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History / OriginalityGot a question about 1982-1992 Camaro or Firebird history? Have a question about original parts, options, RPO codes, when something was available, or how to document your car? Those questions, answers, and much more!
Members, please offer your opinion on where you see future values on the L69 cars. Now that I'm getting inundated with calls on my car, I'm having strong second thoughts on selling it. Maybe I should hold onto it ( ? )
The prices are high right now because gas is "cheap" compared to what it has been since 07. If gas hits $4+ a gallon again, value with drop substantially. How long would you be willing to hold onto it? Do you drive it? Why are you selling it? If you don't drive it, then sell it. Who knows what gas prices will be 6 months.
Values will increase on the L69 cars as the 1LE, Vert IROC's GTA's and Formulas, and G92 option cars, increase in value, especially stick models. How much? no one knows.
Trying to sell my 1983 66,000 mile one, offers are few & far between.
Although my '83 is not an L69 and at the risk of going off topic - I have been deluged by offers for trades for it. Guns, Harleys, trucks, a WRX, SC'd W- body Grand Prix, '95 Impala SS (with custom paint), you name it....
Unless someone has a really nice IROC or TA 5 speed convertible to trade, I just want the cash.
When I got my one & only (1984) HO back in the early 90's What impressed me what how well it breathed past 5K rpm's Just about every other V8 at the time you could watch the rpm needle creep up towards redline like it was a rising temperature gage
The HO's ripped right past 5K like nothing & pulled strong there. This is based on my 1992 memory & I haven't driven one since. But its still a good memory. I didn't realize they were rated at 200Hp. I raced a plain Z28 5 speed HO against my 87 5.7 & that car gave me fits. each shift he would jump a little ahead & I only gained it back after his 3rd shift. The car was supposed to be stock, but its possible it had some add ons.
I started watching for an 85 L69 5 speed Iroc to add to my heard. Not sure I will ever find one, but it doesn't hurt to watch & wish....
When I got my one & only (1984) HO back in the early 90's What impressed me what how well it breathed past 5K rpm's Just about every other V8 at the time you could watch the rpm needle creep up towards redline like it was a rising temperature gage
The HO's ripped right past 5K like nothing & pulled strong there. This is based on my 1992 memory & I haven't driven one since. But its still a good memory. I didn't realize they were rated at 200Hp. I raced a plain Z28 5 speed HO against my 87 5.7 & that car gave me fits. each shift he would jump a little ahead & I only gained it back after his 3rd shift. The car was supposed to be stock, but its possible it had some add ons.
I started watching for an 85 L69 5 speed Iroc to add to my heard. Not sure I will ever find one, but it doesn't hurt to watch & wish....
Most fun Third Gen I ever drove. 84 Z28 HO 5spd 3.73 gears Red/ Silver. Only rated at 190 HP I seen them regularly outrun Mustangs and give L98 cars fits.
Most fun Third Gen I ever drove. 84 Z28 HO 5spd 3.73 gears Red/ Silver. Only rated at 190 HP I seen them regularly outrun Mustangs and give L98 cars fits.
My race was between the street lights in town. If it was a long stretch, My L98 would reel one back in, but if its a short race, the L69 5 speed is a quick setup & the L98 might run out of time. The gearing & quick revs of the HO is a great combo!
You have to consider sales #'s for each year too - '84 had the most at over 50k sold while '85 obviously the rarest at under 2500. '83 at just over 3k sold.
i owned a 85 iroc l69 5 speed car back in the late 80's .. man what a pig .. 5.0 mustangs and tuned port irocs killed that car .. it was a 190 hp slug !!
i owned a 85 iroc l69 5 speed car back in the late 80's .. man what a pig .. 5.0 mustangs and tuned port irocs killed that car .. it was a 190 hp slug !!
not about to argue with a dude who thinks a 190 hp brick is fast .. lol
think my wifes mini van has more horsepower
Did I say I thought it was fast ? No, but for you to say it's a 190hp pig that got killed by 'stangs & tpis is a little far fetched. I have a 90 gt & the L69 would clean it's clock. Maybe you just weren't a very good driver.
Did I say I thought it was fast ? No, but for you to say it's a 190hp pig that got killed by 'stangs & tpis is a little far fetched. I have a 90 gt & the L69 would clean it's clock. Maybe you just weren't a very good driver.
ya , ok keep dreaming and be careful when you pull up next to a soccer mom in her 285 hp caravan in your 190 hp beast !!!
If ANY of these cars from those years would tend to be toward the top of "value", the L69/5-spd ones would be those.
Unfortunately it's not likely to happen.
People always like to compare these cars to, say, 69 Camaros, or 57 Chevys. "Just look at how much one of those is worth today!! Just wait and see! SOMEDAY ..." OK fine: how much was a good clean straight 69 Z28 "worth" (not so much the "number", as, compared to other old cars, new cars, etc.) in 1980, or 1990? Fair enough question, no??
In 1980, a 69 Camaro was 11 yrs old. In 1990 it was 21 yrs old. In 1990 you practically had to give enough money to buy A HOUSE if you wanted one; prices have continued to climb.
In 1976 I had a friend whose wife had a 57 Chevy. It was a total beater POS: holes rusted through the floorboard, original paint that you could see floating away on the ground after a rainstorm, a poorly installed 283 with a hack job for wiring (in fact that was how I met her... she was pulled off to the side of a busy street with no electrical function whatsoever, which turned out to be because someone had "improved" the fusible link to an in-line fuse), smoked like a freight train, bad fitting headers such that 2 of the plugs hadn't ever been changed since she'd had it, holes in the seats, radio missing, heat barely worked, no air of course, holes cut in the dash for who knows what that wasn't there anymore, ... ,,, .. you get the picture. Totally ragged out. Yet she got offers to buy it EVERY TIME she stopped at the gas station.
"Someday" IS ALREADY HERE for 3rd gens. An 84 is now 32 yrs old. If it hasn't happened yet, it ain't gonna. These cars WILL NOT experience the same path of "value" of those other cars.
And the reason is pretty simple. I can't seem to get it across to most people no matter how many times I prove it. It is, that the whole "car culture" that made those cars EXCITING and SEXY and SOUGHT AFTER and GLAMOROUS AT THE TIME THEY WERE NEW, was GONE by the time these cars were born. The Arab oil embargo, plus emissions laws, plus the totally stooooopid failure to react to any of it on the part of the US car mfrs, DESTROYED that culture starting in the early 70s. Doesn't matter how much WE like them; doesn't matter how much you can argue that they're "better"; doesn't matter how "good" they "look" (which they did look STUNNING at the time: the first time I saw a 82 Camaro, I just about filled the cup); it just doesn't matter. The kind of "value" that those old cars have, just simply doesn't apply to our cars. People's skulls are just too thick to accept it. They "believe" what they want to (as is usual for humans) in spite of a total lack of evidence for their favored "belief" and despite any arbitrary amount of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Humans. What an illogical, emotional, irrational species.
Now I'm not saying, they're worthless, get rid of it, don't bother keeping it up, I don't like them, or ANYTHING OF THE KIND; only, don't do whatever you think you're gonna do because you think the "value" is going to "appreciate". It won't.
Looks like a damn nice car to me. I'd just hang on to it and enjoy it, if I had it. You're not going to be able to easily replace it for what somebody is willing to pay you for it.
Last edited by sofakingdom; Mar 10, 2016 at 11:18 AM.
Mainstream American car culture is so wrapped up in the '50s and '60s that everything else takes a back seat. You can barely do anything social with cars without the '50s and '60s shoved in your face the entire time.
I think its a personal opinion thing. I tend to think they will steadily climb in value. The L69/1LE/B4C cars because of prod. #'s. The 1990 350 cars as well. To each his own, agree to disagree I suppose.
Right: and the Earth is flat and the sun orbits it.
Evidence is evidence. Reality is reality. "Belief" and "opinion" don't affect reality very much, except to the extent they cause people to acct irrationally and illogically. If you put away the rose-colored glasses and examine the evidence without prejudice or personal agenda, it becomes pretty obvious REAL QUICK that the factor(s) driving the prices of pre-oil-embargo and pre-emissions muscle cars, are not applicable to these cars. Or to ANY OTHER cars from after the very early 70s either: not Mustangs, Not Vettes, not Mopars, not ANY OF THEM. It's not about THE CARS, it's about THE DATE.
As I mentioned above, the evidence is overwhelming.
People don't like having their bubble burst, but that's just The Way It Is.
Enjoy your car though, looks like a fine one. Wish I had one in that good shape.
Ok so the 1LE & B4C cars won't increase in value ? You can't say well the prod. #'s are so much lower. That's a bogus argument because the 1LE & B4C cars had longer prod. runs tho with less produced.
The 3rd gen cars will never have the rate of return that the 50s and 60s cars had. Will they increase in value, yes! But not to that level. When the '69 Camaro Z28 was 30 years old, I was looking to buy one. Nicely restored examples were selling in the $20k-$23k range. When the car cost about $4500 when new, that's 5x it's original price in 30 years.
My IROC-Z is unrestored and will be 30 next year. Under the same rules played by the '69 Z28, my car should have a value of over $100k next year! Woohoo! Guess what. Ain't gonna happen!! In most cases, our cars are worth their original sticker, or slightly above it based on mileage, condition, etc. They may continue to increase some, but I can tell you now that I don't think they'll hit 2x their sticker price any time in the near future. That would mean that mine would be around $42k. Not many 80s/90s cars pulling in those numbers.
Mainstream American car culture is so wrapped up in the '50s and '60s that everything else takes a back seat. You can barely do anything social with cars without the '50s and '60s shoved in your face the entire time.
And half of us cant afford one and don't give a $5it what they are worth.
I've always felt that a car was better than money in the bank - and far more fun.
The caveat here is that you need to buy them right and not overspend on them - which is often overlooked!
As for my L69, I bought it cheap, put almost the same amount into repairs & detailing and now have it listed for $8750 (I think). 1983, L69 5spd 3:73 66,000 original miles, completely numbers matching with original parts from the carb to the tail lights, all original body panels, original paint, good local history. Worth it, maybe, with the warm weather coming, I think a T-top car is the one to have.
Will L69 cars have more value? Well yes, compared to LG4's that's a no brainier but I don't think it will rise to the level of a SD-455, or a T/A6.6 ... or even 1LE cars.
That said, it will probably be the most wanted 305 out there...but it's still a 305, which is the problem.
I bought mine with the original L69 thinking it made "decent power"... Ya, that lasted about 2 years....then swapped out for a 400hp 355... And I love it!! Kept the motor though.
Will L69 cars have more value? Well yes, compared to LG4's that's a no brainier but I don't think it will rise to the level of a SD-455, or a T/A6.6 ... or even 1LE cars.
That said, it will probably be the most wanted 305 out there...but it's still a 305, which is the problem.
I bought mine with the original L69 thinking it made "decent power"... Ya, that lasted about 2 years....then swapped out for a 400hp 355... And I love it!! Kept the motor though.
Yes, even though it's a 305 it still has some value considering #'s produced & how hard it is today to find one, good shape or not. How many of the 2,497 made are still with us ?
A friend of mine about 3 years ago had a really nice 55k mile 84 h.o z28. Black/gold with a mint tan interior. A few little quirks but nothing serious. Had it listed at 5k, struggled all summer to sell and it finally sold months later for 3k. Like everyone else has said it's just a 305. And I think the early camaros are quite a bit less deaireable than the later ones. The 85+ cars seem to sell much easier, for camaros anyway
Don't you have a "Youngtimers" movement going on in the US like we do in Europe ? Car shows with mostly late 70's to late 90's cars. It would help malaise era cars get more popularity.
It's kinda sad to see that the only thing that makes cars interesting to some is HP numbers...
It's kinda sad to see that the only thing that makes cars interesting to some is HP numbers...
My L69 has very adequate power to get me in trouble on the street. One can only drive so fast given legal speed and reckless driving restrictions. Obviously I do not race on street or track. It is really a fun car to drive. The power difference between this L69 and my previous '87 LB9 G92 T5 is negligible. It will not break the tires loose as easily in a second and third gear shift, but dang that's so hard on a car anyway, far past the point of abuse.
And half of us cant afford one and don't give a $5it what they are worth. 
