When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I first got into Third gens when I was 12 year old, I saw a picture of a 83-84 silver z28 and thought it was the coolest looking car, Jump forward to the first day of 8th grade, The school bus would stop Infront of a house that had a Blue 1987 Iroc Z in the driveway, I immediately fell in love with the car, my favorite part of the day was the bus ride in the morning to pass it, it only being a mile or so from my house I would ride my bike past and leave notes on it, this snowballed into an obsession with Blue Irocs
The owners never called so when I turned 15 I began looking for an Iroc of my own, I ended up buying a beautiful 1986 Yellow Iroc for my first car (which I still have) for years I would watch the fabled blue Iroc sit, it occasionally would move once in a while, but each year the paint would slowly get worse and worse, eventually I happened to find the owner on instagram or facebook and shot him a text, I told him my story and he had planned on giving the car to his son one day but promised that if the time ever came for it to sell I would be the first to know, years went by and I thought of the car less and less but it was always in the back of my mind and occasionally I would take “the long way” home to make sure it was still there
In that time I bought and sold multiple different Irocs and Trans ams in a slew of colors but for some reason I never was able to find a nice Blue Iroc, one day out of the “blue” I got a text that he was thinking of selling the car and wondered if I was still interested, my stomach dropped, he couldn't show the car until the following week, so thus began one of the longest weeks of my life, when I pulled up to the house it was backed into the driveway staring at me, he tossed me the keys and I immediately hopped in the car, the surreal feeling of years of daydreaming about sitting in this car hit me, I've driven and sat in tons of Third gens at this point but this one was different, it felt like I finally had found the car I've been looking for, it was all there it just need love, so after a quick ride I purchased the 1987 Iroc that started my entire Third gen obsession, out of all the low mileage show cars and ratty Third gens I’ve owned this is by far my favorite, it’s not perfect, but a solid honest clean Iroc that can be driven and truly enjoyed,
Unfortunately in the past 2-3 years the car fell into mild disrepair, it had been sitting under a tree on a dirt driveway, the tires were dry rotted, the paint that was left was covered in baked in dirt and tree droppings, every panel except the hood had lots of peeling original paint or missing clearcoat, The undercarriage need a serious cleaning, the interior was filthy, rear view mirror was in the back seat, it only got 1 oil change in the past 10 years, but it had just shy of 109k original miles
The car needed some serious love, I started with two days of detailing and cleaning the car off
I slowly started to order parts for the car, my goal was just to get it back on the road as cheap as possible, New tires, sway bar links, diff fluid and gasket, oil change, brake fluid flush, fuel filter, coolant flush, pcv valve, air filters, couple new bulbs for the fog lights, new Lugnuts and also a new flasher relay for the turn signals, all the basics just to get a general bill of health on it
Also painted the rear end and brake calipers!
At some point someone put a good amount of money into the car maybe 10-15 years ago, the transmission was serviced, it has Tokico shocks on all 4 corners, what I believe to be a newer radiator, a full flowmaster exhaust and cat, headliner was redone, plug wires are newer, led interior lights, aftermarket headlights, a Chuck Pelton rewrapped steering wheel, an original radio with aux hook up and it looks like the AC was converted to 134A
Next up came the paint, I couldn’t stand staring at the peeling original paint, I needed to slap a band aid on it just for the time being so I ordered 2 cans of paint matched rattle cans, which was exactly enough to paint the A Pillar, B pillar and decklid with enough left over to touch up all the smaller spots around the car, surprisingly came out amazing and blended perfectly, after that was done I scuffed the peeling clearcoat on the bumpers and resprayed them with a few coats of clear and really brought the car back
Quick cleaning/wax and now it’s really starting to look like a nice blue iroc!! (Those louvers are not staying on the car, I’m trying to find a correct set)
At this time I did a deep deep interior detail, vacuumed and shampooed the carpets, treated the seats with leather conditioner, shined up all the plastics, reinstalled the rear view mirror ( the dimming feature still worked!) , new set of GM floormats, dowsed the carpet with air freshener and left the ttops and windows down for a day to let it air out ( it had acquired a slightly musty smell from sitting)
Now time for its first legal drive!
Doing some research on the car it happens to be a very well optioned car, iroc option package 3, G92 G80 GU5, Leather interior, Auto Dimming Rear Mirror, The previous owner had actually ordered the dealer invoice for the car
So all and all for less than $1000 in parts and spare time on weekends I brought this Iroc back from the dead and back on the road,
It currently is my daily on the weekends, alot of my friends remembered the car and were stunned when they saw that I ended up buying it, I even took it to work a few times and it seriously has surprised me in every aspect, so happy to have a full circle moment with this car and having been given the privilege to put this amazing Iroc back on the road!!
Hope you guys enjoy the story, ill add to the thread as i continue to fix things
