These pictures are from a 1991 GM brochure that I just bought on eBay and include all the models that were exported to Japan, like the Cadillac/ Buick/ Chevrolet and the Pontiac. I have 1991 Firebird brochures from Belgium-Germany-France and Canada and none of these have the mods that were installed on the Japan cars. The first thing you will notice are the BLACK fold away side view mirrors on the Camaro and the Trans Am. Now look at the GTA and notice that it uses the STOCK Firebird tail lamps and also has BLACK FENDER FLARES. I wonder where you could ever get a set of those if you wanted to!

 

Wow, I wonder what other things are different with those cars?

 

cool stuff!!

those fender flares are a lot bigger than the 1996 Corvette Grand Sports flares are plus the Grand Sport flares are body color.

Kinda look funny in black.

Thanks for the history pics!!

 

I wanted to buy a GTA in the UK not long ago, it had those flares too, it was a jap car. Sadly the car was repainted black without doing the engine bay and taking off the flares. One of the flares was missing and thus showing the original green metallic paint.

All Euro models here had the big dumbo mirrors (corvettes too), I have a set somewhere. My buddies original German export GTA (92) originally came with those too. His came w/ the amber/red/white lights too. The reason is, in the UK and most of mainland europe you ahve to have amber turn indicators (the same was done for Corvettes, they had amber outer units)

Another jap only option that may have made it in the F bodies too is a hot exhaust warning system consisting of a pyro switch in the exhaust. My 90 vette (also a jap car) has it.

 

ugly dumbo mirrors on my 90 vette. They are power mirrors, identical to the F body ones. I think they are the same ugly ones as used on Porsches back then.



My vette has funky jap style brake/turn indicators too. Unlike on any other vette in Europe.

 

founds pics of said GTA dumbo mirrors had already been removed (I think when they initially painted it black). After this it was resprayed again but engine bay still green, reason for me to not buy it.

 

Those are some great pictures. I think (on the GTA) if they were painted the same color as the car, they really don't look all that bad.

 

It has a locking gas door too! I also noticed in the brochure pic that the Bonneville SSE has sealed beam headlights (US got composite), but the Grand Am doesn't. I wonder what the reasoning behind that was.

 

The export variations have come up before, and I want to say a few of those pics (from the brochure) have been posted before. The mirrors were export parts before the GTA was conceived... Something about the need for break away mirrors? The locking gas door was a standard option on the Firebird S/E, but I want to say it wasn't available on later cars in the US. Export cars seem to regularly break the rules of what we consider in the US.

 

Those flares are kind of cool... I wonder what my bird would look like with flares...

That ALMOST looks like Jade Green Metallic; aka Shr00ms car color. Which is beautiful when clean and shiny.

 

Anybody know where you might still find a set of these? I have never heard of or saw the flares on ANY 3rd Gen. I don't think too many Japanese dealers have them laying around somewhere!

 

That's exactly what it was...kind of a shame

 

The Flairs were interesting nonetheless. I did not ice that the Trans Am did not have them, neither did the Camaro, just the GTA...

Some years there was actually a Windshield mounted antenna as well... I think it went thru 1986. You can still get the windshield, and its not a whole lot different in price than a non antenna windshield... I considered going that route when I repainted my car, but I forgot, would have been kinda unique honestly.

Almost cheezy... almost

 

Like a stick on antenna or a hole and provisions for a stubby style antenna?

 

Is John talking about the antenna wire being molded into the glass?

 

Drew has it,
The Antenna hole would have been shaved, filled, painted over and I would be left with a windshield mounted antenna...

I called a few places a couple years back and they all said I could still get the windshield with the antenna... Take a few days to get it in, but available.

John

 

I guess japan doesn't like smoked tail lights. since that is the only reason to use the base firebird lights. Amber turn signals are a requirement.

 

Got a part # or anymore info on it? My windshield is getting replaced in the next month or so & I would definitely go that route!

 

Call up a Glass shop, tell them that you have a 1986 Berlinetta, and it has the windshield mounted antenna, see what they come up with...

The part number is no longer there, however they make mention that the windshield without the antenna is still available, so there had to be one with an antenna...

I would see if you could get one.

It was primarily a European thing BTW,

John

 

Or that the base tail lights were approved by whatever department of transportation there from GM and it was easier to retrofit than have a new set of lights approved since they were only going to be on two years worth of imported cars? Maybe a couple thousand?

 

not just japan, euro cars got the amber lights too

 

Buuut.. The 91/92 TA taillights had Amber too...

I suspect it had to do with the placement of the taillights particularity. I could see where some places could specify where the brake light has to be in relation to the side of the car. I'm thinking about 80's & 90's imports from Japan, look at their taillights, I remember my friends 73 Datsun, but nothing from the 90's Japanese is coming to mind... may take a little investigating to get a clear picture, but worth investigating.

interestingly there was almost (might as well be) (ZERO) Firebirds shipped to Japan, Only Trans am's. 1991 there was 2 non WS4 cars shipped there, and 0 in 1990 and 0 in 1992.

John

John

 

It's DOT approval requirements (in the UK and I believe in Europe). Items such as light clusters have to meet certain inspection requirements to be used in the UK and given the low volume of these vehicles that were imported to Europe combined with the costs involved in getting approval, it was cost effective just to approve one type of rear cluster.

Those arch flares - I see them on C4 'vettes from Japan aswell. I'm thinking motoring legislation around how far the wheel can portrude/ come to the arch lip?

 

WEIRD!! I would have thought that if anything, they would MANDATE the composite headlights since pretty much all Euro and Asian cars had composite lights YEARS before their U.S. counterparts (think full-size Mercedes and such).

 

1) Interestingly I could not find the flairs in the Parts catalog ... I found the Z20 tho.
2) There were literally a few thousand cars each year sent to Japan. More than I would have thought. It may be that not all of them went to Japan, however there were quite a few with the Japanese requirements for each year.

John

 

the 91/92 TA lights were smoked though, which is why I think they changed them.


the 91/92 tails have the same pattern as a Supra but are not smoked.
http://the-car-club.co.uk/Images/Pic...006%5D-600.jpg

 

So, in the last couple months I've happened across two third generation Camaros here in Japan, much to my surprise. One white, one black, Both Rally Sports. Both have 91-92 GFX, but the white one has the regular North American style side mirrors. However, the black one has the original export fold-away style mirrors. Due to how it's parked, I haven't seen the tail lights on the white one, but the black one has the same tail lights as earlier RS cars, with the black stripe through the middle, not the grid lights.

Both cars are a little beat, and both have what look like el cheapo aftermarket wheels on them.

I talked to Modern Day Muscle a few months back, and they said they were going to be listing a NOS set of export Camaro tail lenses on their site, for $1000 due to the rarity. I realize Europe and Japan require amber turn indicators, but I assumed these lights must have been amber delete, with the amber part being red, kind of like how some people modify theirs, so I asked. He actually told me the amber and red sections are reversed, which doesn't make sense. Either way, they have yet to list them on their site, so who knows. They had to have been Camaro lenses since we were talking about Camaros and Camaro grid lenses at the time, but perhaps he was mistaken.

I should really get some pics of these two Camaros, I drive by the black one a couple times a week and the white one is right by my wife's workplace. Maybe I'll do that this weekend, since I have nothing else planned. They look so lost and out of place here.

 

Actually, I was just browsing the thirdgens for sale here locally, and I found tails exactly as described by the guy at Modern Day:



Wow!

EDIT: Uploaded the pics to my Flickr to preserve them so they aren't lost when the ad expires. This is the only time I've ever seen these tail lights, and likely will be for most other people as well so I wanted to document these permanently. The car shown is a 1984 Z28 with 20,000 miles. Not stock, but spotless.