Im looking at buying a camaro for 1200 that is sitting down the road from me and i need help finding out the year of it

 

I'd say 82 but heres how you find out for sure

http://www.jeffcointouch.com/jeffcoi...modelyear.html

 

Thank you very much,also would this paint be considered rare?

 

10th digit of the VIN; A = 1980, B = 1981, etc.

Yup; looks like it's becoming rarer by the minute, too. Unless you count the part of it on the ground around it.

Not only that, it's one of a kind, since none of it is factory.

 

It might look like it touching the ground but its not,tires are flat and i think it lowered,so the paint is not factory?

 

Some of what's left of it could be, but that car is in bad bad shape. Unless it has zero rust issues it's worth about half of the asking price...

 

has no rust,surprised me when i looked,unfortunate he wont go lower,its sitting at a car lot so that might be the problem its so high,it unmolested,has a rear lavoure that looks brand new

 

It very well may be new. The '82-'84 cars didn't come with louvers.

Does the car run? Manual or auto? LU5, LG4 or L69 engine?

 

It runs just needs a tune-up and some gas and a new battery and she will run,not sure of the engine,running down tomorrow to get some more info on it, it has a honeycomb air filter if that helps any and it an auto

 

Get The VIN,It Will Show What Engine It Had From The Factory.

 

Doing that tomorrow

 

....like a little fawn caught in the dealer's headlights.

Post up the VIN for us & we can tell you most of what you need to know - maybe somebody here can run a carfax on it for you too.

BTW, where are you located & how many miles are on it?

 

No; not factory paint. AT ALL. Any of it.


The factory didn't clear-coat the Satin Black headlight pockets or grille openings. And, not a factory color.


When I referred to "on the ground", I meant the peeled-off paint laying on the ground, not the car itself.


I gotta agree, that doesn't look like a $1200 car to me, unless it's SERIOUSLY optioned-up and INTACT. That would HAVE TO be, L69/5-spd (which it's not), with EVERY PIECE still attached (which it's not; "honeycomb air filter"). Almost certainly a LG4 or LU5 car, and/or been somebody's "project" and is hacked to bits. Good luck to ya, but I'm not real optimistic for you at this point.

 

That's at a dealer lot? Sorry, but I wouldn't buy anything from that place. The Thunderbird next to the Camaro doesn't look to be in any better shape. Dealers that specialize in this type of used car are usually quite shady.

 

Make sure to check if the dash pad is cracked/damaged, and check the drivers seat for wear. Post some pics of the interior(also rpo code sticker and door sticker) and engine bay. I agree on not being too optimistic about it.

 

Check the driver's seat for wear? Seriously? Based on the exterior condition of this car, I can all but guarantee that this car has seat wear. Also, unless it turns out to be a late '84 model, there will not be a SPID (RPO) label in the car.

 

Really? I thought that I just sold an '83 console lid that had an RPO sticker on it. It was a while ago so I could be wrong. I agree on the seat, but he appears new and I thought it was good general info that's often overlooked. Sometimes sellers use a towel or seat covers and when I saw the dash cover I thought it was worth mentioning. For that matter they could even be the wrong seats.

 

I'd be willing to bet the interior is in about the same condition as the exterior

 

It's more than likely an 82 based on the seatbelts. Unless someone swapped to 82 belts which is unlikely. 1200 would only be a decent price if the car is near 100% rust free or the interior by some miracle is nice.

 

the interior is actually not beat up much,no holes in the seats or carpet,rear seat looks like no one has ever sat in it if they could

 

Lets not shatter his dreams just yet - get the VIN & more pictures & we can help you out. Also, where are you located, someone can probably find you a more reasonable candidate.

 

It's Cracked/Damaged Alright.

 

Tell him $1200 for both the Camaro and T-Bird...

 

Yeah, I saw what looked like a cover to me but couldn't see what was underneath it. That's why I mentioned it.

 

Found out its a z-28,and yes the dash is cracked, not too worried about,my neighbor has a few junkers sitting at his junk yard that have have a half decent dash

 

And here is the vin number and engine

 

My mistake about the paint,its a little rough but the engine is clean

 

Im just getting it for a project

 

Your engine is an LG4. Mileage?

 

121,828

 

1982 Sport Coupe or Z28 with the 145hp LG4 305.

There's a tag on the radiator support that will have a bunch of codes on it - get a picture of that - if it IS a Z28 it will have that code on it & will also have the original body color codes on it.

Rear louvers look like they've been modified from a 1986 unit.

 

The tenth digit is a "C" so it is a 1982.

 

Engine Compartment Doesn't Look Bad For Being A 33 Year Old Car.

 

LOL You guys are NUTS! What difference do the options make when the car is clearly trashed? Did no one else notice that all four headlights are broken? Seriously, who tries to sell a car that doesn't start, doesn't run, and has shattered headlights. If all it needs is this or that little thing, why hasn't the seller already bought those parts? The answer is that the car isn't worth putting a nickle into.

Look, it's a 1982 Z28 with the base model 305 (~140hp before someone drove the wheels off it) automatic transmission (also pure crap in 1982). There's nothing rare about it, they made almost 70,000 of them that year. See that air filter assembly? Those things are garbage of the first order. When you see one of those triangle foam pieces of ****, it's a red flag. If that isn't enough for you, check out all the wires chilling out on the passenger's side of the cowl, or the solderless butt connector by the A/C compressor, or the yellow split loom, or the PCV breather just chillin in the wind because when they threw on the $20 Edelshit fire hazard aircleaner they were too cheap to spring for an $8 valve cover breather.

I don't mean to discourage you, but you need a serious reality check. Just the things you can easily see are going to cost a few hundred dollars to sort out, and when you're done there it needs an expensive paint job, and a ton of mechanical upgrades to be anything more than painfully slow. Speaking from personal experience, 88-up Thirdgens tend to be much better cars.

Oh, but it's got LOUVERS! that are missing pieces.

 

I know but the only reason he wont fix it is because kids keep destroying his property,window was only broken a month or 2 ago,the wires were I hink form a bad stereo install,they dont go to anything

 

If you can get it for $500 or less, go for it, but only if it runs and drives. You'll spend more making that car nice than you'd spend just buying a nice one.

Now the Thunderbird on the other hand... Assuming the front clip isn't off another car, it's an 87 or 88 Turbocoupe. Aside from being hideously ugly in a 1980's Nascar kind of way, and heavy, they're usually fully loaded with luxury items and performance parts. Even if it's a lowly automatic, the 2.3L turbo is tough as nails and responds to mods better than that 305 ever will. Standard equipment is about like a 5.0 Mustang, big sway bars, 15:1 rack and pinion steering, 4 wheel disc brakes, 3.55 or 3.73 gears with positrac. They usually sell dirt cheap too, because no one likes Thunderbirds, but if the engine is solid it'd blow the doors off the Camaro with a $25 boost controller.

 

Sorry not a ford person

 

I thought you guys were to help pppl with getting a camaro,who cares if i spend alot of money fixing it,it my choice,i understand you guys want to help and i appreciate it but its the cheapest where i live,i could have gotten 2 82 trans ams gta but the owner wont sell

 

If you get it, we'll help you. We're just saying that unless we're missing something it may not be worth $1200 and maybe you should keep looking.

But if you want it, get it. Lord knows, I've spent more on worse cars.

 

Just to note, there is no such thing as a 82 Trans Am GTA. The GTA didn't come into existence until 87.

 

I think they did help. You asked the year. Many responses between a rough guess and exactly how to tell (VIN). You asked about rarity of the color. Buying a car based on rarity of a color is usually not a good idea. I think they did help by cautioning how rough the car is and not paying too much for such a car with all the issues pointed out.

 

If He Has The Time And The Money Let Him Go For It,Check This Basket Case Third Gen.

 

Did you just ignore that the car in the video is a pace car replica, and the car in the OP is a run of the mill, beat to hell, cobbled together Z28? "If he has the time and the money" like the time and money to afford all the exotics in the background of the video?

I'm not really here to help anyone get a Camaro. But if that is my goal I'd rather encourage someone to buy a better Camaro than the first overpriced piece of junk they look at. These cars are plentiful. There are still buckets of them out there in nice shape for reasonable prices. There's no reason to pay too much for a basket case. If we encourage someone to buy this car, more so a person who knows nothing about the car in general, they're more likely to lose interest in rebuilding the car and it'll end up in a scrap yard anyway. It's in everyone's best interest to encourage new enthusiasts toward better cars. The kind of person that can handle a project like the 82 Z28 in this thread, probably isn't going to be asking these questions on a forum like this.

 

No.

We are not here to help you put on rose-colored glasses and CHEERLEAD you right straight down the primrose path to EFFFING UP.

We ARE here to inform you accurately and completely, to help you (a) get your money's worth and (b) KEEP FROM EFFFFFING UP.

What we are telling you is, of all the cars you COULD go out and spend THAT AMOUNT of money on, THAT ONE isn't it. It is a tore up, vandalized, misbegotten "somebody else's project" that basically will cost you about 3 to 5 times what you are proposing to buy it for, assuming there's not MORE wrong with it we can't see (motor or trans bad, rusted-out floor pans, etc.), just to get it to where it doesn't look like it should be on cinder blocks in a "manufactured home estate".

Most of us here have bought and sold enough cars to fill acoupla car lots EACH. We know what we're looking at when we see a pile of junk, vs when we see a car with some potential to be rescued at a price that doesn't leave the buyer spending twice on the pile of junk as what s/he could have bought a CREAMPUFF for.

Take it or leave it. Stars in your eyes and all. If ya just gotta learn THE HARD WAY what we here already learned that way, and are willing to share it with you for free (the EEEEZY WAY to learn something), not our problem out here.

That said, at certain times, I would buy that car IN A HEARTBEAT. However, I would NOT pay that asking price for it. I would buy it for parts to restore one like what's in that video, or a 83 L69 car, or a Daytona Trans Am, or the like, at PARTS MULE prices. Maybe $400 if it has the composite hood (doesn't look like it) and it still works, less if not.

 

.

 

I know,sorry about copping an attitude,its just I am always told to get fords,i like fords but i want something new so a camaro is the next best thing i can find for under 1500

 

It says gta on the side,unless they put it there

 

You guys were of little help,im still getting it,its a project,not a full on drive it off the lot,it looks worse on pictures but it runs,dealer had it running when i was there,most of you live where there alot of camaros,firebirds but where i live they are scarce.

 

Hood is busted,i can find one for 60$ from my neighbor

 

I think it's of help on just the fact you learned there are no 1982 Trans Am GTAs. The GTA emblems are stick-on emblems. Lots of Trans Ams are sold as GTAs because someone put a few GTA stick-on emblems and (real) GTAs are worth more than a Trans Am.

You couldn't buy a production GTA until 1987.