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Auto Detailing and AppearanceShare tips and tricks on how to make your Third Gen shine! Get opinions on products or how something tasteful looks on your Chevrolet Camaro or Pontiac Firebird.
Hey, thanks for the nomination guys! Small field this month, but all beautiful cars!
This is my 7200 mile, 1989 IROC-Z with an LB9 and 5 speed.
It was originally bought new by a little, old, lady from Santa Rosa, California. She wasn't really old, I just added that for effect. . But she was a little lady. Her friends convinced her that she REALLY needed a convertible after her divorce. Apparently she was an Asian woman with short legs (not making that up!) and had a hard time reaching the clutch pedal. So from 1989 through 2004 it was only driven about 6300 miles. The car was meticulously maintained however, even if not driven.
In 2004, a car collector from Wisconsin bought it and only put on about 26 miles during the 9 years he owned it. The rest of the time he had it on display in the "showroom" area of his garage. He told me he never even washed it during that period and in fact, never even titled it!. Those 26 miles were driven to and from a local Chevy dealer when it was displayed for the 2010 intro of the 5th gen Camaro. The dealer wanted one Camaro from each generation.
In 2013 he sold it to someone in the Miami area and that's who I bought it from this year.
I got it a couple of months ago and have been fiddling with it ever since. The car drives and feels like a new car. Lots of fun to drive! Interior is virtually factory fresh perfect. The bottom is as clean as the top. I need to get the factory radio back in, though.
Here's a couple pictures I had handy. I'll try to take more in the next couple of days:
Here it is at 11:00 PM the first night I got it. Even though it came in an enclosed trailer, it was pretty dirty. No way was I going to bed and leaving it like that!
Here's a couple more:
Still has the rubber door bumpers the factory put on for shipping to the dealer:
By some miracle it still has all four of it's factory gray valve stem caps, even after a tire change:
Here's my pic compilation of my Flame Red 1988 IROC
It's a loaded TPI car with my favorite interior (Gray leather/cloth)
31k original miles
Per previous owner, never saw rain or snow. I could not find any rust anywhere on the car. Wheel wells, door jams, underneath.. My old boss at the body shop I worked at checked it over and was very impressed and asked where I found it?
The interior is pretty mint including the original floor mats. My Chevy dealership said they would love to have this in the showroom if I ever wanted to trade for a new one.. No thanks!
The paint was way better than I expected for a 28 year old car. It looks original with all the factory labels and decals but was definitely detailed and maintained. The factory orange peel is still visible. I used to detail for a body shop so I got an even better shine out of it than when it showed up. I replaced the grille because it was a little faded. Glad they still sell those through dealers! Need to get an old Mass plate registered so I can get the front plate off..
I was anticipating having to sand and paint the hood louvers (done that before.. Can get them looking like new) but these look brand new.. Not even a mark on them..
Was a police chief's weekend car. Stored in a climate controlled garage with motorcycles and toys.
The car is much quicker than I expected and really fun even with an auto. It shifts nice and sporty like I remember from the 5.7 IROCs I've driven. I'm psyched all power accessories still work and the cruise control works.. It's the little things!
Not a drip of oil or anything else on the garage floor through the winter.
The only thing not stock about the car is the Magnaflow muffler, but it sounds awesome so I'm fine with that.. The previous owner installed an Alpine head unit and Alpine speakers with iPod cable, but the original speakers and radio were given to me in boxes. He also had the manuals and 1988 brochure in plastic sleeves.. Looks like they were barely opened.
The rims look brand new, no clear issues, scratches or rash.. Better than any low mile third gens I've owned.
By far my favorite color combo ever and glad I found this car!
Very happy to be among this crew for COTM and I love being out there representing third gens and turning heads! Wish we were all at a show together!
I like how the red decals aren't super noticeable unless you get up close or the sun hits the side of the car:
Wow, thanks for the nomination - I really appreciate that!
These are some gorgeous droptops Im up against - and I gotta say - chazman: that's an awesome car and story! My vote goes Your way :)
So now a little bit about my car and story:
I bought it in August 1998 after moving from Norway to the US to go to college. I bought it in Westville, IL from an older gentleman whom was the 2nd owner. First owner was a lady in Champaign, IL. I can't quite recall the milage at the time when I bought it - but I believe it was somewhere around 60K.
Now.. there has through the years been quite a few debates about the origin of the conversion of this car, as it is an 86. The story I got from the previous owner was that the car was converted by Choo Choo Customs in Chattanooga, TN - but by the use of parts from ASC. As I could not find any documentation of any other CCC convertibles, I contacted CCC in 1998/1999 to ask if they had infact done any such conversions on thirdgen Camaros. I was familiar with their other Camaro conversions (SS, SX and TeamCamaro) from old brocheurs that I had gotten my hands on, but there was no mention of convertibles.
The answer I got was they had actually done some convertible conversions, but had no number or any other info as there had been changes in the company and they had no old records..
What also makes it difficult to confirm this 100%, is the total lack of any stickers or other marks for identifiaction that can proove that it came from CCC or someone else.
So - for the 18 years I've owned the car, I've got no confirmable reason say it is not a CCC car, other than the fact that it looks like an ASC :D
The rest of the story is that I moved back to Norway in 2002 after graduating, and brought the car along. It has since had some years with quite a bit of use, and others without a single mile. The last couple of years it has been put to good use again in the summer as it should be ;)
It has been an aweful long time since I posted the stats/mods to this car, but I'll try to recall :D :
305TPI w/TH700R4
WorldProducts 305S/R heads
SLP runners
Ported plenum
Edelbrock RPM headers
Edelbrock Cat-back
Highflow cat
CompCam
Roller rockers
AFPR
Jamex 1.5" lowering springs
All poly bushings
Edelbrock trailing arms
BMR strut Tower brace
Lakewood adj. Panhard bar
C5 Z06 front brake Conversion
Boze Stinger Wheels 18x8/18x10.5 (Kandied91Z's old ones)
Tires: 245/40 + 285/35
ASCD SS Hood
Seats: Neutral '97 TransAm front/back
Interior parts painted in GM's pewter
MacEwen white gauges
Momo steering wheel and pedals
I used to have a ton of pics online while I still had my website going, but I took that down some years ago, so most pics posted here on TGO are just dead links now unfortunately..
Yeah, when chazman found that 5 speed I don't think there's a more pristine example out there.. I thought I had low miles!
Ken that car is awesome! I like the SS style hood and the wheels.. Reminds me of my friend's 1996 Camaro SS that I used to be envious of back in the 90s when I had an IROC and he came home with that! I bet that car is fun to drive with those mods.. Nice pics!
I haven't even voted yet..
I thought there was a GTA vert or Formula that would be in the running for sure.. I guess it's all IROCs!
Thanks for the nomination guys! It's an honor to be with this group of cars..
Oh, BTW, I want to take this moment to thank Chrysler for bringing back the convertible back in the 80's and thus making this month's voting criteria possible. If it wasn't for them, we'd never have stingy old GM building 3rd/4th gen convertibles. (Of course Ford made the F-body possible.)
Oh, BTW, I want to take this moment to thank Chrysler for bringing back the convertible back in the 80's and thus making this month's voting criteria possible. If it wasn't for them, we'd never have stingy old GM building 3rd/4th gen convertibles. (Of course Ford made the F-body possible.)
Well technically, GM didn't actually build the 3rd gen convertibles.
It's almost like GM really didn't want to make these verts and barely had any made.. But every other Mustang in the 80s was a vert so they made them available if you really wanted one..
I'm glad they were produced in such low numbers because they're pretty special.
People keep telling me they didn't even know they made these in convertible when they see my ride..
It seems they did a few things to hold the IROC back from eating into Vette sales..
Wow! Thank you so much for the nomination!!! I am so thrilled to be in such a great group of beautiful rides!!! I would like to say the 3 other cars nominated are gorgeous machines and we are all lucky to be the proud owners of these very special cars.
A little info about mine.....
It started as an all original SLP optioned car with every available option for the 91 year for the convertible. I wanted to do something that would leave most competitors (and exotics) in the dust while keeping it so very close to stock at the same time and saving all the stock pieces to put it back to numbers matching if I wanted to in the future. It started with the LB9 block being pulled and bored 60 thou over and "cleaned up" the stock bottom end was replaced with an internally balanced 400 crank and rods and topped off with some new Keith Black Pistons. The stock heads, which are still in use received a very "liberal" porting, polishing and angled valve job to greatly increase flow while being safe from any interference, as was the upgrade in cam, and new roller rockers. The intake base, runners and plenum all received a port and polish and the throttle body "grew" just a tad as well. The ignition and spark system has been greatly enhanced as has the feel system with duel high pressure electric Holley pumps and an adjustable regulator as well as the injectors going up to 50 lbs from the stock 19. Every stock piece has been carefully stored as well. The biggest boom comes from a Vortech supercharger that can deliver 4-20 pounds of boost. The whole package packs a whallop delivering 586 hp at the flywheel and that is fed to the tires through a rebuilt Trans Go 700R4 and 2800 stall, aluminum driveshaft and a Dana rear end with 3.42 gears. Again, all original parts were carefully stored. The engine breathes through heavily match ported manifolds to retain the air tubes and proper fit and a Magnaflow Y pipe, Magnaflow twin hi flow cats and Magnaflow 3" cat back. Spohn frame connectors were added to increase stiffness and all bushings changed to poly units along with larger sway bars front and back and Eibach lowering springs and dampers. The car sits only 1 inch lower then stock but is much "stiffer".
Overall from the outside with the hood closed there is no real indication what's lurking under the hood which is a lot of fun and from time to time has surprised the odd Porche, Ferrari ect but my most cherished addition to the car is the child seat for my little girl so we can enjoy a nice cruise to all the local car shows where we can walk around, enjoy looking at all the other nice cars.
Once again I would like to say thank you for being nominated alongside these fantastic rides! You're cars are gorgeous guys!
Went over my single post pic limit above. Was doing some more cleaning today and figured I'd add some more pics.
I'd like all the 3rd gen historians to note how flat the headlight buckets, (as well as louvers and grill insert) are from the factory. I intend to keep them that way too, by modifying my cleaning technique.
Yeah, I remember when I got my 87 (RIP) repainted by one of the best shops and one of the best paint guys in New England probably 20 years ago I was surprised how flat the black of the headlight buckets were.
They were a shop that takes the whole car apart and does a factory reproduction restoration.. Stripped down and everything.. Paint is baked on and you'd be hard pressed to tell it was a repaint..
This guy was a maniac about getting everything right and knew I was a maniac about my IROC..
I asked about the "flatness" of the buckets and he said that was actually exactly how they did it from the factory.. He told me my paint job was as close as you can get..
It looks like someone polished mine on this 88 at some point so they aren't "factory" flat anymore, but yeah, that's how they are supposed to be.. My louvers look new/factory and are pretty flat.
I've seen some guys with really glossy buckets and louvers.. I guess some people like them shiny, but you can't go back once you do that and some products will cause them to fade..
Yeah, I remember when I got my 87 (RIP) repainted by one of the best shops and one of the best paint guys in New England probably 20 years ago I was surprised how flat the black of the headlight buckets were.
They were a shop that takes the whole car apart and does a factory reproduction restoration.. Stripped down and everything.. Paint is baked on and you'd be hard pressed to tell it was a repaint..
This guy was a maniac about getting everything right and knew I was a maniac about my IROC..
I asked about the "flatness" of the buckets and he said that was actually exactly how they did it from the factory.. He told me my paint job was as close as you can get..
It looks like someone polished mine on this 88 at some point so they aren't "factory" flat anymore, but yeah, that's how they are supposed to be.. My louvers look new/factory and are pretty flat.
I've seen some guys with really glossy buckets and louvers.. I guess some people like them shiny, but you can't go back once you do that and some products will cause them to fade..
Yes, I have watched people apply various products to their headlight pockets and of course, that will make them more glossy.
I can speak of the pockets on my black hardtop, since that car has been in my care since day number and I have alway been careful not to apply any polish on them. The pockets on that car aren't necessarily glossy, but they are no longer dead flat either.
Before microfiber towels, the most gentle towels available were Made In USA 100% cotton towels. The nap of those cotton towels has some abrasiveness which create a polishing action. Wipe the pockets down after washing for a decade or two with those cotton towels and you will ultimately get a polishing effect.
So on the white convertible which has it's 30 degree black components components completely intact, I will only clean them with a flat or matte cleaner and a MF towel. I ordered the Flitz flat/matte cleaner, which was developed to clean the exterior of weapons, like an AR-15, and leave a dead flat finish. I thought I'd give it a shot, and it works pretty well.
I don't know what I did before microfiber towels.. I used to buy soft bath towels and it cost a fortune!
That's a good idea with the matte cleaner..
I knew people who used to armor all their buckets, louvers and grille.. It would make them turn gray when the product needed to be re-applied.. Bad choice
Thanks for pointing that out Charlie! It's important to remember how these cars were when new! I'm glad you plan to keep them looking the flat black. When I had mine done, idiot previous owner had them painted blue, I made sure they stayed that flat black color to match the front grill and louvers. I had him paint the louvers and grill at the same time to make sure they were the same shade! Love the white vert Charlie! Too bad I didn't know, or didn't see, that you were selling the purple haze one! I want one!
Thanks for pointing that out Charlie! It's important to remember how these cars were when new! I'm glad you plan to keep them looking the flat black. When I had mine done, idiot previous owner had them painted blue, I made sure they stayed that flat black color to match the front grill and louvers. I had him paint the louvers and grill at the same time to make sure they were the same shade! Love the white vert Charlie! Too bad I didn't know, or didn't see, that you were selling the purple haze one! I want one!
Thanks Travis. I could have sold the purple 'vert 5 times over. I was still getting messages inquiring about it, weeks after I sold it. But, I wanted to get this white one, and the first guys who showed up with cash drove it away.
This compilation of cars this month is just insane! Makes it a very hard choice.
I keep looking at the other 3 AMAZING cars and can't believe that my Camaro is in the same league! You guys have absolutely gorgeous machines!!! Honestly I've never seen as many convertibles in one place! I really do feel so very lucky to be considered and think it would be absolutely amazing if we could somehow, someway be able to organize the 4 to get together!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I keep looking at the other 3 AMAZING cars and can't believe that my Camaro is in the same league! You guys have absolutely gorgeous machines!!! Honestly I've never seen as many convertibles in one place! I really do feel so very lucky to be considered and think it would be absolutely amazing if we could somehow, someway be able to organize the 4 to get together!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Sounds good!
The three of you guys come to Chicago. First round is on me!
I keep looking at the other 3 AMAZING cars and can't believe that my Camaro is in the same league! You guys have absolutely gorgeous machines!!! Honestly I've never seen as many convertibles in one place! I really do feel so very lucky to be considered and think it would be absolutely amazing if we could somehow, someway be able to organize the 4 to get together!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Just a quick video from out in the driveway before parking in the garage. Not the best sound quality but you can hear that whistle under the hood http://vid.ly/3m0c7e
Last edited by 1991vortech335; 06-28-2016 at 08:56 PM.
Reason: Forgot text
The funny thing about my PHM 'vert was that all the ladies in my life LOVED it. My mom, my wife, my daughter. Something about that color.
And yes, you always need a bigger garage!
No Kidding!!!!! Gotta rent 30x50 storage facility to keep half of em. I'll tell ya,
I think we ALL have an addition to these 3rd gens!
Now I want a convertable!!!!!!!!! Were does it stop!
No Kidding!!!!! Gotta rent 30x50 storage facility to keep half of em. I'll tell ya,
I think we ALL have an addition to these 3rd gens!
Now I want a convertable!!!!!!!!! Were does it stop!
All Beautiful Vert's!
That's a nice big space, Bob. Wish I could find one like that near me!
No Kidding!!!!! Gotta rent 30x50 storage facility to keep half of em. I'll tell ya,
I think we ALL have an addition to these 3rd gens!
Now I want a convertable!!!!!!!!! Were does it stop!
All Beautiful Vert's!
Bob, That grey GTA looks good! I've always wanted a charcoal grey GTA but I have yet to find one..
Here's one thing you Camaro guys never have to deal with.
My wife had an '84 Firebird when we were dating. It was stolen 1 week after she made her last payment. That same night, it was totaled when the cops chased the 16 year old car thieves.
I'm fairly certain we'd still have that car in the family, had it not gotten wrapped around a pole.
No Kidding!!!!! Gotta rent 30x50 storage facility to keep half of em. I'll tell ya,
I think we ALL have an addition to these 3rd gens!
Now I want a convertable!!!!!!!!! Were does it stop!
All Beautiful Vert's!
I don't want to know rental fee for that place! I rented a 10x20 in Metro Detroit. That was bad enough. I moved to a more rural location, and a 10x20 costs half what I once paid.
Time to build an upper deck and sublease all that air space above your cars!
I like the license plate... Repping Canada, Ontario in particular!!
Thank you bro!
I see you're in Ontario as well I believe? I'm north of Toronto near Barrie if you're ever around. There's lots of local car shows here throughout the summer! 👍🏻 I just got back from one tonight and parked beside a gorgeous 1987 IROC Z that was all original and and very clean! I also got asked where I went to have my car converted to a convertible! It really does show how many folks didn't really know about these cars. They 4 of us nominated are very lucky to have these beautiful rides we do and I'm thankful to be considered with you guys!
06-21-2016, 02:05 PM
. But she was a little lady. Her friends convinced her that she REALLY needed a convertible after her divorce. Apparently she was an Asian woman with short legs (not making that up!) and had a hard time reaching the clutch pedal. So from 1989 through 2004 it was only driven about 6300 miles. The car was meticulously maintained however, even if not driven.
http://vid.ly/3m0c7e 
