What first inspired you to go thirdgen
 

Figure bring a littel life to this forum just wonderign what caught your eye the first time to get an interest in thirdgens. mines kinda funny but
I was about 7 or 8 adn we were going to the denver zoo to look at the christmas light thign they do and we were turning onto mississippi by the house and there was a black iroc coming up and it was nice and low and i remember the lights and foglights made it look like a super low airplane and it was coming fast. I tol dmy dad i wanted one of those and he just laughed. So then he looked at thirdgens to buy but decided on a 2nd gen when i was 14 but i still was fascinated by the thirdgens.


Could have also been i had a neighbor that was one of the jegermeister girls, drop dead gorgeous i might add and she had a blue 86 roc.

first memory of a 3rd gen was when i was 7 fast forward 12 years and i'm on my 2nd sweet thirdgen

My story is actually quite similar to yours. I used to bleed Ford Blue and I thought that the Mustang was the cat's ***. I drempt of the day that I'd own a 5.0 GT. My oldest brother had a '76 Mustang II Mach I and that thing was wicked fast. My other brother had an '80 Mustang sedan with a 351 Windsor in it, and that car was unbeatable on the street. Now you know what was going on around me when I was groing up and forming opinions about life and cars. I was about 13 and the brother with the '80 ended up with an '89 5.0 GT, my dream car. I told him that I would buy it from him and not to sell it. Well I went to his place for a weekend and we went for a little ride in the Mustang. I was even more sold on the car and wanted one worse than ever. Around that same time he bought an '86 IROC, and after the little hell run in the GT, we took the IROC down the same road. Well the Mustang did it well, but the Camaro did it better. In that ride my blood went from Ford to Chevy and I now lusted after a Camaro. When I was 17 I had a chance to get an 82 Firebird (by then I realized that the Camaro and the Firebird were the same basic car) and I jumped on it. After owning and driving my Firebird around for a while I became partial to the Pontiac body styling, and have since owned 4 mor 82-92 Firebirds. My current car was a long time goal for me, ever since I saw my first one, I had to have a GTA with the L98. When the 4th Gens came out, I really liked them, but couldn't afford them. Now that I can, I still think I like my 3rd Gen better and the only car that will ever replace it in my garage is a Vette.

My story is kind of embarassing. I didn't even really want a camaro when i got it. My parents bought it for me when i was 16 but i really wanted a red 3.1L Z24 cavalier with a black convertible top but a camaro was my second choice. The cavi was too much money so i ended up with the camaro. I actually wanted this black 90 RS but the one i got was in perfect shape (interior and exterior), had been repainted, and had center line wheels and thats what they wanted to buy me. I liked first gens better, but they wouldnt have been a good first car. I still have the same camaro today and i love it. I still like those cavaliers, but im glad i got the camaro even though i quickly realized that it was slow (305 vin H auto). its not slow any more :)

well lets see I was 20 and looking at getting a new car I had a 99 ram air TA all picked out and was ready to buy it when I called insurance and it was going to be as much as my car payments so I decided aginst it and found my 91 formula, since then I have grown preticularly fond of thirdgens, especially when they can run with fourthgens.

I basically stole my brother's ideas and turned them into realities, at least when it comes to cars. I didn't know anything about cars at all, and when my brother was in college he was looking at buying a 4th gen TA WS6 (just came out with the all new 98 LS1:D). I liked the idea of getting a Trans Am for a car and had two jobs in high school with money just burning a hole in my pocket. I picked up the paper and looked for Trans Ams, but figured that a v6 would be better for a high school senior...and be better on gas. I had seen a few thirdgen camaros before, but didn't really know that camaros and firebirds were the same car until my brother told me. I always thought that when I saw the camaro it looked like a NASCAR. The way I got my 85 was when I was talking to some friends at school and was told about an 85 Z28 that a friend was selling for $1300 (the same price as the two v6 birds)... woah, me with a v8...never imagined that'd happen. It was beat up, primmered, rusty from Chicago, and got 10 mpg...and had a shattered hatch. I spent 5 years building and learning how to work on cars from it. I didn't even know how to change oil when I bought it. I never thought I'd see the day when it'd go, but when the engine blew up (I did put in a few trannies), it was time to let go b/c of the condition the body was in.... sfc's wouldn't have really been enough to keep it from rusting apart. I will get another thirdgen, but not for a little while. I'm going to end up building one hell of a thirdgen in the next few years, and next to it will be a complete factory stock one :).

That's my story,
Jesse

Its kinda weird still that yuo parted it out, i rode in it liek what 4 months before at russes party hard to think its gone lol.

Must be hard pimpin that escalade eh jesse:D

What first inspired you to go thirdgen
 

Always loved the '67-'69 1st gen Camaros. Always wanted one, never worked out.

Hated the 2nd gens. Thought they were too big and really ugly. Still do.

3rd gen was getting back to the original. Took until 1999 before it worked out that I could get one.

Anyone remember the TV series called "Hunter"? I was a youngster when that show was popular and they drove a Thirdgen IROC and damn did I love it. Wanted one my whole life, looked at several over about 10 years, finally bought one last summer and man do I love it.

Well I grew up around them, lots of people in the neighbor hood had them. I dident much care for the bubble glass hatch at that time and I always outright disliked 2ndgens I guess I was just a 1stgen purist. I was working part time at my parents shop and had only driven a few V6's. One day my dad rebuilt an L69 for a guy and told me to go test it out. That car just seemed real solid, steering was great and it had plenty of pep for a tight engine. Of course I was driving the I6 bronco at the time so anything would have felt better. A few months later my dad rebuilt an engine for for a newer RS, t-tops power everything. The car handled like the older one and the t-tops were real nice addition. About six months after that I was crusing the C10 with a nicely built 350, some real power:). I pulled up to an intersection and across the street was a orange/white 69 Camaro with 427 badges and a blower sticking out of the hood, next to it was an 3rdgen IROC. They reved up and the IROC beat the 69 off the line and actually stayed ahead for nice clip. That sold me on the 3rdgen right then and there.

When I set out to buy another car after my Datona Shelby Z pooched out on me, I did a whole buttload of research. I was on the computer for hours, I looked at many different cars, Test drove more than I could count, and I finally decided on a thirdgen because of numerous advantages ofer any other car available to me at the time.


And I couldnt be happier with my choice.

Hey guys - haven't seen any one for a while. Been kinda busy . Well I found thirdgen .org after I bought my '87 IROC. I was impressed by the ammmount of knowlege there was on the board. I've always liked third gens especially IROCs. I happen to have bought mine form the original owner. It's not quite stock ( it'll hang with a C-5 ) and it's a lot of fun. Jesse and Birdbuilder have seen it at Russ's. It's in storage for now.

I started to love 3rd gen Camaros when I was about 15-16 in highschool and even talked my mom in to buying one, I was a late bloomer and didnt get my license till 2 months after my junior year, working part time in a shop I could barely keep my 1990 grand am on the road along with high ins. because my parents would not add me to their plan unless I paid full coverage which I refused to do on a POS.. anyway at 17 I hunted for a t-top car that needed lots of work... and boy did I find it.. My girlfriend at the times neighboor had one sitting with no eng in it.. $400 later I had the project I was looking for. 85 berlinetta F41 LG4 car t-tops power windows/locks/hatch pop.. engine parts scattered ruining carpet and seats.. trans included with the deal. paint was faded badly, but no rust. later I found out something is bent from an impact and it does not track straight. thats what you get for $400 lol. so now at 19 and more frustration than I could ever have imagined I still love my car.

Re: What first inspired you to go thirdgen
 

The first time I drove my Dad's 84 Camaro with F41 package.

I was working on a 64 Chevy II, and my Dad was building a Camaro with destroked 400....(377.5). I recently finished building my 350 and was getting set to drop it into the Chev II. My buddy had been talking trash about Chevy and Camaros(Mustang guy), so my Dad told me to take his car out and teach him a thing or two about horsepower. That whole night I couldn't stop saying "I LOVE THIS CAR" It handled well, and had lots of power. A few days later my Dad told me he saw an 88 Camaro for sale, no engine or trans........$400. I rushed out to look at it and towed it home a few days later. The Chevy II still sits at my Dad's place with no engine or trans in it.:D

Now I teach my friends a thing or two about horsepower in my own car.

THE DRIVE!

You know, my Mustang friend drove my car last weekend, and I damn near thought he was going to go thirdgen.

He remarked about the feel of the car, response, feedback, smooth power.

Unfortunately he has just a little too much Ford in his veins.

i got my first one for free as you rember paul well its gone to the great parking lot in the sky and im out looking for a nother one

Re: What first inspired you to go thirdgen
 

Its funny but the v6s are the same or worse on gas as a v8 third gen,i guess somebody had to buy them.just glad it wasn't me.half the power and same mileage,shitty deal.

Re: What first inspired you to go thirdgen
 

i know if i had a chevy ii i would park the trans am