jrhaus76

And not by the door....

I mean what turned you on... anything significant?

I posted mine in a new blue car thread but that seems to be going over like a lead balloon so I though this may attract more viewers. I love hearing stories about how people come to love their cars... here is mine (copied from my other post) and I am very proud of it. Father bought a new blue IROC in 1989, special order with 350, no t-tops or stickers. All the goodies except the dual cats (unfortunately). The car was traded off in 1991 for a 1992 Sonoma 4x2

I was only 14 when it was let go... a piece of me went with that car when we left the dealership that day....

years passed and alot of nice cars went through my hands... several turbo DSM cars, 67, 92, 95, 00, 07 Corvettes, RX-8... but in my heart of hearts nothing could come to compare to the IROC...

FF to August 2008 I decided it was time to purchase a like 89 IROC. I wanted it to be as close as possible to the original. The no t-top was the tough part.... one day I found one in California... same color, year, engine, no t-tops but it had leather.... whatever easy swap. Almost pulled the trigger but my g/f told me to pass and atleast try to find the car my dad bought... YEAH RIGHT the odds of it still exisiting are slim to none.

Well I did just that and to make a long story short this is how I picked it up in August 2008 from 17 years in someone elses hands....

Not to bad if I say myself...






Plans on making it 100% like the day we picked it up.

Needs:
Paint
Weather strip
Console since someone decided to drill a hole
Wheels refinished with new center caps
Interior door arm rests
New cat, its original and going south
Steering wheel recovered

Thats about all, the engine/drivetrain/underbody are flawless.

It was actually very easy to find. Took about 4 hours. Love that internet!

-I called my dad to get the vin.
-Luckily the insurance company had it still (+1 for record keeping)
-Got the VIN, went to CarFax, found last entry was 2006 with 80 something thousand miles. (this was hopeful) Location WV
-Called WV DMV, they would not give me the ownes name but told me the car was still registered (looking good)
-Car fax gave me the current title number so I did an online title search and got the guys info... everything but his phone number.
-Zabasearch got me that

So about 4 hours after I decided to look for the car, I had the current owners telephone number.

Called them up and talked to his wife... man she was freaked out... I must have seemed like a stalker... Talked to her for a while and then she told me to call back at 5:30 to talk to her husband.

Talked to Dave, a very pleasant man, and decided that he was not looking to sell the car but he wouuld since he liked my story... a real family guy I guess. He told me he needed $5000 (would have paid 10 ) for the car so I got the cash and trailer just incase and made the trip to see the car in WV. It was amazing!

On its way home to its rightful owner...



His wife told me that after we spoke and she talked to her husband that he had to sell me the car. The car had been sitting for about 6 months and they could not figure out what to do with it but me calling was like a message from God telling them that the car belonged with me...


Now lets hear your story...

jrhaus76

more pics...

getting its new fuel tank and tune up...



posing with its big brother...



At INDY 08. The other one is a 26K mile original... very clean



catching some sun in the yard



other side of the interior...




Let me see if I have anything else worth posting. Thats all I have on tinypic.

jrhaus76

some more good ones... needless to say I was shocked at the condition of the car when I found it...

nope

you lucky duck

Bullydawg

iTrader: (7)

Thats cool. How does your dad feel about it? I bought my formula off my father when decided he needed to get rid of it. So it was getting close to the time of me getting my License.

So I sold my 1970 Lemans (project car = too much work and $ @ 15) because I couldn't bare to see him get rid of it. + it ran, looked good, and was quick. It was the car that got me into Muscle Cars when i was 10. Without him getting that car, who knows what would take my car hobbies spot.

jrhaus76

He was pretty excited when I called him about it. I took the car to see him after I got and he was also impressed with the condition. He didn't want to drive it or anything which surprized me but I think he is just happy that it made such an impression on me and I wanted it, enough to the point I tracked it down.

I don't think he even knew how much I was into that car when I was a child...

His new car is pretty impressive to and I told him not to get rid of this one without telling me. It is a 2007 Mustang GT with saleen stage 3 S/C kit. No body kit, looks stock but has dynoed 480HP at the road.

Curtisyz54

iTrader: (5)

Very cool. Love the story awsome car, i kinda feal the same way, My dad bought a 2002 (last year i sure you know) z28 White camaro, leather, ls1, etc, Loved the car, But he sold it in 2005. Wish he never did. Only had like 5k miles.

Sorry if you already said this, but how many miles are on the iroc?

And Story on my iroc i have now...

I was the car up the street for sale for 2,500, Imidiatly wanted it. (its an 86 and i knew my dad also bought a 86 new, but his got totaled in 89.) so I called the guy and offerd 1,800. he said no, how about 2, and i said ok ill let you know. Well With my luck, a few days earilyer I smashed my jimmy and needed to fix it, Costed 2,000 for fix, so I was really mad, that I couldnt get the camaro, But I talked with my dad, he liked it, and Bought it for me, and When im ready just buy it off him.

Jgolden314

Awesome story! I remember years back we had a thread like this. Couldn't find it though.

Basically I fell in love with Camaros. I was supposed to get my Dad's 81 Berlinetta, but he sold it when I was 14. It had a Z hood, Z spoiler, and Corvette Ralley wheels. Also, it had a 350 with a nice comp cam, dart heads, TH400 with stall and shift kit, 12 bolt with 4.10 gears, etc.

2 weeks before I turned 16 he told me he found a camaro for me. That is when I got my $500 86 Iroc-Z. Came home on a flat bed and a truck full of parts. I knew NOTHING about third gens at the time. Thanks to this site, I know damn near everything about these cars it seems.

I do want to get rid of my car though. I want to find a clean hard top like the one you have. Oh, also I want an L98 car.

jrhaus76

Well you could try to find his old car... Should be easy since you just got rid of it a few years ago.

My car just turned 86,000, and no that was not listed

That was very nice of your dad to buy that for you. My dad offered to buy mine too but I declined. Enjoy your car...
----------

I love hearing other ppls stories. It seems our dads usually are a big influence in how we became into them. I am glad it worked out for you and you got an IROC. Sometimes I wish I had the t-tops but oh well...

83Firebird420

that is an awsome story! i wish my story was that cool! lol

Dmans85

Amen to the good story. Really enjoyable reading. You're real hardcore tracking it done like that. I was surprised how easy you made it look.

Will carfax list/give names of previous owners then?

So my "love my third" story.. Was 13 y/o in 87 and starting to dream about eventual day I would be able to have car of my own. Smoky and the 2nd black T/A was what i was thinking. Money was tight at 17 but got to drive a friends 85 red IROC in '91. I was hooked. Shelled out lil over 4k on a 32k 85 Z28 and drove it sr year and 1st year of comm college. Knew nothing about cars. Never even attempted own oil change but i new I wanted to make it better, get a 350 as I didn't know what one was before that.
Spent 5 yrs in service. It sat in mom's garage. Picked it up drove it down to FL, drove it a while but carb gave out and destined to sit some more as higher ed. took priority (another 5 yrs). Got to move back down south. Settled into job. Thought finally time to bring it back to glory years as THE car to have in late 80's. You never seen so many thirds unless you lived in NY back then by the way.
The restoration began late last year. THough all the TLC and non-driving over the years made it easier than most resto's. Still lots of blood and sweat needed. Having a ace in the hole that knows thirds in and out helps to.
Will hold onto it till I don't get any emotion from it. Here's hoping you enjoy making up for all those lost years jrhaus

eightTfourTA

iTrader: (3)

That's for sure! I grew up in this tiny town outside of Buffalo, just down the street from the local school. Even out in the middle of nowhere you'd see a bunch of them. There was always that select group of h-s seniors who had thirdgens, i'd see them tearing away from the parking lots every day...and up and down my street too. The Firebirds always caught my eye the most, but by the time I had money for cars, I couldn't find one in my price range that wasn't wrecked and/or rotted out. There was this black/gold early third T/A that I kept seeing up there, and I knew it was gonna be one of those.
So when I got to FL, my wife and I found her first thirdgen, a '91 Firebird. A year after she got hers, I started looking around and found my '84 on the way to work one day. A mechanic just down the street from where I worked was selling it, but he had a way of talking that made it seem like something it really wasn't. But, young and dumb, I fell for it, and the adventures in wrenching continue to this day, 8-1/2 years later. I feel like i've driven in to hell and back a few times with it, although it's taught me quite a bit that i've been able to apply to other cars i've owned since.
I guess to define the way I really feel about this car, having had 3 other thirds come and go over the years, I'd have to quote what a famous musician once said about his favorite instrument : "...It's like a good hooker; you'll abuse her, and she'll abuse you, but in end you both come up smiling."

Kevman

Before my brother got married he owned a 1989 Iroc-Z, 5.7 TPI, hardtop, fire red. Nice car.. I always wanted that car, but he ended up selling it for an engagement ring.. My dad also had one in 1986, the company he worked for gave it to him as a company car.. Z28, Electric Blue, 5 spd, TBI car.. Nice looking.

jrhaus76

No, they will only give you BMV reports, emissions report, accident reports etc... They will give you state and title numbers though to find out where the car is. All I got from Carfax was the fact that the car was in West Virginia. I had to go elsewhere for the owners name.

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

My story isn't nearly as exciting as yours.


First off, my story starts WAY back when my dad was in high school. He used to buy Camaros and Firebirds/Trans Ams, fix and paint them, and then sell them to kids at his school. From the time he was a teenager to a few years after him and my mom got married, he had tallied up over 15 different Fbodies, ranging from a couple of '69 Camaros, a '67 Firebird convertible, to a crap ton of early and late 2nd gens.




But the one car of his that I have a poster size blown up photo of in my bedroom was the ONLY car he ever bought brand new. It was a 1985 Z28 with the deluxe "Camaro" seats, ttops, absolutely gorgeous car. Him and my mom bought it right before I was born in '87, and sold it a few years later to buy a van since they wanted to start having children.


So fast forward up to 2001, I've got a blown up version of this photo framed on my bedroom wall, and I'm 15 years old.



So my parents start talking to me about what kind of car I want to get when I start driving. Well, ever since I was really little, I was always fascinated by Camaros. To be completely honest, whenever we would be going somewhere on the road and I'd see a Camaro, I'd usually yell out something like "That's my car!", because I wanted one so badly. So when I was 15, my dad started looking in the classifieds in our local paper, and found a pristine 1989 Camaro RS convertible. It had really low mileage, something like 50,000 or so. Gorgeous car. Sadly, the only pictures I have of it are these:






Well, after about a year of that car being in my parents' ownership, it developed a pretty bad knock in the engine. And to top it off, right before my 16th Birthday, my dad and I were driving home from church one Sunday afternoon, and happened to pass by one of our local Chevrolet dealerships. Mind you, this was a NEW CAR lot, not used/pre-owned. Well what do you supposed they had sitting out in front of all their 2002 Camaros and Corvettes? A really nice, 32,xxx mile 1991 Z28 convertible. It had been traded in to the dealer by a nephew of the owner of Anheiser Busch. I can't remember the guy's name, but it was on the previous title. Anyways, he must have had a lot of cars, because it had sat in a garage for a few years, hence the 32,xxx miles. It needed a little attention, such as ditching some Betty Boop floor mats, and getting the driver leather seat repaired. Anyway, my dad and I took it for a test drive, and asked how much they wanted for it. They said $12,000. We say, Ok, talk to you later....


The dealer calls my house after about a week and a half, asking if we had changed our minds and wanted to work out a deal. They say they want $6,000 and they'll give us $6,000 for the '89 RS. The RS was paid off, so it didn't seem like a bad deal. My dad still isn't sure if he wants to take up the offer though...

Well I was at another highschool one spring Saturday, playing a baseball game. My parents showed up late for the game, and afterwords we start walking to the parking lot. I've got an eye for cool cars, and when we were in eye shot of the car, I noticed that it had HOOD BLISTERS! Holy crap! My parents scooped up the car and didn't even tell me! They wanted to suprise me and let me drive it home from my game. A week later, I turn 16 and get my license, and on the way home from the license bureau the injectors stop working and we have to call a tow truck. I didn't get the car back for about a week, and the rest is history. Yes the car was a 16th Birthday present, but I guess you could say I earned it by keeping myself out of trouble for my parents. I've never smoked or drank, and was never in trouble at school, and got just about straight A's in school with a few exceptions for B's. I also got a job at 16 and quit playing highschool baseball just so I could pay for everything on the car myself. And I can honestly say that all money spent on the car after my 16th birthday was my hard earned money.

She looked like this when I got her, minus the windshield decal. (yes, she had some stupid looking pinstriped on her)





And now she looks like this

jrhaus76

blu... thats a great story... how did you get your chickie into them... she has a heck of a IROC.

Scooby Doo

Nice stories guys.
I know I have always loved cars, I could i.d. cars in the dark from the headlights back when I was 10 riding with the folks on those two lane highways.
It was a neighbor that got me on the F-Body, somewhere around 9 years old he took me to a hockey game in his Silver 1978 Trans Am, man it was a fantastic car, loud, shaker, big bird on the hood, and that diamond plate dash, at the time both my parents had the gas crisis econo boxes, I remember, the slower we went through the parking lot at the checkerdome where the Blues played hockey, the cooler it was.
I still have a spot for a 78 TA, I would trade my vert if the right one came along, but these 3rd gen are just so much better put together, and the TPI is def a plus for a guy like me.
I have some other cool cars, 280ZX, RX7, Austin Healey, some 4x4 trucks, and also have a 99 TA WS6 Ram Air, but this 92 Vert is a lot of fun to drive and gets the attention everywhere I go, just yesterday on the way home on interstate 270 a guy rolls down the window and shouts "that car is beautiful" did I mention it was 75 degrees in St. Louis yesterday on Nov 3rd.
Also about every other time I get gas someone comes over to talk about the car, maybe one they had, it is just fun, for a car guy like me.
But it is also stressful sometimes, like parking, don't ever get me started, that is a whole other thread.

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

That's another good one actually. When I met her in highschool, I was of course driving around in my Z, didn't have my truck yet. She was in love with the car, and she always wanted to drive it. She was driving around in her parents' 2001 Ford Focus, a tiny, slow, cheaply made car that felt like it has to wind like a toy to get it going. Well I think it was around her 18th birthday or so, her dad and I got to talking about how he wanted to buy her a new car and how he thought it would be really cool to get her a Camaro. So I got to hunting, and it wasn't 2 weeks until I found the perfect buy. A friend of mine from my local Fbody club was actually selling his 1987 IROC-Z, fully loaded with some rare options like the ttop panel with the map light. He was selling it for something like $4,500 and after I got to talking to him about it he lowered the price to a "Friends-Only" price of $3,000. It needed a paint job pretty badly, but the interior was super clean and it had around 105,000 on it.

I ended up pulling out a line of credit with my bank for $2,000 and Krista had $1,000 saved up by herself, so the night I got the cash from the bank we drove up into Illinois and picked the car up with $3,000 cash. She was absolutely overjoyed. I cannot even express the excitement I saw on her face. The drive home (all 40 minutes of it) was one of the funnest I've ever driven.

And then of course, we stripped the car down to bare nothings after about a year and she got a fresh Ford red paint job and for her 19th Birthday I bought her some tan leather power WS6 seats from a 2001. She bought the wheels herself and it was actually HER IDEA!


I know exactly what you mean! Krista always pokes fun at me because we will be driving around town late at night and all you can see are headlights and I'm like, "Mustang", or "Camaro", or "POLICE!", or whatever...I told her as long as I'm riding in the car with her she will never have a use for a radar detector.


And hey Jeff, I didn't know you had an RX7. What year? Got pics?

chevyguy1969

iTrader: (7)

Great pictures guys and stories to go along with them. Thats a great story on meeting your girl and helping her with getting her own Fbody. Must be so nice to have a significant other enjoys the cars and the hobby as much as you do.

Sonymaster20

iTrader: (3)

thats an awesome story..

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

By the way, jrhaus, your IROC reminds me of my 1990 IROC-Z that I sold last year. I miss it so much. It was a blue hardtop, G92 car with the 305/5spd.


There is a good story behind that car as well...but first I have to go back to the IROC I had even before that one...a hardtop '89 IROC





The '89 IROC that was mine and my dad's very first project car, we found 2 houses up on my street, sitting in our neighbor's driveway. He got it as payment for money that was owed to him from a friend. It was really rough looking, and as soon as we saw it in his driveway we knew we wanted to have it to fix up. So we bought it, and turned it from this



to this







And then a few months after we finished the car, we decided to sell it and look for another project to work on. So we put it up for sale locally and a friend of a friend came by to drive it. He fell in love with it, and wanted to buy it but he wanted to keep my '91 Z28 alloys pictures above, that were on the car. He didn't like the stock 15" gold wheels. So I set out to find another set of '91 alloys, and ended up at another friend's house who actually parts out 3rd gens. He is even registered here on TGO and sells tons of parts from lots of parted out cars. He had a shop about a mile from my house, and so we went to his place to look for some wheels. It was there, behind the shop, sitting in some tall grass under a tree, we found a blue '90 IROC-Z G92 car. I told my dad "that's out next project"...so surely enough after the kid came to pick up the '89, we went back to that shop and paid $3,500 for that blue '90. And we turned it from this





To this

Curtisyz54

iTrader: (5)

Wow I really like those Iroc's you re-did, looks VERY Nice. But I hate to be picky but Something is wrong with those door decals on the red one, they just dont seem right, idk. But I love the blue car. Any pics of your girls car? i havent seen it.

Sonymaster20

iTrader: (3)

wow ya'll did really good work on them. lol your dad was used to buying them and fixing them up to sell them. They are all beautiful cars.

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

That's because I accidentally put them on the wrong doors, so they were slanted the wrong way on both sides

Here is my fiance's car:

Before:



After:



Thank you. We've been in the right place at the right time with all 4 of them.

RevItUpZ28

iTrader: (1)

BlueZee28, those are some cool stories! That red iroc that you and your dad fixed up--its like night and day!

jrhaus76

blu... so if i send you my car to paint what are you going to charge me? I am looking for someone who appriciates these cars and will do a killer job. I can do the interior, weather strip, tear down (remove gfx, louvers, spoiler..etc), all I need is someone to fix a couple dings, sand, prime and paint it. I will worry about getting the wheels redone. Also this is not a time sensitive thing. I would like to have it done soon but to be honest the car sits out for now so down the road would be better for me. Like next fall/winter-ish

BTW I am not joking. If you would be interested, I can bring the car to you and you guys can have it until its done...


The dark red is WAY better than the regular red on her car!

KrisW

iTrader: (5)

hahahhhahah

You guys all have great stories; mine is short and stupid!

As a little kid, I watched Smokey and the Bandit, speed racer and the Dukes of Hazzard over and over. It was all about the cars.... Then came this show called Knight Rider! After that, I can't get the black Trans Ams out of my head!

That's really all there is to it. A third gen takes my head back to the 80's... AND I LIKE IT THERE!

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

Thanks I appreciate that


I would love to be able to help you out with your car, but honestly I don't think that I would have enough time to do it. I'm still a full time college student, working part time, and getting married in May. I won't even graduate from school until next December. And then I gotta go straight into a full time job so I can start piecing together an LS1 swap for my convertible.

jrhaus76

No sweat, I was just wondering if you'd be interested. You seem to do awesome work and really have passion for it. If things change, let me know, I am in no rush. I am sure a little extra money would help the LS1 project but I understand what you mean about college and work, I was there too...

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

I'll tell you what...check back with me towards the end of next summer if you're really serious about it. Some extra money to pay for a swap sure would be nice. Depending on how quickly I can settle into the married life with work and school, you could bring the car down here and check out Krista's car to see what kind of quality you'd be paying for. Her car turned out a lot better than the other two cars anyways because we spent more time on it. And I'm in the St Louis area if you would be able to come check it out. Her car took about a month working on it mostly on weekends.The supplies alone were about $1,000.

jrhaus76

St. Louis is about 5 hours from where I work and 6 hours from where I live. Not a big deal, Kristen (the g/f) and I love road trips (and Camaros) so a trip out would def. be do-able next year. I will keep it in my mind. Maybe sometime after your wedding her and I will drive out in the Camaro and check out Krista's car and let you see mine so you can see what it needs and what I want done. It's mostly paint but a few dings and a small dent in the driver door about the size of a softball and very shallow. No rust anywhere. Once it is painted, I will install all new weather strip, moldings, emblems, get the wheels refinished and replace the few interior pieces it needs and she will be back to new condition.

Like I said time is not an issue, next fall or winter would be fine, even better. I would like to see her car. Mainly I want someone to do this who has the same passion for these cars as I do and someone who is experienced with them and has learned from mistakes, like putting the stickers on the wrong doors! $1000 for supplies does not seem bad at all considering how her car came out.

Anyway, I will talk to you again about it in the spring... pm me your email incase you or I for some reason are not on here anymore. I have an email folder for the car I will stick it in there.

BTW... whats your major? I am a Civil Engineer, graduated in 2000 From Youngstown State University.

avro206

jrhaus76--awesome car you have. Def don't see many like that!

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

I figured you wouldn't be too far from STL...I actually know of the perfect time for you guys to come down if you're interested. I'll give you some details in the PM I'm about to send you. And my major is Business Administration with an influence in Finance. I've got 10 classes left to take and then I'm done. I actually started out as a Mech. Engineering major my freshman year. I went to the University of Missouri-Rolla, which is now Missouri S&T or something wierd like that...

FireDemonSiC

I figure I might as well throw my story in here.

Most of you guys are going to read this and think to yourselves, "Why in the hell didn't you just cut your losses when it wasn't so bad?!". But by the time all the trouble started, it was too late. I was hooked.



Spring of 08, I had just gotten my license the previous fall, and had been rocking my moms 98 cavalier everywhere. That car was a slow little piece but I'll admit, I had some good times in that thing.

One particular morning I had been tinkering with the firmware on my cell phone, and screwed up the flash. The phone was nothing but a big paperweight at that point since the battery was too low to reflash, and it would not accept a charge while in bootloader mode. So a magnificent brainstorm occured to me. Buy a battery from downtown, reflash and then return it!

So I hop into the green 4 cylinder bat mobile and head into town. Get the battery, and start heading home. I was doing 40MPH in a 35 zone, and noticed what I assumed to be two deer statues at the corner of the sidewalk just up ahead. "Why, this is an awful strange place for deer statu- @_@!!!". Long story short the rotors in the car that were long overdue for replacement (The steering wheel would always shake like a playstation controller when braking at high speeds) did not allow
enough time to stop and over $4500 worth of damage was done to the car. The insurance company totaled it, but not before cutting my mom a check for $4300. Her and my dad never went too many places, so they decided for the time being it would be alright to stick with his truck. I wanted so badly to just pay the difference and get my ticket to a joyful youth back, but there wasn't a damn thing I could say.

Fast forward one month, and I've cleaned out my savings, taken 1/2 of my paycheck (I seriously did not count on spending $2000 on a TV and then totaling a car a month later), and got all my pawns into place. I had been searching craigslist for the past 2 weeks for a new car. I had always been into muscle cars, but knew very little about how they, or any car for that matter, worked. I decided it was time to start.

I desperately wanted a first gen, but knew there was no way I could afford even the 427 '70 Torino GT that was going on ebay for 13K. After looking around the classifieds a bit, I was astonished at how cheap even good condition 4th gens went. But I just wasn't as thrilled by the style. Then when I saw how cheap third gens went for, my mind was made.

I started marking ads, getting together my battle plan for haggling the price down, and deciding which car I wanted. The first in line was an 87 trans am. I can't remember what was on the resume
but it sounded jacked up. The main problem though, was that it was priced at $2500. The guy desperately needed the money because his son was unable to move from bed after surgery and a heart attack. That little angel sitting on my shoulder would have prevented any price negotiation with this guy, so after coming to the conclusion that the body kit they had on it made the car look like a firebird and de-lorean gay sex child, I found my scapegoat for not going this route.

A week later the next paycheck was just around the corner, and I found a BEAUTIFUL 88 IROC listing for $2800. The car was owned by a mechanic and had an engine swap done to an L98, american racing wheels with flowmaster exhaust and a new gloss black paintjob. I figured if I could talk the guy down to $2200, I'd be walking crooked for a couple weeks but I'd be able to manage. Unfortunately he never returned my call.

Car number 3. 91 firebird. Looking at the listing on craigslist, this car looked pretty nice. it was painted black with a smoke grey firebird on the hood, and had just had a 350 swap done with a nice sound system installed. The guy wanted $2300. He said he would sell it to me for $1800 minus the head unit. So me and my dad tanked up the Blazer and went out to see it. I gotta say, in person it was a love hate relationship on the eyes. It sounded nice, looked decent in terms of body and wheels, and had a new 350 freshly painted engine. unfortunately, the paint was much worse than it appeared in the listing. Sun rotted, and ALL the weathstripping was dry rotted. T-Tops don't leak my *** I thought. The guy started it, and as soon it started to idle down, me and my dad both looked at each and knew something was up. The ECM wires hanging from the dash, rollercoaster idle and his admission to going through about 4 PROM chips, signaled a red flag. We told him we would get back to him, got the hell out of manassas, and that was that. It was a TBI anyways, so no worries there. He is a registered user on this board apparently so big chuckle if he happens to read this.

Car number 4, was honestly the ride I thought I would NOT go with. I had been talking to the kid while I was checking out car number 3, and when I discovered the A/C had been stripped out, that signaled a red flag with a hot summer approaching just around the corner and no more lint to line my pockets with. But after all the 3 previous options were a no go and the ads on craigslist were beginning to dry up, I figured I'd give it a shot. 305 TPI with Edelbrock headers, MSD ignition, SLP runners, B&M megashifter, flowmaster exhaust and rebuilt 700R4 with B&M shift-kit for $2k.

We had actually gone to see this car before car number 3, but decided I'd play the field a bit more since it had a leak in the drivers side header. After going to see car number 3, I cam home and there two messages on my answering machine from the kid urging me to buy. I was txt messaging him that night and he wanted $2000 for it, but I managed to talk him down to $1500. A couple days later after I had bitched about the leaking exhaust, he dropped it to $1400. A couple days after that he left a message on my machine and said he had failed to fix the leak but would drop the price again to $1300. Thinking to myself that in person this car in was in the best condition out of all the ones I had seen, I decided it was time to buy. I grabbed the VIN number off him and ran it through carfax and a couple other places.

The 1985 Z28 had started It's life in Norwood Ohio, and was sold through a dealship in Maryland. I was able to trace it back to the third owner, who was some guy named Fernando I believe, who lived in The Plains VA. This ding-a-ling had managed to get the car into some sort of accident, but the police report had been marked off and only cosmetic damage (Possibly the dents on each front fender, other than some scraped on the front spoiler I cant think of any other point of impact), and had been driven away from the scene. After 10 minutes and a smoke break, I decided this was not going to pose a problem.

The next day around 10AM with cash in hand, we started our hour trip to Purceville. After getting there and seeing the car for the second time, I told the guy I wanted to start it up and take it for a test drive. He drove it before he allowed it ample time to warm up, so it stalled just down the street at a stoplight. He looked like he had seen a ghost cause that had cost him attraction points. But that was the only rpoblem out of the test drive we had. After cruising around for about 15 minutes and doing fishtail in a school parking lot, I decided on myself to be the 5th owner. I handed him the cash, signed the BOS, and drove away.

That first night was one of the oddest moments in my life. Not only was it my first car, but It's like that feeling you get bringing home a newborn baby. Your not really sure what to think or how get acquainted. I spent 2 hours that night detailing the while interior. A couple days later I fixed the rearview mirror dum dum number 4 had taken off, and that same night when one of the posts broke off the battery put in a new duralast gold.

A week later I spent $630 getting the exhaust repaired where the idiot had stripped out the header bolts, and fixing a hole he had worn in the tranny lines. 2 weeks later I was installing some new gauge faces and managed to damage the aging tilt column to the point where my high beams wouldnt even come on. almost $300 repair bill on that. After that it drove fine for the next 2 months.

May 4th, two days before my birthday I was driving home at 2AM from putting air in the tires when I heard a strange popping noise that sounded like it was coming from the back of the car. "New muffler time", I thought. I rolled down the window and turned white as a ghost when I noticed it was coming not
from the back but the front of the car. I pulled over, popped the hood and nearly **** myself when I discovered it was backfiring through the intake and developing a mean knock. The next day after I ran some important errands I parked it and there it sat for a good amount of time. Thinking back now I attrribute the engines demise mostly to my ignorance of engines at that time and my WOT trips on the 140k smallblock without allowing it ample time to warm up. I thought hard for the next week and decided that I was not going to give up on my car.

I picked up a rebuilt 350 from a guy named farmusehotrod here on TGO. The guys name is Michael Beuchner. I paid him $500. The shop was getting ready to drop it in and discovered he had trashed the entire top end, probably from a combination of over-revving and using the wrong cam. That set me back another month, then I cruised to the local junkyard. I decided since money was tight and I just wanted the car back, not to fiddle around, I would not opt for a 350 swap at this time. Unfortunately, they sent me the WRONG engine. I went back up there livid at them and managed to wrestle away my $787.

A week later I went to autozone
and snagged a new 305 for $1400. That engine is sitting in the engine bay right now waiting to be started on monday. We tried friday, only to discover that the probably original starter had taken a permanent vacation. Wish me luck on this engine as they say third time is a charm.

avro206

Love your car FireDemonSiC---rare to see gold GFX with white these days...and a TPI Z28 car too! Hope you leave it all stock on the outside

jrhaus76

Thanks, I am quite fond of it myself can't wait to get it redone so it is as nice up close as in the photos!

wulfgar the pen

ok hmmm my story,
well the first thirdgen i ever rode in was an 88 iroc-z, one of my best friends older brothers picked it up when i was like 10, and after some small tune ups to the engine we took in on the road. the thing was a pretty big piece, but at the time i had never seen anything like it, all white, t tops, 350 tpi v8 (or something like that, at the time i didn't care). the thing sounded soo bada$$ just idleing.
so we took it out on the road for the first time, i got shotgun did a little speeding, about 80 in a 45 zone, came up to a stop light, waited for the light to change. once it turned green we started through only to be hit on the driver side by a drunk running the light,
long story short, it was almost 4 months before the driver could even walk again.

never any interest in muscle cars after that untill about two months before my 18th birthday. a good friend of mines aunt was getting rid of her camaro, not selling, getting rid of. with only a blown head gasket and a small exaust leak it wasn't a bad deal for free.

so i took it home and have been working on it since. 2,8 liter v6 (has to go) hardtop (considering trying to convert it to t's) and an automatic transmission (converting it to 5 speed standard when i swap the engine)

so currently my project has been this, redoing the interior, swapping the engine tranny and just about everything i can do to make it completely customly mine, kind of a tribute to the accident, its even white.






the house i picked it up from..... nice place



and yes i also identify cars by headlights, i drive my girlfriend nut when i just see a camaro and its the only thing i talk about for the next 5 minutes, its a new addiction these are
----------
oh and i forgot to mention its even an 88...... coincedence?

jrhaus76

It sounds like you are beiung haunted by the white 88 IROC. You may want to consider being careful at every stop light you come to! The car looks sweet for... umm FREE, you dog!

Good luck with it and keep us posted on how the swaps come.

I must admit I too can identify cars from the headlights and tails. I am a little screwed b/c now cops in the area have been using Chargers and Impalas pretty often now instead of the usual Crown Vics. I can still ID them but lot more civilian Chargers and Impalas than Crown Vics so it kind of messes with me. Also if cops ever start using fog lights I am screwed too. I never slow down if I see a car with fogs b/c cop cars don't run them... for now!

I love hearing everyones story. It is really cool the hear how you all got into the fbody sceene. Keep them coming!

ATX-Iroc

I saw an 87 iroc on craigslist looked great because the picture he provided was from 96. i get to his house and a 17 year old directs me outback to the barn, sitting between two rusted out el caminos was this dusty iroc wearing old school lights and dents in both quarters. i was disappointed until he turned it on. it was loud and i thought that was good. turns out it had exhaust leaks on both manifolds and at the cat.I took for a test drive, he took the t-tops off and i loved it. i knew it was a bad idea to buy a car from a 17 year old since i was the same age and knew how mistreated it could be. went home and forgot about it til i saw transformers, i went to the bank when i got out the movie and drove to his house, handed him 1400 and took the iroc home, couldnt see much since it had a leaky heater core but that was the best drive of my life.
here she is

jrhaus76

I see mass potential! Very nice!

wulfgar the pen

yeah i guess so, this one isn't an iroc though, i swear though if i get hit as soon as i finish this thing, i'm going on a homicidal rampage, so if you ever hear headlines "517 dead in minor fender bender" you'll know it was me

yeah lucky me the only vehicles the local cops here use are the crown vics and the blazers, i agree with the fog light thing though, don't let them hear this, but i never slow down for fog lights

wulfgar the pen

thats the biggest thing about driving these cars, if they have a sentimental value or not, these cars are special so every accident is a rediculous setback. newer cars that are still in production can be replaced, these can't

jrhaus76

I could care less if the Corvette, which most people would feel is way more valuable, get wrapped around a pole, they stamp those cars out everyday but the IROC to me is irreplacable. I am sure I could find another one but none with the history mine has.

1piece@atime

iTrader: (1)

I've been working in the same bodyshop since 1981. Yes ... I'm an old man. Anyway, in october 1986 we had a red 86 T/A towed in. Destroyed. The only good body parts were the right door and the rear bumper and lights. I worked by the window and could look out and see that poor car sitting there, Damn it looked nice! Even in the condition it was in. So around christmas after the insurance co. got things all squared away I bought it! Total loss from the insurance company ... $1900 ...it was all mine! By the way, It was wrecked on my birthday *sings ... Happy Birthday To ME! Then I bought 3 more to make 2 good one's , 2- 85 T/A's and a 84 firebird. The value dropped out so fast I never rebuilt the second T/A I just parted it out. My car had 4300 miles on it then. It has 92000 now. And it's sitting in the garage waiting patiently for summer to return. It's always been a fun car to drive. My son who's away at college thinks it's going to be a graduation present. HAHAHA ... NOT! Keep dreaming kid.

jrhaus76

Do you have any pics of the red T/A before and after? The next third gen I am thinking of buying is a red T/A. I really like the red with the silver gfx.

Exactly like this...

wulfgar the pen

i couldn't agree more, i'd rather see a vette destroyed that ding up these peices of history, each one has its own story

1piece@atime

iTrader: (1)

I have some before's I can scan. This was before the digital revolution. I need to find the negatives and get some more before pics printed. The attorney generals office took the best one's I had and used them in the lawsuit that resulted from the accident. And getting a current pic is no problem. Maybe tonight.

hectre13

iTrader: (4)

My Story isn't nearly as awesome as all of your stories, but here I go.

Since I was young, I've always was really big into cars, even though I couldn't really tell you much about them, my favorite car growing up as a kid was a 69 Camaro, as I grew older My love for cars has only increased, I know a lot of you were saying how your dad's cars influenced your tastes on cars, my dad had old crappy pickup trucks, and nasty little ford fuel economy vehicles.

my brother had a crappy olds cutlass that he dropped a 350 in, which probably really got me going with cars, he gave me the car, but when an unexpected baby came in his life.. lol.. he had to sell it because he needed the cash..

in highschool, a couple of my buddies had thirdgens, one of them was 1992 25th anniversary z28 camaro, it was that green/blue looking color, i really loved that car, everytime i seen him, he told me that hed let me drive it, it never happend.. he wraped it around a pole.. it made me very sad.

My other buddy had a trans am formula, or something, not exactly sure, i just remember him lighting thos tires up, and that car kicked sideway, I told myself i was going to own one.

so a couple years ago I was searching to find myself a camaro, I was randomly at my girlfriend's grandma's house.. i noticed this blue car sitting in his drive way, couldn't really tell what it was at first, i decided to go and get a closer look, to my surprise there was a light blue camaro sitting in his driveway, the paint was faded, but i fell in love instantly, I went and knocked on the door and asked him about the car, he showed me the car it was an 83 sports coupe camaro, came with the 2.8l v6 and 3 speed trans, which neither of which where in the car, he took them out to fix them or something like that.

I asked him how much he wanted for the car, he told me 1000 bucks, i told him that was too much, he dropped it to 800, then to 500, i told him that it was still too much, he told me he was firm on that price, i told him thanks anyways, my girlfriends gradma had called the cops on this guy so many times before about this car, she called them again, they told him he had to get rid of the car or pay a fine, so he called me back up and told me he'd sell the car for 300 bucks.

came and got it the next day. the car has been so much trouble and so many headaches, but I can't say at any point that I have ever regretted my choice on buying this car, it's an ongoing project, and I hope i never get rid of it.

I also hope some day my kids see this car, and it turns them onto cars also.

avro206

X2 I much perfer Trans Ams with silver GFX (red, blue, black) over body coloured GFX. These days they are few and far between

1piece@atime

iTrader: (1)

Here are some pics of my car that I wrote about above. They aren't the best pics and it could use a wash job but you get the idea. I used the 84 firebird body, stripped it down to a shell, painted it inside and rebuilt it with all the 86 T/A parts plus some from one of the 85 T/A's and of course some new parts.