Gbrammer

I have a 1985 z28 camaro with lb9 engine, overdrive transmission cherry wood dash , t-tops, canadian dash i wondering should irestore to orginal condition or custom trying to add value for down the road. In stock form fun car good fuel mileage hwy gear 3.23. I guess what i am asking is this car going to build value or is it going to be a son car beater years to come

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

You'll get varying opinions on this. Personally, I think these cars are a good value right now, and set to increase in price in the coming years.

Your '85 has some desirable features. If it's in clean, original condition, I'd be tempted to leave it largely alone. Small, easily reversible mods should not have an impact on value, especially if you have the original parts to put it back if a buyer desires that. Clean originals are hard to find.

Gbrammer

Thank you for your reply. I traded a 1965 chevrolet truck for it this car is nice i dont tegret it at all. When i got this car it get excellent fuel mpg runs good very surprised still has orginal paint i im trying to find balance because i would like to sell it for some profit not over indulge it is easy to do with that car

hillntx

When I see people asking these questions I look at the trends for previous muscle cars to guage what will hold its value. Base model cars typically have no chance for significant value increases other than if the whole model increases kind of like 6 cylinder Novas or base model Chevelles. If you have a low mileage, very clean inside and out, all stock Z28 I would suggest maintaining it and keeping it stock. If you have the typical high mileage, faded paint, worn interior Camaro - you pretty much have free license to do what ever you want. Z28s were almost as common as Sport Coupes.

Gbrammer

Hmm that all rite too i wondering should i considering buying a 1986 iroc camaro look better than mine but it has nonorginal 350 but a good looking car garage kept the iwner just doesnt have money barely getting by

Phenom-1

Sure, depending how much he wants for it.

Gbrammer

$3k from what i gathering everyone want irocs even though the 1985 z28 was lighter but i trying to look at these as potential investments for years to come

Phenom-1

My aunt had an '86 IROC-Z all original 305 TPI automatic in Bright Red and today if it's in immaculate condition like a garage queen in showroom condition it could fetch a good price especially if it has low miles, that's a main selling point (low miles) around as much as $15,000 but usually around here 305ci Irocs with over 120,000 miles on the odometer sell for around 3,500 in good condiiton bodywise, but the interior might need to be replaced and it will probably need a new paintjob.

So if you're looking for one to keep as an investment I'd look for the ones loaded with the most options, the rarest and cheapest I could get my hands on.

Gbrammer

Hmm i was at car shows i was getting idea that these car would start commanding some money in 5 to 10 years as people finding harder to get

Phenom-1

Usually there's not a lot of profit to make from these especially if you have to invest to get them in showroom shape. But if you get lucky and get one of the rare fully optioned most appealing ones at a good price and you hold on to it you could score a home run in 10 years.

Like mine for example, it's a 1992 Z28 25th Anniversary last year of the 3rd gens, fully loaded from factory with all options (except t-tops) hardtop, 5.7 TPI Auto and I've kept it 99% stock and plan to keep it that way forever, the only aftermarket modification of course is a Flowmaster 80s series Exhaust so it will really wake up and roar, it's in storage now due to gas prices and budget but everything works on it like new, clean title never been in an accident, the interior is in great shape, and it still has the original paint but it's already fading and chipping being a 22 year old California car all we get is Sun 92% of the year. So it's already a hard to find a rare & desirable Z28 like mine in all original condition but mine has it's flaws like needing new paint and having a lot of miles, around 191,000 original Unrebuilt miles.

So because of the new paint job needed and the high mileage mostly, the value that mine would have demanded like around 15-20 grand has come down to between 5 or 8 grand max.

Gbrammer

I really appreciate the info it hard to go into this with a good source. I realuze that it will be hard to find the low miles car i can hope for a couple thing usually that someone has done the work and run out of money plus most custom guys want these car to get thier projects started i just hoping for strong return with money input from me but i do have a son in years to come will probably demand a car to drive ha ha

Phenom-1

I hope you have a lot of gas money saved up.


But if you look in this topic here you should be able to see some of the nicest rare fully loaded and desirable Camaros and Firebirds. Just to get an idea.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto...-original.html