Then the 90s came around and I entered high school. I remember GM debuting the redesigned Camaro. They basically took this car and inflated it to cartoon proportions. They removed all the style from the interior and made it a overly glossy mess.

A friend of mine had an 88 RS with t-tops in high school, this was 1995 or 1996. It was cherry with 30,000 original miles and a 5.0L V8. It was so much fun and everyone had great memories in that car.

I had an 80s muscle car in high school myself, by my senior year I had scored an ‘87 Grand National with 11,000 original miles. Just in time for prom. It’s the car that gave me my username, but I guess that’s a story for another Capsule Review.

However, I have to admit that as a high school student in the late 80’s, I really wanted an IROC. That said, I also wanted things like acid-wash jeans, Big Gulp’s and girls w/bangs styled like cockatoos. In the interim, things have changed…and I seldom if ever see a Camaro from that time that has aged well; alas, meth takes another innocent victim.

BTW: Can’t you just build one of these cars from scratch solely from a J.C. Whitney catalog? I swear you can do it w/a late 60’s Mustang…

I remember those “Apex Tech” commercials with the guy who looked like everybodys’ shop teacher in HS! I remember one of his ads for the welding school part of Apex Tech. To paraphrase he says “anywhere in the world you find two metals coming together, you’ll find a welder”. Really? Not a baker?! “And when you leave Apex Tech you’ll have your own set of tools! LOL

From AutoTrader…

1985 – 1990 models for sale in Ontario

Mustang/ Capri – 22
Camaro/ Firebird – 18
And for fun
Accord/ Civic – 9

Not bad for a junky car

No. Just No. It WAS MOST CERTAINLY NOT the “Best handling car on the planet”. MAYBE better than a G-body. The Fox was a better Chassis, and had better handling. Virtually every car on the market handled better than the Camaro did, even an Accord from that era would run circles around it at an Autocross. The handling is/was terrible, their are hundreds(Literally) of better choices than an IROC. The Corvette from that era was not a great handler either.

The 82-93 F-bodies were light years ahead of the 71-81 F-bodies in performance and handling. However, the durability of those early newer F-bodies was poor. They didn’t get better until much later in the production run (after 1990 I think). My ‘83 (w/305, 5 speed WS6 suspension, posi, etc., but NO T-tops) held up pretty well considering the abuse I put it through, but in the end it was more fixing than I wanted to deal with.

To be fair, the Job 1 1980’s Fords weren’t all that fabulous either. I had a 85 Capri RS (same as a Mustang GT 5.0) that absolutely fell apart, in the second and third years of ownership.

I was initially fooled in the first year, since nothing serious went wrong with it, I bought an ‘86 model. However the ‘86 went three years with (practically) no issues. I only sold it because our first child was on her way and we needed baby stuff, and a 4 door car and/or minvan. I’m sure many of you can relate…

The T/A was a much better handler, but the Fox was faster. A couple of years ago I drove an example of each of the cars I used to own (at a used car lot), and quite frankly, they sucked. The T/A rattled and shook, and the Mustang ran out of gears (and brakes!) way too soon. Both of these were nicely kept examples of the breed, neither one was a junker.

But, it’s like the old saying, you can’t go home again.

Amen to that. At least back then Ford took its “Quality is Job 1″ tagline reasonably seriously. 80s GMs were the epitome of cheap plastics and the IROC was no exception. Paint fade was rampant, seats developed holes faster than an NRA target, and exhaust systems would rust-through like crazy.

Mustang LX 5.0s had their way with them.

IROC = Idiot Retard Out Cruisin’

Truly, anywhere outside of the USA (or Canada), this car probably pulls in a lot of attention.

I see plenty of Fox-body Mustangs around, and I don’t live in California. Ford build quality was better than GM’s in the 1980s.

tigeraid: The F-body was the all-around better car in every aspect (interior being subjective), the Mustang was the better 1/4 mile car.

The Camaro was the better “performance,” car, while the Mustang was much better to live with on a day-to-day basis. Better interior layout and much better “real world” (meaning, off the race track or skidpad) ride-and-handling combination.

What was with the door design of these f-bodies? Inevitably the doors would sag in their openings and require lifting the rear of the door to close.

I guess weak hinges and an 8 foot long door just don’t work well together.

-ted

Mustang more sophisticated? The engines were virtually equal in terms of performance, with an advantage to the Chevy in terms of fuel economy, while the Mustang was lighter.

The fox-body Mustang was, from the start, a drag car chassis that could barely get out of its own way in a corner–the front suspension geometry in particular was designed to transfer weight right off it and onto the back tires. Most modern fox-body road racers switch to an aftermarket k-member that completely redesigns the front suspension pickup points. The F-body was the all-around better car in every aspect (interior being subjective), the Mustang was the better 1/4 mile car.

What made most f-bodies flimsy and creaky were the T-Tops… option a car without them and things improved dramatically. And, like most unibody cars, a set of sub-frame connectors for $50 significantly improved torsional rigidity and turned the car into a completely different animal.

I know that doesn’t mean much; there are some pieces of Detroit iron over here, but I just thought it funny that the photo for such a quintessential “American” car was taken in Europe.

Miata is a chick car, Camaros are for mullett-tard rednecks, Volkswagens are for gay guys….blah blah whatever as far as I am concerned. Sometimes you have to endure some unflattering assumptions about yourself by others if you want to drive a car you like. The Camaro had it’s merits depstie the reputation.

I had a low 13 sec Turbo Regal. With the chrome trim. All my friends with the IROCs, GTAs, GTs couldn’t keep up with my Old Man’s car.

@joe_thousandaire:the 3.8 turbo model is still the hottest Camaro ever.

No such animal. You might be thinking of the ‘89 Pontiac Turbo TransAm. Easily the best 3rd gen F-body, the best of both worlds, Buick Grand National power (GNX-spec!) in the far superior F-body chassis, with the “race only” 1LE goodies to boot.

My buddy from high school in the early 90s bought an 88 IROC A4 with the 305 with Tuned Port Injection. My 89 Mustang GT was so much faster as it was a 5 speed with some bolt on mods but his car handled so good. I couldn’t believe how quick the steering was and how flat it took the corners. It also had those great ttops that I don’t think he ever had on the car. They were always out.

Another friend of mine had an all black 91 Z28. It looked menacing with not only that wicked “killer face” but even the windows were blacked out. The “5.7 Tuned Port Injection” badge on the back always got my respect. That car was super fast and was an easy match for the Mustang. We used to swap cars and got crazy. I’ll never forget him in front of me in the Mustang lighting up the rear tires from a left turn light and getting sideways while I did the same in the Z28. Or running a marked off quarter mile behind a business park for a drag race that was dead even to the finish.

The 91 was better built than the 88 IROC as GM added glaze/putty in the manufacturing to help with creaks and chassis flex for 91-92.

Then in 93 we got the world beating 4th gen Z28, Trans Am and Formula. A real mind blower for a fox body Mustang fanatic. Here it was Ford was carrying over the 5 speed/302 while GM had 275 hp Camaros with 6 speeds. I was sold. 4th gens are one of the best values for the money ever, even with the passenger side floor hump. :) I drove two, a black 98 Trans Am and 00 Camaro SS. I still miss them.

The 91+ police package RS/350 would hit 150mph. The 3rd gen could move. I still have dreams of one day building a black 3rd gen 91-92 Firebird and adding a Buick 3.8 liter, (er, litre per Buick) turbo V6 with around 500bhp. Upgrade the suspension, brakes and wheel/tire combo, add a chassis stiffening roll cage, subframe connectors and all the other Firehawk stuff and insure it as a V6 Firebird. :)

Prudence won out, however, and I knew I would just get arrested in that thing, so I ended up with a 1992 Chevy Cavalier Z24, but man this post gives me warm feelings all over and happy memories.