I know there's going to be some around that arent well taken care of as they become cheaper, but my friend works at a local dealership and they get Z28's and TA's in all the time that are beat to hell, and i mean LS1's. There actually hasnt been a decent one traded in, there was a 01 WS6 i couldnt believe how bad it was, and pretty much all of them have some sort of body damage. Is it like this everywhere? Its kind of sad to see all of these cars that people just dont care about, i would think people would kind of care about their car being a TA or Z, but i guess not, I'm just tired of seein this and venting i guess, i hope its not like this everywhere tho.

 

First one I looked at looked excellent on the outside, interior looked like someone let a cat and dog loose inside. I almost walked away with that car until I let my dad ride in it and he asked me "would you have let the car get this bad if it were your car?" I went and told the salesman that and he told me "well you could fix it" and I told him take 5k off the tag and I would go fix it, he didn't think it was as funny as I did.

Next one I looked at was all around flawless outside and inside, had 56k miles and I had the feeling the previous owner knew it was somewhat a special car and took care of it.

Some cars are just cars to people, and to others, they are our hobbies and almost our children.

 

No its not like that around chicago suburbs, ive only really seen 2 beat fbodys but they were pretty bad. Theres about 5 fbodys at my school and my buddy takes a little bit more care of his exterior than I do(but he has more rock ships on the front of his camaro and that teal color makes it stick out) but there both close to showroom condition. The import scene is growing around here and the people that own fbodys aren't gonna let thta scene take the muscle cars over so they keep them in top shape, at least thats my opinion.

 

Or like a girlfriend because all my money goes into it...and the best part it doesnt talk back.

 

Well i pretty much baby my car and dont dd it but i still have rock chips all over the front and that pisses me off, didnt have hardly any when i bought it and ive only put 10k on it. But around town there may be a dozen LS1 f bodies, and the ones women drive seem to be the cleaniest honestly. I do realize those who dd theres arent going to be able to keep it perfect, but there's a few i see driving around and these trade ins that are unbelievable, my 94 blazer is in better condition than some of these cars

 

My Firehawk is pristine, but my daily driver '94 LT1 is a beater for sure. It's got 136k miles, cracked/discolored paint on the front nose cone, it wont rev past 5k rpm without the ignition breaking up and sputtering, and the steering wheel/shifter **** is all worn. I still treat it the best I can, but I sure as hell don't worry about it like my garage queen.

 

Yea thats part of the reason why I got ride of my T/A with low miles, I picked up a 98 Z28 same thing just as fast for almost half the price, sure its not perfect but you have to face reality if you daily drive a car ***** going to happen to it, rock chips, chance of door dinges exc. so Now I still have a nice car and gets ALOT of looks but dont cost as much and I dont worry as much b/c its cheaper

 

Man I know what you mean. Last weekend I drove an 01 white WS6 convertible. It squeaked and rattled like there was a mouse farm in the trunk. Then drove an 02 WS6 6sp that had 83k on it. The tach needle was broken and hung down in the oil pressure guage, voltmeter was pegged all the time, no stereo lights, seatbelt holder thing on the seat was busted off... salesman, "Cowboy," said 3 people have driven the 6sp and no one mentioned the tach didn't work LOL ...they still wanted $17.9 for each of them.

 

I have to disagree with that. I see tons of beat-to-**** F-bodies of all ages around the northern Chicago 'burbs.

It's sad really. Last time I was in the market to buy one ('04) I had to look for 4 months and over a dozen cars before I found anything decent. And that was 3 years ago. Then again, I'm super picky.

 

around here (kokomo, IN) the ls1 f-bodies are nice, some lt1s are nice, most are 50/50...and 3rd gens....junk... i drive a 3rd gen and its ok, not the best but it still shines when washed!! but the front bumper cover needs new clear/paint

 

I rarely see the 98+ cars that look to be in poor condition. Sometimes the 93-97s. It always seems like the ones beat up are the V6s. If you're talking 3rd gen, that's a whole different story. I almost never see one that looks fit to drive.

 

I bought mine with a very slight scrape on the passenger rear fender
and a shattered pasenger side skirt ,which i fixed with a lil bracket holding the skirt back on.

I would love to fix them but funds are short right now, and I wanted to go fast before looking good, but the car cleans up real nice.

Click the picture in my sig to see pics of my car.

Thats the thing about these cars, they are very delicate cars and it is crutial to up keep the maintance on these cars and wax them etc or they WILL fall apart on you. People dont realize this when buying these cars....

 

that's what's annoying...the people that treat their LS1's like **** make it seem like all LS1's are pieces of ****

 

I bought my Formula with body damage.. now it looks perfect.

 

When I was looking for one around here, they came in 2 categories.
1-Low mile garage queens that people wanted 25k on up (mostly on lots)
2-Beat, abused and not cheap enough to justify

The problem is around here, they are either toys that only see nice weather or year rounders driven like cavaliers. Seems like in the south you can actually find daily drivers that are still nice. Snow is a killer to exterior and interior.

My solution. Grabbed this on Ebay, flew to Houston, drove it back. I got it for around wholesale (from a private owner), it only had 19k, almost no mods (blank canvas), and was clearly well cared 4. Plus the options I wanted! I had only even seen 1 hardtop Z28 around here (actually it was an SS). Seems everyone gets them fully loaded around here.

Sorry, that got kinda long. Hope it answers your question.