If you were a Chevy performance fan in the 1980s, and you couldn’t swing the admission price for a Corvette, the Camaro IROC-Z was your chance to have most of that power and performance for fewer dollars.
Beginning in 1985, RPO B4Z, the IROC Sport Equipment Package (IROC stood for International Race of Champions), found its way on to the Camaro order form. A $659 option, the package included special front struts and springs, Delco-Bilstein rear shocks, special rear springs and stabilizer bar, higher-effort steering, increased caster, front frame rail reinforcement, Goodyear Eagle P245/50VR tires on 16×8 aluminum wheels, fog lamps, chassis tweaks, and a unique graphics package. The IROC option was not a standalone package, but one that could be ordered on Z28s. It became its own package in 1988 and remained so until its end in 1990.
Camaro IROC-Zs were impressive. They would run seven-second 0-60 sprints and pull 0.92g on the skidpad fresh from the showroom floor and were under $20,000 brand new. For the time, those were pretty decent stats. Because of this, most IROCs got hammered. If you were a high school or college-age gearhead in the 1980s or ‘90s, you likely saw it first-hand.
This Camaro IROC-Z being sold on Bring A Trailer was a one-owner prior to the selling dealer’s acquisition last month. It is accompanied by all the Point-of-Sale literature, Certificate of Origin, window sticker, clean Carfax, and a clean title from the State of Massachusetts. The price on the window sticker is just $18,659.
Bright Red over a black-and-white cloth interior, it is equipped with glass T-tops, rear window louvers, the optional 230-horsepower L98 Tuned Port Injection 350 backed by the 700R4 automatic transmission and a limited-slip diff. It looks to be wearing period correct Goodyear Eagle ZR50s, which miraculously show no signs of cracking. The odometer reads just shy of 440 miles (436 to be exact), with 50 of those coming from the seller.
Scanning through the pics, there are few signs to indicate the Camaro IROC-Z’s age. Some delamination can be noted along the A-pillars and base of the windshield. There looks to be a poorly matched paint touch-up just fore of the gas filler door. Aside from that, the rest of the car is gorgeous. The two-tone black and silver stripes that circle the car are flawless, and the contrasting black inserts for the headlights and driving lights/license plate surrounds just pop. There are none of the usual curb or parking barrier scrapes that so often attend cars with long, low front overhangs. Turn signal and driving light lenses are all clear, crisp.
There don’t appear to be the usual telltale heel scuffs on the door sills, wear on the driver’s side seat bolster, scuffed pedals, or steering wheel wear found on any other car that has seen use. The rubber weatherstrip presents as new. Even the door jambs and doors are glossy red. The engine bay is tidy, correct, and complete. The undercarriage is as spotless as the rest of the car.
Someone is going to buy one of the lowest-mile Camaro IROC-Zs in existence. At the time of this writing, the bidding has crested $55,000, and the auction ends on December 14th.
Comments
$55 k, someone with $ to burn or still rocking a mullet!!
My Brother had a 1991 RS he bought new. 5-speed manual, no T -tops. Aqua with grey cloth interior. As a nice looking Camaro.
Looks good but I’d rather find an similar Z28 or Iroc with high mileage, throw an LS or crate SBC and save $thousands.
Wow, all it needs is an LS7 crate motor. That girl would sing.
Finally, these amazing IROC Camaro’s are getting their proper dues after many years of being abused by some of the public that only saw these as vehicles purchased and owned by those who either wore a mullet, drank profusely and lived in the Southern part of the Good Old USA! Not sure where this sort of thinking came from, but in truth, these 3rd generation F Cars (Pontiac Firebird too) were a lot of “bang for the buck”…just like the same generation of Mustang 5.0 GT’s and LX’s.
As a young (er) Van Nuys, Los Angeles assembly plant employee (1966-1992) working within the plants Inspection and Quality Control Engineering and DVT (Dynamic Vehicle Testing) Departments, plus being on the assembly plant team that brought the highly popular “RS” version of these Camaro’s to fruition back in 1986 (and the amazing “Tract Designed” 1LE Camaro’s) I have a lot of respect for these particular generations when equipped properly and then maintained properly through the years. These Gen 3 Camaro’s could also make very decent everyday drivers and although there were some obvious built in “design flaws” that cheapened this car in some cosmetic ways plus some warranty issues throughout the years that also caused us some grief, plus no matter how well we would design or engineer our vehicles, remember those ever present “bean counters” at the higher levels of GM that had a lot of control over what we could actually design into in our F Car’s…there was a limit on how much the public would pay for one of these cars when loaded up with options and…also remember that it took years to bring a completely new product to market, it’s not an overnight procedure especially back in the early 1980’s! We had to build what we had to work with, we did the best we could back in the day.
So go ahead and point a finger and laugh if you feel the need to, but we knew that we had a winning F Car combination considering the segment of the marketplace that we had to play in. Those “Fox Body” Mustangs were a force to be reckoned with, we knew that going into this segment of the market, but still, I feel for the money that we delivered a decent product, both cosmetically and mechanically that has withstood the test of time.
As far as this particular vehicle being shown here, I find it odd that it was not produced with power windows, and the larger wheel and tire combination, those rear window slats were another oddity, they were very heavy and they made the already heavy rear backlight (window/hatch) tough on those pneumatic struts that held the hatch up, not to mention when lowering hatch. However, those few things aside…an amazingly low mileage vehicle, can’t figure out how someone would have bought one of these Camaro’s “back in the day” and not drove it, and then parked it! Sure puzzles me today.
Oh well, it is, what it is…not sure of the asking price, I saw a crazy figure in one of the responses, jeeze louise, I hope that figure was wrong, I can’t believe anyone would pay that much for one of these Camaro’s, even with this low mileage, but then again, if that’s what you want and you got the cash burning a hole in your pocket…then by all means Go For It!
One thing I can say that’s positive about our GM products over the years…the ability to add new and more modern performance enhancements like 6 speed manual tranny’s, LS Power of every description, upgraded suspension parts ect. ect. makes these products sort of a “King of The Street Mods” segment of the marketplace, and when done properly can give you an amazingly engineered High Performance Product that can “keep up with the best of them”!
Good to see our products finally receiving some positive press. both on the street and at the auctions where some of these low mileage Camaro’s, properly maintained and with low mileage of course and in excellent condition, actually bring higher prices than their respective year production Corvette counterparts! Pretty cool…I never thought that would happen, but to those folks who appreciate these particular years of the “last of the 3rd generation Camaro’s in IROC and Z-28 form” I think you’re getting more than your money’s worth. It’s a great Bang for Your Buck car that’s hard to beat now days.
Well said great cars I had two of them probably should’ve kept them both yes I saw that no power window option right away why would you order a car with everything else and delete the power windows makes no sense price is a little heavy probably worth about 40 max nice story about the car
Most likely reason that the car was ordered w/o power windows is the person that ordered this car had problems with the motor or switch on other cars and didn’t need the aggravation again. I know I have had problems with pw s on past chevys I’ve owned.
dealer probably gave 15k for it
I started in the GM dealer biz in the summer of 1988 as a parts driver. I am a third-gen Camaro fanatic, and in February 1989 we got in a load of Camaros, 4 were IROC’s. I got to watch them unload then I got alot of pictures as they were before they got to PDI. This article brings back memories of that day.
is it still up for grabs
I thought this car was sold a couple of months ago
i dont know but do u know if it is still up for grabs
This car was sold 55K
j,en n,ais une iroc z1989 la septieme construit sur la ligne de montage avec le 5.7 et oui elle prend nde la valeur mais je serais curieus coment peut t,elle valoir elle est manuel et full équipe et s,est la premiere fois que j,écris sur se site
I have a 1989 Iroc-Z Coupe with 39,000 miles. I’m the only owner. I don’t drive anymore and have it in the garage; and was wondering what it’s worth. The only thing wrong with it is I think it needs a heater coil. Everything is original, Any ideas?
Are you looking to sell once you find out what you can get for it? What color do you own?