The other day when I showed you that Firebird limo for sale, I found it from a link at its picture posted at the Cohort by canadiancatgreen. But I failed to keep looking: Dave T., who built that…thing…has decided to become the king of F-Bodies. As in fields of them.
So that’s where they’ve all ended up. Is the demand for these and their parts on the upswing?
Parking for their service department. Well, their little chance I’ll find my way there.
Perhaps he’s speculating these will one day be as valuable as the ’67 to ’69 models?
This sort of makes my head hurt.
The collectible of these is on the upswing. Had a high school classmate of mine buy a pristine IROC Z that he always wanted back then. And paid a pretty penny.
I remember the 1970’s Camaros not being very desirable for a long time and now they are selling for respectable money.
It looks like he has cornered the market for sure. Best wishes to him.
David T’s business has been around for several years and doing well with little or no advertising. The sprawling operation is located in a west Edmonton business park. I’ve cruised by on occasion and once dropped in to enquire about a couple of complete and running Camaros.
With the low Canadian dollar this is the place to buy Camaro or Firebird parts or perhaps a complete car or body shell.
I imagine the stored cars will sooner or later get real rusty in the Edmonton area given the weather and being stored outdoors. My last time to Edmonton (10 years ago – cold winter), I remember lots of ice, snow and very frigid temperatures.
As dry as it can be during the summer, yes winter takes its toll. If one wanted a particular generation of body shell to build up, one would have to examine it very closely.
There’s an all Fiero lot that looks similar to this outside of Huntsville, Alabama.
Those 80s Camaros and Firebirds were always extremely appealing to me. Having been in high school in the late 70s/early 80s, it seemed everyone wanted a Camaro or Firebird. By that time, at least to me, the 70s iteration seemed to be “long in the tooth”, and never really appealed to me, anyways. I was dumbfounded at how good the new generation looked when it came out in 1982. They made the new Mustang, released for 1979 (which was a hit IMO), seem…cheap. They will be serious collectors items, in my opinion.
They’re okay, but they’re mostly nostalgia pieces as collectibles. And teenagers wanted SUVs 20 years ago, not musclecars, so there isn’t that much nostalgia. Chevy, Ford, and Dodge are building brand new cars for that nostalgia market. But there are plenty of hotrodders who will need fenders and trim in the foreseeable future. That’s the market.
It was definitely a good styling job by GM on this generation. They have some popularity today, as stated above. If you’re a car guy who grew up in the 80’s, chances are you have a soft spot in your heart for these. But as cars, they will never have the appeal of the 60’s/70’s models. With so much more power and pre-regulatory charisma, those models will always be more popular among collectors and F-body fans.
Serious collectors items??? Only if the Gen X generation steps up and starts buying them up. No one else is going to be buying many of them. Once the Baby Boom generation passes the scene, and who kept the car culture alive, that their father’s returning from WWII created they too will pass. In 21 years, when I am 85 in 2039, my five will fade off into the sunset.
I’ve looked at some Gen 3 Camaro/Firebirds – biggest sticking point for me has been the interiors. GM evidentially spared no expense finding the cheapest, least durable grade of plastics, carpet and headliner for the Gen 3s. Otherwise I think the 80s Camaro is a nice looking update of the basic shape of the Gen 2.
Cat herding.
“spared no expense finding the cheapest, least durable grade of plastics . . ” I like that phrase. I take “expense” in this case to mean effort and not money.
My father bought a 1992 Buick Park Avenue Ultra. He got a great deal on it because it was a courtesy car from a recent PGA golf tournament. It even had a “commemorative badge” on the C-pillar. It was, in most respects, a very nice car but the interior, for what was Buick’s ne plus ‘ultra,’ (pun intended) was pathetic. It looked like something Mattel tossed out on a bad day.
Yeah that generation Park Avenue was really appealing. Buick was still applying the Electra formula that was so successful in the 60’s (thinking of yesterday’s Electra article) with a fair amount of success still. But a FWD V6 car with an overly plasticy interior will never have the appeal of the classic ’60’s cars.
You are very correct that the interior was cheesy in execution, but I have to say I have always liked the design. The full width dash flowing into the door panels was really good looking and the amount of fake wood was just about right, not too much, but enough to give visual appeal.
I do agree the design of the dash was nice and the fake wood was restrained but appealing. I should add Dad kept the car for 12 years (meticulously maintained and garaged as always) and it was still nice looking when he sold it. Of course, in Texas we don’t have to contend with northern winters and all that means e.g road salt.
This place has 1500 of them aperently some even for sale
You know, we once, around 1984, had a field filled with old VW Beetles, Citroen 2CV’s and a few Fiat 500’s, and they all got crushed when the area was developed for housing. Would have been worth a small fortune now in parts alone. Just like this guys Camaro’s will be.(and probably already are)
There is a flip side to that, however (at least in the US). Whatever those cars and parts may be worth will almost certainly be lost against enviornmental cleanup costs and the following decreased value of the actual land in today’s world. It’s quite the rabbit hole, but some of the stories out there over this subject are downright frightening in that regard. Just recently I read of a story of a man in MN who bought a circa 1940’s lake home in the 1980’s. Recently he went to do some upgrading that had to do with the foundation. Found out it was stacked old lead batteries filled over with concrete. The house is literally worth nothing now as it has to be disclosed, and the land isn’t either because of the cost to safely remove and clean up the lead if one were to change anything now that its known. $350k+ evaporated into thin air. My takeaway from it? “Buyer be extremely aware” with anything revolving around property.
This reminds me of two places I know; one is filled with Sentras and the other with
Kia Avellas (aka Ford Aspires).
This is just a part of it a half block away there is even more of them in a smal corner lot full of them