I had an '82 Firebird that had a rear wiper and till this day, I have not seen another 3rd gen car with one...

 

My buddy's 15th anniversary Trans Am had one.

 

Yeah, just not many.

useless option, overall. And heavy.

 

Never seen one IRL; only on this site, ITT, a month ago: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...ml#post6366685

 

I own one. Northern car with rear defroster & wiper. No power windows & locks though
Also has locking gas cap, is that common?

 

Wiper and defroster on an 82 Canadian Berlinetta.
No power windows or locks. Analog dash.

 

i had a 86 iroc with one .. lamest thing gm came up with for these cars

 

Piles of them in the junkyards in the mid 90s. Don't see nearly as many of them now. It'd turn me off any car I was thinking of buying, just another heavy *** piece of hardware hanging on the hatch for the struts to try to hold up. Completely pointless.

What does this have to do with TPI?

 

The early Berlinetta and Firebird SE had it...

 

Owned one, were lots of them around here in the mid 80's, here's a pic of mine AFTER I tore the wiper and a whole bunch of other useless $#!+ off the car

 

Hmm. Never noticed the thread forum. Just the thread.

 

BUT, if you've ever driven in a climate where the rear window fogs up on the OUTSIDE, then you'll appreciate how un-useless it was. Not that I've ever had a 3rd gen as a DD where I might have needed it. Now on my Tahoe, it's a regularly used appliance.!
That said, what I can comment on is that protuberance is hard on a car cover. Those pointy bits really put a stress riser on the fabric.

 

They were prone to leak water into the hatch...

 

I drove my 83, and one of my 91s daily for at least 10 years in South Dakota. It looks pretty good in photos, and Dances With Wolves, but what they don't tell you is that's what it looks like in June until September. From October 31st to May 1st, it's more likely to look like the first act of The Empire Strikes Back. Snow, ice, gray monotony. See Fargo for a much more accurate depiction. Never once wished I had a rear wiper on my thirdgen. Seldom used the rear defrost. That which is behind me, is irrelevant.

 

Option code C25 rear wiper was an 82-86 option. There was about 9000 of them installed (average) from 82-85 and only about 1500 installed on the 86's. ( Camaro numbers, don't know about Firebird) I bought my first Thirdgen in 92 and it was my daily driver for 8-9 years or so. The Rear Wiper was one of the best options the car had,.... and it was fully loaded with options ! With a rear defroster and rear wiper I never had to scrape the ice of the hatch glass,.......... just push the button for rear defrost, then let the wiper clean the glass. VERY useful in a state where frosted glass in the early morning can be expected 6 months out of the year.




While it's a totally useless option on the garage queens of 2020, back in the day - when these cars were parked in every 3rd driveway - the rear wiper was a VERY useful option on a daily driver car.

P.S. Never had water leak into the hatch from the rear wiper.

 

My big haired 1980s girlfriend's 1983 Berlinetta had one.

 

My 82 S/E and 84 15th anniv had them. Wish all my others had, but the different aero wings put a stop to that for the most part I think.

 

 

Rear wiper isn't going to do jack to a 1/4" thick coating of ice or 6" of snow. Maybe if you live someplace where the weather is only moderately bad it'd come in handy.

 

Whoa! Now that hair is big!

 

That's all I was saying...