This question goes out to all. In may off 88 have purchased a brand new z 28 off showroom floor.It was my first. I gave over $18k plus tax.Was it worth it? Most definitely.
Would I like to have it back now?Hell yes........So my question is this. If we were willing to give this much and more for our cars new.Wouldn't they be worth investing at least half of what they were new to make them new again or even better.And I'm not asking about just some I want your opinions on all.Because all third gen's were purchased by someone when they were new. So that means they were all special to someone.Imo......
Let's hear it

 

Nope. We need good parts. Some need to be sacrificed. The ones that are nothing special are not worth saving if they are basket cases. If they are clean, and in good shape, those are the ones to get creative with. They are the ones that should get the LSX swaps, and the custom paint and interior work. I can't see restoring a 2.8 V6 Camaro to all its glory.

 

The 2.8 camaro may have been considered a "poor man's camaro" but what if it was the first one made and still fairly clean would that change anything?

 

I guess my thinking is this. Most teenage drivers can only afford insurance on a l4 or a v6.An only a third gen will do.Would it be better to ****** a door off a running drivable l4 or v6 to put on an Iroc/Z or T/A.. And deprive a new driver from a third gen.I say if its wrecked or rusted out go for it.Its probably better off being a parts car.IMO

 

I could see if you find a clean V6 for a DD but should this be saved? It is a plain jane V6 that needs a ton of work from another thread.

 

I think some V6 are worth keeping, mine only has 55,000 original miles on it and is super clean.

 

it depends on how much you like certain models, in my opinion my 86 looks like crap but i want to restore it so it can be a good driver/show car i dont want a trailer queen that only drives from a garage to a trailer the hauled to a show. these cars were built to enjoy and be driven, but if its a rot box then its a parts car but if it runs and drives keep them on the road and drive the wheels off it

 

Some have to be sacrificed so others may live. There were 1.5 million 3rd gens produced, there sure ain't enough parts to go 'round for 'em all. Me, I wouldn't restore a 2.6 anything. My '86 looks nearly bone stock so I'm careful what I replace. If I was starting all over with a basket case '86, custom everything, it'd probably be cheaper than finding original.

 

Your car looks good and already has been saved. The idea of this thread is that if it was a piece ... Should it be saved.

 

This doesn't look like a DD.And most definitely is no longer on the road.

 

In my book yes.

 

I don't think you understood my post. If you want to use a clean third gen V6 as a Daily driver then go right ahead. But why go through the trouble of restoring one, like the one in that pic? It seems to be a waste of time, when there are much better cars to start with. Some cars shouldn't be saved, because they are not worth the time and effort.

 

I think if it runs and drives and is not rusted out, sure try to save it. The V6 90 RS I bought for my girlfriend is gonna be saved...at least we are going to try. You can tell its been driven almost in to the ground, but it still goes and stops and its not a rust bucket.

 

If it is rusted out bad enough not to fix or has been wreck, sure part it out and scrap the rest. If it has a I4 or V6, those can be made into V8 cars or whatever engine you might want/afford.

 

"Deserve"? Cars are disposable commodities, so probably no more than a 1980s Chevy Celebrity or Ford Escort "deserves" to be saved.

I don't think too many rough 3rd Gens will be restored except in cases of emotional attachment. The main reason being is that you can get good, low mileage, all original examples of the top models for less than 10k. Considering that a quality paint job alone will cost 3,000-4,500, restoration quickly becomes economically unfeasible where one of these cars needs a lot of work. Smarter just to look around and get a nice one for less than it'll cost to restore a rough one.

 

1986 Firebird. 88k miles. 2.8 that was seized. 700R4 that was said to slipped before motor seized. 10 bolt was the only good thing. Body has some small dents. No rust anywhere. Interior is ok but PO was a smoker. Carpet needs small cleaning as well as the seats from my abuse and dirty hands. All it needs besides cleaning is a headliner. Just abused/neglected.

I saw it worth saving. Picked it up for $500 and had it towed home. 8 months later and now I have this. PS. Its still a work in progress, just what its up to now.





This is what replaced the 2.8...




To me if its rust free or has little to no rust, then yes its worth saving. Only thing that can keep me away with that is a tweaked body. I would love to find another one like my 86 to save and keep stock for a Daily.

 

You have an awesome car Carlos. I say yes some third gen v6 cars are worth saving and some need to be used for parts if they dont run any more.

 

Thanks, it has come a long way. I wish I could find another one like it to save/fix up. Sadly all are either too far or too far gone.

 

It might sound crazy now, but someday these cars are going to be very rare and people will regret not saving them or not restoring them when it was more feasable for them to do so. That said, not every car can be saved and some are not worth it to the owners dollar-wise. I look at V6 cars that are in decent or below average shape as great projects for pro-touring, pro-street, or drag cars. I'd like to see every higher-end model saved though.

 

Agreed. While I would love to see EVERY car make it, I know that can't happen. At the very least, save the IROC's, the Z28's and the convertibles.

 

Great job on the Firebird Carlos. More pics of that engine bay are requested.

 

I believe so....hell i have a 91 with a v6 NO options with some rust and about 170k miles everyone keeps telling me to sell it and just buy a V8 car...but just like my old 4 banger mustang i wanna keep it do a tiny bit of body work put a cowl hood on it welds and get a quick paint job from macco...... eventually ill put a little v8 in it but nothing amazing its still gonna be my DD

 

Im not saying we should restore every V/6 or l4.If they are on the road and going.Why not try to keep them there for those younger driver's until
they can afford an upgrade.And have gained alittle driving experience.
I'm noT tryn to take away from either car.But which would be better in the hands of an inexperienced driver? A "top model or a low end car" ?

 

looks great.Carlos

 

Given the venue in which you choose to post this statement, it comes across as antagonistic at best.

Here in the History and restoration area I would think that the vast majority here, whole heartedly disagree. The impetus of this part of the forum to is to save and restore these cars, regardless of options etc. They are becoming rare and they are collectible.

To many of us all them deserve to be restored and that feeling grows with time. Some day soon we will all wish we had a V6 firebird to restore.

 

Like most people here have said.. if its worth it to you... restore it. If not.. Look around and you may find that diamond in the rough car that the owner either A wants another project, or just plain wants to get rid of it. There are a lot of cars I've seen around (3rd gens included) that have been put up for sale due to a breakup in marriage or possibly going into bankruptcy due to debt that they have to sell their cars.

In fact in my local area I knew of one very nice 3rd gen that a gentleman bought brand new and it sat in his garage with his other toys for many years. Had less than 14K kilometers on it. When he died his wife sold off all his toys, the Camaro went for only 5grand!!!! The guy who bought it had it appraised at over 25K!! I would have bought it for my wife to drive if I had the money to do so We both would have had 3rd gens to cruise around in over the summers

 

hell yeah they are worth saving. ALL of them. i could understand ones that are rotted to death, and or totaled obviously...but think about it, people already probably parted and scrapped over half the 3rdgen population just within the past 3 years . and probably another half was already gone from natural causes over a 25year span. hate to break it to everybody but there literally arnt squat left of this generation. so keep em all. and as far as "we need parts",,,hell, you should all have your parts by now since every other person on this "enthusiest" forum has already destroyed them and are selling the parts from them at an alarming rate........save whats left

 

Well, I didn't mean to come across that way. We all love old cars and would like to see every one saved but in reality, this isn't going to happen. The majority of those who purchased these cars new probably drove them 3-5 years and then sold them for the next thing (maybe a 4th Generation F-body, maybe something else) with little emotional attachment. Then, most of the time, subsequent owners drove them with less and less care until, eventually, a relatively small percentage remained on the road. And only a certain percentage of these can be restored for an economically viable sum.

While we love these cars, I'm sure we also don't want to see a fellow enthusiast put, say, 20k into something he can only sell for 5k. On the other hand, if a car is economically viable to restore, absolutely go for it.

Personally, the thing that irks me the most is when people take a nice, stock example that has survived throughout the years and then modify or butcher it. Those cars deserve to be saved, for certain.

 

V-6 cars get a bad rap. My 82 V-6 firebird was found in a barn with only 20k miles. All orig, it was worth restoring. Didnt need much beyond tires, hoses, carb rebuilt and a lot of elbow grease. But yeah its still only a V-6, and they produced a lot of them. Could you find many like it in this condition? Probably not. Likewise, I bought a 84 15th anniv Trans Am 5 speed, a much rarer car with only 500 produced. It had gotten into the hands of a young guy. It was long gone before I bought it, 3 wrecks, most of the special 15th stuff was missing. It was stripped and ended up in the junkyard. Sad ending for that car, but it provided lots of parts and I made money on it.

 

With only 500 produced, why wouldn't you save that? I could never do that.

 

? Is a preson that is more concerned with the money he or she will have in his or her car.Rather than the enjoyment they receive.Really into their cars or just the money?
Yes i think we all would like our thirdgen's to be worth what we have in them.So how much is it worth for that smile on your face when someone say's cool ride,man thats hot,great job wish i had one.............

 

Value provides edification of the endeavor and esoteric nature we all need to move forward with a restoration: i.e.
Value provides a human with the self worth a human needs to move forward with a project.

Internally we all know we would be called a fool by everybody if we restored a ford tempo.

When people post about value on this forum I see that as somebody wanting edification and social acceptance of the project or car. Its OK to want to hear about value on your project. We all need to feel our life has value.

 

When car was purchased, it had no front bumper, no hood, no drivers quarter, no recaro seats, no badging, non correct rims, all the interior that was supposed to be grey was painted black. The frame was bent, the spoiler was broken off, I could go on. In essence I did "save" it. L69 engine and drive train was pulled, posi rear end kept, and most of the interior plastics were saved, dash kept, steering column kept. It went to the scrap yard as just an F body shell with a front windshield.

 

some just cant be save bc the dont have papers but the ones with papers that arent completely destroyed can be saved if someone is willing to do the work. my project car 99% of the people who saw how bad it was when i got it would have just cut there losses and scrapped her but im repair everything bad on it that i come across. everything that could have rot on it did

 

Kymmee - your v6 car is in great condition. It's the ones that have had a hard life that should be put out of their misery. There are so many good deals out there, why start with a basket case?

 

Still a work in progress. I still have to get my billet power steering pulley. Order a set of Dyno Don Headers, Strut tower brace & mounts and give it all a repaint. Still working on my suspension and up next is the interior.

 

to me its less of what its got under the hood and more of what shape its in. new england has a way of rotting cars out, sometimes the rust is just too much and becomes dangerous to keep on the road. but a good shell is always worth trying to keep on the road. i bought my TA knowing it had a blown motor, but no rust and super cheap price was exactly what I was looking for (knowing full well everything else was getting ripped out and upgraded)

 

Papers. A paper trail is very important to many people. You hear that all the time on auction shows. Is the car documented? I have been keeping records and receipts of my car since nearly day one. I have a folder full of receipts and a second one filled with paperwork of all of the aftermarket items I've installed. I've got tons of pictures showing how the car has evolved over the years. Not only does this help me when I have to go back and see what I did, getting old is hell, but when the next owner takes over he or she will know everything about what I did to my car.

 

Those papers are always good the most importantis the title

 

looks like it needs WAY too much work.

 

I have always had a soft spot for 3rd gens. My first car was an 87 Trans Am that I got for $300. It needed a whole front clip, straightened rad support new paint, wheels, interior pieces etc etc. but I fixed it up when I was 15 (2005) and came out with a gorgeous car by August 2006.



Then one night I got T-boned by a full size van in 2007 and it got totalled.........



I kept the car around afterwards up until 2011 and even though it hurt I knew it needed to be parted out and crushed.

I have 5 other 3rd gen birds laying around also, 85 v8 bird, 85 WS6 T/A, 86 WS6 T/A, 87 TPI T/A, 88 V6 Bird.
3 of them all need floor pans or are really rusty in other places,
the 85 bird has a clean body and the 86 is my actuall project car that is rust free and will be restored. The rest will most likely get gutted the rest of the way and crushed but I know that noone would buy them so that's their fate.

 

Rot anywhere in the unibody=death. It simply is not worth fixing when clean cars are readily available for very reasonable money. And in the bad cases, you need donor cars as panels are not available.

Someday that may change, but there are tons of these cars still out there. Demand has to be really high before there is more demand than supply.

 

There probably aren't as many as one might think.Who knows how many were sent to their final resting spot without a single part saved for one reson or the other.
Most of the cars were misused and abused.No respect.We have 82-84, 85-89,90 and91-92. There were many changes as well as options in these different years.Yes we need part's and I think that is what will eventually make our car's even more valuable if that what someone is looking for.I have had many third gen's in my life it was never about the money and will never be.
Long live our Third Gen's

 

I would not be saving/minor restoring my '90 Firebird 3.1l if the body wasn't in as good of shape as it is. I have a total of 3 project cars and I can't afford to pull a running engine right now. Once my other cars are where I want them then I can begin looking at the big engine options for it and do it right. The big ticket item i have right now is saving my 2009 Pontiac G8 GT ;-)

 

I don't know why people say these cars are everywhere. They aren't. They really, really aren't. When I just did a search of third gen Camaros and Firebirds on Craigslist, and there isn't ONE currently for sale in MA, CT, VT or NH with under 100k on it, I ask you...

WHERE ARE THEY???

The ones that are for sale are beat/abused/crap. Find a good one, and it pulls strong money. I don't see them on the street. I don't see them advertised on the web all that much, short of a nationwide search, or minimally 500 miles from my zip code. When I have to go to a site like this to find them for sale, and/or specialty car websites to find a good one??

People laugh, but its true. The guy that bought my '91 RS last April is from FL. I'm from MA. Now, think about that. A NORTHERN car was shipped SOUTH. He paid to ship mine because, in his own words, "all of the ones around here are bleached out garbage."

Maybe most of the people around here have lower standards than I do for what a good car is. That would fit with the stereotype. But people have to stop being silly and saying these cars are everywhere. They are not. And if they are out there, they aren't very good.

Save whatcha got...because if they keep dying at this rate, in 5 years there really WON'T be any left. I have never in my life seen an enthusiast's site so fine with parting out and destroying what we claim to hold dear.

Its seriously getting pathetic, and even makes me question why I myself care so much about them...when so many don't.

 

you are right about there not being many out there especially good ones. to what you said about people parting these cars out ive noticed some people on this site think if a car has some rot on it they trash the car instead of fixing it
aslo: rot=get out welder and repair it

 

Jason - I think there are those that deserve to be saved, and a rare example might deserve a bit more attention. But a basket case 3.1 liter would probably not be worth the time, and effort, and is better served as parts for other cars. When you watch Mecum or Barrett Jackson auctions, how many 70 Chevelles go through the auction block with a straight 6 and hubcaps? Not too many. As a matter of fact, there are more big blocks then small blocks. The clean 6 cylinder examples are sometimes turned into tribute cars or clones. Nobody is interested in the common non performance cars. Not for old muscle cars, and I doubt in 15 years for third gens.

 

Agree on everything you say. Im in CT and 9 times out of 10 if i see a third gen on the road its been ridden hard and put away wet. Last one i saw was a base camaro sport coupe that was two different colors and rusty. The only third gens that are clean that i know of locally are friends of mine and are members on this board too lol.

 

Rot? Hell, they don't even need to HAVE rot to be parted out on here. I watched a guy part out a clean '90 Formula with 110k on it last fall...when he couldn't sell it (he was asking too much, and wouldn't budge), he PARTED the damn thing...and probably got less than he would've gotten if he just tried a little harder, advertised it somewhere besides here, and/or lowered his price. I sold my '91 RS last April in 2 weeks...and I didn't do it on this board. I got a reasonable price for a nice car, sold it quickly, without 1 inquiry from my ad on this board. What does that tell you? Selling them here seems to be harder than anywhere else.

But as for parting the Formula, I mean, seriously? Parting a perfectly good car? This has been debated to death on here over the past year, and I don't think anyone wants to go through this all over again. But in all seriousness, as a community, I ask all of you...

If we, the enthusiasts, don't take third gens seriously, then who the hell will??? Maybe I'm overly sensitive to this matter as of late...but I'm really, really getting tired of the attitude that is seen throughout TGO. And, as a member for nearly 12 years, I love TGO.

 

I fall into the "save the ones that can be saved" category. I mean if a car is rusted away or wrecked beyond repair then yeah, they're probably a lost cause. However we should take care of the ones we've still got with a focus on the higher end models (IROC's, Z/28's, T/A's, and so on). I'm not sayin' crush the 4 bangers and V-6 cars, but if you find one in good shape save it and use it as the base for a custom car or even a race car if need be. The parts argument is becoming less of an issue as these cars gain popularity take Classic Industries and Year One for example. They have just about anything you need to fix one up.