Hi guys,

Well, i have always loved third gen Camaro IROC since i'm young. I have owned from 2005 to 2012 a black Z28 1991 350Tpi bought in Germany (i'm living in France)

After one year of research (and two Camaro then friends of me goes for check, yellow 87 IROC 5.7 from Montreal, Canada in july 2017 & 87 IROC burgundy from New Brunswick, Canada too but those were not as i wanted) found in december 2017 my new Camaro in Arizona. But the seller & I dont reach to an agreement about the price

It's a Chevrolet CAMARO IROC-Z 1988 5.7 TPI with TTop Sunset orange

in January he put the car again with 1000$ less but too pricey for me
(and not easy to work with the fact i'm not an US buyer, by luck i have lot of friends in USA, my friend from Oregon call the seller)
After that we found a deal on the price, i have send an autoexpert to took pics for me. After i saw the +100 pictures i was ok so let's go ! the car took the truck from Prescott Az to Fort Lauderdale Fl.



On the truck, ready to go to Florida for boat to France

4 days after the car was at Fort Lauderdale, stay there for 4/5 weeks to take the time to buy parts for the car (& my Mustang GT 1992)

I was able to pick up the car last friday at Le Havre Port, Normandy, France



IROC waiting me



on the trailer ready to go



on the road, back to home



Tankarville gate



Seine reach the Atlantic Ocean




finally the car is here, saturday washing moment...












in garage, not many place left lol


Well, i'm happy with this car, 95% like i have expected. Arizona car is really in good shape even if the car was in NJ until 2002, some spot of rust here and there but nothing major

My first experience buying a car directly in USA
thanks for watching ;-)
tof

 

Nice car! I’m curious, though. What sort of reaction do you get from people you encounter, driving an American muscle car in France?

 

Rarely bad reaction
However the always same question : how many gas mileage do u have with that ? Is it a diesel or gas ? (yes... most part of time women asking lol) wow you must be rich ! lol how many HP ?

No negative comment about it's an US product if this is your question ;-) and i'm ready to respond fast as i'm Pro US :-)

tof

 

Nice car! Congrats! Very rare color by the way.

 

Thanks Chaz ;-) my first choice was yellow then orange, blue, red.... but no black car anymore :-)

 

Very nice car! Congratulations.

 

Nice car!

 

That is a great looking car. I like that color, don;t think I've seen any others like that.

 

Nice car, and i love the Audi.

 

I was in France some many years ago and I have many fond memories , in and around Paris.
Looks like you are in the outskirts in the country? Do you plan on doing any road racing with it?

Good luck with it!

 

A Camaro is just as home in France as those Audi GT's would be here in the California roads. Lucky you have two.

 

Thanks to all for nice comments ;-)

This color was available only in 1988 ;-)

I hate Paris & usually big cities, i'm living center of France in 1300 lives little city
No plan to make some race with this IROC (even if i do that several years ago with my 91 Z28)

i have too many cars, about 4,5 Audi GT (two of them Quattro), Audi 100 S4 with RS2 engine specs (not yet finished), Mustang Gt 92, some other Audi for parts & 3 dailies lol

Tof

 

My cousin had a car exactly like that back in like 1995. He had the Tuned port 5.7 with a bunch of mods. I lined up with him in my first 87 Buick Grand National, and he beat me through the quarter. The nose of my GN was at his door the entire way, but I couldn't do anything about it lol.

About a month before that I had raced against MY old 87 IROC with the 5.7 and the GN blew it's doors. I went into that race with the same expectations, but was surprised at the different outcome. He didn't open the hood until after we raced

 

That's a great looking car. Love the color. Congratulations!

 

Awesome car!

 

Very nice,I love the color.I am glad you were able to find and ship it.This is a great story.
Just curious,is it very expensive to ship a car and do you have to get an inspection for it before you can license it?

 

Thanks for your comments guys ;-)

that's a good question,
well the boat shipment cost is not so crazy (1390 €) but it cost me about the same amount to ship the car from Prescott Az to Fort LAuderdale Fl !

but there are other expenses, like transaction pack (500€) VAT+custom tax (5.5% on car+cost of shipment because the car has more than 30 years, if less than 30 it cost 20%+10%... & you must bring the car to government inspection car to have the right to drive it in France, cost about... 3500 e !! that's why i was searched for a 87 or 88 IROC)

Because the car has more than 30 years, i have only a technical inspection (80 €) then i can pay the title (860 €...) & finally put gas into the tank (unleaded is about 6€ a gallon here...) but it take about 3 months to have the title so impossible to drive the car this summer :-(
Yes if you want an American car here you must be ready to do some sacrifice... but i'm not smoking, no alcohol, not buying new clothes each month etc... lol
France country of taxes.....

 

Since 3 days i have the French title and plates so i have done some kilometers with it since :-) real pleasure






best looking with flowmaster tips than the precedent exhaust

:-)

Tof

 

 

thanks a lot ;-)
Tof

 

Elle est tres belle

wow that's a lot of taxes. Probably close to the original sale price of the car, I bet. Well, have fun.

 

Really like this car! Great color combo and I like the louvers too. Looks like a time capsule.

 

thanks for your nice words in French ;-) YEs France is the country king of taxes !!

thanks ;-) my wife hate louvers but for the moment i keep louvers on the car

 

Very nice car, great color. Really cool to hear the story too. Built years ago in the states probably not knowing one day it would live it's life across the ocean being a rare sight.

 

yes, built in VanNuys Ca, sold new in NJ then goes to Arizona in 1996 & finally take truck to FLorida, boat to France :-) The car travel more than myself lol

 

Really nice looking car. Don't think I have seen that color before. Very interesting story. Was any damage done to the car in transit? Also what kind of gas do you have? Do you have ethanol or straight gas.

Louis

 

Thanks Louis,
Well yes some damages but not big deal. some scratches on the paint (but no dings) broken mudflaps, some stones inside the louvers (i bet the guys try the car when they put it on the truck or in container company:-( sliding in gravel...) ....
For gas we have Octane 95 & 98. We have ethanol too (lot of Octane95 we have has 10% of Ethanol inside) named E85. I'm not sure if i can put this in my Camaro ??

 

Hi, if you have pure 95 octane gas, i would use that. stay away from ethanol, it wrecks the seals in the fuel system. wish i had access to that kind of fuel.

Louis

 

Hi Christophe,
95 octane should be very good for your Camaro. In fact you may be able to tune your ignition timing to take advantage of the better octane. Here in the US we have 87 89 and 91 octane. 87 octane also known as cat ****, or l'urine de chat. Horrible!

 

Hi Louis & @ktthecarguy
thanks both of you for your tips,

ACtually i use octane 95, when i had my Z28 1991 5.7 i was used Oct98
Anyway this IROC will "eat" 700/800 miles per year only so no interest for ethanol ;-)
urine de chat lol ;-)

Tof