I feel the need to grow a mullet....

Seriously though, it is a really nice day out and I have been contemplating my youth. This has led me to thoughts of cool convertible cruisers for the wife and I. For some reason the two cars I can't seem to get out of my head are the third gen camaro convertible and the early sn95 convertibles with the 302. Two cars I have nostalgia over from the high school parking lot and was considering as a cruiser. Talk me out of this craziness. Is this a terrible idea or what. My recollections of third gen camaros with broken door handles and dollar store interiors are slowly coming back to me, but I can't help myself. Personally I blame JG and that foxbody photoshoot I saw recently.

I love the way the 3rd gen looks but could never own one unless I could commit to a full pro-touring build because the 305 is just so mehhh.

The sn95 302 cars are very interesting to me. They are cheap and seem to have significant potential. And weirdly I think they're getting cool again since there are so very few clean ones running around.

Convertible 3rd gens arent all that common, has the production numbers.

Conversely, in 1995 alone Ford made 18.5K convertibles with a V8

Also, as I recall, third gens with a stick are more uncommon than mustangs with a stick.

Both will be a flexi-flyer (not much chassis rigidity), I would probably do subframe connectors in either one.

I admit to being biased, my mom had a 94 V6 convertible and I have my 97 Cobra. A good friend has a number of third gens. I have always found the Mustangs to be MUCH more comfortable. IIRC, the Camaro you have to get out to put the top up and down, whereas the Mustang had a power top that was put together much better. Working on both my friends cars and my own, I find myself saying "why the heck did they do it that way" on the camaro much more often than the Mustang.

Camaro- non-rack and pinion steering, silly exhaust design, massive floorpan bump for exhaust, feet straight out in front of you, etc..

Mustang - rear suspension design, and only smaller detail stuff like silly cup holder.

But again, I am biased. Mustang was my first car...

Vote for the Mustang. The Camaro may be the better car for all I know, but the weird floor-pan arrangement required to accommodate the catalytic converters and how it intrudes into the seating area always bothered me.

The Mustangs are plenty fun if you need a muscle car fix and just the hunt for a really nice unmolested one could be entertaining in itself.

Either one would be semi pro-touring or restomod. With the Camaro, a 350 swap and with the sn95 gt40 heads and an e303 seem fine. Some handling mods for either and, of course, sub-frame connectors. This would be more make is not suck to drive than corner carver, I am picturing more of a drive to the beach or ice-cream shop with the family kind of car. The handling will taken care of elsewhere. I am not completely opposed to an auto in this type of car, but we will see. Anything else? I was reading about chassis flex issues. Do the ASC conversions just suck as a convertible? I have never actually seen a third gen f body droptop in person, but tend to think factory is better.

i love the way my POS '86 Camaro drives. it handles great and corners like a beast since putting in all new IROC replacement springs along with the steering box and hollow front sway bar from a WS6.. yes it's got creaks and rattles and yes the floorpan was designed by the special needs division of GM, but i still managed to get full length Hedman Hedders, a home made 3" in/2.5" out X pipe, and dual Flowmaster 4 series delta flows under it without any ground clearance issues. the X pipe hangs low under the trans crossmember, but it never hits thanks to the stiff springs. that vortec headed 355 backed with the T5 is a fun combination with the 3.42 gears and factory locker differential out of an '02 Z28.

my 4 month old daughter loves riding it it, she can be the biggest crabass in the world and always shuts up and coos when i fire it up..

My friends Dad had a '96? Or maybe '98 Cobra convertible. That thing was a hoot to cruise around in!

sanman wrote: Talk me out of this craziness.

Ah, hey-ahl no.

Never drove a 3rd gen Camaro, but I once drove an SN95 vert, 302 car. It was a pretty nice driving car as I recall.

Do it.

I was trying to sell an E36 convertible once. Guy that came to look at it drove up in a blacked out new edge cobra convertible with one of those basket handle roll bars and a lot of tire under it. I always thought it looked pretty sweet.