Hey guys! I've been thinking about this question for a while...

It occurred to me that, realistically, My IROC, for instance is only worth around $3000.oo (More or less.) But I wouldnt even take 6K for it. In fact I dont think any "reasonable" offer would be considered by me. (I will, however, entertain the thought of selling for 60K or so... )

I guess what I mean to say is that it's worth more than money to me.

 

I will never sell my Camaro. I will buy back the car from the insurance company if it ever gets wrecked and no matter how much it costs, I will try to fix it. No one is going to be allowed to drive it, and if I ever have kids they will never be driving it.

I'm constantly paranoid about wrecking my car. I really want to keep this thing forever. It's my favorite car, and I get attached to things.

 

$100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

nuff said

 

I will never say that I will never sell my Camaro.
It would be a great loss to see it go, but I bet that if I sell it, I'll get something at least just as interesting as a replacement, like for instance a 1962 Plymouth Sport Fury.

Still, the Camaro, even though I only own the car for little over 2 years, has emotional value (especially now all the world starts looking for duracell powered automobiles and energy saving lightbulbs)

I thnk the emotional value is best judged by the effort I put into restoring the car, first of all to a functional state, then slowly replacing stock parts with parts that allow it to move in modern day traffic, and finally repaint, properly conserve the undercarriage etc.

The money I spent on it so far and the money I fully intend on spending in the near future far exceed the market value of the car. That's where emotional value comes into play.

 

Very, it's my first car. I'd like to keep it for as long as possible. The LSX swap I'm going to put in is going to cost more than the car is worth, but I don't care.

 

My first car as well so there is no chance I would sell it and if I do once I get the money I will track the car down and buy it back.

 

i cant sell my TA, i would have to get 30k for it, and i would still be loosing my ***. Hard to find somebody to pay 30k for any 3rd gen, regardless of what it is.

it was my first car, and i rebuilt the entire thing since. so i have a lot of time in it and I dont think i could let it go.

 

Yea my car is worth alot to me too its my first car that i have saved up from 14years old till i turned 16 and i bought it myself and i dont think i would ever sell it.

 

It was my first car and I've had it longer than I've known my wife, and it doesn't have a price tag.

 

Also my first car, and being the case I can not put a value on it. The sentimental value way out numbers any form of monitary value. That being said, if there came a time it "needed' to be sold it would go. But go on my terms. I wouldnt want to see it again if I sold it. So, the car would get parted and the shell crushed, there for no one can have it after me. My reasoning behind this is, the car is me. I built it all by myself for myself with my own two hands. No one else can appreciate it the way that I can.

 

Priceless. It's the spiritual successor to my '78 Smokey and the Bandit T/A I had, new, when I was a kid. To find a nice one now is too expensive or re-do a ratty one is beyond my ability/ambition. The ONLY way I'd part with it was if I hit the lottery and could afford one of the Burt Reynolds/Year One repops they're doing now. But, $150K is a wet dream.

 

This 91 is my third out of six. My first was a v6 rs. I had to sell it because baby seats didnt fit well. My second was my dads 85 t/a. We needed to buy the wife a better car for transporting kids, so it had to go. On fathers day in 2000, my wife bought my 91 rs v-8. Teal green and in need of TLC, she said "you deserve it and need each other. The three afterwards were bought, restored and sold for fun.

There was a lot of time, money, and effort put towards my car. Its mine, I own it and can do whatever I want with it. Its my hobby and my pride. This car takes me away from the bad days and stress.

Will I own it forever? Who knows. I dont plan to sell it and I have turned down offers in the past. To me, it means alot. My prize possession.

 

My car has been in classifieds and came right back off after knowing i would never drive it again. My father helped me buy this car before he passed away. Someone offered me this passed friday $7k cash and i said no lol. For the reason i said no is because the sentimental value to me plus all the hard work i put into it knowing someone else will be driving my work. Mm mmm no sorry. Plus my future wife told me she would chop my nuts off if i sold it lol somtimes i think she loves the car more then me.

 

i will never sell it.

 

My 91 Formula was given to me as a high school graduation present from my dad. My older sister received an 87 TA for her graduation present...each a pontiac because my dad was a pontiac freak. Got our love for cars from him. And the years were close to our birth year. My car has more emotional value to me than anything else because only 2 months after I got my car my dad was diagnosed with cancer and passed away last May. So I will never sell my car because it was a present and it means more to me than anything else. I love my firebird and will never be selling it thank you daddy!

 

Damn now i bet your car has some emotional feelings i bet u keep it as a memory from your dad as well. Also about your wife thats funny lol

 

If I had my dad's old Trans AM (which was stolen and wrecked), he took such amazing care of it while he owned it for 18 years. If I could get my hands on that car no amount of money could get me to part with it.

 

I would never get rid of it....except for a '69 ZL1. I bouht the car the day after I turned 16. Bought if for 1000, a week after I bought it my friend offered me 3K, I was like F**K NO!! I love this car, I'd sell my stepside just to fix the car if it got in a wreck

 

Those are some great replies guys!

boylan33, that is a really touching story! Keep it forever and honor your father. You only get one...

I am glad to see that there are others that feel the same way about their thirdgens as I do. I wish a thirdgen had been my first car. (Mine was a nearly new '77 toyota pickup.) I love these cars, which is why I keep buying more of them. None of my thirdgens are ever for sale... Period! I too, once put my IROC up for sale once and then took it off when I realized it would be too painful to live without it!

 

Haha same here i already have two and still wanna buy an iroc z and a trans am too

 

My TA is my second one.
My first car was an '86 v6 base firebird, and I loved that thing until the rust ate the entire door bottoms and the crappy swapped in 350 finally overheated enough to seize. And I was still kinda sad when it was loaded up on the flatbed to become someone else's problem.

I was in need of a car, and contemplating buying a ***** when I saw this car was for sale, and I had to have it even though it was twice as much as I had to spend.

I'd turn down $20K for it. and if I got 25K, it would all go to another third gen, one with cleaner floor pans!

 

I don't know how I feel anymore, I love it, it's my baby, but at the same time I've completely lost the urge to drive it. Summers coming so the gf will be begging and begging and begging me to drive it, and I think that will be the only time I do.


If I had it my way, I think I'd just let it sit in the garage for the next 20 years.

Guess I wouldn't be so bummed anymore if I had to sell it. Might be time to buy a ford focus.

 

Unlike many on you, I am 55 years old, and my current thirdgen is not my first car. I was lucky to stumble onto the current car in 2005. The original owner who was a friend, had just passed away. Her famiy was selling the car. It is an climate controled, basement kept, all original WS6, TPI, T-top, nicely optioned car with 25,700 actual miles on her. My wife bought the car for me as a 50th birthday present. I did some rehab work on the car without doing a full restoration, making sure that the car stayed true to her OEM specs. She now has a couple of class winner awards from the Fbodygathering, and Best Firebird in 2010. She currently has 29K on the clock and we drive her around on sunny warm afternoons. The car rides around in her enclosed trailer behind my F-350 to shows and events. I hope that I never have to sell her, because I could never replace her. Hagarty Insurance values the car at 14,500.00, which I think is too high considering the typical resale value of thirdgens.My problem is what to do with her, when something happens to me. As a 12 year brain tumor survivor, some heart problems, and just old age closing in fast, the car is likely to outlive me. I hope that she continues to be preserved in an original state, but have no way to ensure that. When my grown children see the car, they see dollar signs. None of them care anything about a car, other then to transport one from point A to B. One thing that ensures that low mileage classics are maintained in an original state is the value. If a model brings a premium price, then people tend to keep them as built. If they are a dime a dozen, then people tend to think about modifying the car into some sort of street machine. The problem is that once a car is modified, it is very difficult to return it to original state. I used to collect Shelby's, but sold them when they became more valuable than my house. With an original Shelby, new owners would not think about modifying the car. If they want a street rod Shelby, it is best to build a clone. Since thirdgens were mass produced, and don't exactly have collectable status, we are at risks of loosing many of them.

 

have you talked to your kids about the car? that might be the way you think they see the car, however they could feel different. also they may change their minds after you are gone and keep the car.


i will keep my 3rd for the rest of my life if possible. i know how much it sucks to sell something you love. i had a 2001 Chevy silverado extended cab that i sold after buying a 2003 avalanche. i regretted it the moment i handed the title over. because i always said i would never sell it.

 

I doubt I could ever sell it. I have toyed with the idea once or twice, but I know I probably never will. I got the car for free from my brother and completely rebuilt everything on it. Only big thing left is paint. I've got way too much money in the car to sell it anyways. I know there is over 15K in it now. No way I'd ever get it back. Plus the thing is just too much fun.

 

It is sad that a lot of the younger generation see these cars as "Just transportation". Todays cars are built well and are lasting longer, which is the reason, I think, people see it that way. I am 38 years old myself, and remember when my neighbors didnt have several cars in the driveway. Most familys were lucky to have one nicer car and their old beater. I can remember sitting at the top of the slide at my old day-care center and watching firstgen and second gen camaros lining up at the traffic light against mustangs, vettes, cuda's, etc. I think thats when I made up my mind that I would own one of those fast, loud sportscars...

 

I love mine, but I wouldn't turn down a cool $30k!

 

Since I started driving the only car I've driven (besides customers cars at work) has been my 91 Firebird. When the weather is nice and I want to have a little fun I get in and go, when I'm having a bad day or a something in my life has me stressed, I get in and go untill I feel better. When I'm bored I tinker with it, and when I need to get from A to B, she always starts right and gets me there safe. I spend 70% of my time with my car and its on my mind 100% of the time. It will never leave my driveway, too many good times in it, too many bad times that its made me feel better, I'd sooner sell everything else I own and live in the car! It is priceless.

 

my 88 was my first car... 10 years ago, ive owned about 13 other cars since but always kept her

 

Very good story, i can relate towards the emotional value.

Ill admit i have played around the idea because im not a wealthy guy, but im not poor either, and when things never went my way i never gave up on the car. The longer i owned it the harder it was to think of selling even though my particular mood that certain day when the car had me stumped i just wanted to give up and make it somebody elses headache.

I didnt give up though and the car chassis and engine has the bugs and kinks worked out, and now im just focusing on the body work. I know anyway that if i were to sell it, i wouldnt get even what i even payed for the car. i was 18 when i bought my car, it was my 2nd third gen, im now 21 and still glad i have it and look foward to only owning more, third gens are the only cars i can see myself in.

I love my 91 TA thanks to my dad for extra 1500 loan on top of my saved money to buy the car. I cant imagine selling it to somebody else with all my blood, sweat, money and energy put into my car. I do however want to buy another IROC-Z one day because ive always been more of a sucker for the IROC's.

 

I've had my car going on 8 years and I'll never get rid of it. It's my second out of four. I'm currently getting a 91 L98 car for just a hot cruiser (sadly my 305 car will run circles around it,lol) I was going to sell it years ago due to me and the wife almost getting a divorce over it, but luckily it never came to that. I have literally told the wife I want to be buried in this thing. Just put me in the drivers seat and close the door to the mausoleum,lol.

 

Without getting into a long discussion, I can assure you that none of our four grown children will ever see the 86 as anything more then something to sell and get money for other things. None of them see the point of a collector car.

I will probably decide at some point to sell the car to a fellow collector, although that will be some time from now. Right now, i am having too much fun with the car.

 

Its funny, Its my parents who are pressuring me to sell my car and buy something like a kia for cheap transportation. Not going to happen though. Its a 3000$ car that I've put about 1500 to date within the last 8 months of owning it, and now I'm about to drop another 2K into a t56 swap to replace my old dying t5. They just dont get it.

Its funny, It seems like some people just become "car people". The guy I bought my car off of was in highschool too and his dad was a huge car junkie, but the kid absolutally wasn't. Kinda the opposite for me.

 

The only way I would sell it, if I found my 86 Iroc and could buy it back! I sold it to a young kid his first car! I wonder if he still has it? I sure wish I could buy it back, 15 years is a long time to miss a car. But I love working on my 89 RS, coming together nicely! I loved what DRKKNOW90 said! I have even had nightmares that i wreaked it. lol.. Say a prayer everytime I get in it!

 

I've told my family I'm going Egyptian, bury me with both my thirdgens so my kids don't sell them and no-one else will have them, then I can enjoy them in the afterlife.

 

I have 4 boys and 1 girl. My oldest (17) could care less about cars (ocean life is his thing.) My Daughter (15) does not want to be seen in an "Old" car. My 6 year old twin boys (Yes, they are identical.) fight over which one of my thirdgens it theirs! and my 4 year old just wants to go for a ride in the IROC! They love the smell of burnt rubber and would be happiest if we lived between the lanes of a drag strip instead of right behind it! (We live about 3/4 of a mile from famous "Speedworld dragstrip")

I think thats why I keep buying thirdgens. I know that someday I am going to have to turn over those keys to at least 3 of them...

I wonder which one I will keep for myself...

 

Realistically, I'd give it up if someone were stupid enough to offer me more than 8 grand for what is a 99K mile '86 IROC with a blown (Thrown rods type of blown, not supercharged ) 350, stock 700R4, no air conditioning, no heat, no radio.

I'd include the seats and interior panels to be nice, though. Just don't see myself ever selling it. Like it too much.

 

mines as well, if the situation does occur, i hope it doesnt. i will for sure buy it back!

 

Some reason or another I'm attached to the old rust rocket. It's my first car. As a young 16 yr old I jumped on the first camaro that i looked at, and now yrs later it doesn't have one good bodypanel on her. Nobody cares about the ten thousand I've put into the drivetrain and suspension when it looks like it's lived in the ocean for ten years.

 

Wow, your story almost sounds just like mine. My Camaro is my 2nd car out of 3 though. I've had mine for almost 8 years now and during the initial build on the car, it almost caused me and my GF to break up. I also tell everyone to just save money on a casket and bury me in the car.

 

I don't see myself ever selling the car. I would have to get a good deal more that what it is worth. I've had this car since 1997 and it's gone through a number of different changes and i'm sure it'll go through a bunch of different changes in the future. To answer the question "EMOTIONALLY, How valuable is your thirdgen?" It would have to be a good deal more than what bluebook say. What number? make me an offer!

 

Unfortunately it was my first car. She was in bad shape when I met her, and still is. She's tried to kill me (twice), she's unpleasant even in sunny weather (overheats w/ no AC), and is quite demanding (in more way then one). I'm a dreamer and I've got high hopes for her one day, so I'll never in good conscious be able to let her go.

 

I won't ever let my camaro go been around it since I was a newborn, and my moms the only other owner so yeah it's part of the family.

 

Not selling. Nope. I know it's a V6, and it's going to STAY a V6 no matter who says what. Someone could offer to pay off my school loans for me (approx $30K, IIRC) if I gave them my car, and I'd still turn them down. I've put too much time and money (I think I'm up to almost six times the $1K I got ripped off for) into my Bird to just up and get rid of it, no matter how bad my hours end up being at work or how bad off she gets. I'm not working on eradicating every last molecule of rust on my car and building her up MY way for some 16 year old to get their hands on it and treat her like some rust bucket beater Jap crap car. She ain't the prettiest now in just a bare body shell, but that's going to start changing as soon as possible. My father helped my pay for a bunch of things even though he really didn't want to (he's SO not a car guy unless you talk about a 2000 Grand Prix GT and I'm really the only car guy in the family as nobody wants me to keep my Bird), and he has had cancer, so it's kind of a do it for him thing. I plan on being buried in her, unless I get my hands on a 78-81 Z/28. That's the ONLY car I'll ever want more than my 3rd Gen (and I'm still PO'd at my older sister for getting rid of theirs for so dirt cheap!). I've wanted an F-body since I was like 6, and now that I have one, they're going to have to pry my keys out of my cold dead fingers before I give her up.

 

I love my car and Camaros in general mostly due to my family's past with them. My dad had one, my uncles each had one. Now a family friend has 5! I'm just continuing the tradition. My uncle(the one who helps me the most with my camaro) had a 91 RS for his first car. I admit the car I have now isn't the best, but for a first car it's fine. I won't get rid of her until she is stripped of everything though. I say that because in the future, I plan on buying a nother camaro with little to no rot or rust and taking parts off of my current car and putting them on the new one. Hopefully I can get the new one restored to new!And hopefully I will have enough $$ to have a beater on the side, because I have to drive the camaro in the winter right now, and I don't like putting her through it. But she doesn't even struggle!

Basically, I am really attached to these cars because of what they are and because of the sentimental value that comes with them.

And as most of you probably already know, this car is my first. I'm only 17. I hate seeing other teens in their mustangs and stuff that don't care or know what they have. They **** on my car because it's a 305 and it's 20 years old. In my eyes, I would take a beaten 20 year old car that still has some ***** then a newer car like theirs.

I love this thread!

 

this

lol

 

I love this thread, too! I am glad to see that there are so many die-hards like me out there! I used to think I was a bit of an extremist... If I am, there are a lot of other extremists out there!

 

While reading this, I couldn't help but think it reminded me of a few women I have known... Great post!

 

as my car sits, i would take 5500 for it. i love it, but its too slow adnd the body is in crappy shape (read: stupid teen kid drifting antics) plus its a t-top auto car.

 

I would sell, for the right price but the money I got from mine would go for another T/A. I wanted a Firebird since I was 5 years old because of the show Night Rider. I finally bought my first 3rd gen oct 09 I was 31. I have tried to buy many but always were out of my price range. I have put lots of time into this car and could never sell it for what kbb says it worth