I've only owned my '85 Trans Am for four years now. After I got it, I went to our local salvage yards to scope out what was available; this was late 2011. It was possible to see anywhere from ten to fifteen thirdgen F-bodies. Today I went to a local yard and saw one thirdgen Camaro, and it was pretty well picked over. There were a handful of fourthgen cars. I was sorely disappointed to see only the one thirdgen. Do many of you find the same situations in your salvage yards?
I understand it is the nature of the business and because our cars are getting older there are less of them to be found. I'm one of those odd people who pays $2 and can roam the yard for hours like a kid in a candy store. That's the kind of relationship I have with the automobile. Because I live in sunny So Cal, I can do it just about year round. Fortunately we still have some yards that allow you to come in and pull what you want. Perhaps that is becoming a thing of the past... just like our cars.

If this doesn't belong in this section, please move it to the appropriate place.

 

They're just getting old along with other cars of the era. Less are showing up in yards since they're less likely to be used as dailys or be in The hands of an average person who just junks a car when it breaks down. It's happening to a lot of 80s cars, just look at how many g bodies you don't see in yards. It's not a sign third gens are getting hard to find though. Me and a few friends find sub $1000 cars all say long

 

Pretty much the same deal up here in New England. I used to see 3-5 at a time at the yards. Now I'm lucky if i see one. You have to figure that even the youngest third gens are 24 years old so the ones that are still out there are either restored and nice or about to go the scrap yards themselves. There really are not too many of them that are in the middle ground anymore.

 

I understand what you mean by picking through a salvage yard like a kid in a candy store but I personally do like to see some more being saved as well

 

Funny that you should mention the G-body cars. They are usually my second go to for parts; usually engine parts. There was one lonely Monte Carlo in the same yard a few cars down from the Camaro. Another thing I find with many of the older cars is that they are all missing the carburetors. That must be one of the first things taken, or maybe the yard employees get first dibbs? That was the case with the Monte Carlo. Most all the domestic stuff is fuel injected and front wheel drive; I saw a lot of Cavaliers!

 

When I started buying parts back in 1997 (whew that was a long time ago now) I remember literally rows of 3rd gens. They had 10 or 15 in a row and 2 or 3 rows of them. This was around Indianapolis area... Then they had some stragglers floating around too... I could have gotten anything, from Digital dash layouts, to 91-92 tail lights, anything... Now, like you, I am lucky to see 2 in one yard

 

In Brogue Pennsylvania there is a all Camaro JY ran buy a old timer but since I moved to TX have only seen 2 here

 

place in PA is called tc salvage if anyone is interested. it has been 5 years since ive been there though

 

Back in 2009 when I got back into 3rd gens, there would be one or two there all the time. Now at the Pull A Part in my town, they never get third gens and rarely even 4th gens. I was just there a couple weeks ago and I would say the majority of all the cars there were around 2004-2006. Seems like a car is disposable nowadays after 10 yrs.

 

This "dilemma" happened probably in 2009-10'. I used to find dozens of them in every yard and find many parts that are hard to find and worth a lot now. Be lucky to see more than 1 in every yard now.

 

One of the things that happened several years back (around 2009 or 2010) is that the price of scrap steel went really high for about a year. It was bringing double what it had for quite a while, and most of the junk yards around here took anything that had been in the yard more than a couple of years and crushed it and sold it because the scrap value was so high.

I know that a lot of 3rd gens were among those to see the crusher. Also, when is the last time that you saw very many 3rd gens running around the streets when it wasn't a show or event or something like that? There are only 3 or 4 that I see running around here on a regular basis, and I used to see dozens of them. Less of them on the road means less potential junkyard candidates.

 

Thank you for posting this. I am 15 minutes from Brogue!

 

If I'm lucky one or two third gens will pop up in a wrecking yard in a month's time.

 

Man I've been to TC twice in the past.A guy named Chris told me about it and took me there.Tom is a pretty cool dude.Its also been quite a few years since I've been out that way too

 

I really don't see too many show up anymore.When I first started junkyarding back in 2002 there would be a lot of new 3rd gens at the yards every week.Now as the years have gone by they are few and far between.Even at the bigger yards I go to they are pretty scarce.When they do show up they get picked clean pretty damn quick

 

I just got my first third gen in feburary of this year, before that I owned a lifted diesel dodge truck, and it didn't really need anything the 4 years I owned it. I went to a junkyard when I was 16 for my first vehicle for a back seat, and I remember seeing a few third gens. That was probably back in 2005 or so. Once I got my 88 camaro, I was at the junkyards almost every weekend. There was a pick a part i was going to that had 2 third gen camaros that weren't picked apart too much expect for the motors. After that, it was hard to find a third gen again. Then, somebody posted in the southwest region about a place that has a bunch of them. So I checked out the place and sure enough, there were 5 of them. and they all had the engines and transmissions in them still, and 2 were V8's even. They are slightly higher in price on a lot of things but then similar in price to everywhere else, but there are still 5 now, even after 3 or 4 months. If this place didn't have these, there wouldn't even be 5 third gens in junkyards combined in my area most likely. This may just be dumb luck though and once they decide to crush these, there might not be anymore for awhile. Finding a 3rd gen firebird in a junkyard is something I haven't done until recently. I think I have only seen 2 third gen firebirds in person on the road, and then 2 in a junkyard.

 

With Cash for Clunkers and similar concepts elsewhere, many, many cars got simply trashed with all their goodies on it. And when the salvage yards have too many cars, they have to make room for the new cars coming...

Third gens are not you average second hand car anymore, they are classics.

 

That's awesome! That's where I grew up. just 2 min. down muddy creek forks rd. from TC. I miss it there but then again i can do 80mph on my way to work and not get in trouble here.

 

This is why I started parting out third gens earlier this year.

I have been into these cars for 17 years. Use to be able to find any part needed in many junkyards. Now, non of the local yards have any third gens. Only parts are from high priced places online.

So I figured if I could buy a few 'junk' cars. I could have the parts I need. Sell parts to guys for cheaper than the going rate online. Make a few bucks to fund my projects and help a lot of third gen'ers get and keep their cars on the road.

I have been selling parts for about 8 mo. now. Just from my local craigslist ads I have had people come from 147 miles away, 114 miles away, 125 miles away, 97 miles away, 80 miles away, etc and all tells me the same thing.. Aint no parts for these cars anywhere.

I have shipped parts to atleast 30 states in the US and 5 diff countries.

It's getting hard to find used parts for these cars.

 

I recently went to a local pick and pull to look for a drivers door sill cover. I checked the inventory on line and of the 4 yards in my county only one had a third gen. 1 did not list online. I went to the yard and wow this car had nothing left! even the tie rod ends were gone? The engine block was still bolted in but all the top end was gone. Since then I don't even check yards any more due to lack of these cars in yards around here. The internet and guys like Night Rider have made it possible to resource these used parts in a different way than going to your local yard. While I do miss roaming the yard for parts, I am getting older and only want to fix the car once and not have to take a part off twice. As our cars become more collectible even less will end up in the scrap heap. BTW I DD mine everyday and I have only seen 2 others on the road and 1 of them is my best friend's 92 Z.

Night Rider, you got a drivers door sill cover?

 

If I had time I'd probably do the same. There is constantly somebody selling junker third gens out here in Phoenix, at least since I have been in the game the last year, as well as discovering junkyards that have a decent amount. We have one yard that has 5 right now, and we are going to 2 different yards today that have 4 between the 2 of them, and one is supposedly and iroc. I have given parts to a guy I randomly met at a junkyard before too simply because he needed it and I was happy they were restoring instead of junking.
We constantly look to see if they have things that are hot items for these cars that they would sell cheap like grid taillights, power switches, center console pads, top end go fast parts, etc.
,
There were 2 people who lived around me that had third gens. One was a V6 but in immaculate condition which the guy sold and the other I haven't seen in a long time. I see one about once or twice a week on the road but none are ever in as good of condition exteriorly as my 88 is, which has been repainted. Most just seem to be commuting and not really enjoying what they have. They all show early signs of being neglected so it's only a matter of time before they end up in a yard or in the parts section of craigslist.

 

What color do you need man? I got a few out here

 

Gray....Drivers side

 

That is why I started my own junkyard... just kidding, I just have 3.5 parts cars...

John

 

I have my own junkyard as well at 2.5 cars.

 

Go to Camaro Heaven in Tilton, NH. 3rd gen junkyard. Tons of them including verts. http://www.camaroheaven.com

 

I have gray ones. I will check condition and get you pictures later this afternoon/eve. I was gone most of the day picking up another car.

I have a junkyard too 9 third gens so far to part out..

Parting out... I have
82 firebird (just picked up today)
84 trans am
87 firebird
87 GTA
91 firebird
84 z28
85 z28
89 rs
91 rs

 

There are a few places around that deal with third gen parts, hawksthirdgenparts.com is the one that comes to mind... He is in SC

John

 

I called there once, looking for a power mirror harness. I believe the price he quoted was in the $300-$400 range. I'll pass on Camaro Heaven.

 

The guy I bought my 87 iroc from on new years eve that's been sitting for years in his backyard said somebody offered him $200 for the power mindow harness when we were negotiating the price for the car. I immediately said then you should have sold it to him immediately and see if he wanted some muffler bearings too.haha
I think these third gens are getting extremely popular and people think they can charge tons of money for parts that really aren't that rare yet.

 

On the Firebird I know there are at least 2 different harnesses for the mirrors. The first early harness the wires are taped separate from the power windows, locks and other wires, AFAIK they were like this at least thru 1985. The second harness is integrated, the wires for the mirrors are all taped with everything else that goes through the upper dash loom, (I think it was a 1988 that I removed it from). I have removed both, the early one is easy... You have to cut the Passenger side connector off (just leave yourself enough wire to connect it back together, and pull from the drivers side... The wire for the switch runs under the drivers seat, and there is literally a plug that goes into a box on the Left side of the dash behind the kick panel, just up high... it is kind of a pain to get to with the dash in the car IIRC.

Obviously the Camaro has the switch on the door panel, so they are a little different, but the pieces and parts are essentially the same.

IIRC there are 4 wires that go to each mirror, 4 wires run across the upper loom for the RH mirror, and a power wire, and ground, that go to the switch... If you had power mirrors, and all of the connectors, you could make your own wires... plug and play...

You would need the plugs for each mirror, the plug for the switch itself, the plug for the power source, and the ground wire...

 

Well, went to two different yards today and found a few thirdgen F-body cars. I only found two Firebirds. One was an '84 Trans Am. At least I think it was because there was a vacuum tank on the firewall. But it had an '85 or later nose on it. The second was a Formula. Don't really know what year it was but it had a cable operated speedo. I was looking to find a VSS (vehicle speed sensor), but had no luck. There were actually three or four Camaros. I did score a power driver's seat, so I'm happy about that!

 

Same here.Used to see 4-6 back in the day.Now maybe 0-3.....maybe.Just figured the idiot owners finished wrecking them.

 

yea the old days where nice when 3rd gens with every option flooded the yards and it was rare to find a 4th gen with an lt1,what are we complianing about tho the poor 2nd gens guys went thru this same problem over 20years ago

 

I've been a Thirdgen owner for about 25 years. 'Back in the day' I would find 6-10 Thirdgens inmost of the medium sized yards and 1-3 in even the smaller yards. Things stayed that way for years,...Hell; I was selling perfect dash pads for $50 back then !! Years pass & then Cash for Clunkers came along and I watched as those boneyards crushed countless GOOD cars because they "HAD" to. That's when easily finding quality junk cars and good parts cars in junkyards started getting tougher.

About a year or 2 later then there was a massive earthquake in China. Maybe some remember - most probably don't - but WILL remember that light-iron scrap was priced over 300 a ton. ( China had to rebuild a couple cities driving up the price of scrap to ridiculous levels. That's when the local junkyards crushed EVERYTHING. I saw yards crushing cars that they would have NEVER crushed under normal circumstances...... GTA's, IROC's, GN's Monte SS's; nothing was safe.

Fast forward to last week. I visited 4 local yards in search of a wheel for my 95Z. Those 4 yards had a combined 2 Thirdgens and 3 4th Gens. All but 1 of the 4th gens were bare-bones carcasses that were only good for body panel patches. ( drivetrains gone, interior rotted, glass smashed, Ect ) While it was troubling that I couldn't get a better price than $100 for a 'B' grade 'salad shooter' Z28 wheel,... it was downright depressing that I couldn't find 1 car in those yards to scavenge any decent parts from.

In short; The "good ol' days" are GONE. If you visit a boneyard and see a Thirdgen with something in it you want don't hesitate, get it while you can.

P.S. Pretty sure There are at least 3 types of Power mirror harnesses. Independent harnesses for 82-84(5)? (white plug) 85(6)?-87 (black plug) and 88+ that was integrated into P/W & PL harness.


P.S.S. This is EXACTLY why in 25 years of Thirdgen ownership I have never spent a nickel with that place !!!! They are as outrageous as fazttoyz13 !

 

Just a heads up, The Formula never had a cable driven speedo... All 3rd gens had a cable speedo until 1986, From 1986+ The Gage package Firebirds all got the electronic speedo, but the idiot light cars, got a speedo. The Camaros got the electronic speedo in 1990. Only the Base Firebird got the idiot lights.

John

 

You are absolutely correct Okfoz! I went back to the salvage yard to pick a few more parts, and took another look at that Firebird. Upon closer inspection, I found it was a base model with a V6. Sorry for the mistake. The other car that I was getting the parts off of is interesting. I checked out the VIN (!G2FW87H3FN235740) and was surprised that it was a Norwood built car. Living in Southern California, I just thought most, if not all< of the Firebirds would be Van Nuys built cars. Of course I never really take into account that people move here from all over the country and bring their cars. It might have been something like that. Anyway, it was sad to see a fully loaded Trans Am sent to the salvage yard. I'm happy that it donated the power seat to me. The reason I had to go back? I neglected to pull the power harness when I took the seat.

 

Speed sensor

 

That speed sensor must be a newer part number. The one I see and have been looking for has the connection directly in the middle of the sensor. But if this fits and is the proper pulses, then that's what I need. It's odd that AutoZone used to carry them and no longer does. In fact it is hard to find these!

 

And if you think it's bad for us finding cars to pull parts from, the Fiero crowd really has it tough. I think in all the times I've been to the yards I've seen two! Then again, that car only had a five year production run with most of them being made in the early years of production. Demand fell way off after 1986. At least we had a good ten years. There is that demarcation between early and late (82-84 and 85 on).

 

I have only seen a handful of the Fieros as well... They do have some universal parts, like the engine/drivetrain is basically from a Chevy Citation. But so much of the interior it is so odd. I always felt that the Fiero was hastily thrown together when I have driven them. The big center console, and some other oddities make me think that it was a rush to production car.

It was a neat car, too bad they did not extend it into Gen II, the prototype or proposed car was really neat looking IIRC...

John

 

Fieros' bodies don't rust so the cars are much less likely to get junked.

 

If anybody is looking to buy a set of rear window louvers, let me know, comes with mounting hardware and are in perfect condition, willing to ship,asking 250 obo with shipping, pm me for more info or to make an offer

 

Buddy of mine is out in Arizona for the auctions this week, took a day trip to a couple of yards to see what was out there. There's a few 3rd gen F-bodies still.

 

Ask him where this one was. I am very familiar with quite a few out here in Phoenix and I don't recognize this one. Also, if he is wanting to see third gens, tell him to check out Ecology on 27th ave and Van Buren (their location further south is all imports). This location has 5 third gen camaros. Their prices are weird, they charge over $100 for a pair of taillights but an engine block is $150. But this is the biggest selection I have seen of third gens yet. There's another one down the street called U pull and pay that has 3 f bodies, one is a firebird which we pulled the motor from a few weeks back because it was a newer vortec.

There are a few others in the area with one but most are somewhat picked through. The pick a parts here generally have the nicest staff and the most organized yards and best prices.

 

Is that $250 shipped?

 

91-92 Base Firebird
The Second Car appears to be a 1988 SSA or something different, the Emblem on the fender is not the typical Firebird emblem.
The third one I would guess by color that it is a 87 or 88 Formula

 

Yup they're getting harder to find !!!!!!


Last decade or so, I was picking up cheap third gen parts cars while living down in Oklahoma(SUPER boring state). I was doing 5-7 cars a year,then around 2013 hit down to 1 or 2 a year.Mainly 82-84 birds ($$ knight rider) and a few 85+ cars.

Had enough of the "South", And moved to Nor California working for GM dealer and semi retired in the parts game.


My advice to you guys is hoard all you can, Cause it'll just get worse !!!!!!


Dave

 

Yup

 

Was speaking with a friend, triplec on this board, about how we used to be able to drive around middle TN and find these cars in backyards, pay 2-300 and take home a car. 5.7 cars, running cars.....those day are gone. TN is not a rust state, the stuff is just drying up.