Tag Archives: vehicles

This 104-Mile 1987 Chevy Camaro IROC-Z Is a Time Capsule with an Ambitious Price Tag

The Chevrolet Camaro has spent decades perfecting the art of looking fast while standing still, and few eras did it with more attitude than the third generation. Boxy, low-slung, and unapologetically Eighties, the Camaro IROC-Z wasn’t just a trim level—it was a statement. And every so often, a survivor surfaces that reminds us just how sharp these cars could look before time, mileage, and questionable modifications took their toll.

Case in point: this 1987 Camaro IROC-Z, a car that has lived an almost suspiciously sheltered life. Since leaving the showroom, it has reportedly covered just 104 miles. Not 104,000—104. That’s barely enough distance to warm the oil, let alone scuff the bolsters.

Instead of heading to a polished auction platform like Bring a Trailer, where this kind of low-mileage unicorn would feel right at home, the seller has chosen a more old-school route. The car is currently listed on Facebook Marketplace in Bradenton, Florida, quietly waiting for the right buyer with both deep pockets and a strong sense of nostalgia.

According to the listing, the Camaro was originally delivered by Modern Chevrolet in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and has spent its entire existence tucked away in climate-controlled garages. If preservation were a competitive sport, this IROC-Z would be on the podium.

The IROC-Z badge—short for International Race of Champions—was more than just decals and louvers. Chevrolet gave these cars meaningful hardware upgrades, including Delco-Bilstein shocks, stiffer sway bars, improved braking, and a visual treatment that made standard Camaros look positively plain by comparison. In the late 1980s, this was as close as you could get to a factory-handling package without stepping into full-blown racing territory.

Buyers back then had a choice of two small-block V-8s: a 305-cubic-inch (5.0-liter) engine rated at 220 horsepower or a 350-cubic-inch (5.7-liter) version making a modestly higher 230 horses. This particular car gets the bigger engine, paired with a four-speed automatic transmission driving the rear wheels—exactly the configuration you’d expect from a muscle car of this vintage.

Unsurprisingly, the car appears virtually untouched. The deep red paint still shines with the kind of gloss most restored cars struggle to replicate, and the original wheels and tires remain in place. Inside, the gray-and-black interior shows no visible wear, looking more like a museum exhibit than something designed to endure decades of use.

The original factory invoice lists a purchase price of $18,000 back in 1987. Adjusted for inflation, that works out to roughly $52,500 today. The seller, however, is aiming considerably higher, with an asking price of $92,500—territory that puts it above even a brand-new Camaro ZL1 1LE.

That’s a bold number, no question. But then again, cars like this aren’t really about performance, value equations, or rational decision-making. They’re about restraint. About what happens when someone buys a muscle car and—against every instinct—decides not to drive it.

If you’ve ever wondered what 104 miles of ironclad self-control looks like, this IROC-Z is your answer. It’s a Camaro that’s barely stretched its legs since Reagan was in office—and it’s asking you to pay dearly for the privilege of keeping it that way.

Source: Facebook Marketplace

The BMW M2 CS Is Performance’s Best Bargain

BMW has been stretching the meaning of its M badge for so long that it’s easy to forget what it once stood for. The letter now graces everything from fire-breathing SUVs to luxury convertibles and even the polarizing, bespoke XM—a vehicle that feels more like a statement piece than a driver’s car. None of this is inherently bad, but it muddies the picture.

Because when you close your eyes and think “M car,” you don’t picture a two-and-a-half-ton crossover. You picture something compact, rear-wheel drive, and slightly intimidating. You picture cars with short names and long shadows: the E30 M3, the E9 CSL “Batmobile,” the lunatic 2002 Turbo. Machines that were as much about intent as output. Cars that demanded a modern successor, not a reinterpretation.

That’s where the BMW M2 CS comes in—and why it feels like a small miracle.

This isn’t just another trim level with bigger wheels and darker badges. The M2 CS is defined by a thousand tiny decisions, each one sharpening the car’s focus. On their own, they might seem incremental. Together, they transform the M2 from a very fast coupe into something genuinely special. Special enough, in fact, that it earns the title of favorite car of 2025.

Start with the hardware. The suspension springs are shortened and stiffened, the track widened, and the entire running gear recalibrated with a singular goal: better communication. The engine mounts are stiffer, anchoring the straight-six more firmly to the chassis, and the result is a powertrain that feels less like it’s bolted in and more like it’s been grown there. Output climbs north of 500 horsepower, but the headline number matters less than how immediately and cleanly that power arrives.

Then there’s the diet. Forged wheels shave unsprung mass. Carbon-ceramic brakes reduce weight and refuse to wilt under abuse. A broader weight-saving program trims fat wherever possible, leaving the M2 CS a full 150 kilograms lighter than the all-wheel-drive M4 Competition. That’s not a rounding error—that’s the difference between a car that feels quick and one that feels alive.

And you feel it everywhere.

Turn the wheel and the nose responds without hesitation. Load the chassis mid-corner and the car settles, balanced and composed, like it’s been waiting for exactly this input. The rear end isn’t wild or snappy, but it’s honest, communicating grip levels clearly enough that you instinctively trust it. Each tweak—springs, mounts, track width, weight reduction—plays its part, none shouting over the others.

It’s the cohesion that stands out most. Modern performance cars often feel like collections of impressive parts held together by software and hope. The M2 CS doesn’t. Everything here is rowing in perfect time, pulling in the same direction. The engine’s urgency matches the chassis’ confidence. The brakes feel sized not for bragging rights but for repeated, punishing use. The steering, finally, feels like it belongs in an M car again.

What’s remarkable is how rare this feeling has become.

In an era of inflated curb weights, digital filters, and six-figure price tags, the M2 CS delivers something purer—and does it for under £100,000. That figure still isn’t pocket change, but in today’s performance-car landscape, it feels almost reasonable for something this focused and complete.

BMW may continue to expand the M brand into every corner of its lineup, and that’s fine. But cars like the M2 CS are the reminder of why the letter mattered in the first place. It’s compact. It’s rear-wheel drive. It’s unapologetically serious about driving.

And in 2025, that makes it feel less like a product and more like a promise kept.

Source: Autocar

Ferrari HC25 Could Be the Brand’s Next Bespoke Supercar

Ferrari doesn’t do “quietly,” and it certainly doesn’t do “small plans.” The company has already gone on record saying it intends to roll out as many as 20 new cars by 2030—an eye-popping cadence that works out to roughly four new models a year. Against that backdrop, a recently filed trademark for the name Ferrari HC25 has set the rumor mill spinning, and for once, the speculation feels justified.

At first glance, HC25 doesn’t fit neatly into Ferrari’s usual naming playbook. It’s not a revival of a historic badge, nor does it follow the alphanumeric logic of the company’s core lineup. That’s important, because in Ferrari-speak, odd names often signal something special. Traditionally, designations like this point toward a one-off—an ultra-low-volume, bespoke creation commissioned by a single, very important client.

Ferrari has plenty of precedent here. The brand’s modern one-offs have become rolling expressions of wealth, taste, and Maranello’s willingness to indulge both. The recently revealed SC40 is a prime example: a modern tribute to the iconic F40, clothed in bespoke bodywork but built atop the bones of the 296 GTB. Underneath, it kept the donor car’s carbon-aluminum chassis and 818-hp hybrid V-6. Above that, it wore a body no one else on Earth will ever own.

HC25 feels cut from the same cloth. The “HC” could easily be a client’s initials—Ferrari has done this before—and the “25” might reference 2025, an anniversary, or some private milestone meaningful only to the buyer. Ferrari isn’t saying, and that silence speaks volumes.

What the HC25 almost certainly won’t be is a clean-sheet car. Ferrari doesn’t build entirely new architectures for single commissions, no matter how deep a client’s pockets run. If this project materializes, expect it to borrow heavily from an existing platform—likely something mid-engined and already hybridized—while differentiating itself through a completely unique exterior and carefully curated interior details. In other words, familiar mechanicals wrapped in couture sheetmetal.

One curious wrinkle, though, is that Ferrari didn’t just trademark the name for a car. The filing also covers lifestyle goods like phone cases, sunglasses, and bags. That’s unusual territory for a one-off, which typically lives and dies as a singular object. It could suggest that HC25 is more than just a private indulgence—or it could simply be Ferrari being Ferrari, locking down every possible angle before anyone else can.

Of course, it’s worth remembering that trademark filings are promises of possibility, not guarantees of reality. Automakers register names all the time that never make it past a legal database. HC25 may ultimately amount to nothing more than a protected idea.

Still, when Ferrari starts stacking trademarks alongside aggressive product plans, history suggests something interesting is brewing. Whether HC25 becomes a rolling sculpture for a single client or fades quietly into the archives, it’s a reminder that in Maranello, exclusivity isn’t a side business—it’s part of the brand’s DNA.

Source: Ferrari