Hi folks,

First time poster here. This is a great message board and I've been finding out lots of info about these odd 87 convertibles, but I have one here that I still can't figure out.

What I have appears to be an ASC dealer conversion that has a normal IROC Z28 badge on the dash. No special numbering and it's a VIN code 2. Other options are LB9, G80, G92, and 5 speed.

The person I bought it from 14 years ago said it was a lightweight and auto-crossers liked to get these because they were faster on a short track. I don't know about that, but it will eat my new GLI and old 911S on our local backroads.

Any ideas what i have?

It's my first post so this pic may blow up, here goes..

 

A few more pics....

 

your pictures don't show up.

 

Sorry, noob mistake! I have them in the gallery now. Lets try this..

 

It looks like you have a very nice 3rd gen convertible there.

 

Thanks! Its one of my dream cars from when I was 16. Couldn't afford the insurance till years after that though
Here are the outside pics, looks like a normal convertible except for the Miami Vice (literally, bought in Miami) cell phone antenna from 1987. I didn't install the '70s Z28 steering wheel either. Other than those items, it's all stock. Even the exhaust looks OEM.

 

Its a ASC conversion for sure.............

 

Sweet looking vert, love the red 87 interior!

 

Good looking car. I like the red and black.
Welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of 3rd Gen convertibles.

 

Thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate the help figuring it out. It's a cool car because of the rare combination of equipment and that it's never been messed with or modified. It even has original manifolds that have no rust on them, now that's stock!
Unfortunately I started researching all the details because I figured I might have to sell it, and wanted to list it correctly if it ever came to that. Still dragging my feet in case something changes though. The more I find out the less I want to sell!
I will get more pics in the gallery. Been lots of discussions on here about the numbering on these cars, and about how many were made with a VIN 2 code. This is the only one I have seen that has no numbering at all. I wonder if the original owner wanted it that way. I think he was eccentric and not afraid to spend money

 

Starting in 1987 Chevrolet started using ASC as the go-to company for the factory Convertibles, However during that year Dealers could still special order a convertible and have it drop shipped to ASC for conversion on the Camaro. The Factory ASC 87's had the 20th anniversary logo on the pouch, and the Conversion ASC Camaros were numbered... Firebirds did not get numbered, and for some reason neither did this car. It may have been a late 87 Conversion... They actually converted 4 350 Camaros in 1987 too...

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, I thought the rear brakes looked like the G92 units from 1988. Then I saw the carfax...registered in Miami on June 2, 1987.
VIN is 1G1FP21F9HL132343.
I will check the door for the ASC conversion sticker and measure some stuff tomorrow night.

 

It has bose kick panels which you could not get if ordered through gm in a vert. These were put in later (like I did with mine) or someone (an individual) sent the car to asc for the conversion. See if the build document has the bose code. I think it is RPO uq4 but I am probably wrong. Bose came out in 87 I think so if it is an early car they may have tried an option for verts which would make it incredibley rare and I would have to have the car immediately ha ha.

 

Hey guys,

I finally got back and checked the build sheet, it's got UQ1, UQ4, and UU8. Is that rare for 87? I actually can't find those codes for 87 at all, but maybe the page i'm looking at is not complete.
It has a place on the door where an ASC sticker has been peeled off.
Also, pardon my ignorance, but are the kick panels the ones beside the rear seats? They are really faded on my car, like almost white
Hope they aren't too rare or I'll never fix them!


Steve

 

Hi there,
UQ1 is the standard radio setup (speakers, wiring harness, etc.)
UQ4 is the Bose stereo option (I think that's the speakers and amps)
UU8 is the Bose radio option (the head unit)
these are codes from a 1988, but might be the same for 1987. they made 4,457 in 1988, probably less in 1987, so, yeah, pretty rare.

Probably more rare than the standard radio options.

for the kick panels, are you talking about the panels right above the rear armrests? Those are covered in cloth, correct? You might try spraying them with a spray-on vinyl and fabric dye in the same color. I have done it on seat covers, with good results that last a long time.

 

i have never seen a Bose system in a third gen vert. I would bet this was sent out after it was built. The deal was: the Bose head unit doesn't work well with normal speakers and the Bose speakers all had the built in amps. The rear speakers used a supwoofer type tunnel system that was installed in the rear shelf cover and would not work in a vert. Being that the head unit is not the stock Bose/GM one I don't think you have much to worry about because they seem to be tough to find. Rare would be a Yellow 87 Vert. I feel some items on here would be considered a little "rare" from most others but is it going to command an additional $1000? Meaning it is not a COPO car or Players Cup or air delete car. Probably not going to command a lot more money but being so clean will help the car out for sure. If you sellit you will always look back and think it was a special car but for the new buyer it has a couple unique items but EVERY car that was/is loved has soemthing special if the past/current owner was a "car" person. Heck, the original owner in Miami might be searching for this car.... ha ha.
Great looking car and someone knew some check boxes but not ultra rare in my opinion. I am looking for a vert though........ What kind of $ are you looking to get for it?

 

1) I think we established that it was a T-top car that was converted by ASC.
2) Bose stereos used (at least when I have messed with them) used the same wires as the stock radio, BUT they had shielding, the reason was as mentioned above since the Amp was at the speaker, they needed the shielding to keep from getting noise into the system. Interestingly the early BOSE radios and the regular radios were comprised of two parts, the head unit, with the tuner, tape player, CD player etc, and then on the top in the rear was the amplifier. Taking the Just the amplifier from a BOSE radio did you nothing, even if you rewired the car to accept the amplified speakers, actually finding a Bose radio and using a regular amp would get you better sound... At least that is in my experience. I actually did this to a 1990 Riviera, I had a Bose system with CD and Tape, and I used my stock Bose radio, installed regular speakers and used a regular Amplifier, and it was not much different than with the Bose Radio... It sounded much worse than using a regular head unit with the Bose Amp.

What is probably the most perplexing thing about the Bose systems I found was they used 2 ohm or even 1.5 ohm speakers instead of the 10, 8 or 4 ohm speakers that normal radios use.

John

 

I also like the red and black. The interior is in excellent condition.

Also, the paint is either original or was done professionally because it's quite rare to see a repaint where they actually reblacken the headlight buckets. Especially matte buckets on the black cars.

 

Does the rear panels have bose speakers in them? This might be the only vert with the bose option. Verts were not supposed to be available with the bose option. If it has the bose radio and we can see the kick panels if it has the little amps in the rear panels then there is at least one factory bose optioned vert which would be extremely rare. Possibly the only one. Really need to see if there is a bose speaker and the little metal amp in the rear panels if so then that completely confirms it. UQ4 is definately bose RPO. You can check in the trunk and see if the metal studs are there that the bose rear deck lid bolted to. The rear plastic panel could have the ledge that the bose lid rested on and locked to. Check these things and get back to us. Pics of the back of the rear panels and trunk would be nice as well. The kick panels are the ones in front beside where your feet sit hence kick panels. The rear panels are beside the rear seat.

 

Hi guys,

Sorry I've been out so long, joblessness has me busier than when I was jobbed!
Thanks for the responses. The speakers have unfortunately been changed over the years, but everything else appears to be original. The hood might have been repainted, or maybe just re-cleared, but it's a pretty smooth job. All the body panels have the factory markings and stickers except the ASC one.
It looks like the previous owner stored the car with seat covers, mats, and with the seats folded down in the back. The backs of the back seats are the only fading to the interior. Oh, and the rear window is hanging by a thread .
Hopefully these images will help..



That last pic is of the speaker panel inside with the felt pulled back, showing the back of the aftermarket speaker.

Steve

 

You can see where the studs were in the trunk that held the rear locking panel with the bose speakers. It came factory with all the bose equipment. This is the first bose vert I have seen converted. VERY INTERESTING!!!

 

Cool, I just wish it still had the Bose in it. That and the goofy steering wheel are the only mods I can see on the car. I like original on something with the semi-rare build code this car has.

Oh speaking of which, this is really hard to get a decent pic of...



Thanks for all the help figuring this out! I knew the original owner had good taste

Steve

 

I am curious what your car's build date is. It seems most ASC dealer '87 verts are early build cars (pre Dec 1986), built before the "factory" ASC cars came out mid-season.

It should have the limited edition badge on the dash, but it is possible that was lost at some point. I wonder if is was a later built conversion that might have not gotten the badge?

 

G80 is positraction so your car is posi. And UQ4 which is very cool. They could have taken the amps and speakers out of the rear deck and placed them in the rear side panels or that is what I would havee done if I were ASC. Since the radio is different and the wiring is there along with the speakers and amps its the easiest fix. J65 means 4 wheel disc or it used to. Interesting car. I would definately fix the bose and get the amps and speakers and put them in the dash and rear side panels and make sure the kick panels work. I would like to know how many verts started as UQ4 and UU8.

 

I love the black/red combo. Nice car!

 

Cool car, cool color combo! I believe it's a 1987 only combo, where you could get an LB9/T5/3.45/J65/KC4 oil cooler on an IROC-Z convertible.

 

Hey Jason444 have you done any mods to your 91 ZR-1? I have a 90 that Greg Van Deventer and myself went through and it is now incredible. I think there is a guy in your part of the world (South Georgia Corvettes) I think that mods the LT5. I think his name is Aron.

 

abray1,

Yes, the fellow you are thinking of is Aaron Scott at SGC. He is a good friend of mine and does excellent work. He has done a couple of twin turbo ZR-1's among other things.

The only mods I have done to my Z are B&B tri-flows, Hurst shifter, '94-'95 wheels and had Aaron burn a chip for it. It already had 3.73 gears from the previous owner (bonus!).

Jason

 

I have the hurst shifter and love it. Aaron Scott, I listen to Greg talk about him a lot. I need the 94-95 a molds myself. Mine has borla and watson headers and sounds awesome. I wish all the people on this website could hear one of our MODIFIED LT-5s wind up and go through the gears. A very destinctive sound to say the least. At an idle youd swear it was a wimp but at 7500rpm sounds like the end of the world. 0-60 in 3.8 to 3.9 seconds with a smooth idle. I got Kirchoffer in Louisville to install 410 gears in mine and tighten the posi up. The car is useless in first gear and most of second. Mine made 430 at the rear wheels have you dynoed yours?