Hey guys, I am looking to buy my first car this summer and am really heavily looking at a 1984 Camaro Berlinetta. It's in really good shape on the interior and exterior and starts and runs just fine, but I need this to be my daily driver car and want to gain as much info about the car itself as I can. I was wondering if anyone knew any specific issues associated with the Berlinetta model other than the tendency for its 35 year old electronics to be kinda janky. If anyone owns a berlinetta or an 84 camaro maybe you could tell me your experience with it or advise me whether purchasing this with an intent to use it as my daily driver is foolish. Any feedback on this would be very much appreciated.

 

Welcome to the board. I don't mean to discourage you, but unless you have a lot of mechanical abilities and the time, tools and facility to work on a car, I wouldn't recommend getting any vintage car as a first car and daily driver. You need to get to school/work reliably and a 35 year old Camaro of unknown history is a poor choice for that. Also your profile doesn't mention location, but these cars are a poor choice if you live in the snow belt. Old cars break down, need regular maintaining and repairs. Read up on this board and you'll see what I mean . Old 3rd gen Camaros are great cars, but most folks here (tho not all) have em as hobby cars, not daily drivers. I would suggest getting something cheap, reliable that gets good mileage as your daily driver for now and save up for your Camaro in the future. In the meantime, there's about 3 years of reading you can do on this site to educate yourself on the best way to spend your cash on a vintage 3rg Gen.

 

I have to agree here. Get a Camry. Corolla, Altima etc for now.

 

I agree. They're great if you also have a newer, reliable car to drive daily...

 

An '84 Camaro has no specific, inherent problems other than that of any other 35-year-old car. But buyers of such cars today don't generally do so expecting daily-driver reliability; rather, they plan to build it into the car themselves based on the car's current condition and prior service records. And speaking of service records, if the Camaro you're considering buying has no such records with it, walk away.

What's your experience level relative to working on old cars? Do you have a well-stocked tool chest?

 

the 84 berlinetta has specific electronics and replacement parts/pieces for them are not available.

the pod switches are finicky, there's a light control module for the body lighting and turn signals that can fail. the wiper control is berlinetta specific. any of these failures will deadline the vehicle.

I would have no problem daily driving a third gen, but I'd stay away from the berlinetta and it's electronic controls if I needed reliability.

 

I can't see many people being able to daily a 3rd gen effectively. It's simply a matter of not having the parts availability, and in your case the money and/or skills to maintain it at the level required for daily reliability.

I daily my 3rd gens. But I have multiple vehicles, and have spent inordinate amounts of time and money making this possible. In addition I own a performance/repair shop with every tool anyone could ever want to repair or modify these cars. Including a 2000 HP chassis dyno. I have daily driven a lot of work-in-progress toilet-mobiles over the years - it doesn't typically allow the downtime needed for proper repairs.

You are much better served driving a newer import - get a corolla or a camry. They are indestructible and cheap to repair.

GD