Whitebird75

Hey Guys, I had the oddest thing happen to me about two months ago, and I would like to share. As a little background, I have an ’88 Firebird, V6, Auto, white. It is a rolling project car that I have owned for a little more than a year. Honestly, the paint is shot from setting on the Georgia Sun for over 30 years. The V6 is tired with over 208K on the clock, and the car is really rough around the edges. I try my best to keep the car drivable as I am working on it, so I also drive it at every opportunity.

We had a couple nice weeks back in May, so I decided to drive the car to work a couple times a week. It is about a 50-mile round trip through North Atlanta, with a mixture of interstate, highway, and side street driving. I happen to work in a very ‘well-off’ area; thus, I pass several exotic car dealerships on my way home. As my car does not have a working gas gauge, I stop at a gas station shortly after leaving the office to gas up (they sell Ethanol Free gasoline) and grab a bottle of water. As I am pumping gas and checking over the fluids, I notice a bright green Lamborghini Huracan pull up to the pump beside of me. The guy stops, rolls down his window and says “Hay man, nice car”. He precedes to asks to photograph the car. At this point, I am dumbfounded, and the only words I can really say is “Yeah, Sure”.

At this point, I am used to the car drawing attention at gas stations, as older people like to talk about how a friend had one back in the day. However, this was completely different. The guy couldn’t have been much older than myself, maybe late 20’s or early 30’s and wearing a very nice suit. After talking with him, he was a partner in a large local law firm and bought the car as a reward of becoming a partner. It just blows my mind that a well off, younger person would be excited to my project. Maybe the younger generations are seeing the car as late Gen X/ early Millennials saw the Muscle Car area? Let me know if you have had any similar experiences with well-off/ younger generations.

RKeats

I love hearing things like this. Some people still have a true appreciation for the product and not just the value behind it! I work for an exotic dealership and whenever I drive my IROC to work, I park it right in front of my office window so I can always see it. My favourite thing is having customers pull up in 300k cars and instantly ask who owns the IROC, or if we're selling it. I had someone come in the other day in a 458 to look at an Aventador, and him and I must have spend 25 minutes standing outside talking about my old project and how he's loved these cars forever haha

Carlos89

Great stories guys. I was fueling my Bird a couple months back and it was looking terrible from a few days under a tree. A couple guys with modern dually trucks towing boats started complimenting my car. I was actually embarrassed my $2900 '89 Bird was so dirty and they had shiny chrome wheeled expensive trucks hauling pricey boats. But I guess some people appreciate "survivors". But since then I wont drive it without at least being washed. I need to represent the breed.

GeneralDisorder

iTrader: (1)

Well - there's not many left actually being driven on the roads regularly. They are striking cars, that really look much newer than their 1980's "regular" car counter-parts like the Caprice, and so forth.

Lots of people are really into 80's and 90's retro - just look at the avalanche of retro video games and systems that have come out in the last 5 years. People REALLY WANT that IROC look. Low mileage cars are now fetching $20k+ regularly.

Many people can afford a car payment - even a fat one - for a new car with a warranty. They get scared by older vehicles with no warranty and potentially huge unexpected service and repair bills.

Realistically it's very hard to own a third gen now if you don't have the ability and desire to do your own work on them.

GD

88IROCvertZ

iTrader: (1)

The first cruise night I ever took my IROC to I had a kid (maybe 22-24) who said he had gone to every cruise night around looking for an IROC and mine was the first one he saw and asked if he could take video and pictures... He was super into it snapping lots of angles, interior, engine.. etc... I thought that was cool for my first cruise night.. I assumed most people only cared about the old muscle cars.. He was obsessed with IROCs..

A lot of people at gas stations chat me up about it and I get a lot of thumbs up from little kids.. I’ve had a couple little kids ask of it was a Ferrari which was funny...

thirdgens stand out!

vinny R

I was out having breakfast a few Sundays ago. I parked in front of the diner across the road in the plaza. I picked a table where I could look out a window at the car while enjoying a nice egg and fixins breakfast, I was amazed at the amount of people that stopped briefly to look at the car as they were walking past it to go to the diner. While I was eating I noticed a couple leaving the diner walking across the road. The wife or girlfriend stopped in the road to point my car out. He pulls out his cell phone and both of them proceed to do a walk around video of my Z! The top was down and he shot the interior as well. It was a cool feeling watching this from a far!

Timeless design that stands out in a crowd.

88IROCvertZ

iTrader: (1)

I always park where I can see my car.. Part of the joy of owning it is looking at it!

LiquidBlue

That was me! Just kidding!! Great story. Good to know there is hope for our Country. Rock and Roll, Fast cars, beautiful women and hard work makes it all work!!

LiquidBlue

please, PLEASE, never compare a TG to a caprice

Bow_Tied

iTrader: (1)

That's awesome. You should have said, "let's switch rides for the day."

My story: This summer I finally relented and let my wife drive the Iroc to her work. It was a beautiful, sunny friday. On her way home after picking up the kids a middle aged guy in a newer bright red Ferrari pulls up beside her at a stop light. He compliments the car and asks if it is for sale. She politely declined knowing how much I like the car. When she got home and told me the story I told her, "When someone in a newer Ferrari asks if it is for sale the answer is YES!"

WTR388

Early this summer the gf had to grab one little thing from the grocery store to get one last thing for dinner so we hop in to the T/A and blast down to the store. Since she will be quick and I dont like parking it with the masses I just sat in the car in the lane in front of the store for loading groceries, picking people up or whatever.

I see a mom with twins about 4 years old trying to cross the lot to the doors, one was walking normally but she was dragging the other one, he just wanted to stand in traffic and stare at the car.
So I turned the car on and gave it a good rev (ls1 with a decently loud dual exhaust) and waved for them to come over.
They walk over, she asks the kid if he knows what it is, and he says "trans am!"
Let him sit behind the wheel, she took a picture and said thanks and that I made their day... Truthfully I did it to ensure the kid becomes a gearhead with the love for thirdgens.

More similar to the OPs story, I was at a gas station, inside paying and a viper and some Ferrari pull in, fill up and come inside.
I go outside to get in to my car and there is a woman with a nice camera taking pictures of my car, seemingly ignoring the other 2 nicer cars... Sort of hoping the other 2 drivers saw that and got jealous lol. I'm sure she took pictures of those cars as well though.

dmccain

iTrader: (2)

Few months ago I was at a cruise- in maybe 50 mi from my town and another guy from my hometown was there with a beautiful 70 Dodge Challenger. He asked did I want to swap rides for the ride home that night since I had a/c and he did not. Ofcourse I drove the classic back to our hometown. When we got back he went on and on about how good the Thirdgen handled and how crisp the drivetrain was. He didn't believe me when I told him the car was 170 hp Lol. He even talked about looking at some Irocs and that he had always wanted one.

QwkTrip

iTrader: (22)

LOL! That's awesome!

I do the same thing when kids seem to show a lot of interest. I'll invite the family over and let the kids sit in the driver seat. Hoping it becomes a memory that keeps the interest alive in these old cars.

I've been noticing, particularly beginning this summer, that young men in their early 20's are ogling the car like it's the coolest thing they've ever seen. Apparently 3rd gens are cool again.