I would have to say my Camaro is for LIFE! There ain't many cars that look at tough or as mean as a good ol' Camaro. Right now I am in heated battle with my dad about letting me get a new car or pretty new of a car. He says to Sell the Camaro...I tell him he is a CRAZY S.O.B. I aint saying I would never sell the Camaro.....it would just be for another 3rd Gen Camaro

 

I first fell in love with camaros because of my brother. He had a 1978 Z28, I knew that someday I'd have one just like it. Then one day while looking at cars I saw this beatiful example of a car. I fell in love with it immediately and after three years she still surprises me. I've thought about getting rid of my RS sometimes but everytime I do I get a sick feeling in my stomach. I imagine that she'll go to some bad owner who'll just destroy her. Even if I wanted to I couldn't sell her, which is why I'm going to mod the heck out of her. And after I'm done I'm going to need a big garage for all my other cars I won't be able to sell. I mean my dream car is a 1970 AMX, but I would never sell my RS for one. One day I might have all the cars I ever wanted but my camaro will always come first.

 

I've owned my RS 'vert 11 years now. No plans to sell it anytime soon. I can foresee a day when my tastes change and it rides too harsh or I'm tired of folding myself in half to climb in and out of it. But for now The Chiropractor is doing his best to prolong that day. Lon

 

well i have two already and the 88 RS T-Tops is gonna stay with me for live i have been around this car for 10 years now it was one of my dads friends and it has been wrecked 3 times and stolen once and evertime the car has comback form the dead . then my dad bought it from his friend and i sold my 91 Ford F-150 (very sharp looking truck) just so i could have the camaro. then i bought my brothers Z-28 sc and i'am going to bluid it up for my g/f she wants the 88 but thats my baby and if we ever break up she can have everthing but my car . i plan on owning one of every gen camaro but i will never sell my 88

 

Definetly a Classic... I don't really recall when my interest was peaked by the 3rdgen. I do remember drawing cars in grade school though, and I now realize that the cars I drew are almost identical to the IROC styling. I'm 26 now and don't plan on ever not having these examples of classic styling that was 7 years in the making. In '98 I was looking to get my first Camaro. I then stumbled onto a blue '89 IROC with 28K mi on it, that was stored for the previous 5 years. This thing was mint. Leather, 305 5spd,alum driveshaft and drums. The moral of this story begins on Sept. 2000, when my precious car was stolen, never to be seen again, or recovered. That car did a 14.4sec 1/4 stock. All it took was some sewer dwelling lowlife to destroy my pride and joy. Since then I have bought an '83 Z, and a '91 Z. But they just aren't the same. Yes I will always have a 3rdgen Camaro, but I just hope that I can feel the same about my new Camaros as I did with my '89. Camaros are not just a car, they are a way of life...

 

I'm only 18 and I already have two keepers. My 91' RS 'vert and my 70' Challenger. I looking for the room for a 83' Hurst/Olds and 69' 440+6 Super Bee to add the collection . I don't have the funds right now to finish the Challenger so the RS is my driver and my toy, does it get any better.

 

I have had a picture of a blue IROC hanging on my wall forver and a day. I never even really realized it or even looked at it until I bought my car. I was like, oh ya, I own one of those now I like my car a lot. It needs work, much work, but it is very fun. I still hate the image that some people have of 3rd gens as ******* mobiles but I think that is falling by the wayside now. The thing i realized reading this post is that those of u who dont own the same car as me all want my car thats a pretty good complement. I think that 88-90 IROC's are the best 3rd gens out there. If you're blessed as I am to own the finest specimen available, a black L98 car, then I think you really have something special. I can easily see these cars becoming sought after in the next 10 years or so. Id love to hang onto my car as long as possible. Unfortunitly I know what its like to absolutly love your vehicle and have to give it up even though you swore you never would so i know there is always the possibility of having to sell my IROC. I hope that day never comes but I never though id sell my Jeep but I did. I rebuilt that thing from the ground up and knew it better then myself. I loved it with a passion but unfortunitly it just couldnt fit into my life the way I wanted it to. The IROC dulled my pain of loosing the jeep but ill always love it. Im getting all teary eyed now so ill quit but I will say this.....LONG LIVE THE IROC'S!!!!!!!!!!

 

I want to keep my Firebird for life. But also it was a stepping stone to my new Vette (89). I'll try to hide the Firebird in the garage for now. The wife will never look there....

 

mine is both i guess...i am definitely keeping it for life, but it will NOT be the last muscle/performance car that i get.

i learned a lot from it, and will never forget any of it with future cars.

-brian

 

Although I like my 91 Formula WS6 a lot, it's not my dream car. I really want (and will someday have) a 69 GTO Judge, orange with 4 speed and hood tach and the ram air IV, if it will have an original engine. I think I would like to either find a low mileage stock one or completely restore one.

 

This was agreat post and I just want to add my experience.

I remember when I was 7 (1992) and reading Firebird on the back of that sweet sports car. It is funny how we have that sweet sports car image engrained in our head. Sure there are Subaru WRX's and Audi S4, which are sporty, but there not that sweet sports car. Niether are a 1969 Camaro, or a 1970 Chevelle, awesome cars, not sweet sports cars.

Although to the enthusiast our cars look like bargain basement scrappers. And the Lg4 may be a little lagging. And the best of us wont win a drag race with a Hemi Challenger.

There will aways be the little 7 year old in the back of the station wagon reading Camaro on that sweet sports car. We have sweet sports cars!!! And we shouldn't lose sight of that!

Thanks, and Third Gen for life!

 

For Life is the only way to go!!!!!Yes the third gen is considered by some as the blue collar class of the American sports car compared to others, but it is us who put the smiles on ALL of the little kids faces and keep the ladies happy with our simple yet aggresive style.


For those that consider the third gen a stepping stone may the force be with you. There are many cars that I wish I had but, like they say don't forget where you came from. Our cars will go down as one of the best high performance cars of its time just like the generations before us!!!!!!

 

My car has put me through HELL and back. bought the car when I was sixteen and learned mechanics very fast when I threw a rod and snapped the crank in half. Here comes the new engine....but oh no there goes the rear end. Thats when I learned how to make friends that know about rear ends. Then the perfectly straight body becomes wrecked. Thats when I learned how to do body work. With all thiis including running off the road from blown tires to almost getting killed ( dragstrip accident that luckily didn't kill me or my car) I can easily say my TA is a keeper for life. This car has taught me more than anything else. I am now happy with it for the moment, until I get more money.....college sucks. Money that is! Anyway This one is for Life

 

I have wanted a thrid gen for as long as i can rember my gradpa had a 82 pace car and some of the best times as a youngin where in that car he dosent have it any more wich really sucks but i do have a 82 so that my story

 

I just got my 1988 sport coupe, and I don't see myself ever junking or getting rid of it. 1988 was a unique year for the sport coupe, being the only year it looked just like a Z28 with full gfx and that aero spoiler. It was also the last year of the sport coupe for the third gen. So simply from a collectible point of view, my car is a keeper. But althought I haven't owned it for long, there are sentimental values that go into it. I fixed all the interior lighting with little help from my father (he just explained how to do it and I actually did the work) and I've just had a thing for these cars in the back of my mind since I was like 5 or 6.

I got into the third gen when one of my friends got a black Firebird with t tops (dunno the year), and ever since then, I've wanted an F Body. I've come close to getting a red bird, a white trans am, and a white IROC that needed so much work, I think the guy just junked it instead of selling it. But when I found my 1988 sport coupe in RI, and had to drive nearly 40 miles to get to it, I just knew that car was the one for me. I never had that feeling with any other third gen I looked at.

Now, I just look forward to all the mods I wanna make. I want to put blackouts over the lights, and paint the front headlight recesses black. I'm gonna get custom CAMARO SC door decals made up in the IROC font, and I wanna upgrade the stereo system (its the stock unit with new speakerts, I only wanna change the speakers as I like the sound of the stock head unit and its looks in the car just fine.)

All that above, and one more thing: I'm willing to bet I'm one of the few people around who have a 1988 sport coupe with a 305 Tuned Port Injection system..it's not the original engine, but still..it makes it unique when I bring up that it has it in convos, someone says you can't, then I show em. Makes it kinda unique, as I wanted the TPI anyway.

So basically, my car is everything I wanted, minus the power accessories, which don't bother me cuz it's kinda unique having a 'maro with no power thingies, as I've never seen one before.

OK I'm done now

Kev

 

I though I was the only one with a collectable SC. '87 SC with a V8, T-tops, Sport Suspension and a 3.23 Posi. I priced it out and it would be cheaper to get a Z28.

With the theme of non Z collectables, any of you LT guys are lucky too. '87 only and 794 made. >phew< They made more 1LEs

 

Had to post cuz none of you mentioned KNIGHT RIDER! I was born in 82 so I grew up on the 3rd gen Firebird TA known as KITT. I wanted a 91 or 92 that looked close to the modded 82 in KR for as long as I can remember.

Later, I matured to like 3rd gen Vettes, but money issues sent me back to the f-bodies. I could get a marginal vette for $5K or a nice bird for $3k that could hold more chicks.

But seriously, we didn't get these cars for girls, we got em for us!

These cars look awesome!!! Better looking than the 4th gens, sleeker than the 2nd gens. More agile than any 1st gen.

I may add a Corvette to the collection (forcing the TA into my little bros' hands) but I'll never sell my car. Besides, there's an emotional connection to your first car. I couldn't even sell it for another 3rd gen. The first year I had it, I spent 3 months getting it to pass smog. I really got to know the car. I talk to it, just like Nick Cage and Eleanor. It's a relationship-- the bond btwn man and machine!

Long live the third gen f-body!!!

 

dude you talk to your car lol i do to i dident want to sound like a retard. ha ha ha but yea befor i race some one i always talk to it and i always say i belive in it lol never let me down yet

 

I am loving this post. We have (as I suspected) some die hard fans here. I figure instead of selling mine to get another 3rd gen, I will always keep mine creating it into whatever I want, an autobahn shifting, 1/4 mile striping, evil looking, piece of American Pie

Thirdgen for Life.. not just for Christmas

Keep 'em coming. I hear so much of myse3lf in so many of you. Car loons th elot of you

Take care

 

That's what I like about this forum. We are all passionate about our love for these cars. I miss my 93 LT1 Corvette but I don't miss the car payment ($575.00). I also had a 95 V6 camaro that was nice, but all show no-go. I've always like the 3rd Gens and was very happy to find my 87 TA and pleasantly surprised by the performance and driveability. Also, I'm learning about electronic engine management and starting my first bodywork project. These are fun affordable performance cars that you don't have to be rich to enjoy.