I've been thinking about buying an Iroc for my daily vehicle/toy when my 89's stock drivetrain becomes too worn out (It will become a full-time project at that point).

I would most likely be looking at an 88-90, not too picky with options, just not a convertible and not a base TBI 305 motor.

When I was in high school, my girlfriend at the time had a 1990 Iroc: 350, burnt orange color, hardtop, black interior and loaded. (I'm not sure if it was a G92 or not). She sold it a couple of years ago after it having some electrical issues with roughly 165,000 miles. I'm thinking of tracking it down for the heck of it to see if it's still around.

Anyway, If I did get a nice Iroc, would it be "wrong" to drive it every day? I know these are getting "valuable" monetarily speaking, but it's still a camaro and I don't buy cars for them to sit. I'd like to beef up the suspension a bit and flex its legs on an autocross course on occasion. Any thoughts will be appreciated.

 

These cars are not yet particularly valuable yet. Find a nice one, fix it up, drive it (as you suggest), and enjoy it.

JamesC

 

Theres no other way...I picked up my '89 Iroc and love it. I bought a 406 planning to turn it into a strip car but even that idea was quickly flushed. They're a nice and fun car to drive...not driving it would be letting it go to waste

 

THere are 2 ways to look at it.
1) they are not really valuable YET. Personally If you find nice a car with more than 100K then do what you want,

2) As the cars age they will appreciate, there is no doubt, do a search at autotrader.com I cannot believe what people are asking, its insane. Even though those few people who are asking 40,000 will not get it for a while it does push up the price of the cheeper cars, its all psychological. For example when you see a donation chart with 4 suggested donations and they are $10, $20, $50 and $200, bar none most people will pick the $50 donation, likewize the $40,000 car might not sell, but the car that was $5000 last year but is now $10,000 will sell just because of our psyche.

l8r

John

 

I'd go a step further and say these cars are nearly worthless and nearly impossible to sell. Buy the nicest one you can find, and do whatever you want while still being able to live with yourself in 20 years when they're collectors items, IF they ever are. It all comes down to what you can afford and what you're comfortable with. If you want to buy an all original car with 10 miles on the odometer and the plastic still covering the seats and carpet and use it as your daily driver, that's your business.

 

Drew,
I have to believe that your in a horrible location and no one in your area really are interested in the car your trying to sell.

I sold a 87 Formula 350 for $2100 recently, I paid $700. When I bought it the car did not run, it had 150K on it, the paint was shot and the interior was a mess. I glued together the center console, re-painted the dash & plastic pieces where needed, replaced the headliner as it was missing, just the cardboard was there. I then replaced the distributor, & spark plugs, reran the engine wireing as the previous owner did a hack job for a a rebuild. I finally got it running pretty well...

At this point the paint was still shot, the gas tank leaked when full, and it would throw a code on occasion... I had a TOTAL of $1400 into it and I sold it for $2100... I put the car in Autotrader and I recieved 5 other calls for it, I was asking $3500, for kicks. And I STILL GOT CALLS. THere is a market, you just have to find it.

I have owned a couple 3rd gens that I have sold, when I go to sell I always make a profit, large or small, and I never have to wait more than 4 weeks before it sells. Its probably because of Location Location location.

I have no idea what your trying to sell, but I know personally that I do not touch cars with engines other than original, V6's and especially a 4 cyl. I will not look twice at a base firebird, S/E, Camaro SC, or RS. I stick with TPI, its all I will deal with any more, anything less is a waste of time, unless I want it for parts. Of course if I found a V6 TTA for a good price I would probably endulge myslef.

Locally a Trans Am or GTA goes for slightly more than an IROC, but down in South Carolina, talking to Bruce Hawkins, he cant give away a Firebird, its all Camaros. It has to do with your location, the standard of living and the perception of the people you deal with in your area.

If you have a ton of 3rd gens laying around in peoples back yard they are more of an eyesore than desireable, in Michigan you might find a few in back yards, but as of late I have seen these disapear because they are totally rusted out from the winters we get up here. If it is not in a garage you might as well kiss it goodbye.

One of the things that bothers me is that you have no view outside of your situation. You have a ton of great factual information, I remember back when you were a moderator of this forum, one of the problems is you look only to your back yard and fail to realize that there is a bigger picture. Sure they might be crap where your at but they are not everywhere.

If I had the resources to buy the cheep old 3rd gens in your area I would, then I would find a nice plot of land to park them, start a junk yard, drive around buying everyones beater. Then in your area start pushing up the price. Buy the nice ones to resell. Personally I would be buying them left and right if they are as cheep as you say...

There are 2 guys in Ohio that advertise in a Trader type magazine with all the for sale cars. One will take Anything 1st gen the other only wants clean original or unrestored cars. I susupect that they are actually helping to push up the prices of 1st gens. Give it a few years, probably around 10 or 15 and we will start finding the smae for 3rd gens.

Gotta run.

John

 

Location plays a role, but not a huge one. I've been in Sioux Falls SD for the last 12 years but I've had ties to Kansas and I've been all over this region as well as watching the internet scene since 1995. It's hardly an isolated backyard view. All someone needs to do to see the thirdgen fbody market in action is look at this forum. Who's participating and what are they interested in? You'll notice there is little or no actual restoration type activity going on. Why? Because the nice cars are still cheap enough that the people that want nice ones just go buy them. Most of the activity here is from younger people trying to make their cars faster for bragging rights or trying to make it stand out for bragging rights. There's very little appreciation for the cars themselves, only the image, which doesn't hold much weight in the real world where these cars are stereotyped.

I've tried to sell every thirdgen I've ever owned and they have never garnered anywhere near the interest that they should have. I've watched cars sit on the lots for 9 months till they go to auction and I've seen junk sit and never sell. The people who have money (in general) aren't interested in these cars. The people that are interested are usually kids that aren't old enough to know better, and they typically don't have the money to buy. Tire kickers yes, buyers, no. If you stick any price on a thirdgen that's higher then what someone is likely to be able to come up with in cash on short notice, the car is going to sit and not sell.

I looked at thirdgens through rose colored glasses for a long time. If you want to look past the reality you can, but what's the point? I gave up moderation rights, because I lost interest in the forum. I wasn't spending much time here and it just wasn't rewarding. The interest in any form of thirdgen restoration has actually gone downhill since 1995. The history side of it is all just a bunch of trivia and useless facts that end up being more bench racing then anything actually useful. For every actual "How do I fix this on my car to make it more accurate" thread, there are 5-10 asking "what makes my thirdgen better then yours" or "How can I make a massive profit of this car I found". It gets old really fast.

Edit: On the flip side of things, the Fiero community, and the Fox body Mustang community, both have more active restoration interests. But the values are still way down.

And finally, if I'm so wrong and out of touch then tell me why NADA, Kelly Blue Book, Edmonds, etc all reflect the same lack of resale value?

 

Actually if you look at NADA, the 86 Trans Am is unusually high at around $8000. The 87 however is much lower at around $5000 I dunno why, the only thing I can think of is the 86 is now 20 years old.

In a way I agree with you, I can see that your frustration and I did not mean to offend you, if I did. But I knwo from experience locally that 3rd gens are really picking up momenum, it may have to do with the fact I am in such a highly GM area, where cars rust and nice ones are hard to find or no one wants to sell them...

I have no doubt that they are appreciating, I really don't care, I will enjoy them because I like them and win or lose I will own one, not to sell it but to enjoy it.

John

 

I like to use the TA Nationals as a reflection on Firebirds, in particular. I've been going since 1995. In 1995, my first year, the major interest/attendance was LT1 cars and third-gens. Obviously this could be attributed to them still being new and plentiful, right? The really nice first-gens made their appearances, but the second generation was all but forgotten about, except for the early Ram Air cars and the SDs, a few "Bandits" thrown in also.

Fast forward ten years. I didn't attend the show in 02, 03, or 04. Picked up a nice 87 GTA and brought it to the show in 05. The shift in cars attending was astonishing. There were almost NO LT1 cars to be found. Third-gens were but a fraction of what I remembered; a small row of mostly not-driven TTAs for the stock class, 10-12 cars for the light modified, and a few in the custom classes. But holy crap, second gens. They might as well have called the show Trans Am Nationals 1970-81. Besides LS1s, these cars were _everywhere_, when they were hardly found ten years prior.

This year, I expected more of the same neglect of third-gens. I was wrong. Alot more showed up than I had remembered, particularly in the custom classes. 2nd gens were everywhere, as were the LS1 cars...but I'd wager there were more second gens than anything else.


So what does this all mean? I'd wager that as the years go by, as no new Trans Am models are produced for who knows how long, the same phenomenon that happened to the second gens will happen with the third. Ten years from now, if the show and interest in the cars are still going strong, I'd guess you will see a boatload of third-gens. It's already starting; more of them showed up at the show, people on this site in pockets here or there are beginning to ask questions regarding value and restoration. Back in 1999 when I was very active here those questions/interests were non existent.

The second gens went through a period of low-value and non-interest. We're going through that now, and I think we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel as we hit the 20 year mark on the TPI cars (middle of the generation). We just have to be patient.

 

I've noticed some interesting trends myself. 6-7 years ago I was looking for my first car. I wound up with a V6 4th gen (no complaints as a first car), but tried to convince my parents a V8 3rd gen was a good idea. I still have some autotraders from back then and our cars were everywhere. I remember looking at a NICE 89 Iroc and a 1990 Formula in the same week at major dealerships. Now, you might run into a 6 or base 8 cylinder model on a good day (unless you go to the smaller, shadier lots).
Also around this same time there were more affordable 2nd gens, but they were starting to jump in value. I remember a 79 T/A for 3900 and an 81 for 3000. I would like to get one of these but will probably not be able to afford a nice on until I'm out of school.

Bottom Line: I'm driving the Iroc I find. Regularly. Maybe not in really harsh weather, but I'll have my fair share of fun with it.