I can put it back someday if I want to. As for myself, I'll never buy another car that's been "restored" or "modified" without some serious, well-kept documentation and quality work. It's just too much headache unscrewing other peoples mistakes.

Lot of nice cars and good deals on here, keep up the good work!

-cal30sniper

 

Bought it for 5500 in 06 i think
Like this

Now it looks like this

 

yep, these are in no particular order:
it now also has a t-56 in it, was an auto car not sure if I have pics of that swap saved anywhere, pics of gauges are from this last fall, they are speed hut units and the speedo is the gps unit. they just recently made gauges (thanks to my request) for the duals which I still need to order up to complete the project)

 

I had help with most of it:

 

few more: misc pics from other recent upgrades:

 

I'm not keen on buying somebody's modified car either, don't know what mistakes or hacks may have been done. Although I would make an exception for a car sent straight to SLP or something like that (paperwork please!). I'd take a professionally restored car if it had all the paperwork saying what was done and by who, otherwise no. As for cars like mine that need work from the get-go, I don't mind dealing with some work so long as the car is overall decent and un-modded; I need to have some kind of good base to start with so I don't get frustrated trying to undo hack work or horrible damage. A bad or non-existent engine or transmission isn't a deal breaker for me, but wrecked and rusty cars are since you don't know just how far the damage really goes. Still, it would have been nice to start with excellent condition like your's so that all I need to do is any mods I feel like doing.

I looked around on Craigslist for a while before I found mine. I wanted a rust-free, manual tranny, hard top car, V8, preferably a Trans Am. It's kind of hard to find v8 manuals around here, seems to be mostly v6 autos. I kept my search local, so there weren't a whole lot of choices, especially in my budget. Fortunately this car turned out not to be too bad when I looked at it. Really, it just needs an engine, new wing, and some paint. A few minor things needed fixing in the interior (hatch motor & radio trim plate), so it's not bad for $500. Next time though, I'm saving for a nicer one (if such a thing exists by then!).

 

My god man! Tell your kid to slow down, she's going so fast her head is whipping back from the G-forces! That will be one mother of a speeding ticket. LOL....

I bet she's a future F-body owner! Maybe the third gens will all be gone by then, but at least she'll still have the 4th and 5th gens to choose from. You're a good dad.

 

Glad to see that I'm not the only one using the built in thirdgen toolbox under the engine bay, haha.

 

how do I unsubscribe, I am not at the point of checking out other peoples progress, I'm busy with mine, sorry don't mean to offend. Nice rides here.

 

Agree. Please

 

You mean that's NOT the factory intended use for that spot?

 

I paid 5000 for mine 5 years ago..original owner and garage kept for 20 some years..had 68k original miles on it..now has 72 k still original and unmolested...could use a engine rebuild...but itll smoke em from 1st to 2nd to 3rd

 

1200 bucks!

 

$5600 Canadian in 2009. 87,000 km eh

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60992342@N08/5774634793/http://www.flickr.com/photos/60992342@N08/5774634793/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/60992342@N08/, on Flickr

 

I paid $2,300 for mine in November of last year. It ran good for a little while and then it started having problems. I'm about to replace most of the sensors, solenoids, the ECM, the PROM, and the EGR valve. I just need the Navy to give me a little time off so I can actually do the work. This picture was taken the day after I bought it. I have probably about $1,000 in parts so far, including a pretty clean set of 4th gen WS6 wheels I just picked up for $100.

 

I got one of the best deals in this thread. I paid $3100 after TTT. 1983 w/ 84,000 original miles on it. One owner car before me. This was listed on Craiglist as well. Not sure how I managed to grab before anyone else... it was listed for 3 days before I called on it. Helluva steal. Completely unmolested, still even has the original twin muffler style exhaust. Only changes were speakers, radio, Edlebrock chrome air cleaner, K&N filter, billet grill, 4th Gen Leather seats (front & rear) and smog removed.

Pics taken the day I bought it.

 

not a third gen but i just picked up this unit a bit ago