Project 3.4 Camaro

Just kind of been wondering lately, how many of these cars are actually left, lets say ones that needs nominal work at most to be put on the road, and not dedicated non road legal drag cars.
Anyone have any idea how many are around nowadays? I know about 2.4 million were made if I recall, but I'm sure at least a decent number of those have been crushed or are sitting somewhere rusted out beyond salvage. Just wondering how rare they are now, I hardly ever see them around here, and when I do they're always in rough shape.

paulo57509

My commute is 60 miles one way through the worst commute corridor in the Bay Area, so I see a LOT of traffic every day.

I don't see many Third Gens anymore; few and far between. The ones I do see are pretty much ready for the scrap yard.

85projectZ28

All the more reason to keep our babies pampered. We are part of a great lineage. They are getting rarer and rarer each day. I dont know how many are left but I know a whole lot are ending up in scrapyards. Have you searched for a new third gen lately? Go on craigslist or pick up an autotrader magazine. They are getting very hard to find.

midnightfirews6

iTrader: (1)

At my high school there is one really nice RS Camaro that my buddy owns. There have been a couple other Camaros that show up from time to time but they're ragged out and need resto'd or parted out. Driving through my mid sized midwest city I see 2-3 3rd gen Camaros a week. Firebirds and more upscale trim packages of both F-cars are even more scarce. Foxbodies are still quite abundant around here, but seeing a nice third gen is now almost as big an event as seeing a Porsche, 'Vette, or tastefully modded RWD import. I kind of miss the roadways being exciting and get sick of all the SUV's and sedans, but it just makes it the more fun to drive mine.

ZEXY

i live in yelm washington and i know there are three including mine that drive around here and blue and silver gta and one of the v6 firebirds its red and then mine buts thats all i see.

back in spokane i knew a guy who had 87 firebird and he said he was gonna scrap it. i told him i buy it from him but the night before i went to look at it him and some of his buddys got drunk and ran it over with one of there lifted blazers

Blackdog36

iTrader: (3)

I see a lot for sale on craigslist and at car shows. Yes many of them have been scrapped or are too far gone to be saved. However so many of them were made that they are still plentiful. It is tough finding a car that basically needs no work like headliner, carpets, paint, etc. Not many driving daily on the roads though

I probably should have bought another car in better shape than the one I did. I feel that I was able to save my car from certain doom as a beater and then a crusher.

Project 3.4 Camaro

I kind of made it a point to buy one in rough shape and "save" it from the scrapyard, I hate to see these cars get crushed, and wanted one since before I could drive, there's nothing on earth that looks like a 3rd gen camaro IMO, and they look damn good. Speaking of which I like the look of yours 85projectZ28. And my car quite possibly wouldve ended up in a scrapyard, its a v6 base Camaro, not exactly high demand, and most don't want the trouble of restoring a v6 one. It does have T-tops though.

godreject

iTrader: (1)

theres still plenty here in LA, the majority are RS or regular z28's, but its hard to judge the number by the number seen on teh road as most cars are either stored, non operational, i own 2 and neither has seen the road in the last 3 months lol. but gta are not seen as often thats for sure

Aaron R.

If there were around 2.4 million made I would bet there is well under half that many left. I can't count how many I have seen end up at the crusher. I see very few driving around my area now. And only a couple nice ones.

Knight_RiderGTA

I have a 1990 Trans Am GTA, a very rare bird indeed since its 1 of 884.

Mine has been customized to look like KITT from Knight Rider, I'm thinking of restoring it back to the GTA look though.

Here are some pics of the GTA:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/members/knight_ridergta-albums.html

my82roc

iTrader: (101)

Strangely enough I saw 2 third gens driving yesterday in about a 1 hour span.First was a black iroc w/rear hatch louvers,Second was a blue sport coupe

FireInMe17

Mines about the only daily driver around here anymore. When I see one I make sure to go talk to the owner.

There is a 1989 Firebird with a 2.8L in it but thats the only one that I ever see, and I barely even see that one around anymore.

There used to be a 1987 Camaro in town but it got T-boned and pretty much totaled. Now that same person bought a '95 LT1 as her DD, but apparently somethings wrong with it and they won't drive it.

But I take long trips in mine and very very very rarely do I ever see one of the highway.

I did once, so I pulled up to the guy and beeped and tried to get his attention you know just to acknowledge each other, and he didn't even look over at me or the car, I wonder if he did when I sped past him then.....

JamesC

iTrader: (5)

You're lucky. I thought that with a move to a more populated section of the state, I might see more. Nope. My car is usually the lone thirdgen at a car show, with the exception of the CamaroFest (IIRC, there were 14 thirdgens in attendance last summer, with about 150 total Camaros). The thirdgens I see around town are beaters for the most part. That said, the cars still seem to be interesting/attractive to people. If my car's in the drive, people occasionally stop whether they're driving or walking. I've been yakked at number of times at stoplights--a cyclist even chatted me up as we were driving down the road.

JamesC

paulo57509

I saw a 91-92 out in Banta last night. It was a maroon repaint with no graphics, but the license plate read. "IROCKZZ" or something like that. It didn't look too bad.

It had an '86 rear hatch on it, though.

Kevman

We've got 2, my trans am, and my dad's 88 Iroc 'vert, but it's pretty rare to see one around here, one kid has a blue 86 Z28, and a friend of mind has a 91 Z28. You see the odd GTA at the car shows, but thats about it.

L695speed

Don't see many around here, anymore. I probably own one of probably 5 84 TAs in the county and only know of two others besides mine that are confirmed. One was sold but don't know where it went. Definitely more camaros and foxbodies around here than the pontiacs. There is an 84 Z28 that I know of, a few more later third gens but other than that, theres not much. I don't even see them in junkyards too often anymore either. Last time I was in a "real" junkyard that was a you pull it, I came across maybe 15 F bodies including an 84 TA, but most of them were already picked over too well to be of any use to me.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Maybe two a month on the road. Most are projects in random front yards

ricks89

theres a few here where im at (norwalk,ohio) mostly beaters. seen few at track nonstreetable . as far as nice theres 2 i know of that are pretty mint. mine just needs paint two little rust spots only 66tho on body. i know 1 really nice firebird pretty mint but thats bout it here

firbster

well up here in canada there even rarer , in fact i bought mine from new hampshire because the ones that are up here they are $3000-4000 more in price to one from the states in the same shape .. up here they rotted out 6 years ago...but the ones that do hit the wreckers usually have mint dash pads as we dont get the heat in the summer , i grabbed an extra and im looking for another ,, they dont come up often though,, i live in a city with 300,000 + people amd i know of about 10 clean cars in town ..theres a few rusty's still kicking around ...

bitchin_buick

Daily Driver... 91'WS6..... No salt by the Great Lakes...........

Gabe10

In my town there is only two daily drivers. My 91 RS and an 86ish Firebird. These cars are few and and hard to find.

ricks89

yeah gettin rare. seems like people who have them really not into them like we r. its just another car to drive when it gets to bad they get ride of them. heard a rumor that this junkyard couple miles from me has 5 of them 3 r suppose to b good shape. soon as snows gone goin to go checkem out. if anything good ill let everyone know. mayb few of you may b interested

Krik

iTrader: (4)

In Tulsa Oklahoma I still see quite a few of them. I make a game out of calling them out when I see them. My kids are getting into it with me.

There seems to be 2 classes of them. really nice ones, and really crappy ones.

I even saw a Delorian 3 weeks ago. It didn't even look that special, like it may be a daily driver.

Project 3.4 Camaro

That's pretty much what I see out here in PA, and I actually see more firebirds than camaro's for some reason, a lot more in fact...but don't even see many firebirds, and when I do its usually in a bigger part of town.

ricks89

when i got mine everyone said theres to many of these out there y would u want to build one. well i dont c what there seeing. granted there r many that r track only but not many on the streets i love these cars. i kinda like thats theres not many but at same time i would like to c a little more of them

Project 3.4 Camaro

Yep, and the ones that are on the streets are usually rough, in fact, I think I've only seen like maybe 2 nice 3rd gens since I've been driving, and neither modified, I've never seen one that looked like it had money into it.

ricks89

yeah like i said theres 2 here that r mint but one for sure has no mods. talk to him at mcds once. the other i know has a diff muffler sounds bout like mine but cant seem to catch him anywhere to talk to him. i did c one at the track this past summer (forgot bout ) that was like show rm . sounded good and ran round 14.5 he said just stock with exh. but damn was it shrap but he was just in town visiting relat.and told him he should check out track thinking he was from south mich.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

i walked outside, found 2 sitting in the garage.

lets see locally, a dark greed 82-84 bird down the street stock, origional, a dark green 82 camaro a little closer, beat, a blue/yellow/orange 82 maro in a yard locally complete, but in rough shape, white rs vert really sweet, copper/metallic orange 92 z8, modified, was a really nice car 4-5 years ago, hasnt moved in a while, wonder if its for sale cheap.... green 91 bird vert, clean, broken nose, white 85? maro !paint mod, red 91 all there, but original and a bit beat.

so there are quite a few around me that i know of, i know there are more. All these are within a few miles.

Gabe10

well i live in a town of maybe 3000 fyi

mister_hudson

iTrader: (3)

If I were to guess, after 18 to 28 years of these being produced they are probably about 2/3 of their original numbers - how many of those are actually worth driving has be a lot less!

It goes both ways - I like seeing them on the road for obvious reasons but with fewer and fewer in road worthy condition it make mine worth just a little more

I wonder if there is a way that one could actually get legit numbers from the Department of Transportation

ricks89

would b kinda neat to know. can anyone tell me y i cant respond to the guy lookin for console lid i just found him one on ebay for 35 bucks

ROCFATHER

I've seen quite a few in my area. But most are not as nice as mine! And I'm not saying my car is perfect either guys. I remember when I bought my first 3rd gen in 1995, it seemed like they were popping up everywhere. Several of my friends had some nice looking 3rd gens. I'm sure they wish they still owned them today.

92GTA

iTrader: (11)

I see them everyday around here, almost always ragged out. Over the last 10 years I've seen a couple really nice ones get driven into the ground. I'd say there are ATLEAST 100 registered thirdgens in Bakersfield still, granted some shouldn't be on the road and 90% of them are on the bad side of town.

Firebreather

I see many around but almost none like the third gens I see here at the forum. Many of them are all beaten down

89ROC-Z

iTrader: (7)

the more junk ones i see at the yard the better...get the beat up ones off the street then part them and crush them. leave the nice ones and the 3rd gen image will increase while prices increase

M20

I am from a town of about 300 and the town I spend most of my time in only has about 1800 people. I know of 5 3rd gens that are street legal. 3-89 firebirds, 2 have 2.8s the other has a 305 5.0 non orginal motor. the other 2 are camaros one I have no idea what it was other than a 87 v-8 (owner was stuck up and knew everything there is to know) the second one was my buddies believe it was an 89 or 87 but had a v-8 manual and once ran the quarter in 12.3 only had 75,000 miles on the orginal motor when he sold it. of those 5 two look like they have had money put into them, one was primered so he was half way there, the other two was factory paint and both had started peeling and chipping away. Sadly mine is one of the latter two.

I know of 3 that are just sitting in garages being worked on right now, I am working on my second one. The other two are camaros and seem to be coming along a little bit better than mine.

I spent almost an hour and a half on the phone today with all the salvage yards in a 50 mile radius. I talked to 12 yards plus I was at my local on saturday. so outta 13 yards only 4 had parts. two knew what parts they had, one was looking and the last one said he has some cars but they are in the back field and he has no cool whats back there. 5 interupted me when I said '84 pontiac Firebird and said they scrapped all of theirs, the other three didnt have any firebirds or camaros. The local one has about 15 firebird/trans am, I have walked around his yard three times in the past 2 months.

All i am looking for really is a front bumper assembly, and a passenger fender. outta 12 salvage yards only 2 think they have anything worth them looking at. I was saddended to hear this information as they are getting harder and harder to find.

Motopsyco

in my area there arent many at all, Once in a while i see a nice blue and sometime a red iroc cruise by, dont know them but must be local somewere, there was a beat up bird with sidepipes in gray primer I used to see alot but it vanished. I do find somewhat local ones on craigslist all the time though, usually under 1500 and something wrong with them. thats were I found my 89 bird I am fixing up, it was literally about one more issue away from being scrapped, so I bought it for $400. has many issues, mainly just beat up, but does run great for 160k miles, and everything original (not in a good way- everything is shot), has this fuel and crank issue I have posted about in other sections here on tgo, but for the most part I feel like I saved another thirdgen from a horrible ending. Odd thing I thought about after I bought my bird was that I actually parked next to it one night after work at the local party store a couple months before I bought it. I remembered that I thought to myself, wow havent seen one of those around in a long time, and recognized the loud unmufflered sound, and then realized after I bought it that it had the same 2 dents in the drivers side front fender I saw when I was looking at it in the parking lot, it was night out when I saw it then and day when i checked it out and bought her. so just kinda a funny coincidence that when I saw it in that parking lot that night I also thougth to myself "damn I'd love to get another one of those" and actually got the same one I saw when I thought that to myself

L0tuS

iTrader: (3)

today i saw two on the street and four in the junk yard

godreject

iTrader: (1)

funny....

campbellerman

I know of 6 birds within 15 miles of my house. My 90 T/A, 2 '89 GTA's a burgundy one and a white one, a white '87 firebird base, and a red '86 firebird v6, and a white mint 1991 GTA vert. the white bird was for sale. a buddy of mine has a nice '92 rs and a primer black berlinetta. the camaro's seem to be a lot more common around here in spartanburg county.

AmorgetRS

iTrader: (6)

Just a note... they didn't make 91/92 GTA convertibles.

campbellerman

It had the GTA badges on it but the owner probably stuck them on there. It is white with a beige targa top and gold crosslace wheels with WS6 center caps, and it is a 350 car.

Spikeophant

I don't see too many of them. Although I can't imagine they're becoming rare. They are difficult to find in decent shape though, I just finished my hunt and ended up with my 86, looking statewide I was only able to find a handful.

AmorgetRS

iTrader: (6)

Well, if it has a 350 then it really isn't stock. No factory Verts in 91-92 with a 350, either.

bitchin_buick

What did you pay for your 3RD?

mister_hudson

iTrader: (3)

Unfortunately it's true! I wish my 25th Anniversary was a 350 - but noooooo it's got to be a 305... And with 50k on the odometer I can't bring myself to pulling it... Quite yet...

matts86cam

iTrader: (1)

I work in 10-12 differnet towns with about 175,000 people combined and have never seen a clean third gen. (except in my garage )

I've seen 5 or six beaters around here in the past six years

Guest

Naturally, as time goes on the harder the third gen's will be to find. Attrition will reduce the numbers annually thus making them more scarce. I recently relocated from Las Vegas where I would only see a couple of decent third gens, now in Oklahoma I rarely see one. The only one I have seen is a black GTA which looks sweet, but that's it!

hatemail72

the parts are getting harder to find. When you do the want $ to the point it is looking attractive to get aftermarket at Ecklers or Year One your also able to do a cross research on gm product line at http://parts-catalog.acdelco.com/cat...log_search.php

GingerHunter

1991 Firebird (Peggy Sue)

I don’t know exactly how many are left on the road today, but I can tell you I have a 91 convertible with 148,000 miles that I still drive daily and I love my Peggy Sue