The 1980s represented an era in which custom colors and touches knew no bounds. From booming stereo systems to ground effects kits, the customization industry was in rare form and owners of everything from Jettas to Econolines were lining up to tweak their rides. This 1987 Camaro was personalized from the day it was new with a wicked paint job and killer stereo. It’s barely been driven in that time and remains in showroom condition. Find it here on eBay with a $36,500 Buy-It-Now and 19,611 miles from new.
Apparently, the custom paint job was done by a known-entity in the professional-grade automotive refinishing space known as Pete Santini. I can’t claim to have heard of him, but a quick Google reveals Santini Paint & Body is well known in the California hot rod community. The result here is fairly subtle and uniform, with the multi-colored scheme wrapping around the perimeter of the car. It’s not what I’d spend my money on, but it does look like a high-quality job and far better than those stupid vinyl wraps that are currently the rage.
The interior remains in excellent condition, but to hear the seller tell it, the stereo system is what you’ll want to focus on. Since it’s not immediately obvious there’s a handful of amps and subwoofers spread throughout the cabin, that’s a testament to the stereo shop that did such a discrete job of installing the Rockford Fosgate components. All of the original stereo equipment will come with the Camaro, but the upgraded system seems period-correct in a car like this. It originally had 18 speakers, now paired down to 16.
The seller notes that due to its long-term storage and minimal use, the Camaro underwent a stem-to-stern mechanical refresh – even going so far as to replace components that didn’t need replacing. The list is long, but all the basics are covered – cap, rotor, plugs, fluids, etc. The one outlier is the dashboard heater core, which may have failed due to inactivity. Hopefully, a coolant leak didn’t soak the rugs. While this Camaro is in a league of its own, the asking price may be tough to get if buyers don’t agree with the original owner’s style.
It’s ugly and after you get past that just a nice example of a 80’s camaro.the price reflects the intelligence of the owner.
Way over priced. I guess some one might love this generation enough to pay it. Having owned a few of them the last being a new 87 Iroc 10-12 thousand would be closer to a fair price. The dashes on these cars at 85 mph bounced and vibrated horrible.
Do the tops crack on these like the firebird-T/A ?
They certainly do crack. Frame connectors do help, but your best bet is easy acceleration. You CAN bury the speedo AND leave meat on your tires lol.
If the dash bounces and vibrates, fix it..
That’s what you do with the classics..
The problem is, they weren’t “classics” when they did this. They did it from new… I grew up when these cars were new. I graduated HS in 1989. I had a 71 El Camino SS. I thought I wanted an IROC. I test drove several and they all had the same issue as mentioned. I looked for a non t top 5.7 car for a while and gave up.
You have obviously never owned a 3rd gen Fbody. The steel cracks at the top rear window corners. Maybe not today – but it will soon. Tell us ” what to do with the classics ” when this happens dominik
Im restoring an 84 5 speed- it doesn’t have any cracks there and its lived a dang hard life. I also have an 84 TA and a 91 Camaro V6, and none of them have these cracks. But, whatever. Pretty much every GM truck from the 60s to the present rust on the rear arches immediatly after driving off the dealers lot when new- people buy the crap out of them anyway- (evidently GM thinks thats ok) To each his own- whatever is wrong with my 84, itll get fixed.
Really nice, but disappointing to see no third pedal.
I remember the IROC Z’s, all the 80s Camaros for that matter, and there were tons of these on the road. Best one had the 350/4speed automatic. This isn’t one of ’em…
Sure, it’s dated. Almost every surviving modified car represents a specific point in time and will look somewhat dated. That can be part of their charm since these cars directly tie us to memories from out youth. That still doesn’t mean the car is particularly valuable. The seller is fishing, he’s probably asking double what the car can realistically sell for.
Steve R
Is it the paint or the stereo that makes the owner ask big money?
Maybe it is the low miles on the dash.
Whoever took a gamble on this one to be worth big money in the future, lost.
Am I right saying the would be worth more if it was bone stock with 20k miles? I personally do not care for this paint at all. Just curious
As Frank told Tony in Scarface “Never get high on your own supply”. It could apply here. This is a $10k Z with a rockin stereo. From what the ad says I would guess that the stereo is the bigger draw than the car itself. These are dogs. I bought a new 86 and a buddy I worked with got a Mustang 5.0 Fox in 88. His was a stick, and by the time he got second gear, he was further and further away from me to the point where I avoided him for about a week after it. Same thing happened with a guy in an 86 Porsche 944 Turbo. He was gone so fast I had to turn off the road to avoid seeing him at the next light. The final straw was when a Ford Probe smoked me. I had a buddy with me and he had TWO people in his car and he pulled away from me. What a pig. It looked alright, but it had to be chipped and more to make it even close to respectable. Shouldn’t get more than $12,500.
Im not sure tacky customizations of the 80s have realized full collectable status. Apparently this seller has seen or heard otherwise.
This just proves how bad the drugs were in the 80’s
The car looks great love the paint and the stereo system is right for the year and even now I own a 1970 nova and loved the Camaro as well
I’m a 30+ yr. Custom painter. Vans in the 80’s -90’s/ Doin big Dual rear wheel RV’s. Now.This paint job looks terrible. Love this bodystyle..
I remember this generation Chevy Camaro. I grew up with this generation. I knew some people who drove a Camaro. I thought at the time it was the most beautiful version of the Camaro.
Maybe he meant to list it for $3650… That is a ridiculous amount of money for an ’80’s Camaro… as for the paint job, its like a house, just because you love the colors you chose doesn’t mean everyone else will when it comes time to sell.
Gees, i sold my clean new looking 84 RS V-6 5 speed Olympic Camaro for $5,000 back in 1990 with only 4,800 miles, with a new clutch, brand new B.F.G. Comp. T/A tires .
Bruce, why did a 4800 mile car need a new clutch?
About the RS part of your comment, I remember the sport coupe, Berlinetta and the Z-28, but not an RS for 1984.
Miguel, good question ! Well one day the clutch griped great as always. The next morning it barely could move the car at only 20 mph as it was slipping so bad. I took the car back to the same dealership where i bought it new believing the clutch had broke, not wore out. This was the third time for warranty work on this car as the original plastic looking clutch slave cylinder only lasted a month (plus a 600 mile trip to Reno, and barely back ), & 8 months for the second one. Third one was definitely aluminum, problem solved. So when they removed my clutch i was standing close enough to see pieces of broken clutch fall to the ground. I should have brought my camera phone oops i mean camera to document this proof for the warranty work. I thought they would be honest, nope! They show me a larger wore out V-8 clutch saying it was mine. I got so pissed off they had to call the cops to calm me down. As i was showing a cop the big clutch was to big for my bell housing, i was rudely told to leave by the dealerships manager without my car. Two days later my car was ready with a bill for $1,229oo dollars that i had to pay to get my car back. The cop did nothing so i didn’t feel bad when the check bounced a few days after i got my car back. Sure the bank gave crap, so i closed my account. I threatened the dealership that i would go to the tribune news paper near them. Covina Clippenger Chevy never got their money from me. I sold the car before it could get repo-ed from me, plus i needed the money because my evil Hitler loving boss kept me out of work for 3 months over my doctor approved Meds. It was definitely a Rally Sport. My lawyer friend had a cherry brown with gold trim 1976 Berlinetta in 1984 as he told me how to deal with this ordeal.
Oops, it’s 48,000 miles, but i usually get at least 60,000 out of clutches on my all my other cars. The Throw Out Bearing usually gets stuck on Borg Warner trans.front yoke first or just gets so loud first.
Bruce, the story doesn’t surprise me, but, I know it is too late, you should have taken it up with the area representative for Chevrolet.
They would have stepped in on your behalf.
My father was always the squeeky wheel when it came to things like this and after he bought my mother a 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham, he had a lot of contact with the area rep. One time they switched cars just so the rep could see what he was talking about as the dealership couldn’t find the problem.
Oh well, it is a different world now. It is much easier to tell your story to a lot of people.
Miguel, you’re so right, but back then i felt like it was me against the world. I still only drive used V-6 Chevy’s now.
Owner buried himself and now hopes to find a buyer that’ll undo the damage..FAT CHANCE.
I think he is going by all 3 low miles original to a point 80s car. The pete Santini paint is or was seen on many high end street rods of the era he has work together w other big names also such as goose anf coddingtin for u who get ur car culture from tv
No, I agree that it is 2 to 3 times market value. When I left southern Cali in about 1985, Pete Santini was one of the best Custom painters in Orange County. Did a lot of race cars and customs that were pretty awesome. Perhaps they had a deal with a volume dealer to make some cars “stand out” on the Lot. There was a huge Chevy dealer in Irvine that was pretty heavy into racing–but primarily off road stuff. Many dreams of big returns with folks who tucked vehicles away and/or put way too much money into a car!
The stripes were different and probably cool back in the day around SoCal, but that’s then. I’d remove the paint work and replace with IROC vinyl or painted graphics. Might even be able to cover up where the present ones are, once removed. I know it’s still just an over priced 3rd gen Camaro, but I think it would help move it. IMHO.
Back in the day my neighbor bought a new 1987 IROC Z convertible when his first daughter was born. He stowed it away in his garage to give it to her as her first car when she turned 16. I thought back then that she would be horrified to drive it.
I remember those paint jobs and more from the 70s growing up, I am selling off my old car magazines (in demand funnily enough) and stacks of Super Chevy, Car craft, Hot Rod and many others,,,
The Yellow-Orange-Red accents in various designs were popular and I admit I painted a few. (Those colors look WAY better in flames though), I was in the military most of the 1980s and LOTS of GIs had these cars,,My neighbor in the middle east where I lived off base had an IROC in blue w/white accents and when he PCSed to Germany sold it for a suitcase full of cash to some Greek or Turkish Mafia, Turned around and bought a grey market Porsche with the money up at Ramstein AB.
I see kids today who were BORN in the 1980s and many think this kind of thing is the coolest cars around, while many of us old guys think these are not classics they are to some!
I bet that thing was fun to cruise in blasting Van Halen, AC/DC and Judas Priest
Curious as to where you sell your old car magazines. I might be a millionaire (or thousandaire?!?!)
Sluggo,
THANK YOU for your SERVICE to our country. It is beyond appreciated! Hope your “magazine sellout” brings you the “fortune” you did not earn, that you should have, while serving!!!
As for the Camaro, probably sounds good, looks wise, not biting. Price wise, holy crackers! The seller is “California Dreamin’!!!!!!!!! (just my 1/2 cents worth)
I used to sell at an Automotive Swap Meet. I have been selling on eBay for almost 20 years. Magazines seem to have slowed down, especially “ordinary” ones.
Older ones, mid ’60’s, Super Stock, Drag Racing, etc.
Walt, there is many different strategies for selling old magazines and tech materials, But the direct answer is eBay mostly and Craigslist to a degree, Special interest forums have been very handy as well, Team Chevelle, Mustang, Olds enthusiasts,, or Motorcycle forums as well.
In some cases, I bundle 3 to 5 at a time and sell in one lot, sometimes by the issue, but I know of and sold a couple large stacks to some who
cut them up. It bothers me a little, but theres a few guys who find this very lucrative.
Heres what I have been doing. While the internet is great, not EVERYTHING interesting or useful is on the net and some real gems out there. So each winter I take boxs of magazines, flip thru and stick post it notes on stuff I want to save or is useful. Then I take the boxs down to a commercial print shop and I make photo copies of tech material or features I want. I also collect period ads for vehicles I have, and some of the ads are iconic such as the BSA or Norton advertising,
When I had a shop well before the net as it is, I noticed certain tech materials, manuals, parts books or other materials were hard to come by or find. I started reproducing materials that benefitted my shop customers. IE: Service bulletins and parts books especially. I saw some sellers on ebay as it grew become very successful repopping these as well, and for a while super CDs of scanned materials became popular, However the trend is back to printed books specific to each make, year & model. While interesting and a great reference do you really need the complete collection of Fisher Body shop manuals for every GM product ever built?
Swap meets have come back a bit and many are once again very popular, but not all merch is doing well at them, Lot of work to haul stacks and boxs of printed materials and few people want to thumb thru them, So internet is best for that kind of thing.
Feature articles on popular makes & models do well, I laugh every time Barn Finds features a Chevy Citation as I have a 1980s road & track with one on the cover, (Some stuff is just pure comedy!), But I know several people who cut up old magazines and part them out, feature articles in one pile and advertising in another. Break it down by category, Ford guys want period ads of their car to frame and hang on the wall, Chevy & mopar, etc etc,,, Bikers want the same.
Other products are not as popular but still some sell. For example Linda Vaughan, Miss Hurst, Miss Oldsmobile, Any thing with Jungle Jim and Jungle Pam, But period ads for oils, plugs or performance parts have value. I hate seeing a vintage vehicle parted out so it pains me to see a nice copy of a vintage magazine cut up, but some sellers make a lot of money out of one magazine if done right. I think James GT has like 3,000 auctions running and has software to manage it and has a nice steady stream of income coming off just period advertising.
I have made some high quality posters from some motorcycle ads, I know a Canadian who sells really cool Cheesy Movie posters he prints,, Sleazy Biker movies, Slasher films, Horror films, I have been involved in a number of estates and funny what some people will toss out, I scored a big stack of mint condition Cycle World magazines complete collection of them thru the 60s to mid 70s. I could sell those all day long.
Vintage chopper magazines from the 1970s are huge right now, Sold $400 of stuff to Japan last month. This winter I will be reproducing some period tech and setting up to do a variety of stuff again But I had to learn how to copyright some of it, and protect it from being mass produced. I had a lot of material I used to sell got copied by others and then resold. Theres a guy in Australia “Kim the CD Man” who is the worst offender.