I think a few have at least responded to the How Did Everyone Here Get their Cars? thread, but did every 'Vert owner here mention how much they got their car for? Since recently, an 87 Camaro was featured for sale in Hemmings online (over in History/Rest.) Wondering how close to new cost people here have paid. I was taken aback that car has 44K and mine was 42169 miles [correction taken from title] when I bought it for $8,600.
The price of mine was originally about $10,500. Definately over a grand, so even in rough shape, I'm determined to try to resurrect it as much as I can anyway. I know you guys can tire of 'before' pictures, but I never felt like storing mine away (only resources for one car, but here I am again with 2!!), even though it's the wiser move
BTW, I found I forgot to include a shot of the armrest cap, on the door jam seat belt area. I find my belt doesn't like to retract anymore and you have to play with it all the time to pick up slack, a tad annoying
BILL

 

I bought mine for $5,500 with 113,000 on the odometer. I had seen this same car 3 years eariler and had the owner down to $4,800 (107,000 miles) but my wife exercised her veto powers.

The car origional sticker price in 92 was $26,565. That was Corvette money in 92.

Since buying the car, I have invested another $8,000 in restoring it to OEM. New 305, rebuilt TH7004R, new suspension, new tires, new seat skins. Total investment to date appox $13,500.

New Paint this summer another $3K. In short, I will have a like new super nice, super rare TA with $16.5K invested.

Let me see...redo a rare car or buy a new sunbird.....any questions??

 

.......at first glance, I thought it was a topic detailing why I have so many kids!

shipfitter

 

I pay $3200 for mine last year and have put in quite a bit more in the engine, tranny, rear and it's far from complete. It's money pit but I love it.

 

i paid $6900.00 for mine almost 11 years ago. it had around 70.000 miles on it then.

 

I bought my RS convertible on 2-20-91 with 4952 miles on it from a Chevy dealership for 16K (17,112.51 out the door). It is funny to look at the original paperwork. The interest rate would have been 16.8% if I'd financed it through them. I financed it through my Credit Union instead.

Lon

 

I was originally loking for a new SUV when I saw my T/A for sale.... as I was passing by it struck me that I had never seen a ragtop thirdgen T/A. Pulled in and looked at it, fully expecting it to be in the 10K range, drove out after paying $4500. Had 90K on the clock at the time. Original MSRP was over $27K. Haven't invested much in restoration yet, but I HAVE had to drop over $3K into repairs since I moved to the Keys. My 'vert is allergic to South Florida, evidently.

 

im the lucky one. my 88 iroc vert has approx 75k on it now. had 72k on it when i got it. got talking to someone and they said haul it away. so i did. paid nothing. 300$ or so in repairs and i been driving it in summer since. ive had it since september '03.
this is it shortly after bringing it home, cleaning and waxing it.
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/att...postid=1672892

once i get home i can look up what the original sticker cost was. ive got that info at home.

edit: finally looked at the paperwork. the msrp for my vert was $23,004. came out of a dealer Norris Chevrolet in Westfield NJ.

 

Lets see - Three years ago I bought my car for $1400.

I have been lucky in that I have been able to do a bit of bartering for quite a bit of the work done on the car. The Top,
Interior, and Tires all cost about 1/2 what they should have because of barter deals for Wedding Photography. I've also done some computer work for others and gotten little nitpicky things for cheap or trade.

So far I have had to do NOTHING to the car mechanically other than the restoration/improvements made. I decided early on that it would be best to leave the motor alone and replace it when it died... It would seem that the LO3 is a VERY dependable motor.

My total investment out of pocket for the car to date is about seven thousand dollars. If you add the value of the bartering done to that figure I would still only top about 9500. At this point I feel that I could almost get out of the car what I have in it if I were to sell (NEVER happen! ). I have plenty of room to invest in a motor upgrade when I get the time. My plan is to acquire a bare block and build it from scratch myself. I just have to find the time to invest!

Speedy

 

My car was pretty much an impluse buy really. I wanted a man's convertible. None of that cabrio or Beemer crap going for peanuts around here. It had to be American.

I saw some Mustang convertibles and really disliked the way they drove. The Chysler Sebrings convertibles seemed to be too available. One look at the California edition '91 Firebird convertible and I knew: I was clearing out my fun account (well, all but the money used to fully restore it) for this unique car.

I paid $2800 in July of 2004.

Since then everything has been picked over and either replaced or improved. With gas the way it is now, I am really appreciative of my 305 but sure than the next car I have will be an LT1 or an LS1.

You gotta start humbly, eh?

 

Was driving the red IROC down the street, looked left into a car lot, and the black 'vert caught my eye. Was running late, so I went home and had the wife stop by the next day on her way to work. She calls and tells me it's not a lot car, but the salesman's personal car.... and he doesn't really want to sell it, but if we wanted it bad enough he'd let it go for $3500. I said "BUY IT!", and the rest is history! Best $3500 I've ever spent!

 

Paid less than $2k for mine last summer but had to trailer it home across three states (I'm talking big states down here). Also, I had to fix a lot of things to get her running and invest some money into parts and she's not even finished yet.
But the biggest investment I'm making is the time I'm putting into her. I'm doing all the work myself.
I'm slowly getting her value back up and hopefully, one day, she will be worth $5k again.

 

I bought mine last year for 900 bucks, the lady i bought it from was moving and in a desperation to get rid of it, she said it didnt run and wanted 1400 bucks for it, after stopping by one to see it i was less than impressed it wasnt taken care of....but i couldnt get the damn thing outta my head, i called her back and offered her 900 if i came and picked it up that day, she agreed, i brought it home, spent 4 hours pulling the old fuel pump, swaping it with one i had sitting around and she started right up only 92K on the clock, cleaned up real nice too !

 

My motor has about 127K now and had 43K when I got it, as I point out earlier. My stat search pointed to the cars being around $25K list, so the price quotes closer to 30 Gs is a surprise. I know the Cadillac convertible I share affinity for were over $30Gs in 1980s figures! Yet they sold and still tend to sell high, certainly higher then 3rd gen cars, but it has that parade car feel and is quite fit for cruising, where as the Firebird/ Camaro fan base/demographic is on the younger side with less funds.

Thanks for sharing those stories, I find with all the debating I have to do on old vs new, it helps to hear other war stories and decisions on why or hwy not restore an old car, or just buy a brand new one time and time again. My resources are next to nothing, compared to a lot of you, I'm sure

I took a new pic days ago to show my two cars side by side, you can see my much cheaper Deville is looking to be a money source that likely will help the Bird, but the transmission is on my summer list of items to tackle. The other item is the nose for the Bird, hense a new thread for that in particular
Bill

 

In 1988 I my car new for a total price of $22,087. I put $6000 down and the dealer put in a whopping $750. The rest was financed over 5 yrs. All said and done it cost me $28,837.

For good or bad I might have most everyone beat for the highest paid!

Chuck

 

Chuck88IROC Wrote:

In 1988 I my car new for a total price of $22,087. I put $6000 down and the dealer put in a whopping $750. The rest was financed over 5 yrs. All said and done it cost me $28,837.

For good or bad I might have most everyone beat for the highest paid!

Chuck

--------------------------------
Chuck, I'd say you have done pretty well. You have driven a rare and beautiful machine for SEVENTEEN YEARS! If you divid out the 28,837 you say the car cost that comes to
A little under $1700 per year. Not bad. Most people in that time frame have used up and thrown away at least three cars!

Keep on Iroc'in!

Speedy

 

I have had my 91 Z28 vert for about 4 years now and with about 85K on the clock.
Some of you guys might fall over at the price i paid for it ,$24,000 AUS but theres one thing to remember , i'm in Australia and the car has been converted to right hand drive.
The average price for one of these here in pretty good condition is about $20K.
Hard tops go for about $15k.
Early 80's H/Tops average cond go for about $10K .
I look at the prices you guys talk about and have to keep reminding myself where i am!

 

.........that is my car. 1992 Chevrolet Camaro RS convertible. Nice looking car. I saw it on ebay in March 2003. I had money burning a hole in my pocket and I wanted a sharp convertible (Ameican Iron only, of course). Since I live in Maine, I was looking down south and was interested in some '60's Cutlass and Firebird convertibles, but no one could guarentee that they would make the 1000 to 1500 mile drive to my home, should I buy and fly down to get the car.

I saw this car on eBay, gorgeous Arctic White paint, and wild Flame Red leather interior, 87,000 miles, and tons of pictures. The seller bent over backwards for me. Sending dozens more pictures to me and answering all of my questions, and talking on the phone. Plus he guarenteed me it would drive anywhere, without fail, or he would take the car back and pay my airfare home. So I bid $5800 on the car.......and I lost the auction!

I sent him an e-mail thanking him for his time and patience. Several days later I got a phone call from, stating that the original winner backed out of the deal and was I still interested? I said yeah, but I am not paying the winning bidders price, and then I offered $5300 (below my high bid) and he accepted. I was leary, but I sent a $500 deposit and the following week, my youngest son and I flew down to Ft. Lauderdale to get the car. He picked us up at the airport (This was a Friday, the war in Iraq had just started, airport security was high, and spring break was ending) and took us to the car, which was at a detail shop, being made pretty for us. He had tuned up the car and had a mechanic go over to make it ready for the trip. I test drove it and the deal was complete. I paid the remainder, got Florida temp plates, and my son and I made the trek home.

Friday we left Ft. Lauderdale at about 2 PM and spent the night in Brunswick, Georgia. Saturday we drove as far as Baltimore, Maryland. On Sunday afternoon pulled into my driveway in Bath, Maine. Fun drive. Started hot with the top down in Florida, and ended with the top up and the heater on in Maine!

From the original dealer's invoice I learned that the car was indeed a true southern Florida original: It was sold to:

ED MORSE CHEVROLET
P.O. BOX 31477
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL 33420-1477

The original MSRP was $21,489.00!

Today, the car has a decent life, with almost 92,000 on the odometer. Spends it's winters in storage.......and has many upgrades. It is a blast to drive!

 

I bought my 89 TA vert in 3/92 for $14k w/ 9k miles. Still all orig w/ docs and 26k miles now. Special ordered w/ 5.7L at approx $26k. Had a chance to buy it in 3/91 for $12500 w/6k miles but could not come up w/ the money.

 

Love those wheels, you got them with the car?
Mine of course, you've likely seen, needing int cleaning and rim polishing.

That's certainly a good price.

In the Midwest for sure! [new top pic below, I hope (no preview on Win98)]
BILL

 

I got my 87 Z-28 Vert for $1300.00. I had no idea that I was buying such a rare car. I never heard of a factory authorized convertible in 1987, I thought is was another "Chop Shop" convertible. The car didn't run, and the owner needed to get rid of the car. So I offer what the NADA book values for a poor condition 87 Z-28 was worth. The rest is history.

I got the 92 for $5000.00. Thats the toy. I couldn't have just one.

 

Found our 84 firebird convertible in a pine grove and paid $800 for it have put about 5000 into it. Got our 91 T/A for 2500 and have put about another 2000 into it .

 

the details are in the "how you got your car" thread but:

i had the woman talked down to $2800 or somthing like that before her husband came home...

he woudlnt go lower then 3k... so i paid 3k for it.

 

Bought mine in '96 for 6500 with 46,000 miles. First time I saw an iroc with the top down, I swore I'd own one some day.

It's lasted me through 1 wife, a few girlfriends, a career change, and a cross country move. It's still my everyday driver with over 120,000 on it now. It's been raced, spun, skidded, jumped, and sprayed (NOS), and I've hardly spent a dime on maintenance over the years, though I've been through some alternator and starter problems.

I've just started to spend a little on fixing a few details, like the suspension, steering, brakes, transmission, engine, rear end, carpet, seat covers, tires, bodywork, paint, and top. Except for those few things, she's still like new!

My wife is after me to upgrade. Wants me to get a new mustang, a honda 2000, or a 3 series bimmer. Truth is, I could afford any of these, but.....the third gen conv. is one of the most stunningly beautiful cars ever built. No other camaro comes close, even first gen stuff ( I also own a first gen ). You've got to get into exotics to get in its league. I'm considering of buying another lower mileage car, a blue one would be nice...with a tan interior. We'll see.

 

$7500 Three years ago... 73,000 miles

 

Wow, I just came across a 1989 Camaro vert for sale at Continental Auto here in the Twin Cities, about $4300 if I recall
Somebody get that bad boy!

Bill

 

I bought mine for $5,200 at 132,xxx miles 3 years ago, and that is the best money i've ever had my parents spend.

 

I bought my 91 RS Convertible in January this year. I have always wanted a camaro. I moved out here from England last November. I was looking for an every day driver when I thought a Camaro would be nice.

My idea was to buy a cheap hard top and when I was bored to strip out the engine and transmission and install it in a 1950 chevy I have. Well browsing through the small adds I found a few hard tops that needed too much to get them on the road. I had found a hard top just a couple of miles from my home. Was about to do a deal on it when my last look in Thrifty Nickel had a Vert advertised in the truck section for $2500. I had to go and look at it with my wife in tow as my sensible head.

Well that didn't work. The car had been sitting on the drive with a tarp over it,but with the top down. Wet carpets and moldy door panels. But it started straight away and there were no strange noises. I took it for a test drive and it shifted perfectlyand sounded great with the Dynaflow twin exhaust. The engine had just been rebuilt and had cost $1500.I wanted it and just had to convince my wife it was a good buy even with the couple of dents and ripped roof,no inspection and no current registration. Managed to knock the owner down to $2000 and it was mine.

Well 5 months on I'm loving it. Got it through the emissions with just an air diverter valve and repair to the emergency brake. Fitted a new top myself that didn't take long.Took out the carpet to get rid of the smell and just have some scrap carpet in there at the moment. Repaired the torneau release and trunk pull down motor. Replaced the seats with 4th Gen Grey leather. Sorted out the dented rear quarter and I'm just looking for a new passenger fender.Then I'll prep all the body and take it in somewhere for paint.

I did put it up for sale at one point as I wanted to work on my other car. Now its just taken over. Plus my wife now loves it.

I'm having some idling problems at the moment but have some great help from the TBI forum. Hopefully will have this cured in the next week or so. So far I have around $3000 invested in total.

Alex

 

I love Camaros of any generation and owned a 4th gen at the time. Found myself staring at pictures of 3rd gen convertibles for sale. Finally decided I had to have one.

Started cruising the internet for a low mileage car. Found one in Denver. Emails, phone calls and pictures went back and forth. Had a friend of mine who lived in Denver check it out for me. He said the paint was okay(original), fantastic interior, engine and trans, just needed a new top(vinyl window was toast).


Struck a deal for $8400. This was for a 1988 IROC, 5 Speed, G92, J65 car with 38,000 original miles!

Flew up to Denver the day after Thanksgiving(Nov 2004). The owner picked me up at the airport in the IROC. Drove it to the bank and gave him a check, he already had a temporary tag for me, he was a really great guy, second owner, could not have asked for more.

Drove her home to Phoenix that weekend. The car came with Bilstein struts which the owner didn't have time to put on.
The struts are on along with the matching Bilstein shocks, put on a new top with the glass window(Arizona sun will kill vinyl quick) and just had the Spohn subframes welded on.

Have had the top down solid for the last 2 months as it has been perfect convertible weather here in Phoenix.

Get a big smile every time I run her through the gears, my favorite Camaro of all the one’s I have owned!

 

Here's a pic of the interior.

 

These stories are quite interesting to me. In the latest Car Craft, not only is a 3rd gen featured again as a ongoing project (350 TPI plague, as they like to joke) There is a report on a custom frame made to supplant a unibody with frame weld-in members. Sounds like they may have one yet for 3rd gen F cars but it's reportedly some bucks and requires some fabrication.

If you have to tackle rusted out floor boards, and undercarriage, this would be a very interesting app

Bill

 

hmm. 142 speedo? stock? in a vert...?

 

'142'?

Weren't they technically marked '140'?
I can't see his guage in the pic, you've got some good eyes there! hehe
Bill

 

The 145MPH speedometer was used on the 305 CID (5.0L) Tuned Port Injection engine (LB9) with the 5-speed transmission and the 350 CID (5.7L) Tuned Port Injection engine (L98) equipped IROC-Z and includes convertibles with the LB9 option.

 

It also came in lb9/auto cars.

 

For fun, I notice what speedos the new cars coming out sport...it's sometimes amusing. When will one ever get to go 140, much less 160, 170, 180??? Oh, of course, down the track! haha

Did the 89 TA turbo have that same guage?
Bill

 

The 140 speedo? I'm sure it did. Plus it had a small boost guage built into the tach. (very cool stock look; If I could find one of those I'd use it for my turbo build)

 

Bought mine about 4 years ago for $7500 with 60,000 miles on the clock. I've spent double that so far with mods NOT including the Carb'd/Dart/Solid roller 396 SBC that is going in this month I could have a Corvette instead I guess but there's no way it would be this much fun. I've definately ate a lot of fuel with it and I estimate a couple thousand bucks on nitrous oxide alone. hehe

 

Not all of them. I have the LB9/700R4 combo with the 110 speedo.

 

I didn't say it was standard, I said it came in lb9/autos. It was an option.

 

Getting away from the subject again, but I noticed as was typical of 1989 memorabilia, the owners manuals like I have for 1989 are also getting attention on eBay right now. Again a repair manual from GM sold for $70+ Too much money for me

I'd LOVE to have one though. I've found the owners manual to be nothing to right home about so I'd trade it for the repair manual!
I was not sure if the speedo was 140 or more. My original MotorTrend covering the Turbo TA is somewhere out of sight right now

Bill

 

I've started a new thread in History and Resto to try and get an answer to the 145 mph speedo issue. I don't know what the criteria is/was, but the best I've heard so far is that cars ordered with Z rated tires got the 145 mph job, while cars ordered with V or H rated tires got the 110.

 

http://www.cardomain.com/id/shipfitter_sjd