My first encounter with the darkside...

[turbo39151]

Many years ago, somewhere around 1990-1991 I was cruising the streets in my 85 Camaro (berlinetta v6 yes, I know it was slow but It was tricked out and looked pretty mean- It was all Black with these large ground effects, Iroc hood, twin exhast tips on either side of the rear, blacked out windows, and 85 Corvette rims with Goodyear Gatorbacks)

Anyway, there I am just driving around and I pull up slowly to a stop light while eyeballing the car to my left who was already sitting there. I saw the huge tires out back and the car seemed a bit jacked up in the rear. I figured it was just some stupid black Monte Carlo (I'd kept up with these before so I figured I'd give it a try).

It was probably around 7-8pm and already dark out. Since I had blacked out windows and he did too, I did not see a driver. As is my regular practice, I turned off the radio, dimmed my dash digital dash lights and depressed the brake so as to prep my power brake launch from first gear.

I checked all my gauges. Eveything looked good but then I started hearing a slight whistling sound. I was a little concerned because I did not know what it was and I started to frantically recheck all of my gauges. I then cracked the window a bit and heard that it was coming from the black car next to me. "That's odd", I thought... (I had never seen of heard about a GN)-

Anyway, it was then in that instant that I noticed the small bulge on the hood and some shiny writing on it... 3.8L.... - I had no idea what I was in for.

All this time I had been bringing up my rpm's and the rear tires were straining to break free.. I was going to lay the smack down. That is until the light went green and time stopped.

Have you ever watched star trek where the captain says "engage" and the ship shoots off into a hyperspace jump? Well this is exactly what happened. The light went green and all I saw was a flash and the black car was gone. My car squatted and launched harder than it had ever launched. It chirped in 2nd and 3rd through he light and kept pulling all the way till the dash flashed
"85". The guy in the Black car had already slowed down so I could catch up. It was ugly. Worst beating- the last beating I have ever suffered.

The following day I was hunting the local autotrader to find one of these souped up Monte Carlos.

As it turned out, I discovered the difference in the TR and Monte while looking at a Black SS for sale. About 6 months later, when giving my uncle a ride to his house, I spotted a Black T-Type for sale in a small car lot. I borrowed a few hundred bucks from my parents and made the final payment on my camaro and took the title directly from the bank to the dealership and bought my first Turbo regal... We were responsible for a few more stories of terror and destruction which I will share later...

[waddell87]

I love it Great trip down memory lane and at least your honest about your car at the time. LOL

Funny, I just seen one of those camaro's at the track last time out, All decked out,hood,pipes,rollbar, wheels,butterfly intake out the hood.I thought, for sure 12 sec car. Nope. talking to him I asked..."no. low 14's" what will yours do. ahhh, 11's. insert(drop of the jaw here.) to funny

[waddell87]

Did yours look somthing like this?

[turbo39151]

Actually, the one in the pic is an 82-84 Z28 Model. You can tell by the Nose and front ground effects. Also, he has a huge cowl hood. Mine was a stock Iroc hood with the twin louvers. I purchased the fiberglass ground effects kit from some place in TX. The standard size of the Iroc from lip is like 2-3" mine was like 6". It sounds wierd but it was pretty damned cool when it was all put together. I also had the front and rear lights blacked out too.

Still, the one in the pic is kind of close to what I had. It was all show and no go. When I bought the car I was still in high school and I needed my father to co-sign for me and while my preferences were fast cars like the z28, trans-am, 5.0 mustang, and corvette,- my father's standard line was "that's too much car for you right now" (If it weren't for my parents fast car "issues" I would have had a 69 Z28 or a 68 Firebird 455 for my first car, as it turned out I was "forced" to buy a 1982 VW rabbit 5-sp diesel. It was so gutless that if you turned on the A/C, the car would nearly stall...
(It was pretty good on gas though- I drove from MI to FL with $22 in diesel fuel in 1989)

Well, I've shown them! All my cars are either turbocharged or supercharged. I refuse to drive anything that is gutless...

[waddell87]

I fig the pic to be sorta close though

Ya. my first would have been the early Z28 too. Beautiful. I settled for what I could afford. A 1972 Mazda RX3, Went good for a young guy, but nothing like a big Displacement engine.

[turbo39151]

Well my plan was based upon my father's suggestion. Basically, he stated that he would match whatever I earned toward the purchase of a car. I had saved up about $1200-1500. You've got to keep in mind that I was still in school, in a small town, working part-time earning $2.00 per hour. It was quite a feat for me. At the last moment my Father decided that the $2500
Z28 was just too much car for me to handle. It probably was, but where the heck am I going to find a sweet 69 Z28 for $2500 today?

Oh well, if it wasn't for that, I may never have come over to the Darkside...

[DailyDrifter]

you had a v6 camaro? was it the mighty 2.8L rocket?, I had an 88, bright red, iroc hood, AR 5spoke wheels, a sheep in wolfs clothing. I would never look over at other cars that might want to race because this thing was so slow, but I had to hand out neckbraces because of all the headturning

[turbo39151]

Yes, it was the mighty 2.8L. I tried to get more info on hot rodding the car but this was well before internet and anything that might be offered was pretty pricey and basically useless for power. The aftermarket only supports the powerful cars.

While I wanted a fast "muscle" type car, my interests were more geared toward chicks... That car did it's job flawlessly, T-tops and a nice system-I was pretty popular for a while...

[usetaboost]

Ahhh the third gen camaro Love the look, but hate the power and crappy build quality. I had a 86 z28 tpi car that was teh midnight metallic blue color. Very rare color actually, almost black. Had grey interior, driving lamps, all power except seat and was a later model so it had the 145 speedo and the top-of-the-hatch mounted brake light. Don't worry guys, youdidn't miss out on much with the v6 cars except being able to burn through 1st and halfway through second (auto). At least you guys had the FI v6s. My brother had a 84 that was carbed. Holy hell I've never driven anything so guttless in my entire life except for a N/A 3.8 regal . My buddy had a 91 RS with the 3.1v6 and auto and it got up and move fairly well. I was impressed. And could ddrive forever ona tank of gas. THe chicks would dig the camaro but they really seemed to like my regals way more, the SC was Show quality so it was always a chick magnet, but they like the beat up black one I got now too. I did a cheapo build up on my TPI car and was not impressed whatsoever. I also had 2 other camaros, one was a plain jane 82 grey/black inside that was a v8 conversion. No a/c, radio delete, no defrost, no tilt, delay wipers, vinyl seats, ya know . Other was a silver/brown 84 z28. Nice car actually, till it got reared. COuld never tell though, but it was still slow as hell with a goodwrench 350. Don't even car to drive the 93 TA right now. Brings back haunting reliability/driveability issues Scares me to get on it thinking its gonna crap on me. It's slow anyway

[1chance]

That was funny!! (I heard a whistling sound, and started checking my gauges.)

[usetaboost]

That is funny . Reminds me of my buddy's RS when he would floor it it would make a funny whistle sound. I'd yell "It's spoolin' up and I have nothing to hold on to"

[usetaboost]

Not to sound like a dumb ass but what are the antenna feelers on the back of that camaro for?

[DailyDrifter]

"It's spoolin' up and I have nothing to hold on to"[/quote]


Hilarious

[henschman]

while getting chicks with a nice car might be kind of fun, they aren't usually the ones you want. Anyway, how is that a challenge?

What I used to do is take girls out in my 1990 civic sedan that has no hood and is spraypainted black with the previous yellow house-paint paintjob chipping through, along with mismatched rims and usually no muffler. It's what I like to call the "materialism test." If a girl will still go out with you after you take her out in that, odds are she is pretty damn cool. lol.

And if you find a girl that thinks a rusty, dented, white g-body with 275s on the back is sexy, then you've found yourself a keeper.

[Saladin45]

Bahahah. Henschman, that was good.

[turbo39151]

Spring Break Chicks are temporary anyway

[turbo39151]

The only people that appreciate these cars anymore besides us are the ones we destroy...

[waddell87]

Originally Posted by usetaboost

Not to sound like a dumb ass but what are the antenna feelers on the back of that camaro for?

I haven't Got A CLUE..LOL never asked him, I didn't like the car so kept convo to a minimum.