Good looking car!

 

ever since i wuz a little boy i always wanted a third gen firebird. When I drive around in my car everyone always says dam your car is always shining. Because I take pride in my car. To this day i have not seen a matching car just like mine with the same color(teal)same body style(91-92) (I have a 92)and gold honeycomb rims. There are def some out there but i drive a lot and im still waiting for the day to see my twin. I'll see a few 4th gens and if i see some 3rd gens they are just so trashed its unbelievable. I love my third gen and ever since ive owned it since last year, I always get the same feeling when i start it up in the morning. Pure American Muscle. Long live the third gen f bodies. Handle like a dream and have looks to kill.

 

"I'll see a few 4th gens and if i see some 3rd gens they are just so trashed its unbelievable."

you must be refering to mine lol...

 

I take extreme pride in my first car"85 Sport Coupe" I have rebuilt the 2.8, done all body work, added ground effects,and painted the car myself. I try to keep it clean as possible as I can but living down 6 miles of dirt road doesnt help a black car I still have some minor things to do to the exterior like getting center caps and painting my 3 polished rims black to match the other. I'm currently working on my interior which is 1/3 complete, I got my dash in, center console, new carpet, everything on my doors,and I awaiting for my headliner kit to come in then I can get all the int paint to finish off my caramine red to black and grey int. There are only 5 camaros in Mena Arkansas and mine is the best looking far. The other ones are beaten and my friend that has an 89 RS thrashes it to death, no matter how many times I tell him he needs to restore he never listens but the others need lots of work as well. But the good note is there is 2 firebirds both 91's both red and one is a hard top and the other is a t-top both are in great condition. So dont destroy em restore em Heres a pic of my car, this has been the first week that I have driven it in over a year.

 

My bird is (was when I bought it too) trashed out big time. To be honest at the time I bought the car I knew nothing about any cars. I didn't know it was a third gen. At the time I was driving an 87 Buick Century with a slow *** tech 4 engine and it looked like crap. I was looking around for a cheap, sporty car. I happened to find my firebird. It needed some work, I knew that when I bought it, but I though what the heck. It turned out to be a terrible deal and I put way more money into it then I should have then the tranny went out. But, I refuse to have it hauled away as junk like I probably should. Its going to be the car that I learn about cars from. I know more about cars now then I did 6 months ago when i first stumbled onto this site. And I am going to use what I have learned here to fix up my car. It will be a gorgeos car when I am finished. I dunno exactly what I am trying to say here, but I felt I had to say something. I actually have a line on a tranny for it from a guy here on the board, and I may buy that and (with the help of a freind) put that in within the next month or 2. Then the work on the interior/exterior will start. I know I can do the work on these by myself, as well as getting the engine running in tip top shape. I guess what I am trying to say is that yes my car is a hunk of trash right now, as are a lot of the other third gens out there but in my case even though it is a hunk of junk, it is a hunk of junk that I love, and it will be my money pit until I get it looking/running like it is brand new.

*Damn that was a long message....SORRY

 

Wow, You all got me started up here. First of all I'd like to thank all of you for loving 3rd gen Camaro's and Firebirds. GM made some great cars amoungst vega's, and chevette's and it's people like us who appreciate the designers/engineers work.
First off I grew up around 2nd, and 3rd gen's. My Dad had one, and my Uncle had more than I can count. I LOVE these cars. No doubt about it in my mind. I personally own a '86 Iroc with some things done to it. Am I happy with it? Well, Yes and No. None of my dislikes come from the way the car was designed, but more along the ways of how the previous owner's took care of my car and how I got swindled.
I thought I got a good deal. 135,000 mile car. At least that's what the owner told me. I ran a CarFax on it 4 month's after I bought it (stupid me), turn's out it's 235,000 miles on it. Told me it had a new trans, chip, and some mods. I've always driven slow cars and I drove this one and I thought he was telling the truth. Nope! After owning it for awhile, I checked into all these claims. He lied, of course. I paid $4000.00 Now did I get a good deal? I bought it in Ct. were they don't use road salt and the car is pretty solid. In NY where I'm originally from I could probably get my $$$ back, cause the road salt KILLS these cars there. Now I'm in VA and I'm stuck with taking a loss on it because I started a restoration and nobody thinks my car is worth anything.
I'm in the Navy, re-enlisted, got the bonus $$$, and was impulsive. The guy saw me coming (here fishy fishy....). Now I have a car that is my daily driver that I'd like to restore, but I live in an apartment, don't have a garage, second vehicle, or the money to be a perfectionist with a 250,000 mile car. I just can't let go.
As for being 16 and having a Iroc or Trans Am, if I had one I would have been the envy of my school. No sh*t! I still drive it like I stole it sometimes, because it's fun, and it's a SPORTSCAR!
They were meant to be driven fast. If ya' wanna' drive slow, buy a slow car. Don't drive like an a**hole, but enjoy your car!
Now my 3rd gen might be a p.o.s. in some people's eye's, but it's been repainted. I'm not so happy to say that every scatch, dent, and nick I DIDNT DO! People have no respect for other's belongings. I had a guy at work bust my stones and tell me I'm wasting my money on a P.O.S. car. He even took the liberty to look up Kelley blue book value on my car to bash me. He drives a Tahoe. I tried to explain to him that 3rd gen's are collectable, and Tahoe's are'nt. He said no way. Did anyone think '69 Camaro's would be worth something someday?
So now I stand in a hard place. Spend $10,000 on a car that I love almost as much as my fiance' and family, or when I get my $4500.00 bonus installment look for a worthy specimen and leave Irocet to someone with more time and funds. It's not that rare, should I bother? Thanx for hearing me out. Later...

 

well ive got new pics today, i got my grandpas digital camera and took some pics, theyre a bit better than the pic that was taken of my engine compartment erlier, but its still not very clean...

 

i welded in two inner fenders off of another car, cut them to fit... still have some more painting to do..

 

i also got bored and polished part of my runners...lol

 

That is great.

Its one step at a time that counts.

I kinda keep my drivers like that. Wiping off certain areas and it really looks just that much better.

Keep it going 89Formula305.

Chet

 

I think that the main reason alot of 3rd gens are rusted out is because of a poor design in panels, where theres alot of pockets for dirt and water to collect with no drain...and it just rots it away...

 

It can be done. My engine bay looked a lot like that. Here it is now.

 

I hear you man. This kid I know has an 87 Z28 that has strait pipes, a horrible blue-green paint job, a poorly tuned Carb 305, ripped interior and the tranny has about 20 minutes left in it. He still thinks he can compare to my IROC-Z that is in showroom condition with a freshly rebuilt T-5 w/c and a recently tuned TPI. it's nuts.

 

I don't think this has been mention, but a lot of them were also stolen. 10 years ago when I was in my late teens 6 of my friend had f bodies and I knew of 12 teenagers (kids) with them.

2 (out of 6) of my friends (and 3 of 12) had theirs stolen. When for looking used (4-6 years old) examples, it seemed like 1 in every 3 had been broken into or stolen. Some were minor (wrong rims, ttops) but it was awful lot. More than half of the used ones had major issues. Most of my friends, kept theirs up but they also drove them hard. Four (of the 12) of the teenagers crashed them also (2 of 6 were my friends).

 

dgoodhue youre right.. ive heard of alot of stolen f bodies...and most of them are beat on. im in the process of restoring my car to somewhat factory now because it was beat so much it needs alot of parts replaced, and i just decided to make it look somewhat factory, because it will be worth more money in the long run. i plan on keeping my car forever..and my dream idea is getting a '67, '77, '87, '97 and (fingers crossed) '07 Camaro...but of course, ill have to hit the lottery a few times.:lala:

 

I own 2 trashed out thirdgens.My camaro's interior is trashed.My t/a's is in excellent shape.My camaro was in very poor running conditon.While my t/a runs great.Paint on both cars suck and both have some rust.(my t/a just needs a new door)


I didn't do this to these cars.One guy just bought a new car and kinda forgot about the t/a.

And the my camaro was a project of another guy and he just threw all the old parts in the interior.


I am trying to get these cars back in good shape.And I just got another job for the summer.So I plan on driving my t/a by july 4th!

 

Not all 16/17/18 year olds trash their cars. As someone else mentioned, it's all in the person that owns the car. My first car was an 83 Z28. I bought it in 85 at the ripe old age of 16 (NJ drivers get licensed at 17). That car was washed, waxed, and vacuumed almost daily. I started working towards getting that car in 1983 by working every chance I could. I was so bad with my cars (still am), that I would tell people to close the door with their hands on the door handle (from outside) so they wouldn't get fingerprints on the paint. I worked very hard for that 1st car and still do today, so it's not all teens that trash their cars. I had friends with brand new IROC's in high school and my car was always cleaner than their new cars. Today, I'm worse! Don't touch my Camaro and make sure that your feet stay on the floor mats in my truck or you're walking home!!!

I learned something back then that I've always remembered. Has anyone else noticed how smooth the car runs and how much better gas mileage you get when the car is clean? My mother used to say I was nuts, but I think it still holds true. My cars run much better when they are clean!

 

Sounds familiar to me LOL. I'm crazy clean also.

 

like someone said before, not all young people beat the s*** out of thier cars, it just depends on the person. example: at my school somebody has a trashed rs, thing smokes like a steam train, on the other hand, somebody has an iroc thats so clean you could eat off it. and it doesn't matter if the kid is in a camaro or mom's mini-van, they'll still drive wreckless if theyre stupid. example: goin home from school one day in my friends 97 geo prism:sillylol:, some kid in a rusty early 80s oldsmobile somethin, rearended us doin about 35, screwed up my friends geo pretty good. and then there is the just plain stupid, example: a kid at my schools bragin about his 82 'bird because it has a camaro engine. on topic, the reason i'm lookin for a car now, even though i don't get my license for another 2 monthes, because most of them in my area in my price range, look like someone let a dog live in it. when i get my car i plan on babying it, and driving responsibly because a 16 year old in a sports car to a cop, is like raptoryfm660r's car to one of us. in conclusion, not all kids are stupid, careless, irresponible idiots, just most of them

 

Yeah, wheni got my 82 Z-28 a few years ago i was pretty trashed, it wouldn't start with a damn. But i fixed that i added a new Holley carb and a new electric choke and it now starts better than ever. I also rebuilt the T-top head liner, removed emmisions equipment, and fixed various pther things. The car is now better than ever, even when it was new!

 

Multi-color Fbodies? You must be talking about me lol

Mine had a blue hatch, yellow hood, and red doors and fenders (the car is black) till a few weeks ago.

Also, multi color is a good thing, at least the car is being repaired!


I'll throw an engine pic in the ring... and that's with 192000 miles!

Oh, and I know I have a carb intake there... it holds up my washer resevoir

 

I agree that most young drivers do beat the hell outta these cars, because to them, its a fast car that they can afford on a McDonalds paycheck.

I don't beat the hell out of my car. I drive my '83 Z28 hard sometimes, sure, but I still baby it way too much. Hell, just over the summer it had 2 oil changes and only got about 400kms on it. And there was nothing wrong with it at the time either.

The guy I bought the car from, however, didn't take care of the car at all. He let the engine die, the body rot, there were lottery tickets and cig-butts all over the interior, cig-burns in the carpet, radio didn't work for ****, etc etc etc....

It was also stolen 3 times, and the onlt reason he got it back was because he didn't take care of it enough for it to get more than two or 3 blocks away, lol (clutch locked up 2x, rear brake locked up once)

 

I'm 17 i'm on my 2nd camaro, first one met a telephone poll at about 85mph. The one I have now though I both beat the hell out of it and take care of it. Basically when i'm driving its not babied at all, I take turns hard, I do burnouts, the occasional donuts, the gas is to the floor half the time.
But on the other hand at the first sign of rust, its taken care of. As soon as a leak apears, or a wierd noise, I fix it, I don't just let it go. It gets oil changes, transmission fluid changes, basically any preventative maintenance more often than necessary. And if I happen to blow up the engine or tranny, there is a nice mildly built 350 (complete from the carb to the pan) and TH350 tranny being sold by someone I know just betting to go in there. And noone will ever smoke in any of my cars.
I know some other thirdgen owners my ago who don't care for there cars, and nothing I can say will convince them too.
As long as everyone else is posting pictures of there engine bay, here is mine. Nothing special, but a heck of alot better than when I got it. I just painted the air cleaner lid to see how it would hold up, the rest is done now.
Anyone have any advice on how to get the black plastic to look black again, or clean off the washer fluid and resivoirs? I was thinking about painting them black and leaving a little strip to see the level, I think it would look decent?

 

Washer/coolant resevoir things are on ebay brand new for $12-$20 a lot of the time. If it really bothers you, that's the way to go! I would think paint would flake or scratch off, due to the heat of the engine, but I'm no paint expert lol.

I've seen only a few 3rd gens that actually have clean ones anyway

 

got room for another good engine pic? just my 2 cents worth!

 

lol you had to post a pic with a nice washer resevoir didn't you


I can't believe how clean some you these are!

 

Hey I totally agree with what you guys are saying when you say you don't see many third gens out there that are in nice shape. The FACT is you really don't !

I have a Ford Probe GT (I know it is a Ford, It is my work car) I not a ford guy at all but anyway I go into the Probe Forum sometimes and you should see that trash those guys talk when they are referring to third gens. They have what is called a KILL Story topic on there and many times I see these guys talk about how there Probe beat a T/A or a Camaro. And they say they aren't fast and are dogs. And I simply tell them the cars that you guys race are NOT what a third gen can really do. Most of the owners don't take care of them. So the potential is not there. I said most if not all the third gens out there are all beat too ****. I said you are racing a car that is 12-20 yrs old and probably have seen better days. These guys really don't understand. That's why I would love to race some of these guys, mine has 66K and is well taken care of and I know would blow the doors off a probe considering i have both so i know I would.

The bottom line is other people give third gens NO respect at all Kind of makes me sick

 

I live in Wheaton Illinios. Guy that was my friend for years got a 87 GTA origanly from Arizona. The paint was bad on the roof. He has beat the complete crap out of this car. He has the digital dash so he cut out the center part and put a screen to watch DVD's. He put 5inch tips on it and really stupid rims. Kid bought a mint as hell 89 GTA that he doesnt deserve but he takes care of it. All other thridgens in the area are owned my poor people that live in crap apartments and there cars are what everyone is talking about. Beat to all hell, rusted away, blows diferent colored smolke, and geeeyed up. I always wanted a 89 black Trans Am stick since I saw a thirdgen. Absolutly no outside influence on why I like cars or why I like thirdgens. When I was 17 I found one but was a complete crap box. Bought it and drove it while fixing what i could with the money I had. Well now its getting a new paint job and a 383c.i. The interior is great except the center console flaps stick out (need to get that fixed). Its come really really far and I dont have to much left. My dad drives a 98 Taurus and calls my car a piece of sh*t. Well I'v dumped over 15 grand into making her perfect. I dont see how anyone can say that about it when its done. Someone said that there car runs better when washed. My car seams to have a parsonality!?! When you dont wash it and when people talk crap about it in font of it. Weird. Oh well. I have all that undercoating under the hood. How can you get that off without takeing the paint off? If I know how I will take as much time as it takes till the underhood area looks flawless. Love my car and plan on keeping it till I die. Race it at the track and baby it almost always on the street. Oh yea I'm 18. I hate people that dont take care of there thirdgens. Stupid teenagers!

 

Your a teenager too And I take care of my car

Oh, and I recommend against driving your camaro on the beach, it has a tendency to get stuck.

 

At 17, i bought my T/A. I tried to kill it every chance i got. Paid for it myself too. Now, at 35, i still try to kill it every chance i get, and it looks and drives better than most new cars.

I maintain it. Simple. It has quite a bit of sentimental value, left my wedding reception in it, brought home my first daughter in it, and several other things, but i DRIVE it too. One of my daughters can have it someday.

As for trashed out Third's.........i'm a fan of these cars, i love mine.......but i just put mine away for at least two years so all the clapped out ones will have a chance to die and get off the street. Third's are not old enough for me. I'm pulling out the Vista Cruiser (72) for a few seasons. It's old enough to make a stir. The rotton third's with the ****** headed drivers need to get off the streets before i pull my T/A back out again.

At the risk of being called a non-lover of thirds, i hope more get trashed. My 83 parts car has donated itself so i can have a spare everything for the 82. I makes me happy that a WS6 with every option has givin itself for such a noble cause.

 

I'm 17, and I have a 91 RS. I paid for it all myself, and I take damn good care of it. I wash it and vacuum it all the time. I do regular oil changes. and I almost never push the car hard. I've seen a few third gens in this area, and their beat to hell, all multi colored and dented. Even a few 4th gens that have been beaten to hell, theres a 97 in my neighborhood that this one guy hasnt been washed in *** knows how long. Many kids in my school beat on their cars, even new ones. It's sad to see third gens getting rusty and rotten.

 

I may have gone a different route in styling, but i'm 18 years old, and by no stretch of the imagination is my car trashed, nor is it beaten on.......

 

i bought my iroc when i was 16. i saved for 2yrs to buy that car all with my own money. i paid 700$ for what everyone else told me was a trash car. i worked at it for a full year trying to restore it. built a motor, did the body work, everything. sadly that car was taken from me by an electrical fire. i wound up giving the body away to one of my buddies. i loved that car. ive been through hard times, breakups, legal problems.. and nothing. but seeing her being towed away, that brought a tear to my eye.

i miss her a lot. i know the owner now, and someday ill have the money to buy her back. right now i have my bird. and she has a safe future with me.

 

I think my car fits in the trashed category - but before you all kill me or beg me to pound some more nails into the coffin - I've only had the car for what... a bit under three months? It has "needs" and "issues", such as a diff that likes making ka-klunk noises when I turn (warmed up only, not when cold), an engine that has the "self-changing oiling system" (a quart every three or four days, blasted rear main seal...!), and rust underneath the airfilter box (BIG rust, I managed to scrape a HOLE in the sheetmetal, so now I got ghetto CAI for my airbox...), and other little problems, like the usual rattles and dings. My wife is taking it this very day to the shop so they can identify the source of the oil leak - if it's the rear main seal, we're going to cough up the money for a 383 rebuild. I want headers, full pipes with some quiet Flowmasters, REAL GTA rims (not the t/a ones I got on it now) and a full-blown high-gloss black paintjob, among other things. Will it be done by next year? Heck no, not even in five years.

But I'm going to keep this car, oh yes, so my kids I dont' have yet can oogle at it and tell their friends that daddy drives a muscle car. And yeah, I see an awful lot of trashed-out third gens, but as a whole, not a lot of 'birds, mostly Camaros. I may rescue an base-model Camaro some time.

 

:rockon: To the 1972 Vista Cruiser!!!! I love wagons.

 

Dig wagons too!!! Lover my '73 Impala Wagon!

Back to the subject, over here in Europe the 3rd gens just like the 2nd gens before them back in the eighties and nineties have a very bad reputation for the wrong kind of people being in those cars. Pimps, drugdealers, brainless stompin maniacs, ******* bikers and other idiots.
I bought my first 3rd gen a year and a half ago, a 1987 Camaro Iroc-Z T-top 5.0 TPI T5.
I bought it because I wanted a cheap t-top car and the former owner was a kid who couldn't afford the gas bill anymore. (Fuel is more than double the US price). It was pretty run down, had a disaster area for an interior, no headliner, black firebird base coupe seats, smoked blue like hell had a bad clutch slave cylinder (first thought it was the cluth, replaced it and the found it wasn't bad) and it had been in an accident so it was a little bent.
Still it was fun while it lasted.
Sold it to a friend who tried to restore it (which I thought would take at least $10.000,- or more to do it decently) but he ran out of funds....
So he sold it to one of those brainless idiots mentioned above.......a week later the car had been backed into a wall, schratches and dent all over the place, two weeks along they ran the complete nose off the car while playing with it in the snow.......three weeks later it had lost its left front fender crashing into something and the brandnew wheels/tyres my friend put on were already bald and bent....................after that we lost sight of this car and I seriously doubt it has survived the last 6 months.
Well, I for one got back into an F body with a very clean 12.800 kilometer original GTA 5.0 TPI 5 speed with leather and all the extra's in perfect condition only the paint needs to be redone but then it'll be perfect like the red enginebay on the 2500 mile IROC above.

 

What do you mean, mine is in mint shape
This is what I did to mine Stupid telephone poll cut me off when I was going 110

 

Who dug up this old thread? I think I remember reading this like a year ago :lala:

 

I'll have to add in.....

I'm 17 and have myself a $700 wonder

It's basically been driven with almost no maintenance done on it other than changing the oil. I saw it and fell in love with it. Right now I'm trying to do everything I can to keep it from falling apart worse than it already is. I think I may be clsoe to breaking even ont he falling apart. I almost have all the immediate problems fixed and now I'm sort of looking for things that will go bad within the next 6 months or so. Pretty good accomplishment for making minimum wage LOL. I baby it when Id rive, but thats mainly because I'm afraid of breaking my first and only car. I plan on restoring it when I get the money and another car to drive daily (talkin many years from now).

Who needs floor panels, battery trays, EVAP trays, and strut towers anyways? Rust? Thats not rust... Thats self healing iron oxide coated in healing WD40 LOL (I try and coat my rust with soemthing until I can muster up the materials to properly fix it)

 

HE DRAGED IT OUT!! HE DID IT! hehehe this is a good thread. archive!!

 

Mines not as dirty, but for *** sakes all those wires and brackets have to be replaced..... tsk tsk

 

how are you alive?

 

Well I was going 110 when I lost controll probably hit 90-100, I don't know how i'm alive. I walked away just fine though.

 

I am 20 and on my second camaro my first was an 88 SC RED/GRAY FX hardtop LO3 auto with red interior I bought it for 2k summer of my sophmore year I put IROC hood/taillights on it and gray racing stripes/flows with chrome tips it was nice car for a junior in highschool then it got into 2 wrecks one was my fault the other I let a chick drive my car into the side of a semi I got her fixed each time but she wasnt the same and my yellow 86 IROCZ that I haven now is one of the nicest thirdgens around here I see ragged out ones and it sucks cause these cars are 12-22 years old and showing their age but its not easy restoring these cars on a young kids budget like my unemployed *** I need my engine and rear rebuilt thats at least 2500 total then eventually I will repaint it jet black another 1000-1200 cause I know a guy who repaints cars in his garage I think people love these cars cause they look good and arent that expensive and they represent a era thats gone away and in 10 years or so youll see allot of these at car shows and I just wanna hold on to mine for as long as I can just to say yeah I had a IROC back in the day damn all this typing is making me wanna go wash my car and its only 20 degrees out and windy.....thank *** for buckets of hot shower water

 

When will people realize that we are the people who restore these fallen heros?? I am trying to save 2 currently. My B/F wants me to get rid of my 84. I don't think he understands not everycar you restoe is 50% near perfect. I wish he would let me keep my T/A while continuing to build my KARR. I do all the work to my vehicles anyways. I need my KARR but I also need my hot rod T/A and restored to stock Firebird Iron Duke. I am multi-faseted

 

I know it really pisses me off how those beat up ones give thirdgens the white trash/ joe dirt name

 

Here in Sweden you dont see thirdgens everyday, people often turn around to have a look when im out driving. So that makes it even funnier to take good care of my Camaro.

 

I've been working on mine for 2 years now, it was trashed but now it's not. I run it pretty hard but I'm building the car to take it. I'm 21 now, when i bought the car it didn't run and i picked it up from behind a shop under a pile on snow (car was entirely covered) I've always loved these cars and forever will, I will never let this car go.

Some pics:






My Winter 2004 Updates

Everything from the motor back is getting replaced, The car was been repainted 3 times, so it's not that great but they undercoated the car at some point and there is no underbody rust whatsoever

 

Surprisingly there are quite a few third gens in town that are in great condition...and all of the ones I know of are owned by kids under 22...kids who appreciate cars...Although as far as I know, I'm the only girl in town with one...or that knows **** about cars too....I agree, I'd like to see more of 'em too....

 

man you people all sterotypes wtf is wrong with people these days....

i take care of my cars more than anyone i know.... i change parts when it doesnt need it....just becuase i feel like it...my first 3rd gen was trashed i spent 4,000 on that gen restoring it sold it once i was done...now i have my new baby ive spent 3200 so far oh i started at 16 im now 18