http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

I'd be into a firebird collection pretty deep before one of those would make it onto my wish list.

Very cool though (figuratively, of course, since I have my doubts that the tiny engine could turn the A/C compressor).

 

Every week it's something new with you Charlie! Forget merging onto busy streets or highways if you buy that car LOL. It can be a task with even the V6.

 

Well, Charlie, you wanted a 4 banger...there you go! Throw some fresh whitewalls on her, and putter around town.

Literally....putter.....

 

"There she was, the “Iron Duke”! 2.5 Liter 4 cylinder, sitting in there proudly and horizontily not vertically!"....


I think he meant "sitting in there proudly and longitudinally, not horizontally...

Ya just don't see too many VERTICAL car engines these days....LOL

As for the bird itself, I'd be interested in knowing the seller's reserve. While rare, its desirability probably only calls to a very select few.

 

It'd be nice to drive down the lane and get the mail. That's about all it could do though.

Looks sharp though.

 

I'd rock it!

 

Yeah, but then in my sig I could say that I own BOTH a Crossfire and an Iron Duke!

 

I think my main problem is that I've never driven an Iron Duke F-car. Maybe if I had, I'd hate them as much as the next guy.

My wife bought an '84 2.8L V6 Firebird, new. It couldn't be THAT much slower than that......right? That's what I say to myself.

 

From what I remember, yeah, it actually IS that much slower

I wanna say I remember the 0-60 of a 102hp carbed 2.8 being around 13 seconds...I think an Iron Duke is almost 2 full seconds slower. I know its only 12hp difference, but I guess those were 12 hard-working ponies

I remember vividly trying to merge on the highway with my 135hp 2.8 Camaro...it was painful. I wouldn't want to be any slower than that...

Regardless, I hope this car finds a good home...it deserves it.

 

This is a very pristine, low miles example, which REALLY catches my eye, but I really would rather have one with a stick when it come right down to it.

Someone on this site, told me that he saw a running '83 Iron Duke Camaro with a manual trans, mint interior, solid body but with very faded paint at a junk yard near Indy. Perfect! He also said that they were selling it for $650. I contacted the JY various times about buying, but they never got back to me on it. This was several months ago.

I was told by the same person that they have recently moved the car into the area where parts are stripped. There is now a hole cut in the hood and the door panels are all hacked up. Pity. They'll sell afew more parts off of it and end up selling it for scrap.

 

The sad thing is, it would probably be easier to put a stick in this one than find an original stick To me, I can totally believe the story behind this plain-Jane, 4 cylinder, wire-hubcapped Firebird, in that it had an elderly, female owner. Elderly female owners typically don't drive sticks, sadly.

I wish you luck on your quest...I also give you credit for targeting something besides an IROC and GTA Variety was one of the great things about third gens...and sooner or later, all you'll see is IROCs, GTAs, and hacked '91-'92 RSs.

 

The story is almost a wet dream of mine. Owned by a little old lady. Stored since 1991 with only 16,000 miles. Found in a basement with an inch of dust on it, but otherwise mint and unmolested. I need to find one of those!

 

looks like a nice car......BUT...... I would be damned if I would keep the 4cyl in it.

 

Then, with all due respect, you've missed the entire point of this car.

 

very cool, despite being slower than a bicycle

 

Looks like a clean car...slow, but clean.

 

no no no..... I get it, and this may be the nicest 4cyl car left.... I just dont care..... I'd rather have the nice clean start to an awesome project car. I mean come on.... there have got to be others thinking the same thing.. I mean look at bone stock model As.... restored they arent work crap..... BUT chop, channel, v8...... can be 6 figures..... I agree its cool that this piece of history exists... but its still just a 4cyl firebird......... its a sports car. lol. Not trying to get everyone pissed. Just giving my opinion. So sorry if I offended.... BUT if it was in my driveway expect to see the drivetrain in the forsale section lol.

 

ssssswwwwiiinnngggg and a miss

 

So are there no accounts of a built Iron Duke bird out there?
Sounds tempting.

 

Keep in mind that those six figure hotrods already have six figures in them.

If this Firebird sells for $5K, you can then say it's worth $5K. If for example, you bought it for $5K and then decided to spend another $10K modifying it, you'll probably still have a $5K Firebird.

 

I'd yank the 2.5 out and swap it with an LS1 but keep everything else factory... including the wire hubcaps.... sleeper anybody?

 

Yeah.....but I would like it.... But again.. its my opinion and only mine. Dont care if anyone sees things my way.

 

No we are talkin.....

 

i have only seen two 4cyl. firebirds in person over the
last 25yrs; 1st was in 1990 when i started looking for
"my"thirdgen-it was at a used car lot that also had
'84,85,'86 T/As and an '84 z28,the firebird was kind of
a copper/brown color with "pontiac"poverty caps
it was in very decent shape and they were asking$800
for it-the 4 v8 thirds,also in nice shape,started at $4500
The 2nd one was at a gas station about 1994,noticed
it was an iron duke when the hood was up
Edit:forgot to mention that $800 brown 4cyl
firebird was an '82

 

Not going to lie, I'd love to make that my 4th Firebird. It would stay just as it is, and I'd use it to putt around town and go to school and work, then pull out the V8 Birds for weekend shannanigans.

 

The car is in great shape but that Iron duke is very slow. I got the chance to ride in one when i was in high school and the power wasn't there. It was sickening. I can see leaving the car original but i can also the point of making a very nice project car.

As far as what you can do with the Iron duke, a friend of my used to run dirt oval in the early 90's and raced the 4cyl class. They used an Iron duke that was modified with 350 pistons(since its a 4 inch bore) that was around 11 to 1 compression with a custom race crank, Crane cam(302 advertised duration), a custom aluminum welded intake with a Holley 2bbl carb,header and open exhaust. It was dynoed at around 220 hp. Now that would seem kinda wild for a street car, but imagine that motor in that Firebird. That car would be alittle lighter then the V6 cars with more power.

 

Remember in that other thread when I told puma, you may not understand but just accept it? Same goes to you in this case

 

But I do understand. Was jus stating what I would do iit was mine. Lol Anywho. Its a clean car and I hope someone here gets it.

 

It's okay spudz.....I was thinking 502 and wisper quiet exhaust = sleeper.

 

It looks like something Jim Rockford would have driven.

 

I like it!!! Looks similar to my dad's old 82 Duke. Wire hubcaps and all haha. All it needs is t-tops.



Ide have no problem drivin that baby. Easily one of the cleanest Dukes Ive seen, thats for sure.

J.

 

I'd buy it for a curiosity piece, but I honestly don't know what in the world I'd do with it, personally. It can't be a great driving piece...I just know how painful my injected 2.8 was.

Regardless, I hope whoever gets it has an eye towards keeping it exactly the way it is...

 

its not the slouch on the road you may think it would be - even with the ac on

 

Any actual road tests out there for Iron Duke 3rd gens? I can't ever recall seeing any.

 

I look at cars like this and think to myself "it's really a shame this thing survived". If only the original owner had bought a loaded T/A instead, we'd be looking at a nice original desirable car in pristine condition instead of this ugly pile of no options that someone still managed to care for all these years.

Just makes me sick when I see this undesirable pos in pristine condition and then I go to the pull-a-part and see loaded T/A's getting parted out b/c their owners were not as caring as this person who had no taste in cars to begin with. Oh well.

 

I can't believe the reserve was MORE than the $4400 that was bid on it... How nuts. In this economy, I was surprise that it went up even that far! The seller must think it's gold plated!

 

That makes about zero sense to me. Would you be happier if it burned to the ground? This car exists purely because the original owner bought it. The original owner doesn't sound like the type of person to buy a T/A and then stop driving it in 1991 because it was too low for her. I don't get your logic at all.

 

I was guessing that it'd go to $5K.

 

his logic is like most people on this board...if its not a fully loaded v8 car it isnt worth jack. people bought those cars and v6 cars for reasons, not everyone has to have a v8 to make themselves feel special

 

WTF... what kind of thirdgenner are you?!

 

The sad thing is, it really is true that on this site, if it isn't a loaded, *****-out V8, most members don't care about it. Frankly, that's a damn shame. All of these cars should matter to the membership base. Last time I checked, this wasn't "v8thirdgen.org"...

With that general attitude, there won't be anything but IROCs and GTAs left in another 10-15 years...

 

Personally, I'm glad to see this. These little cars are kind of neat to see pop up in pristine condition every once in a while. I can find a million IROCs to look at, and they all look the same, every last one of them. But when I see this, I'm more inclined to look a little longer. I'd definitely spend some time around it at a show.

Agreed, maybe the original owner couldn't afford a new T/A back then, and maybe this was his/her first brand new car he/she worked really hard for, straining to make the payments, and it was their baby and they took as good of care of it as they possibly could, even though it was just a lowly 4 cylinder car. Maybe it was a lowly 4 cylinder car, but it was their lowly 4 cylinder car, just like my lowly RS that most people here would turn their nose at is my lowly RS.

More like IROCthirdgen.org...

That said, I'll now go against what I just said above and say that in general I think F-bodies/Mustangs/Challengers/whatever that aren't V8s are kind of oxymorons in themselves. Personally I wouldn't buy a new V6 Camaro/Mustang, 300 hp or not. So I don't know, maybe it's the age of these little Iron Duke cars that attracts me.

 

What Jason?! You mean that there's some snobbery right here at TGO?

You'll find 100 low mile, pristine, survivor, Z/28s, T/As, IROC-Zs, GTAs for every one base car, (one sits in my garage). And maybe just a handful of Iron Dukes preserved like this on the planet. Personally I appreciate seeing it and am glad it's around.

 

I know, I'm a total snob when it comes to cars. But hey, at least I admit it.

 

Another case of someone thinking that just because a car is rare and has low miles, it's worth a fortune. I really think $4,400 is top dollar on this car, particularly on eBay.

 

I don't see why people are so into the high end cars on this site though. I know when I was looking for my car I didn't care if it was an RS, Z28, IROC or sports coupe as long as it had a 305 and graphics (I don't like third gens without graphics). I had looked at a few RS's before my car, and they ended up being more work than I could afford on my budget. It just happened that a clean Z28 was up in Washington and in my price range, so I bought it.

Ya my Z28 will be worth more in the long run because it's an "original" but I have never cared for that whole numbers matching thing. If I go to buy a 71 chevelle SS, I don't care if it's a clone or not because as long as the car looks like a 71 chevelle SS, I don't care if the numbers match or not. I would have just been as happy to pick up a 91 RS and then convert it to look like a 91 Z28 in a few years. It wouldn't have bothered me at all.

 

I read this post and found that this pretty much sums up exactly how I feel. Everyone responded to this like we are a mean bunch that don't like anything but that top of the line option etc. But that's not true at all. It really comes down to quite the opposite. With so many more desireable versions getting junked out and crushed, we would just rather the pristine car found was one of those more desireable version.

And trust me, I do know what it's like to have that car. I met my wife is 1985. Her "baby" was a 1982 2.5 iron duke firebird, with a 4 speed manual. The car really only had 2 redeeming features. A awesome deep metalic maroon/purple color, and awesome 36 plus miles per gallon highway all day long. The car really wasn't that bad to drive. Just like any other Firebird, it handled great, and sure, it wasn't gonna win any races, but it drove quite nice. Slow?, sure, but so was my '88 pontiac 6000 with the same engine. It still made for a nice driving car.

My wife bought it brand new, ordered from a dealer to her exact specs she wanted. I thought it then, still think it now, what's the point? A sports car needs more motor or it's not really a sports car.

So I didn't understand why when I wanted to sell it, my uncle thought this was an awesome car. I do now... sports car, great gas mileage. He drove 50 miles one way to work everyday. Was driving a '79 Chevette with 212,000 miles (yes, for real). So it was an awesome upgrade for him. Now put that in perspective, especially at todays gas prices. Not quite as bad an idea as it sounds.

Take that back to where I started. I have the cars I have as extra, store in the wintertime, drive for fun cars, and I can afford the gas. So sure, I'd be sick if the car I sold my uncle was a top notch GTA with a 350 TPI car. After all, he smacked a deer and totalled it. I don't cry over that, but you can bet, I'd cry over a GTA.

 

To me it only makes sense. If it were a loaded TA with a 350 someone would have gotten a hold of it and trashed it by now. The very fact it has the 4 banger is probably the only reason it's in as good of shape as it is.

 

HEH!!!
Just for that I'm sending Angel over to your house for the weekend and telling him you said he could borrow your car!

Jim always had v8 cars!