I am about to turn 16 years old and my parents have agreed that they would get my z28 or iroc(87or88). What kind of things should I look for before i buy my first camaro.

 

I'd look for an 89 to start

 

I've gone through a few of these cars... and in my experiences, I have always done a few simple things before purchasing:

1. Take a magnet and a thin piece of cloth. Move it over the car. Tests for rust/bondo... the car could look mint, and be totally bondo'd up and crap. I live in Wisconsin, so this is common. Depending on your area, maybe not so much.

2. Make sure to run it until its hot... check for smooth (for a V8) idle, revs freely, no peculiar noises. Just give it a good test drive and make sure everything is in order such as brakes, steering, etc. Tie rods and ball joints on these cars have a tendency to be bad, if they haevn't been replaced already.

3. Check rear tire tread. This is a gimme. If there's less tread on the back tires then on the front, chances are it was beaten on.

4. This is even stupider, but look under the hood. A friend of mine (somehow) got conned into buying a V6 thinking it was a V8. Had pretty IROC decals and everything. Shiny car... but that 120 horse motor wasn't impressing anyone.

5. Just look it over...look underneath it, make sure its not rusting, everything looks right, etc. Use common sense and you should be fine.

 

http://www.angelfire.com/on3/whiteli.../purchase.html

 

Best of luck to you man. I firmly believe that parents shouldnt buy their kids sports cars when they get their license because they will kill them selves in it. I figured since i worked for a year to pay for mine at 17 id be okay because its my baby and it cost me so much work, and i hopped a curb within the first 2-3 months of having it on the road. If your parents are buying you a 5.7L iroc god help you. Its just way too easy to push your foot to the floor and it just goes and goes its an adrenaline rush and a half.

Now that i got that out of the way onto the tech portion. Id say the year model isnt going to make a big difference. If youre going to get a 5.7L they only came with an auto and if youre going to get a 5.0 L then id try to get one with a 5 speed they can be a little hard to find but its so much more fun.

As for things to look for when buying the car check the wheel wells for rust. That is one of the first places a car will rust so if its started there chances are theres rust in a bunch of other places. If the car has a brand new paint job ask the person selling it why it was just painted. Could this car be stolen? Could the paint be in order to try to cover up rust? Check the engine bay and make sure there isnt any real rust and that everything looks okay. If youre getting a 5.7L check the vin to make sure the car originally came with one because some people try to pass off the 5.0L as a 5.7 because they look pretty much the same. You can run the vin number over at www.thirdgen.org . Okay what else....thats most of it. Best of luck to ya and if you have any more questions get em up here and well do our best to help you out.

 

I agree with Doug, I worked for 6 months before getting my car/turning 16 and I'm still paying for it. I spun it around 3 times at 90 with 3 friends in the car...nothing I'm proud of, just something to look out for. Be mature my man.

What to look for: Looks like everyone got it covered. If I were you, I'd look for a 5spd LB9 (305TPI) IROC. Sweetest 3rd gen made

When you get it, we gotta see pics!

-Rippin

 

Find a nice example and take good care of it. I'd look for an 89+ also. Look at and drive a lot of different cars before you commit to one. My 85 and 89 were the FIRST cars I looked at when I was looking to buy a car. Impulse buy, maybe? hehe Both turned out good and lesson learned.

I bought my 85 IROC 4 days before I turned 16 so I kinda understand what yer thinkin', etc. Don't get too attatched to it either, odds are you'll total it yer first year out. Hopefully you know how to drive.

 

Heh i dropped way too much money on my first baby, i had intended to keep it forever, im lucky to have made it through this summer. Going to try to drive sain next summer. Remember that corners while exciting are a bad place to test your cars limits. Ask me how i know.

 

Whenever you get the urge to do something stupid, take a few seconds and think about how great your car will look totalled . That straightens me out every time.

 

dont race or drive fast, just do burnouts. they are safer.

 

Just be patient and get what u really want. Don't just grab the first one you see. I wish I would have waited longer and done more research to grab a IROC 305 TPI 5 spd, but oh well. I am happy with my 88 Camaro and its not fast enough to get me in too much trouble but it still has that badass V8 sound.

 

*high five*

I totally agree. My little bro is now looking for a 3rd gen and I'm telling him constantly "Don't get a TBI, go TPI 5spd. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have a set of shiny runners instead of that crap intake." Lol, also I'd get an IROC for handling purposes too. Not much difference but less parts to buy in the future

-Rippin

 

Back when i was 16 I bought an 85 Z28 for $1000 that a friend of the family sold me cheap. he had just rebuilt a 350 and swapped it in. I loved that car so much

I bought a 91 RS with the same blue w/ silver gfx paint because it reminded me so much of it..and for $1000 too too bad the ECM is bad in it and im too busy fixing my 87 to get it rolling again :/

 

I agree with the stuff said above, be responsible with it. Ive wrecked 2 camaros in less than a year And whats funny is that I wasnt driving like an *** either time. It happens when you least expect it. Be Careful!!