I have a 1985 Camaro convertible that has paper work from ASC as being one of the cars used a the Auto Show to present the car coming out for 1987. I have noticed an "X" in the body part numbers, and was told that this usually stands for a prototype panel or part. Is there any truth to this? My dad and I are looking to restore the car, and want to make it as close to original the way it would have been presented at the auto show as possible.

Any help as to produced numbers of this car, and what to look for to possibly identify parts would be greatly appreciated.

 

i always thought gm crushed all the prototypes. if youve got one tho that would be awesome! any pics? and sorry i have no idea what the x stands for

 

Yes, the 'X' was used for the Experimental cars, but I've never heard of it used outside the factory or past the late 60s/early 70s. Could very well have been used otherwise though.

As far as it being crushed....If ASC had converted it, it was no longer a GM car so.....

Any way to research ASCs records & see if they could identify the VIN of their pre-production car? May be they'd be just as interested in finding out?

 

pics of this so called prototype ?

would be pretty cool to see one... what does the vin read ? any EX in the vin ?


ps.. welcome aboard 65mustang

 

The story on the car is that, my dad and I went down to Detroit, on our normal car shopping agenda, sometimes there are great deals to be had. We are both suckers for Mustangs and Camaros and have built quite a few of them. We see this RS looking convertible in a stolen recovery lot, that typically has descent cars for sale that just need to be repaired in some fashion. We checked out the car, it had been hit in the right rear, and the rear frame rail needs to be straightened very little, and a new quarter panel installed. So we didn't think much of it, until we read that the car was a 1985. We both new that Chevrolet did not produce a convertible until 1987. So, we did not say anything, and simply bought the car, and then did a lot of research. The car looks exactly like an 87' convertible, only someone, I would imagine whoever stole it, put 91 RS style ground effects on it, and some after market hood scoop. We then contacted ASC with the VIN number and they documented with the VIN on ASC letter head, that this is infact 1 of 3 mechanical prototypes built for the 1986 Detroit Auto Show to unveil the 1987 coming down the pipe. So, now I am searching, trying to find pics from the 1986 Auto Show, of the Camaro Convertible. As far as I can tell, it should have been the factory medium metallic blue. So, we have documentation, now we are just trying to find some pics of this thing at the auto show, that way we can get it back to the way it was originally. We aslo have to try to find the original 85' IROC style ground effects it should have had on it. Another neat thing about it, is that the nose cone, or front fascia is a white harder plastic material, which, from what I read, is also a material they use for building pre-production pieces.

Thanks for the warm welcome, glad to see they are bringing the Camaro back.

 

Sounds like a really neat car.

From my understanding, in 1985, like you stated ASC started making convertibles. From what I understood the cars were converted by ASC for dealerships and were sold new. In 1987 GM got on the band wagon and commissioned ASC to do the conversions on the Camaro and Firebird. They found that the Firebird was too heavy and would not meet Fuel milage requirements, so it was dropped.

ASC would have had to make some prototypes, and if this is indeed one of them then it would be a rare find indeed. Especially with literature from ASC stating that it was one of those prototypes, makes it a great find.

If you could be so kind to PM me with the person you contacted at ASC to get your information it would be appreciated.

THere was another 1985 not too long ago that someone posted pics of. That car was a base SC not a Z28 or IROC.

As for your car the IROC, Z28 & RS from 1985 - 1990 all used the same grond fx. They were also the same for all camaros in 1988 - 1990.

The hood would be a Z28 or IROC only thing.

Keep us updated sounds like a GREAT project.

John

 

Does sound neat, and a major great find! Would love to see some pics of it when you get to it.

 

To okfoz,
I forget the name of the gentleman at ASC, however we should be able to look at the paper work and see. From my understanding, ASC is now out of business. If this is true, I do not know how we would track this guy again. Right now I am just hoping I can find some pictures from the 1986 Auto Show with the Camaro display.

We are planning on doing a complete resto on the car, top to bottom, etc.

Also the gound effects on the car are the ones that started in 1991 with the little scoops and air deflectors. Definitely will have to change those back.

Thanks again, I will try to post pics of the car during resto, we are usually doing cars for customers, now we get to do a neat one for ourselves.

 

If you have his name, find someone at a state office (with access to drivers license records) or the driver's license office itself, of the state you believe he is in, and have them get you a list. That's how I find people, or find out who owns a certain car, by license plate #.

 

We want Pictures !!!!!! Please !!

 

"Prototypes"......That's a tricky term. Keep in mind that there are GM sponsored prototypes, then there are prototypes produced by suppliers (like ASC). Chances are...that this is not a GM prototype, but is an ASC prototype that ASC sent to the autoshow to get dealers interested in ordering some for their inventory. If this is the case, there will not be any way to track the prototype status through a VIN search, since the car left GM as a regular production car. Good thing you got the info from ASC before they vaporized.

I would bet the car was sent to several big U.S. Auto Shows and probably was not in the Chevolet display area. They probably had a booth elsewhere in the "supplier" part of the show. Buy items like this to see if ASC had a booth. I would really ,like you to keep us updated...and post a few current photos of your car, so you can calm our curiosity.
http://cgi.ebay.com/1985-CHICAGO-AUT...efaultDomain_0
http://cgi.ebay.com/Los-Angeles-Inte...efaultDomain_0
http://cgi.ebay.com/Detroit-Auto-Sho...QQptZMagazines
http://cgi.ebay.com/Greater-Los-Ange...efaultDomain_0
http://cgi.ebay.com/1986-Pontiac-NY-...efaultDomain_0
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1986-...sQ5fLiterature

 

yes please pictures !!

 

I will definitely post some pictures of the car as soon as I have it here in this state. The car is in storage out of state, and as soon as we finish a couple customer cars, we will bring this one in the shop and restore it back to auto show looks. The letter from ASC stated that it was built as one of three mechanical Prototypes built for the 1986 auto show, to debut the upcoming 1987 model, which ASC supplied the conversion parts for. The car looks exactly like a 1987 convertible. This is why I come to this forum, in hopes that someone has pictures or access to pictures of the 1986 Detroit auto show, that way we can see if there was a blue convertible camaro there, with a black top and gray interior. I am not sure what wheels would have been on it, but would really like to know. I am guessing that they would have put the IROC style on it for it to look very flashy at the show. Our plan is to restore the car, doing a full teardown and rebuild right back to what it would have been at the show. Then hopefully sell it at auction, and use the money for investing into more Camaro and mustang projects to restore and sell. My dad and I really enjoy restoring classics, and him and I are fond of the pony cars, no matter whether it be a Camaro, Mustang, or a Challenger. Him and I have both had many of both. I myself have had a 1978 Z28, 1981 Z28, 1968 Firebird Convertible, (2) 1965 Mustang Fastbacks, (2) 1966 Mustang Coupes, and he has had (2) 1984 Z28's, 1988 Camaro Convertible, 1967 Cmaro, 1986 Camaro, and a 1970 Trans Am. So to say that we are pony car Enthusiasts, would be pretty accurate.
Once again, I would greatly appreciate if anyone has any info on the 1986 Auto Show and what cars were on display for GM, and what cars were on display for ASC if they had a display at the show. And if anyone has pictures, that would be beyond excellent. Thanks.