1990 IROC Camaro with six miles on the odometer

[rrrr]

This car was stored for over thirty years before the owner passed away and his niece sold it.

@Cray Paper

https://www.motortrend.com/features/1990-iroc-1le-z28-chevy-camaro-basement-barn-find/

https://www.motortrend.com/features/1990-iroc-1le-z28-chevy-camaro-basement-barn-find/photos/

 

[Ziggy]

My buddies(inactive member dejavu) wife had one when they got married & move to Seattle.
It was her favorite car.

 

[mjc]

how come i can't find a barn find?

 

[HALLETT BOY]

Unfortunately, because of GM’s lack of quality control and absolutely sub par components , everything on that car will be rotted and needing attention . Especially 1990 .

 

[boatpi]

If it was made at the Van Nuys plant, many were on PCP. I know, I arrested some of them.

 

[scottchbrite]

Unfortunately, because of GM’s lack of quality control and absolutely sub par components , everything on that car will be rotted and needing attention . Especially 1990 .

They aren't that bad. Here’s my brothers car. It was a 50,000 mile car that’s undergone a full Detroit Speed suspension, LT4 & 6 speed transformation. It’s almost done.

 

[OCMerrill]

All 245 hp. That TPI was no good for HP but fantastic for torque. Made the car feel quite strong.

Its new but in no way "New."

 

[4Waters]

@Cray Paper

 

[rrrr]

how come i can't find a barn find?

This reminded me of a data center tearout I did in 1990. The site was the shuttered GM Framingham Buick Assembly Plant, located in Framingham, Massachusetts. It had closed in 1989. The plant was built in 1945, in anticipation of a surge of demand after WWII. In 1942, the US government had ordered the production of new cars nationwide converted to making military vehicles and weapons, and consumers had money which had been saved during the austerity of the war years.

When I arrived at the facility with my crew and tools, a GM employee unlocked the doors and left. The plant complex covered several square miles, and the assembly line and manufacturing equipment was still in place, as if production had stopped the day before.

The truck docks were at the rear of the plant, over a quarter mile away from the data center, which was located in the office complex attached to the front of the facility. The offices are in the front center of the photo below, and the docks were adjacent to the stacks of the body paint facilities in the rear.

The two railroad spurs cutting through the trees and serving the dock area are also visible. As you can see, the plant was incredibly huge. Fortunately there were dozens of forklifts, still onsite and located in a charging area with about 40 charger bays.

One day I grabbed a Cushman three wheeler personnel cart and went exploring. I found a large open area containing about fifteen vehicles. They were from model years around 1965 to 1989, and included other GM marks Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Cadillac. There were less than 200 miles on the odometers. One was a 1970 Corvette, and another a 1983 Chevy 2500 with a snowplow attachment. The pickup was used to plow the acres of parking during winter. All had been washed and waxed recently.

This was the ultimate barn find.

Framingham Assembly - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[rrrr]

@Cray Paper

I pinged him in the first post.

 

[bowtiejunkie]

Per the Camaro book (Illustrated Camaro Buyer's Guide) only 62 1990 Camaro's were built with the 1LE package. Probably no doubt this one having the lowest miles. Not sure how a person has the restraint to park a car like that for 30+ years!! No way I could do that.

 

[Racey]

Per the Camaro book (Illustrated Camaro Buyer's Guide) only 62 1990 Camaro's were built with the 1LE package. Probably no doubt this one having the lowest miles. Not sure how a person has the restraint to park a car like that for 30+ years!! No way I could do that.

Here is why it's dumb to buy a car and park it like this.

That car had an MSRP of 14,500. Let's say it didn't cost anything to store it for 35 years, and it was never insured, so it cost "nothing" to own (which it didn't but let's just pretend). If they got lucky and sold it for what? Maybe 100k, which is ludicrous anyway....

Well if you put 14.5k in the S&P in January 1990 and rolled the dividends over it would be worth 500k today... If you pocketed the dividends every year it would still be worth about 250k and you got paid every year on top of that....

So yeah, buying cars to not enjoy them is stupid.

 

[HST4ME]

3rd gen f bodies are shit. Without a doubt well into the top 10 of the worst cars produced.

 

[Cray Paper]

That's pretty cool, but as mentioned earlier the build quality of those cars wasn't great and all of the rubber will need to be replaced along with the rear hatch pull down motor and probably the plastic glides for the door locking mechanisms. At least it doesn't have AC or T-tops so it shouldn't be to hard to replace the weather stripping and it doesn't appear that it spent any time in the elements so rust / water damage of the cardboard behind the head liner and door panels should not be an issue. It is a 1LE car though and not many were built, bigger brakes (much needed!, aluminum drive shaft and some other things I have long forgotten). Most were built for the highway patrol. It also has the 350 / 5.7 and that's a huge plus, not just for the slight bump in HP and TQ but the transmission will stay in OD under full throttle. That car is light, probably under 3200 pounds so the meager 245 HP in that car will feel pretty dam quick after it gets in to 2nd gear, 1st gear is uselessly low in a 700R4 attached to a V8.

My 87 started out with a 305 TPI engine and it would not stay in OD at much more than 1/3rd throttle, about 110?mph with 3.42 gears. I built the engine in it and smoked the transmission shortly after running it on a rear wheel dyno. Had the transmission rebuilt several times, new TQ convertors and replaced it with a later model 700R4 and it still would not upshift to OD under full throttle. The 5.7 cars would and I know for a fact an almost stock 87 5.7 IROC (my moms, had a Hyper Chip in it only) would bury the needle (155?) and touch 160 MPH with 4 people in it. Not anywhere close to quick or fast now, but in the early 90's, not bad.

It's like any other vehicle from our coming of age years and it has no miles on it so I think it's cool. Also think a Buick GN or GNX, 92-95 ZR1, Dodge stealth + variants and El Caminos are cool. 80's G bodies as well, put a lot of miles on a used 1984 Hurst Olds with the lightning rod shifter while working at Hansel and Ortmann Cadillac Olds Buick,it, was pitifully slow but cool.

Thank you for pinging me, I still love the looks of those cars.

 

[beerrun]

I know where there is a 77 trans am it was this ladys first car been sitting covered in her garage for more than 30 yrs .it was running when she parked it
I want it so bad but I don't think she will ever sell it

 

[Sharky]

Somewhere in NJ, there is a Guido, that is still looking for his Iroc Z28 that he "accrued" and was never delivered.

 

[pronstar]

All 245 hp. That TPI was no good for HP but fantastic for torque. Made the car feel quite strong.

Its new but in no way "New."

Yeah my buddy’s brother had a 5.7L IROC when I was in high school, it felt like a rocketship. The way it moved off idle and up to 2500rpm, I thought that thing would just keep pulling and pulling…

It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized the power fell off a cliff past 4000 rpm LOL

 

[JM21]

I had an ‘87 with the 305 but mine was a 5 speed with t tops so it was a fun car after some motor mods and the ole flowmaster out back. Miss that one.

 

[4Waters]

My buddy had a 90(?) with a 350 and he did a 5spd swap, holy shit

 

[n2otoofast4u]

Who cares? Cool, sure I guess. I don’t get the zero mileage car thing. Just fkn drive them! I had an early Hellcat, where I live there was (and still is) not many of them. I’d owned it about 9 minutes and called @JUSTWANNARACE and told him to meet me at the bar in 20 and come outside. We put down 20k of rubber in a very few minutes, went back to bar and ate lunch and then went back to work. I daily drove it for 2 years. It’s just a fkn car! @H20 Toie did the same with his! They’re just fkn cars/boats/whatever. Conversations don’t get you laid, they impress dudes. Burnouts and cool sounds get you laid!

 

[rrrr]

Thank you for pinging me, I still love the looks of those cars.

I knew you would contribute some facts about the build details and history no one else knew. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

 

[Flatsix66]

He probably drove it once then bought it with a manual and 1LE. No reason to drive the secretary car ever again.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

Man, a bunch of you have turned into miserable fucks.

Cool story, I would have given valuable body parts to have that car when it was new, I even like the color. Wish I ran in circles that have the opportunity to have access to these time capsules when they become available.

 

[Paradox]

I had a Z28 in 84 that I traded up for an IROC in 86. I f memory serves, I lost 10 HP because I opted for a manual. It seemed so bitchen at the time but I think it was all of 200 HP at the time.. Pic is of me and my Mom back in the day.

 

[Andy B.]

Remember the commercial I don't just rock them I ROC them? I think some professional sports guys were in them.

 

[bonesfab]

I know where there is a 77 trans am it was this ladys first car been sitting covered in her garage for more than 30 yrs .it was running when she parked it
I want it so bad but I don't think she will ever sell it

I know of a 70 camaro the same way. Customers wife's first car. 350 4-speed. Every time I see them I ask about the car. He gets a little miffed I am more interested in the camaro than his 240z. And I already have a nice stainless tank and global west control arms for one so its like destiny.

 

[bonesfab]

I drove Mullet to the shop today. rock stock ls1 and 2.73 gears. This thing is a blast on the freeway. They do handle decent and stop decent as a driver but the brakes could be improved for all out performance.

 

[Dog]

My dad and step mom still have her first car with less than 100,000 miles on it. 1965 Impala SS.

I knew where a 1970 1/2 SS Camaro was but it sold quick when the owner passed.

 

[Cray Paper]

I know where there is a 77 trans am it was this ladys first car been sitting covered in her garage for more than 30 yrs .it was running when she parked it
I want it so bad but I don't think she will ever sell it

Back in the early to mid 80's those cars were not worth much, like less than two grand for a 73 - 81 F body in good condition, 70-73' were double the price. Non fatback mustangs were worth even less, and are still really inexpensive compared to an F body of the same vintage.

When I was about 15 YO (1985, I had been reading Car Craft since I was 10) I decided I loved 70 - 73 F bodies and if I could ever swing it I would build a 70-73 RS (real split bumper Camaro) with independent rear suspension, 12" wide tires (mini tub is what it's called now) with BBS mesh rims, a cage, Brembo brakes with a big cube SBC (377 or 406) or really big BBC NA with a 5 speed manual transmission. Think Big Red

...the badass 69 Camaro that was the inspiration for pro street. This was at the time Pro Street was all the rage and is really cool too!

 

[Romans9]

I know of a 70 camaro the same way. Customers wife's first car. 350 4-speed. Every time I see them I ask about the car. He gets a little miffed I am more interested in the camaro than his 240z. And I already have a nice stainless tank and global west control arms for one so its like destiny.

My grandmother had a 66 Chevelle Malibu 327 two door in her basement with 10,000 miles on it. She died a few years ago.
Car is still there.
Right beside it is a 1965 Buick Rivera with a 465 Wildcat in it. That car has 5,000 miles on it.
In the other garage is a 55 Chevy 2 door that had a mirror finish paint job put on it in 1963 and was never rubbed out and all the brand new factory GM chrome is laying underneath the car never installed.
Uncle is in control of the estate. He is 80 and in not so good health.

 

[Cray Paper]

I also really enjoyed this guys adventures with his 3rd Gen TA, it was the fastest street legal car in the world for a long time. Im getting to old to drive something like this but wouldnt mind taking it to 225 MPH!

Polly Motorsports from Norway with a big cubed BBC and blower.

https://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/252-mph-pontiac-trans-am/

I couldnt find it but there used to be a video online that had a German F1? driver hired to drive this thing on a race track and his facial expressions and swearing for awesome! The car scared the hell out of him!

 

[Cray Paper]

I had an ‘87 with the 305 but mine was a 5 speed with t tops so it was a fun car after some motor mods and the ole flowmaster out back. Miss that one.

During the 87 model year the 305 cam was toned down a little, IIRC, the stick shift cars still got the warmer cam but 88 on were even lamer. GM brass was pissed about the GN / GNX production and the corvette team was getting owned by other GM brands.
The TPI intakes were really good at building torque at lower RPMS but those 21" long runners killed power above 4K rpm. GM didn't have the in house hot rodders like ford did with the 302, they let outside vendors take on the risk of making speed parts, shame on GM. Ed Hamburger took that challenge for GM and with GM back door backing created SLP. The parts were legit, but really expensive compared to the stuff sold over the counter at Ford.
The SLP Firehawks from 91 were tru supercars that could be ordered from Pontiac with the B4U option on a formula firebird. SLP had problems with EPA certs from CARB and missed the economy boat by a couple of years. I think they only sold 26 cars. Those cars are truly special, some had Rodeck alluminum blocked SBC with German ZF 6 speed transmission with a SLP custom made bell housing, Brembo brakes, Dana 44 axles etc.

For those that are much more well off than me and collect cars, buy one of those 26 SLP Firehawks! The unicorn is the white convertible #26? that went to Hawaii. All the others were red coupes. I had prepared my finances to buy one in 2004 when it came available but life happened and the opportunity slipped by. Could have bought it for 25K. NFW even the lowest optioned car goes for less then 100K now. That convertible is one of one, much rarer than a Hemi Cuda convertible, and faster / quicker.

 

[RandyH]

My First new car purchase and at the time was fast for me. 1987 First year for the 5.7. 20th Year Anniversary. I thought why not. I still have it in the collection. I drive it a few times a year to keep things working. Its half the car of my ZL1 but I still enjoy getting it out. 17,500 miles on it.

 

[4Waters]

My First new car purchase and at the time was fast for me. 1987 First year for the 5.7. 20th Year Anniversary. I thought why not. I still have it in the collection. I drive it a few times a year to keep things working. Its half the car of my ZL1 but I still enjoy getting it out. 17,500 miles on it.
View attachment 1426094

 

[bowtiejunkie]

Here is why it's dumb to buy a car and park it like this.

That car had an MSRP of 14,500. Let's say it didn't cost anything to store it for 35 years, and it was never insured, so it cost "nothing" to own (which it didn't but let's just pretend). If they got lucky and sold it for what? Maybe 100k, which is ludicrous anyway....

Well if you put 14.5k in the S&P in January 1990 and rolled the dividends over it would be worth 500k today... If you pocketed the dividends every year it would still be worth about 250k and you got paid every year on top of that....

So yeah, buying cars to not enjoy them is stupid.

I agree, doesn't make money sense. Maybe for a select few models, depends on the holding costs. I'm not sure why people do this, but it seemed pretty popular during the late 80's through late 90's. With many things, not just cars. Everyone thought things would be worth a fortune in 30 years. With cars, I'd rather just enjoy them than park and cover. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

 

[Warlock1]

They aren't that bad. Here’s my brothers car. It was a 50,000 mile car that’s undergone a full Detroit Speed suspension, LT4 & 6 speed transformation. It’s almost done.

View attachment 1425411 View attachment 1425412

More pics and details, please. These cars are pretty cheap to come by now days and this looks like a fun conversion.

 

[gqchris]

I got tired of chasing the cars that people my age drooled over in high school. All the Fox Body mustangs and Camaros, fetching stupid money. We are all our own worse enemies propping up the market on these as we all reach mid life crisis.

But I guess its no different then the Boomers buying the older hotrods they dreamed of as kids.

 

[scottchbrite]

More pics and details, please. These cars are pretty cheap to come by now days and this looks like a fun conversion.

He has some pics on his Instagram https://www.instagram.com/fullcircle1966?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==
These are the only pics I have. It’s pretty much all DSE parts, the LT4 crate engine and a Tremec T56. Forge line wheels.

 

[Cray Paper]

Couple of pics of my IROC's. My oldest popped my coupe out of gear (yes, during the transmission saga that lasted a couple of years) and it rolled down the driveway and, well, you see what happened. I was going to sell the car to help with the 91 Firehawk I was talking to the owner about buying at the time. I was ready to move / up from the 3rd gen F body but when that happened I immdeiately looked for a convertable that I could swap all the fun parts to then resale. I bought a 90 convertible, spent a weekend cleaning, cutting and buffing and the wife at the time took a liking to it and asked that I just get my car fixed. Thats why I had two of them. The ex wife rarely drove the convertible. It had a 400 SBC in it but still had the stock speed density TPI and ran like it.

 

[Cray Paper]

Couple more random pics of the two IROC's, engine pics are of my 87 that ran pretty hard for an emissions legal SBC, it had a couple of iterations regarding cam and heads. First engine swap consisted of Trick Flow Twisted Wedge heads with a mild+ roller cam. That worked really well and ran mid 12's and was a lot of fun on the street.

I swung for the budget friendly NA fences on the next upgrade for my coupe 87 coupe. AFR 195 Eliminator heads. a relatively huge roller cam. I ordered the cam with a cast iron distributor gear ( was using a MSD Pro distributor with billet gear) and did not get what I ordered. Took months to get everything put together but my car never ran consistently after the cam and head swap, the cam had a hardened distributor gear pressed on and ate the MSD billet distributor gear.

Divorce happened and my car went to a young guy in Portland that understood the historical importance of all the SLP parts on the car. He bought it and all the parts, then flushed the engine and gave my car to his dad after pulling all the SLP Firehawk parts to put on his 1991 Firehawk replica car. My old car still runs in the 12's with the Holley intake that came with the parts bounty that came with the sale. I intended to put he Holley Stealth Ram on the SBC 400 in the convertible.

 

[boatnam2]

Buddy had a 78 in high school with centerlines and huge meats in back, looked sweet but was slow, as a matter of fact one day we are cruising to Torrance beach with T-top off spraying people with water from a fire extinguisher, we sprayed a big biker dude in an old surfer van by accident and guy pulls up to us he was huge, says pull the fck over, my buddy says let's leave his ass and punches it, all I heard was the guys mufflers as he punched it and chased us, got lucky and lost him with turns not speed.

 

[Cray Paper]

My first day in highschool I watched a B&M SBC 73 Camaro drag race a hemi Charger on the front street to Mesa Verde HS in Sacramento. The Camaro was owned by a stoner, the Hemi car was owned by Frank Bogen, his dad owned American River Auto Wreckers at the time. Frank had some amazing cars, but watching that happen grudge match happen when I was 15 YO made a lifelong impression on me. I don't recall who won, but it was obvious that it mattered.

 

[mobldj]

 

[mash on it]

View attachment 1426621

I pulled my squirt bote with a '90 firebird V6 and all. Good times.

Dan'l