I've seen the exported 4th gens before. They have different bumpers and taillights (the taillights look better than the American version!) and some other differences I guess. But I've never seen a thirdgen export. Just wondering if they had different bumpers and lights and stuff. Anybody have info or pics?

 

Yup, although I'm not. There are several members from Canada, UK, and Sweden. I'm sure I'm missing a few places, they will weigh in on your post

 

In Sweeden i know you need a side marker light right near the front of the door....

In england, I believe you need to add a white light...

They didn't change anything, just small things were added here and there, nothing like changing the body style....

 

export thirdgens have different rear view mirrors. here two pics of mine before i replaced them with us mirrors and reistalled the screaming chicken decals:




/edit: export 4th gens also have different rear view mirrors and their taillights are pretty ugly imo. but cars in europe are reqired to have orange turn signals. that's why export 3rd gen trans ams and gtas came with firebird taillights.

 

wow those mirrors horrible!.....thank you for replacing them....they look like jeep mirrors!

 

At least some of the Camaro export models were called Z28E. Some of the differences I recall seeing were:
Folding mirrors
Clear headlight covers
Reverse tailights (turnsignal on the corner, red lense in the center)


Ken

 

yeah, the Z28E's also had no spoiler, a flat hood, different parking lights and the taillights were modified to mount a european license plate between them. not all years had the clear headlight covers.

 

WHOA, since when did camaro's come with rear wipers??

 

Freeze do you know if they also had headlights w/park lamp (bulb) in them ? I would guess that that could be another thing, since the park/turn lamps were orange like in your pic above?
Also, how about foglights - were they deleted too? On mine they are partially covered by the license plate so I could see how they might have been removed as well.


Ken

 

this '86 Z28E and my '92 Firebird had Hella H4 headlights with the parking light bulb in them. i'm not sure if they came that way from the factory or the dealers installed them. the Z28E had no foglights when the owner bought it.

the rear wiper was also available on early us-models so it isn't an export thing

 

They were only available on 82-84 Firebirds and Camaros. It is unusual to see them.

 

rear wipers were available on all camaros from 82-86

 

I'd bet the H4 conversion was a part of the Euro version. At least here in Norway the stock sealed beams are not legal +the combined requirements of orange turnsignals and white parking lights would make the H4 conversion an ultimate change to satisfy all three requirements.

Good info!!


Ken

 

I would pay an arm and a leg to get my hands on the exported clear headlight covers. The build quality is really good. Makes the GTS headlight cover design look like crap. They dont make them anymore .... only chance is to buy them off someone.

 

The wipers on 85-86 must have been Euro options because I have never seen a US spec F-body made after 84 that had a wiper on the back.

Those headlight covers were cool, just like the clear headlights on Euro Datsun 240Zs.

 

the camaro White Book lists it as an option until 1986.

 

Canadian Camaros are identical to American ones, except for generally less stringent pollution gear. And we'd get a cast iron intake for the 4 bbl in stead of the aluminum, sometimes.

 

and of course the metric instrument cluster. the export f-bodies also came with the canadian cluster. some of my rpos:

U19 - SPEEDOMETER, INSTRUMENT PANEL (CANADIAN)
EXP - EXPORT
MAE - MARKETING AREA, EUROPE

 

Here's a pic I've had on my pc.....

Notice the gas cap door.....

 

Good stuff. I didn't expect so many people to know this much about exported thirdgens!

Those side view mirrors........what were they thinking?!!

 

I looked at a 86 IROC before I bought my 88,
it had a rear wiper
biker

 

...and some export thirdgen also get a "pure" kilometer-speedo...

...so is mine...
U18 : SPEEDOMETER, INSTRUMENT PANEL (KILOMETER)

 

I saw a nice camaro when i was london...looked pretty much like the u.s 3rd gens.....how about japan?? i know from the chevy website they are selling the 4th gen in japan, any thirds

 

...and for most "european" 91/92 thirdgen-birds they have done this(especially in Germany):

...they put very ugly "Hella" turnsignal-"cubes" on the original turnsignal-housing (by ripping out the original stuff inside the housing, drilling, spraying black and using as a platform for the "cubes")

 

Also all 91-92 third gens brought to Canada got Day time running lights, where the bright ambers would be on all the time. Here is '83 with the DRL mod:

 

To this day 3rd gens command high dollar in Japan. I go there about once a year (wife is Japanese) and I find that the popular ones are the 5.7L '91 and '92, they like the aero wing. Average cost in Japan for a nice one: 10-20K! Lots of 4th gen over there too. Talking with some Japanese american car enthioust, they prefer the 3rg gen, showed them a picture of my B4C and one guy offered me lots of Yen!

 

they were "break away" mirrors, if you happen to hit a person with them they just came off the car instead of harming the person hit.

 

Ehh if they were in the way of my car LOL . What about the aussie cars guys?! I have yet to hear you guys mention them!

 

I do believe like in Japan and England, the cars are Right Hand Drive so the dash would be different. I have never seen a RHD thirdgen from the inside before.

 

Those mirrors and different tail lights have had me wondering for ages,now I know!!!As far as I can make out my car was exported to Kuwait (coins under seat,arabic stickers and bloody sand everywhere).Mine also has a 140mph speedo,has anyone seen this before?Luckily I have the better looking tail lights and mirrors from another Camaro I had.I've never seen a factory built RHD car though,only a conversion.

 

My 85 IROC not only has the rear wiper but also the rear window wash option (the nozzle sits atop the car).

By the way, as a side note, I've been investigating up-grading to 1LE brakes. Oddly enough, the GM part # for the pro valve is 14089496. The RPO is JE1 (Brake System, Europe). What's that all about?

JamesC

 

Ive been in Germany for almost 5 years now and have worked on 6 euro f-bodies. I own an 87 Iroc, it only had the mirror and headlight mods. I am working on an 83 right now that has the euro taillight filler panel, breakaway mirrors, headlight conversion, strange spoiler on hatch, and I have found that they mix and match firebird and camaro parts on these cars. Dont know if this is just a euro thing but I worked on a TBI car that had a 9 bolt with the big calipers, aluminum shaft and engine oil cooler.

 

Same here Still works too but not the front squirters lol.

 

All the american cars ive seen in japan were left hand drive. I never saw any third gens though, a couple 2nd gens, 4th gens, and a whole bunch of vettes.
As of now, ive seen 3 third gens in Qatar, two birds, and a white IROC that i wish i could find again to see if i can buy it off the guy.

 

I live in England and have never seen a right hand drive third gen before. I have seen a right hand drive '57 Plymouth Fury though....

I don't believe the third gen was ever "sold" here in England, all the third gens here have been imported from the States or Canada (originally). I'm sure if you look hard enough you'll find the odd RHD model, but most likely it would have been converted after importing it.

Si

 

I find that a bit odd since most car manufacters make different versions of cars when exported to accomodate for which side of the road people travel on. Well, its GM so what can you expect.

 

Damn right, no thirdgen was ever officialy imported to the UK, but fourthgen was, and even they are left hand drive.

the only mod required was a fog light, and re alignment of the headlights. you can see the foglight in this pic.

UK spec fourth gens were just euro spec, no different from the belgum spec, as far as i can recall.

all thirdgens (including mine) were LHD unless specificly converted by a specialist

my car is from lenn lyall chevrolet, collarado, BTW

 

I lived in Japan for 6 years and saw lots of third gens, but never any right hand drive, I believe GM shipped them all Left hand drive and it was up to the individual in that country to learn to drive it that way. A bitch at the drive thru.

 

So true...order, unbuckle, lean waay over, toss the money, catch the food, dont drop fries....

 

In Finland (when we moved back here with the car) we had to paint the red rear side lights. ad parking lamps to the normal lights. nothing big. i did swap back to the stock look and did got compliants from the cops but they really don't care and didn't pull me over a second time. I do have to drive around lights up. that suck bad allmost got a ticket last summer. Lucky i'm smart at the mouth a the cop was a woman

 

I'm in Central America, Guatemala to be precise. Not all that many 3rd. gens here, but there are some anniversary editions and Irocs. The local dealerships, brought them over from the states, so they are exactly the same, and some enthusiasts bought them in the states and had them shipped here (like my '90 RS, brought from a dealer in Miami).
4th gens, of which there are tons here (mostly Camaros, few Firebirds)are also exactly the same, and all brought from the St. Therese plant in Canada. Speedos I think are in kms, that's what we use here.

Best of all, slow cops, no radars, and "suggested" speed limits....

Thunderboy

 

damn im moving there

 

About the right-hand drive cars:

There's DEFINITELY a guy on the boards here that has an older TA that's right-hand drive, I've seen the pics before, almost a year ago. I at the least remembering the car had a tan interior if that helps anyone in their search for old topics.

EDIT:
I did a quick search and found at least two members w/ right hand drive camaros. Still haven't found the one I saw before w/ the TA but its a start for ya':

LarsZ28 and DownUnderIROC

 

I believe in Australia, it is a legal requierment to have a left hand drive car converted to RHD, but i might be wrong

 

Not quite. You have to do two things to drive a left hand drive in Australia :

1. Take a left hand drive vehicle licence test
2. Display "CAUTION : LEFT HAND DRIVE" in big letters in the rear screen

 

legal requirement in most of australia is to convert car to rhd
in wa cars over 15 years old can be registered lhd in most other states car has to be over 30 years old to be left lhd
here is a pic of my 1991 RS tpi car and yes it is RHdrive
edit damn i keep forgetting to turn signature on

 

where did you get that information ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

 

The guy is 82 T-top:






Found it in the readers rides section.

 

My aunt in Western Australia...is she incorrect then? If so, accept my apologies. Dud information!

 

I've got pics somewhere of a right hand drive thirdgen. It's owned by a guy in Australia. I know that there is another Austrailan on the boards that has one. I'll try and remember and look to find his name.

As for the UK, third gens were not officially imported.

The 4th gens that were for sale in Europe had different rear bumpers with fog lights and Euro plates. The mirrors were folding which is a requirement in Europe. The folding mirrors are terrible.

RMK