There was a thread recently where there was a lot of discussion about the original exhaust routing/configuration on a 1985 IROC. Here's one up for sale on ebay, very low miles looks pretty untouched with lots of photos for reference.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1985-...item4cffeabf42

 

Wow thats a beautiful car. I'd be scared to drive it.

 

Very nice. But it looks like someone rattle can painted the underside.

 

Yeah, thats terrible!!!!

 

looks like dealer undercoating

 

Thats the first 85 IROC with black interior I have seen that hasn't turned blue. Is that a factory radio for 85?

 

I was wondering about the radio too. Can't recall seeing one like it before. Maybe some sort of dealer premium sound package?

 

That car was built roughly 900 cars after mine.

The radio is out of a Pontiac. Hence the gray buttons.

 

Undercoating.

Beautiful car, seems to be no end to the parade of low mileage originals.

 

If I was looking for an 85 IROC-Z that would be it, but it's a mueseum piece and I wouldn't be able to enjoy it.

 

Wish they showed the RPO sticker.

 

That car looks nearly spotless! but 12 grand beautiful??

 

It has 1,800 miles...how cheap do you want it??

 

Goodness, it should get far more than that. It's an almost 30 y/o first year IROC-Z time capsule. Except for that radio. It doesn't even have the lousy black door moldings.

 

Definitely not a factory radio. I'd say this came out of a Pontiac of early 1990s vintage. The grey buttons are a dead giveway. Then of course is the undercoating. Beyond these two things, don't see a whole lot wrong with it.

 

The original owner obviously planned to sock this thing away and not drive it. The undercoating was an effort to preserve, but ironically it is a huge turn off to a buyer that's looking for a virgin. It can be cleaned off, but what a horrible job that's going to be.

And reason there are so many ultra low mile third gens out there is that by the mid eighties, the 60's mucslecar craze was just in it's infancy. Everyone you talked to at the time was saying " I shoudda kept that one" when referring to thier 69 Z28 or 70 Chevelle. By 1985, performance was well on it's way to making a comeback, so a first year IROC w/TPI would be a great candidate to wrap in mothballs. Thing is, a lot of people had the same idea, so now you can pick a newish IROC for a reasonable price. Supply and demand.

 

Look at all the guys that bought Corvette ZR-1s for 70-80k dollars. Now the mint ones with low miles are selling in the 30s.

 

Apologies for getting a little off topic, but you are correct. You can buy a used low mileage base C6 for the same $30s pricetag. Compared to that, the significantly inferior 1990 ZR1 is going to be a tough sale.

 

Thanks for sharing this. I saved the pics for future reference if needed when re-doing things on my 85 IROC!

 

I think 80s/early 90s muscle will find some decent interest but not the same level of interest as their 60s counterparts. The media doesn't respect the era, we don't have a baby boom generation to support them, and there was no lull in performance levels that made people miss and treasure them llike 1973-81.

To the contrary, engines got progressively more powerful and efficient with each passing year during the 1990s and this century. I think that's what's really hurting the C4 Corvettes. Plus I see high gas prices as here to stay, though this may not have as big of an impact on existing collector muscle cars given they aren't something people drive everyday.

 

I had the exact UT4 radio in my 86 TA so it is not 90s. the 88 GTA I have doesnt have the lights showing the fade between front and back and left to right but my 86 TA did! I dont know if they had that in a Chevy but they did have it in the 85/86 TA

I dont believe that is undercoating but I could be wrong. Looks like a bad rattle can job. esp on the rear axle. who undercoats the rear axle. It also looks like they got some on the back bumper!!

 

Well, we don't know that the original owner special ordered the car, or that the undercoating was done after the fact. It very likely was done at the factory or by the dealer, and who knows--the guy may have bought off the lot. My car has undercoating, but has never seen snow...it's just the way it came.

I agree 100%. I think that's how it'll be from here on out. In 20-30 years you will be able to have your pick of low mileage GT500s/GTs/Boss 302s, Camaros, or Challengers. It's good in a way, but it also instantly suppresses the values of all others making it difficult for the cars as a whole to climb in value.

 

I was right on the Pontiac part but wrong on the vintage. The radio appears in the '86 Firebird brochure, or at least it looks like the same one. I don't think this was available on the '85 Camaro, as it doesn't show up in the brochure. The car could have had an aftermarket radio and they just put this in to try to make it look factory.

The undercoating could be rattle can paint, I don't know. Undercoating usually has a tar-like appearance to it, and this looks a little smooth for traditional undercoating. You could well be right. Whatever it is, it would need to be removed for the car to score well in a factory original show class.

Regardless, this is a Lot to pay for one of these cars. I know it has astonishingly low miles but it seems that a lot of them do lately, so I wonder whether it will ever appreciate beyond the 15-20k range price it'll probably sell for. I love these cars to pieces but I just couldn't ever see paying more than 10k for one. And even if the value does go up, you can't really drive this and enjoy it because of the miles. It's value is tied to that.

 

I hope you didn't save any from the bottom side, those pix are worthless for a restoration..

 

Don't know about the undercoating but that black on the bottom of the bumper is just from the exhaust shooting out of the stock turndowns. I have the same thing on my car from them and have put on tips that won't allow that to happen anymore. FWIW, my car has the undercoating also and it doesn't look like that one. Not as heavy or as dark. Scott had basically the same thing but removed it.

 

That is the same radio that my 85 IROC came with when I bought it.
Had to have the volume button panel replaced back in 95 or so and the new GM one only lasted a couple years. Wish I would have bought a couple spares at the time

Not sure if mine was factory or not, it has the radio codes YE2 and UX1 with UP8, U75, andU79

 

Yeah, I think they work better as shots of the lower body panels than they do as shots of the underside. Some sellers are just stupid.

 

Wow that is nice. My black seats have turned blue too from years of the sun. I wish my seats were that good.

 

Since I don't know these cars in detail, what has been modified from original (other than the undercoating issue) on the underbody of the car?

 

Me too. Wish there was a good known dye kit to make our blue seats black again.

 

Nothing has been modified but its all been spraybombed/ undercoated and that covers up all the details. Plus it just looks nasty.

 

Do the back up lights and the parking lights look like they are not smoked. What do you think? or is it my monitor.

 

Your monitor.

 

The radio looks just like the one in our original 1985 Iroc...