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This guy certainly thinks so. My first car was a 3rd gen Camaro. I've tossed around the around of getting another for the nostalgia of it, but I could never ever see myself paying these kinds of prices.
Low mileage IROCs I can imagine may be pretty rare this being said I'm not real familiar with the platform so I may be wrong. These cars are approaching 30 years old and your going to start seeing a point in which the really mileage examples start to distance them selves in value from that of more of a driver quality. In my mind these are probably collector or museum pieces and the prices reflect that of someone who is trying to sell to these groups. My guess is they dont expect to sell to your average Joe and there is not to many average Joe's out there with the surplus of cash that would want to buy something of the sort. Again though this is all hypothetical so I may be wrong.
Fifteen years ago, one could still find decent driver 3rd Gen's dirt cheap for as a little as $700-$1,500. They have been very slow to appreciate. Those same, $700-$1,500 cars are more $3,200 to $4,500 cars now.
The pristine examples like the ones in the links definitely command a premium but there are a lot of very nice 3rd Gen's with under a 100,000 miles that sell for less than $7,500.
The L98 350 cars sell for more and the 305 TPI 5 speed cars sell for more.
Yesterday, I saw this car for sale and it seems sort of typical of $3,500 3rd Gen's.
Ten years ago this would have been a maybe ~$1,200 car due to the paint condition.
$3650 for this one owner, 86 TA 305, carburetor, 700R4, 79,000 miles
Last edited by 99 Black Bird T/A; Jul 12, 2018 at 07:21 PM.
There is no doubt, imo, they are creeping up. I have a real nice original paint/Interior 87 iroc. Early on in my 20 years of ownership, many car guys would turn their noses up. Now its the thumbs that are up.
I'm constantly shopping various websites in search of vehicles to flip or keep. I can't say for sure what these cars are going for, but there is zero doubt the asking prices have gone up.
All the third gens that I see for sale around me seem to linger for quite a while. I think maybe the higher asking prices are more indicative of where the economy is at versus where the value of where these cars is actually at. I like the styling but the performance is pretty weak by today's standards. I think I might pick one up and LS swap it for fun. Even a 5.3 would be better than anything that came from the factory in that era - other than the 3.8 turbo Indy Trans Ams, which I would not mind owning.
All the third gens that I see for sale around me seem to linger for quite a while. I think maybe the higher asking prices are more indicative of where the economy is at versus where the value of where these cars is actually at. I like the styling but the performance is pretty weak by today's standards. I think I might pick one up and LS swap it for fun. Even a 5.3 would be better than anything that came from the factory in that era - other than the 3.8 turbo Indy Trans Ams, which I would not mind owning.
You sort of hit the nail on the head, and this is the same reason the later C3 75 to 82 started going up in value.
People like the look of the cars, but not the performance, but to get a car that is worth swapping is getting harder and harder. In the late 90's you could pick up a decent running 75 to 82 vette for nothing (I paid 2K for my 77 decent DD, mechanically sound but maybe not great paint). Now that same car goes for $10K easy. The same thing is happening to the 3rd gen Camaros now so many are beat to **** so the good ones are getting snapped up by people that will engine swap em and stuff since they are still a relatively cheap platform to do it to.
I had a third gen 1991 Z/28 Convertible with a 305 TPI 5-Speed from the the factory. It was bright red with red interior and a black top. I spent two years restoring the the interior, paint and top. It looked brand new when I was done. Put a new clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing in it. Installed the Hypertech Stage 2 chip, 160 thermo and fan switch. I loved that car. Then the cam started walking in the block. I traded it for a 2001 Mustang GT Bullitt in November of 2001. Wish I had held on to it. Oh well.... Live and learn.
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