WaaX

I was working at taco bell one day, and I was at the first window *where you pay*. I heard a mean sounding exhaust coming up and I was curious as to what it was. It was an 86 white camaro z28 that was in poor disrepair. I was joking and told her that she won a contest, she asked me really? I then told her that she has to give me her keys, thats what she won. She laughed and told me shell sell it to me for 600 dollars. The next day it was mine.

It was just a 305 tpi, car was in such horrible condition. Radiator had a leak so I just kept pouring water in, one day it overheated and didnt start. I ended up giving it to a friend who was so in love with it. He said his uncle looked over it and said the block was cracked, junked it. I was upset, I didnt want him to take and junk it but whatever.

My dad then told me I had 1500 dollars to buy a new car. Me and my exgirlfriiend walk out of the mall and straight ahead was a parked dark gray thirdgen camaro with a for sale sign asking 1500. It had a 350 goodwrench block, headers, and a shift kit installed on the trans. Bought it a week later.

After owning the car for less than a month I was driving down the freeway and a rod started knocking, ended up destroying my engine.

Car sat for a year, and this summer I had put in a 350 4-bolt main, new cam, ported heads, and a new intake manifold. Still havent got insurance or registration on it yet but im waiting till I get back from florida *going there for a month*.

I love these cars so much, I love the styling and I think they are one of the sexiest sports cars under 20 grand.

I hate 4th gen camaros, I cant stand them, love the engine but I just cant get myself to like the styling, feels too cheap imo.

I dont like the trans ams/firebird third gens, I mean, ive seen some REALLY sexy ones but I would take a camaro over a trans am any day.

My dream car is a third gen with a huge new engine, no rust, and in amazing shape. Third gen camaros will allways be my favorite car.

I'm 21 and I owned my first thirdgen when I was 19

johnnyq5021

I was eighteen when i bought my Ta....I was sick and tired of driving car that were slow(my first car was an 87 plymouth horizon) and i decided i needed something fast and the first thing that popped in my mind was....camaro....so i started looking for one in my price range and i ran across an 85 Ta...went took it for a ride...while taking it for a ride my brother kept saying i was afraid of the car....so i bought it...have to prove big brother wrong

i got hooked on third gens one day while my friend and i were just out curising and this guy kept irdin my bumper...so i keep complaing and saying how myuch of a jerk he is when my friend says...."your in a Trans Am...blow his ******* doors off." so i did and ive been hooked since..

oh yeah and did i metion how sweet they look

pontiac formula

where to start my dad had a 68rs/ss 4 speed munchie, uncle 67 and 69 camaro, drove my dads when i was 5 on dads lap, and then when i was 15 my uncle let me drive his 69 then that summer he got a 90rs droped a 350 in it loved the way it looked and drove and the last night that i was there doing bunouts and donuts, and my other uncles 83 with a 305.

so its in the family of camaros and just love that body style, so now being 23 and married the wife took over my 85 trans am, so i went out and bought a 89 formula for 50 bucks interior perfect engine gone.

one day i will have a 92rs

roachjuice

ever since 8 years old this guy in my neighborhood had a red 85-87 iroc with t tops.... everytime he passed by and me and my friends were playing we stoped playing just to see that car go by and he would honk and wave.... by the way he had a different girl in the car everytime he drove by..... so about 8 years go by and my mom is looking for cars in a paper... she asked me "what is an IROC" well i told her and she said "i might go look at that" that same day she pulls up in it and says "what do ya think" i loved it... too bad it wasn't mine... so about 6 months later she moved away and a short time later i follow and buy it off her for 800 bucks...

rwdtech

ive always thought the 3rd gen body style was sweet since i saw a clean white RS waiting to make a turn onto a street i was driving on in my 91 celica. I never thought about getting one until i met a dude at my tech school who owned a 4th gen. i was tired of how slow the celica was and wanted somehing easy to work on with a lot of aftermarket support. So this guy tipped me off on how cheap u can get a 3rd gen. so i checked the paper, and sure enough he was right. i looked in the paper every day to find a TPI car with decent milage and t-tops (i really wanted them back then) i searched for 6 damn months. finally found my car in ohio on autotrader.com. my camaro is really the only big goal ive made in life. i accomplished it. i still love it

Frozer!!!

iTrader: (11)

Well no im 20 and I was looking for a car to call my own while I was 19. I was driving my dads mint 85 monte carlo and just wanted something for myself that I didnt have to share. Had about $1500 adn was looking for something in that price range. Ive always wanted a Camro so I started looking at the 4th gen LT-1's since those are reasonably priced. Looked at those and reasearched for a few months but couldnt find a decent one that was cheap.

Well Im at a funeral and Im talking to my aunts bf about how Im looking for a Camaro, my only requirement was pretty much as long as its got a v8 and no rst then thatll do lol. And he tells me that my aunts friend who lives in Pennsylvania is selling an 85 Z. She was at the funeral so I asked her about it and we decided to fly down there an drive it back if everything works out. So thats what we did. Got the car for $2000, it was in great shape and ran excellent. It survived the whole 400 mile drive without a hiccup. All my money goes into that car now. And I just bought another one, a 90 RS. I love these cars and I also love this site! Once you catch the third gen bug it just keeps growing. And now that Ive got 2 thirdgens I dislike the 4th gens style, Im glad that I bought a thirdgen its an excellent car to build on.

'86 350

I happened to be in the market for my first car. After my parents said no to these cars (in no particular order):

1) '89 F-250
2) '86 2500
3) '71 Buick LeSabre
4) '68 Ford Galaxie (I still think the 3 on the tree woulda been cool!)
5) Built '85 Monte (I still wonder to this day whether I would have liked this car more)
6) 2 CJ5's
7) A bunch of Porsche 944's
8) Beat to hell 2nd gen (was fast though)
9) And a few others

Now, I was spending my money that I had earned over the last few years from paper routes, lawn mowing, etc. You can maybe understand why I'd be upset at my parents for tellng me no to buying those cars when it was my money. However, now I'm kinda happy they had a say, other wise I probably would have ended up with some ****ty rusted out F-250 that I thought was "cool" and had "potential" at the time.

My dad was a car guy, and he saw all the cars and was the main person who went with me to drive and look at all the cars. I know a fair share about cars myself, but he was there to look closer into things and tell me what to watch out for. We finally got to a guy with a nice 3rd gen. We talked to him for a while, and he was pretty cool. His father also had an old 427 Cobra that was at the house at the time as well as a V8 Fiero and a few other neat cars. We talked to the guy for a while, got an idea of what had been done to the car and what it needed. The guy was asking $1,800 for it and the car only had 74,000 miles on it and even less on the engine. The 355 was running just about perfect when I got the car, a few things and the thing ran like it had just been built (only had 22,000 miles on it at the time). We talked to the guy, came out to see the car a second time and told him I'd give him $1,500 for it. He took it and we drove it home without a problem a few days later.

At the time I was 14, turning 15 in about a month. Currently I'm 16, I'll be 17 next summer.

Red1992V6Rs

My dad owned a silver 1985 Iroc-Z with the H.O. 5spd. Other than his vettes, it was the first car I 'fell in love with'. So after he sold it, I realized I wanted a Camaro. (its more realistic than a vette right now).

Within the next 3 years I'll be in the market for a low mileage silver 85 iroc with a H.O. 5spd!

Jtufts

well its my first car , its an 89 rs 5.0 auto , i refused to buy a 4 banger , and the only other car i was gonna buy was going to be a 68 camaro or a general lee cloak , i picked the 3rd gen casue its one of the best looking cars i seen from the 80's

1991CamaroRslow

iTrader: (3)

The first "street race" I ever lost was to a brown 1985 305 TPI Camaro I stomped the 3.8 liter Bonneville I was driving at a stop light and he absolutly blew by me. The driver and I later became friends when I proved to him that FWD cars could absolutly do burn outs and good ones at that. The Camaro was a 1 wheel peel and had serious brake issues. I remember I didn't think much of that car but the next car he bought was a 1989 black 5 speed, this car was SHARP. It had the posi, he had upgraded the fuel pump and done all the TPIS free mods and I'll tell you that car was amazing to me. I couldn't believe the throttle response and pull that car had. About a year later I was in the market for a new car because the beater Grand Am my dad had bought me had lost 2nd and 3rd was going out. I had 1230 dollar of my own money and needed a car badly. A friend of mine from high school had said that another friend of mine was selling his Camaro because he had got a new TA, I hadn't ever seen the car but I set out to find it. The asking price was 1500 dollars, I took it for 1230. The thing had issues, BAD issues, I remember changing the spark plugs and finding that only 5 of them still had electrodes, I remember changing the wires and finding 2 of them melted together. I remember changing the transmission and having to pull it off of the motor with a come along. Now here I am 6 years later with the same car now equipped with the same TPI style engine I had been so impressed by before. The guy with the 85 and 89 TPI cars bought a 6 speed LT1 car, he wishes he still had the Tune Ports because of all the silly issues that car keeps having. All in all it wasn't the looks, or a TV show, or the price, it was everything put together that sold me on my third gen, and I doubt I'll ever change.

Psycho_91Camaro

ahahaha me too but It was in 1990 when I first acknowledge these cars, I remember being in kindergarten, I was thought of the NASCAR look and wanted one!

cc 82Z-28

iTrader: (7)

I originally bought the car for my wife at the time, which was in November of 1984. She always wanted one and she needed a car so I got it for her. She saw it, hated it, and it ended up being my car and when I had the car traded for a family car back in 1987, she left me, so I kept the car, got rid of her, and made it into what it is today. I have had the car so long it will probably be in the family for the rest of my life, and if one of my grandkids take an interest in the hobby, I may very well give it to one of them someday.

*F-BodyFanatic*

iTrader: (2)

I've always had an obsession with f-bodies, the firebird/trans am being my preference between the two. Someday I hoped to own a 2002 Trans Am WS6. I wasn't particularly interested in owning a 3rd gen.

I was in school one night, and my teacher announced to the class that he is looking to sell his '91 Firebird quick because he need to get a new waterheater for one of his rental properties. Me, being the f-body fanatic I am, said I'd buy it. I bought the thing without even seeing it first...

Now my love and appreciate for the car has only grow, and I've owned it for 4 years now. I still hope to someday own my '02 t/a, but that car will remain stock, and I plan to do all my tinkering on my 3rd gen. She's a pit I just keep throwing money into, but I never have once regretted it.

Darkshot

iTrader: (4)

Heres my story:

I had no real interest in cars, no real interest in 3rd gens. In fact I didnt even know what a thirdgen was. They were all just "Those angular-looking 80s Camaros" to me and I never paid any mind any more than any other car.

Until one day at school (Diablo Valley College) I was walking across the parking lot. It was late 2005, so not that long ago. I was 18 at the time, 19 now. I walked by a burgundy IROC-Z and just as I was behind it the guy fired it up. It shook the earth, and I had a revelation at that very moment. It was like slow motion. I remember hearing the starter engage, then the engine caught and it sounded like thunder. I slowly turned my head as I walked by to see the "5.7 TUNED PORT INJECTION" badging. It was right then that I knew. I said to myself "THAT IS MY CAR". I was in love. That very evening I went home and fired up craigslist to try and find one. I also started looking them up online to try and learn some things about them before I started shopping. The first site I found was camaroz28, and I started asking questions there. They eventually referred me to this site. 8 months of shopping after I fell in "love at first sight" I found the right car, bought it, and drove it 100 flawless miles home. It's still my daily driver and has been good to me. I've put more money than I'd like to admit into it, and I will put tons more. Whatever it takes to make my baby just perfect.

Lucid

iTrader: (4)

My first car was a 1980 Cadillac Seville, 350 diesel with leather interior and the coldest A/C imaginable, with a top speed of about 55mph. Every few weaks a pushrod would punch a hole through a rocker arm, and i would be pulling off the valve covers to replace the rocker.

One day my mom let me drive her yellow Camaro, and i was hooked. I was 17 and just had gotten my license. The Camaros are just one of those cars you can just go for a ride in, and enjoy it. I think you guys know what i mean.

3vi1p3nguin

I was driving a 86' v6 cutlass, the car was slower than you'd believe. i mean, a 3500 lb car with 100 horse? yeah right.
I had always wanted to try to get a 3rd gen t/a, my father has an 84 in the garage, an 88 formula at my grandmothers house, and has owned several others. my uncle also had an 85 and 86 iroc, 94, and 02 z28. but I was working at mcdonalds and couldnt get much more than my insurance and gas money.
I was at my uncles house for easter and he mentioned that he was going to try to get of the 85 Iroc, which had been his x-wifes car, and had been in the family since late 85. I told him I was interested, and he told me that if I got it out of his driveway, it was mine. A set of sparkplugs later, it was mine.

MaineIrocer86

I didnt know anything about cars i couldnt even change my own oil..then i became close friends with a couple of guys who were car nuts...One of them had an 1989 Iroc and after I went for a ride in one I was hooked....a month later i went out and bought my own.....

92 Heritage RS

Well when I was very young my father had a '74 Camaro Z28. I'll never forget it. It was a dark metallic blue with white rally stripes and black leather interior. He bought it used and the original owner had ordered it without a spoiler. Anyway I remember him taking it to the local Chevy Dealer and having them put one on and color matching it and adding the stripes. I was blown away by how tall it was and that at 5 years old I thought it would make a really killer Hot Wheels ramp (never got to try it though!). My father only had it for about six months and he ended up trading it in on an almost new 1977 Chevrolet....... El Camino!!! I miss that car. Well flash forward to 1991 and I inherit the El Camino for my 18th birthday. A year later I graduated highschool and joined the Air Force. I rember arriving at my first post at Little Rock AFB in Arkansas and seeing a Lieutenant Colonel driving around in white T-top Z-28 with cool red stripes. I, for whatever reason, was impressed by the ground effects. I especially like the scalloped holes by each of the wheel wells, Don't ask me why but I thought they were really cool! At the time I knew that F-Bodies would only ever be eye candy for me because I could not afford one. By 1993 GM had re-designed the Camaro and Firebird and I was really Impressed with their shapes especially the Trans-Am, which is still my favorite. One of my fellow Airmen bought a '94 green firebird and two months later was rear ended at high speed and the car was pancaked. She was fine thankfully but she did have to be cut out of the car! I'll never forget what that car looked like. It looked kinda like Sheriff Justice's car from Smokey and the Bandit!
Jump ahead to 2004 and I am presented with an oportunity to buy a 1992 RS Heritage Edition. I negotiated price and payment terms and now I'm the Obsessed, er.. I mean proud owner of my first F-Body. But I do have to say though that I was shortly there after, infected with an insideous virus. The Camaro flu! I am a Camaro junkie, I can't seem to get enough. For awhile I contemplated trading or selling this car for another Camaro. I did do it once, for a day! It was a gorgeous white 1998 T-Top Z-28. It had a shift kit and cold air induction. I brought it home to show my wife, but I had neglected to tell her about it and she was furious! Thankfully the dealer had'nt had time to submit the paperwork and I was able to get my '92 back. He did throw my keys at me when I went to pick up my car.
I'm now planning to do a TPI swap. I'm going with an '89 Mass Air system. I like the flexability of that system. I have all the componts for it I just need to clean and paint all the hard parts and go through and inspect, repair and re-loom the wire harness. I'm also rebuilding a 700r4 tranny with shift kit and swapping out my pathetic 2.73 gears for a posi 3.42 setup. Maybe I'll post some photos of the swap when I get finished.
Oh yeah, I'm also anxiously waiting for the arrival of the new Camaro in 2009. Hopefully I'll be able to afford one!
Thanks for reading!

klause83z28

...I couldn't find a monte carlo, plain and simple. That's the reason I own the f body I do now. It's not a bad car by any means, but I really wouldn't have bought it if I had other options.

IROCJoyce

iTrader: (4)

I bought my IROC because it was cheap and i can't afford older muscle cars. Not to mention my car has Zero rust and came with a 3 inch flowmaster catback for 2500. Now if I wanted a 1970 camaro it would be all rusty and would need to be completley rebuilt and probably around 3 grand plus shipping. But I like love third gen's also because they are many available parts and there still easy to work on and peel out in.

BigBoi4Lyph

My mom actually bought a 02 camaro base 3.8 with t-tops in late 02 it was one of the last ones they could locate new. When I turned 15 i was learning to drive on it. Then i was 16 and got to drive it on my own Boy did i break her car in lol. I loved the style and speed only being a 3.8 i was amazed by its power. now being 17 i had a little extra money and was looking for a good start for a project. I wanted an 92-94 eclipse GSX, 86-92 toyota supra I6 turbo targa, or a 82-92 camaro. Sounds a 86 z28 iroc-z for 750 went and check it out and ended up buying it that day. It ran out of gass halfway home on the freeway But after that everythign had been going great! Im still 17 18 in 4 months!

slohand

bought the car on a "good deal" to sell.......that was in 1997.

$7500 in mods later (i more parts in the garage to go on)and numerous street kills, i stll have the car. now where is that for sale sign again?

oh ya, i remember 21 like it was 27 years ago.

brandoz28

iTrader: (1)

I love t tops, I love V8s, and I HATE, absolutely HATE the guys around here that think their neons are really fast. (10.00 in the eighth mile is fast to them). Plus I needed a car that I could bracket race, and autocross with a car club once a month, the IROC was pretty much perfect for it. Plus I've been steeped in projects since I was 14, and this car was one i could hop in and drive. (I'm 19 now). It's getting restored this winter when I get some time off from college.

DillonRager

iTrader: (1)

I just turned 16 and drove a 1986 honda accord,im 17 now i used to drive past the carwash wgere a 1985 camaro sat i passed this every day probably 10 times and i told all of my buddies that i would get one soon so when i could get my hands on the money i got on ebay and won what is now my ride
87' camaro LT 305 soon to be 350

grimmcs

iTrader: (1)

Went out on a delivery one day at work and there it was... A couple weeks later it was mine. Good thing too, as I almost bought an Eclipse. That would have led down the import road . Never even thought about it till the day I first saw my car, but Ive always loved the look of the third gen. Bought it and it looked almost perfect, ans since a lot of things have been and still ned to be fixed, but I have zero regrets. Ricers just irritate me now.

DillonRager

iTrader: (1)

wow good thing you stayed off that road, take any road but that road! speed limit on that particular road is 15 mph

Hargrave

Interesting reading this thread.

My reasons.
The first car I remember as a kid was my mom's 77 Trans Am, chocolate brown with the gold overspray with the HUGE bird on the hood and the swilred metal dash inserts. I was too young to really register "cool" but I loved that car. When I was a kid my dad would always take me out and look at the new model year's cars. I used to go right for the camaro and the Trans Am's without fail. I would run from car to car and play with the heater controls to make them hiss and hear them move around in the dash. my favorites were the berlinetta, IROC and the Formulas (so many buttons)
I have always wanted one but could never find one in decent shape, or in my price range. One turned up EXACTLY what I wanted. 86 IROC, good interior, (tan) Straight body, complete car. and the exact color I wanted, bright red.
And then the money turned up. So I bought it. In fact you could say this is quite possibly the last car I will ever buy. I also find it ironic,this particular car was built in Norwood, and it never left town. And with my Folks being retired GM U.A.W. they quite possibly helped build it. Even at thirty I get the motherly "youre going to kill yourself" speeches

And I smile and say "It's all your fault!"

90tararebird

iTrader: (4)

In the late 70's i saw smokey and the bandit for the first time and i knew i had to have a trans am with the bird on the hood. Almost ten years later i turned 16 and searched and searched for a trans am. found one for $1300 fixed her all up. drive the ta for 2 years and blew the tranny. Neadless to say i didn't want to put a lot of money into the car because if you think a third gen is a rattle trap second gen is ten times worse. So this is late 1989 early1990 and i'm looking around for a slightly used 3rd gen Trans Am because its the natural progression. All i can find are beat on high mileage ones. So i take the plunge and spend $18,200 on a brand spankin new Trans Am. so here it is 16 years 170,00 miles later and it still is my daily driver, guess i got my moneys worth. O yeah i'm 35

dave-92gta

iTrader: (1)

at my first job, a guy at my work owned a 1992 trans am. it had the 5.7 and almost every option. i worked there for 3 years with him and every day i saw the car i told myself i would buy it. i loved it. the look. the ground effects. anywho after 3 years i bought it. its my baby. i was thiking for selling it for a few things, but in the end i could not part with it. im only 17, bought the car when i was 16. il have it forever. wish i got a pick for you folks but all mine are to high res for the site

ta3ff

My mini van(GMC Safari) had massive blow-by, so out of necessity I bought my 89 RS from my friend for $600. It needed a serious tune-up, the paint and interior was faded. It's been good to me, but it gets jealous when I look at other camaros. I was looking into buying an Iroc while I turned my 89 RS in a 91 Z28 clone. Everytime I went to go look and the Iroc, my RS didn't want to turn on. Weird Huh? Actually it was the starter going out.

1991CamaroRslow

iTrader: (3)

Strange that you would say that, I had a 1991 Honda Prelude and every time I would tune something in it up the same part would break on the Camaro! I started to get freaked out by it on the third or fourth occurance and sold the Prelude to my sister. Now I have a 1991 S10 and the camaro seems to like me having it alot better (probably because it's in ugly grey primer and has the worst bondo job in the world done to it). It's also strange that all 3 vehicles I owned were bought from friends who had decided they were done with them, all were 1991's, automatics, and 1 model down from the flagship line.

WhiteKnight

my friends had fbodies (92 Z28 and 79 Trans Am) It was the peer pressure.

I'll never forget the first time i saw a trans am though when I was a kid. Thats where it started I think

Leroy Brown

I've had a few of these before, but I ended up getting one hell of a deal for 1500 bucks on the on in my sig. Still a stock bottem end TPI motor, Cam, base, runners, ported upper, mild headwork, tci th350 trans 2500 converter 4th gen rear end etc. The monster hood is there for a reason...as soon as the baby motor blows up I have a stout BBC begging for a new home.

OneManArmy

iTrader: (1)

because a black GTA is pure sex.

that and 4th gens are far to common around here and sometimes its good to stand out.

DubyaSsixTA

I noticed them when I was much younger. They were still making 3rd gens at the time and had already been exposed to Smokey and the Bandit. When I was 12 my uncle pulled up in a black '89 Formula. It needed a small amount of work, but It was one of the baddest looking cars I had ever seen (I grew up around economy cars). It was then I decided to be different than my parents and get one. I started looking around 99/00 and almost bought a 1990 Formula (Burgundy on gray, T-tops, 305 TBI I believe) with 59k original miles. My parents wouldn't let me have it, so I eventually wound up with a 1995 V6 bird (which I loved as a first car, but I outgrew it later).

I went through a 96 Z28 and currently have my 01 WS6, which is my pride and joy. After a year of hard miles on the T/A, I decided to look for a beater car. I considered being practical and buying an escort/civic, but I started looking back at 3rd gens and fell back in love with them. I bought my 89 this year and it has been one of the best investments I've ever made. Other than normal problems associated with 17+ year old vehicles, it has never let me down and is a great starting point for an amateur restoration. I like it so much I've considered buying another in a couple of years.

weigesco

I have always been into classic cars. My first car was a 72 Chevelle that I owned for 7 years and wish I had never sold. My next toy was a 79 Malibu Classic with a built 350, 700R4, cowl hood, ground effects, etc... That had to go when I bought a boat and had a house. I needed a truck.
I also was big into motorcycles. My dad started me riding when I was about 5. I bought a new Suzuki SV650s in 2002. In August of that year while riding with some friends at lunch, I missed a turn doing about 120MPH. I layed in a ditch for about a half hour waiting for somebody to find me. I spent the next couple of months in a wheel chair from breaking numerous bones. Having small kids at home and knowing that I would not change the way I rode motorcycles made me decide to give up riding. So the search for a convertible started.
With the price of classic musclecar convertibles being ridiculous, I started looking for a thirdgen. I knew I wanted a V8 Convertible and the Camaro would accept any motor I felt like putting in it without to much work. About 4 months after I started looking I found the RS I have now on the internet. I drove 200 miles to look at the day after a snowstorm. Bought it and drove it back the next day. It has been a work in progress that gets driven almost every day in the summer time. Some day it will be done. ( yea right )

navyCM

iTrader: (3)

I was 19 when I bought my first car. A black 83 T/A w/ T-tops, was near mint condition. Got it for $3500. Im 33 now and regreated getting rid of the car everyday since I sold it. So I just bought a 87 IROC in Aug. Just greats cars all around. Im never selling the IROC Im going to be buried in it.

baroner

About a year ago my dad took me to the junkyard to find some part fo his buddy and while he was lookin i spotted an 87 trans am under a tarp. I asked the guy how much and he said it didnt even have an engine, 500 bucks. So i go back to look and i look under the hood to find its got a brand new 305. I went over paid the 500, my dad signed the title and we shook hands. He gave me the keys and said ill call a tow truck and i got in the car and drove away. The look on his face was priceless!!! Im doin some work on it now and it is a joy to drive. Sweet looks,drives good, and alot of performance. Who doesnt love 3rd gens. Im 17 now by the way.

MavViper

iTrader: (1)

well since ya revived this, I might as well post too.

Let's see, the person who got me into 3rd gens was one of my friends. Back when I was 15 I had grand visions of restoring a 74 convertable Super Beetle that I had bought. Well after stripping it all down I found out it had bad frame damage and sold it for what I paid for it. My mindset then was that all old cars were junk and weren't worth restoring unless they were going to be worth lots of money. Boy was I wrong.

Fast forward 3 years to when I was 18. I was working with this one kid who was 15 at the time. He had just bought a 87 Camaro for I think $500 because it had a cracked block. He loved that thing. At first I hated his car cause I didn't like it's style, but it grew on me. Not third gens in particular but just the Camaro. I began researching and set my heart on getting a 68 Camaro and restoring her. That was about 3 years ago. Took me a year to realize that not only did I not have enough money to get one, but I would have nowhere near enough the amount of money to even restore it.

I had become good friends with the coworker and slowly but surely he swayed me. So about 2 years ago I searched and searched for a Third Gen that was in my price range but I couldn't find any. Then about 10 months ago I spotted a 87 Camaro on this used car lot. I fell in love with it. By now I had about $3000 saved up. This car was calling my name as soon as I got there. All white IROC, had a 350 TPI, auto tranny with shift kit. Interior was pretty decent too. Had some rust right below where the washer fluid tank was but that was it. I asked the guy how much he wanted for it and he said $2500. I was so happy. I asked him if he could hold onto while I go get the money. He said he couldn't hold it for me unless I put down some sort of deposit. So I took a chance and raced to the bank. Came back with the money and saw that someone had already bought the Camaro and was driving away with it when I pulled up. I felt like crying right then and there.

I searched for another month or two and couldn't find anything. I had given up hope until me and my friend (the original friend with the 87 Camaro) drove past the place where he got his Camaro from. And what do I see there? A gray Camaro sitting in the back of the lot. I told him to pull over immediately and I went to check it out. It wasn't all that good looking. Was a sport coupe with gfx on it. Inside was a complete mess. Water was in the back and it was trashed. I asked the guy how much it was and he said $850. I asked if it ran and he said he did but couldn't get it out because there were too many cars in the way. I continued to look it over while my friend went off to look at some wheels this guy had. I told the guy if I could test drive it tomorrow and he said it was cool.

The next day, which was a Thursday, I went early in the morning. I skipped class to go test drive it. It was low on gas so I couldn't really open her up but it handled pretty decently. I drove it back and told the guy that I would think about it. I called him up Friday afternoon since I couldn't get back out there and told him I would take it but wanted him to hold it. He said he would as long as I would put down a deposit. I told him ok and drove straight over. Put down $400 right then and there and the next morning, at 8am, had my friend pick me up and put down the rest of the money. Now the car had a bad rear hatch mechanism and a bad alternator. He replaced the hatch mechanism for me for free but it still didn't quite work but he gave me the old one. The alternator he didn't have a spare one but the car would last a bit. I drove it over to my friend's house but the car died right next to a gas station because it was out of gas. So I filled her up halfway and drove it to my friend's house which was like 5 minutes away. We cleaned her out good. I figured the alternator would last until I got home. I got about halfway home, which was about 10 minutes, before it died and wouldn't start. Told my friend that I needed his help. Here is where the fun begins.

The car wouldn't start at all. My friend shows up in his Dodge Ram. So he proceeds to basically bump my back bumper with his front bumper all the way back to his house. It's not that far, but far enough. Imagine this for a second. The car has no power whatsoever, so braking is rather impossible as is steering. So he's bumping me along down the street, which is a major street btw. It's been about 2 miles and we have been extremely lucky so far, no red lights whatsoever and no need to stop. Here comes the bad part. The street dips below some railroad tracks and comes back up the other side. Now in order to get up over the other side I need to get some speed. He pushes me to about 40 mph. I go under the tracks and come back out with plenty of speed. Luckily I make it back ok, other than having to take a corner at 20 mph and another sharp corner at about the same speed. Never before was I so scared.

I think it was fate for me to have this car, if I can survive that I can survive anything.

tnt_viper

when I was 12 a friend of the family had a 87 Z28, dark grey with t-tops. He told me he would sell it to me when I got my liscence when I was older. I realy wanted it. about a year later he sold it, I was so mad. Since then I always wanted a third gen. When I turned 16 I was going to get one, but my dad did not want to sign the papers. so I got a corolla. Around then I realy looked at all f-bodys, and I realy realy liked them, especially the camaro. When I got older and did not need dad to sign any papers for me I went on my search for a camaro, a third gen since I've been impatiently waiting for one since I'm twelve. around here, these cars are rare, so the clean ones are expensive, I could of got a 2nd gen, but I realy wanted a 3rd gen. Now I got one and I love it, even with the V6. (but I would love a 4th gen for daily driving, the neon sucks)

Greg Shorty

kinda strange story, really. I grew up (36 now) driving and restoring Mustangs from the 60's and loving everything about them- but the prices on them got completely unrealistic in the late eighties and it went downhill from there.
I began seeing 3rd gen f bodies with lots of go-fast goodies being sold for little more than the cost of the mods and took notice-- still couldn't bring myself to buy the "General's" answer to the pony car, but from that time on, I never could, quite come up with a reason not to like them! Something about the long hood/short deck low & lean look just kept me thinking "someday, maybe I'll find one to play with."
Long story shortened, I had a 91 bird abandoned in my parking lot at work and struck a deal with the previous owner to sign it over to me. It was nothin' special, a bone stock 91 with TBI 305 that was used as daily transportation . Mechanically very sound- all repairs done in quality shops and no body damage. Had he not burned every wire out of the engine bay and under the dash in a stereo-installation-gone-very-bad, he would probably be driving it today. It's now a $300.00 car with a new front suspension and wiring harnesses from Ebay that is the epitomy of work in progress. Daily driver, work in progress, GM clear coat gone, ugly as sin,
most reliable car I have ever seen for a couple weekends of easy repairs. I'm hooked on the simplicity of them and have vowed to bring this thing back to the condition it deserves!!!

driver101

iTrader: (4)

bought my first camaro in 95 for 900 dollars rebuilt it drove til 99 sold it tried to buy it back built two t\a 85 and 87 383 tuneport 5spd sold them bought a 91 rs out of tennesse in 06 rebuilt it and now i got a 92 rs so i guess once i bought the camaro i was hooked

SageMoonblade

Well my sister bought a used 85 bone base bird in the early 90's the only thing it had was a 305 HO engine, was the first car I learned how to do a tranny on and did it twice. I fell in love with the car anyway. Well it was smashed in the passenger side by a tracter trailer that was backing up in a parking lot. The car was totaled so I bought it at the ripe young age of about 14. To this day I still have the car but its in need of major work to the whole floorpan, rockers, fenders, doors, tranny again. Hell it cant be driven! Well anyway I ended up with a 89 bird with too meny options for my preferances but a 2.8 engine.

Purple 92 SS

Well, Since I never did post in here i dont think, and Ive enjoyed the posts by all so much, I figure i had better share my story of how I had become F-body Junky that I am.

Picture this if you will.. its the early 90's.. Im in high school, senior class of 94, my grandfather is talking about moving down from virginia, buying a house, and restoring a classic mustang with me. A girl I know in high school(that i dated a couple times) had a 67 Stang all Origional, loved it and i shared the resto-bug with her. Fast Forward to 1995, My grandfather hasnt moved down, im no longer dating that girl, I need a car as I just blew up my Honda Accord hatch back, so I go to Saturn, and buy a brand new 95 SL1. Thought it would be a good car for at least 10 years, boy was I wrong. I have numerous problems while owning this saturn. From Mechanical, electronic, to the ultimate issue in spring of 98 that caused me to walk away from the car, An electrical fire. Before the Electrical fire however, that girl from high school with the mustang had gotten a job with me. By now her origional mustang needs totall restoration and she's driving her brothers old thirdgen TA. We date a bit more, but alas it doesnt work out, as i was seeing others as well and so was she. This, however revitalizes my interest in F-bodys. I say revitalizes, because being a child of the 80s, i loved the old Knight Rider series as much of us had..

In April of 1998 my Saturn finally bit the bullet, it had been in the shop for damn near a month, and the Saturn Techs said they couldnt find any issues with it.. I pick it up with my girlfriend at the time, and start my drive home. 3 miles or so into the trip my girlfriend notices smoke from under the hood, thats when it went up like a candle. The factory wiring harness, had melted and shorted together, thus causing an electrical fire. All this at only 83xxx miles. I put the fire out, drove the car to the dealership again, threw the keys at the service manager and said you just bought back your heap of crap. Jumped in the loaner that i had just returned with my girl, and started driving home. She suggested we look at the small dealerships on the roadside as we go in case there was something I liked. I said ok.

So we drive for a couple of miles and WHOA! There on the corner of a lot, is a Purple Haze 92 Camaro RS. Looked like it was brand new to me. Absolutely goregous. I was in love from the first second i Saw her. At the time, i knew considerably less about cars than i do now, but hey, it wasnt what she had, it was what she was.. a camaro, in a real unique color, that didnt look sissyish being purple. Soooo i went for a test drive. I learned it was a 5 speed, which is what I wanted, but it was a v6.. At the time I didnt care about the power, so i was cool with it. 1 week later, and 1grand down, i drove the car home. Total price 4000.00 financed for 2 years and that was that.

So over the years, the girlfriend left, replaced by others, until i found my future wife, believe it or not on America Online. She lived in Dallas at the time, and flew into Charlotte NC to come visit for the first time. I picked her up in my purple car, it was june of 99. The lil v6 still going strong, over 145000 miles on the clock and everything! We courted in it. I moved her here, married her, and then we started getting more and more into the custom world. We tricked out the body, tricked out the motor,with a 355 swap, and that pretty much brings us up to today.

Over the time of workin on the purple car, bieng a member here, talking with others with camaros, going to shows, and autofairs, and nopi, and Fbody gatherings, my love has grown deeper. My wife, although she wont admit it probably is as bad of an influence on me as i am about camaros, it was she that wanted the Sunset Orange 4th gen. So we got it. then I bought a 91 RS l03 from a friend that was needing a motor rebuild, so i fixed it, rebuilt the motor, sold the car and bought what had turned into my dream car, My thirdgen Droptop. At this point my wife and I now have 5 cars, 3 of them camaros. The droptops lines is what sold me on her. I love the car totally because of how it looks and feels without the top up. I cant ever see getting rid of her. Then this past september I meet a friend who knows someone whos selling a 67 camaro, little did I know it too was an RS. he's asking 2000 for it, and well after a bit of negotiation, i snag it for 1500. So theres my 4th camaro i own currently, and the 5th one ive ever owned. While the Droptop and the 67 need lots of work, they're worth it to me, and I cant see getting rid of any of them ever. What does the wife think? she says I can get rid of almost any of them, with the exception of the purple car. She said if i ever sold it, she'd leave me. Isnt that hillarious?

So i guess thats how i became a camaro nut, complete with the beginning background and all. And just for the record, my grandparents did move down to sc... but they didnt buy a house, instead they bought a condo at the beach, and we have never restored that old mustang we were going to buy together... instead, with the purchase of the 67, im going to restore it and dedicate it to my grandfathers, and more generally all ww2 veterans that served. So yea.. um.. thats bout it.

mjwadams

When the orginal 82 Camaros came out, I was a teenager. Of course, it was the most beautiful car I had ever seen. One of my favorite shows was Knight Rider. Of course, as a teenager, I couldn't hope to afford one. I joined the Army and had other cheap cars, but never really forgot about third gens.
One day in 94, when my old 83 Honda was about to give up the ghost, I saw an add on our bulletin board for a 92 RS with 305 V8 and a stick, for $8500.

When I saw the gleeming black Camaro in the driveway, I was already sold, without driving it Showroom condition. Even had the sticker (15k new)!

I still have that Camaro, with a rebuilt motor and a new, gleeming black paint job. I even still have that original sticker.

1320_Guy

iTrader: (3)

Well i always into muscle cars. My dad had a 68 firebird with the 428 GTO motor in it when i was growing up. I was about 14 or so and i wanted a Monte Carlo ss bad, I went with my dad to help out one of his old friends out and he had a white z28 (which i almost bought about 6 months ago). I was in love. Sadly when i turned 16 my mom gave me her old Eclipse. I was into imports for about a year when the car gave up on me. I then bought my 82 S10, I alwayse wanted to put a sbc in it but my dad kept telling me that he dident want me to have a hotrod because he know how much trouble i could get into with it. I gave up on the s10 and was looking through junkyards for a car and found my camaro. They wanted 400 for the car but i decided not to get it. About 6 months later i decided that i wanted the car and was going to get it and fix it with or without his help. The first thing i did was pulled the junk v6 out and started puting a v8 in. It took me about a year and a half to get it running because of being a kid in school working a minimum wage job. I geaus my dad gave up on trying to stop me because he helps me all the time with it now.


I am 20 now

xgtharo86x

iTrader: (1)

i was 14 always loved muscle cars,loved the sound of v8s,and i always liked burnouts and always searched for vids and trans ams and camaros always came up and i loved the way they look so 1 day after working with my dad i passed a 86 trans am..it was a p.o.s and i picked it up for 500 buck..now 17 4 years later..still got it put $6800 in to it and prob will never sell it

libolt

Like many others here, I grew up watching Knight Rider on TV and absolutely loved the look of that black Trans Am and still do. Around 1986 my mom bought a red '86 IROC that she had for a while until my sister Amy rear ended someone in it and smashed up the front end pretty good. So I have been hooked on the look of third gens for a very long time. Anyways flash forward to September of 2006 after many years of looking at ads for third gens and sites like this, I decided to start saving my money and make my dream come true. In november I noticed while browsing the Firebird Classifieds on this site that a black 1991 Trans Am was for sale here in Arizona, BigWhiteGTPs car. So I spent about a month asking questions of Kevin as well as trying to decide if I was actually ready to make the purchase. After looking it over a couple of tims with people that know more than I currently do about cars, I decided to buy it. Kevin was very patient and very honest the whole time. So now here I am slowly fixing the car up and making it as nice as I possibly can.

88 Z28 Guy

iTrader: (1)

When i was a kid my dad had one of those electric race car tracks with the trigger, i always played on it. My dad had a third gen for it and it was my favorite car. Then my friend necro bought his 89 RS, the first time i sat in it i said i have to have one.

Then, one day while at work we passed by this convinence store out in nowhere, and i saw it, only from the back. And i still remember what it said on the back to, 350 (which it was a 305), 5 Speed, $1500. I had some money saved up but i went home and begged my mom for the rest and went and bought it that evening for $1200.

AWOROADDAWG

I have always loved camaros in general but the 3rd gen was my favorite. I got lucky when i got my 85 Z. My gramma owned it, got drunk, hit a few parked cars and went through a chain link fence. After she did all that she didnt want to fix it so i bought it for 1500 bucks and decided to start fixin it up. Since then I have put a 350 4bbl 350horse engine in it and fixed the dog house and now im in the middle of paintin it. Hopefully ill get some picz up soon.