I Bought My Childhood Dream Car After Finding It 25 Years Later! First Start & Drive But It's ROUGH! 

Bring the T/A over to the kids house and help him swap the engine. Great learning experience for him and it will complete your journey from 25 years ago. Leave the carcass with him to sell the parts to make a few bucks. Your Mom would be proud and make a nice manicotti dinner for the family. Merry Christmas! 🎄

Thanks for keeping this channel not only about cars but about FIXING them. So many channels used to work on cars and now they're just about making content and only turn a wrench one in every 10 vids.

Alex, you are the king of turning lemons into lemonade. I agree with the others who pitched you not only surprising the kid with the car for parts, but helping him do the swap. Your dream car will live on and you've done a great thing in the process. Thanks again for all the awesome videos!

Car guys are the best type of people. They always help and even go as far as giving free parts to other car guys without even known them. I am so glad to be part of the community.

Beginning of the video: Wow, only $1500, can't believe you got it for that! 10 minutes in: Wow, I can't believe you spent $1500 on that car. Win some, lose some, glad you're able to find a good home for the engine, LSC doing wholesome deeds as always!

That guy just kept that car till the value and condition plummeted. I get projects that never get started/finished but seems like he was just hoarding it as if it was gonna miraculously fix and restore itself one day.

Wow man what an awesome guy, I just stumbled Apon your channel and I love your content and the fact that you are willing to give a car away to keep the car community going and inspire the younger generation is awesome, thank you

You're such a good person. Thanks for doing this for this kid. I wish someone did this for me when I was growing up. Good man. We apprieciate you

I had a feeling you’d end up with this. I’m happy to hear you’re giving it to someone that needs the engine 👍

I'm heart broken that it was in such bad condition, but happy that you got it to run again if only for a little while. I'm sure Mel will be happy to see it drive too, and if the kid with the dead engine ever gets back to you at least some part of this car may live on. Also, I know not everyone is down with mouse traps, but even if you want to go the humane route just make sure you put them along the walls and in corners where they'll run to stay our of the line of sight and act fast before they start to consider your nice warm garage their new permanent residence.

So glad to see you trying to work on this car. Its so sad seeing a lot of these cars rot away.

I applaud you. Congratulations for driving your youth car. One of my favourite cars ever too. Love the body, the big red lights, the pop up lights. That moment you talking to the / year old Alex...priceless. congratulations again. Drive it on video one more time please.

My first two cars were LS1 Camaros (Z28 and an SS) back in 2000/2001. Back then, the LS 4th Gen F-bodies were all basically brand new and I'd never seen one with high miles - seeing that undercarriage that I was once so familiar with just falling apart really hit me. Can't believe how time flies. Edit: seeing the poor old girl drive and try her best despite her condition was even worse, oof

Plumb the exhaust into the cabin and leave it running for a while, that'll sort the mice out.

Awesome video! Love Trans Am’s also. I’ve had a 1997 and 2000 TA in the past. Very cool of you helping out a younger generation.👏🏻

I don't know why, but from a purely mechanical point of view, this was among my favorite of your videos. Seeing it go from a hopeless rust heap to running well (albeit still not at all street safe), was deeply satisfying. The fact that you give it to a young guy in need makes it even better. Bravo!

As for the mice problem, I use a pop can on a wire across a 5 gallon pail with water in the bottom. Add some peanut butter on the can and make sure it can rotate easily. Self resetting trap!!!

Classic example of never meet your heroes Alex, I do feel your pain, there was a bike I saw everyday growing up and when I was old enough to ride I bought it, it's been off the road many years and was to far gone to be saved, I ended up using it for parts, broke my heart to do it. Anyways on another note, to get rid of mice get some traps and use peaunut butter as bait that'll catch the little critters.

Awesome, Alex. Super nice of you to help out a young enthusiast. 👍

Shawn Woods has a great channel that covers all kinds of mouse traps and pest control. He has a great video on bucket style trap that will work for sure on those mice. Good luck!

Before you give it away, pull those tail lights! They look like super clean 98-02 examples. They are 3-400 on eBay! Would recoup some of your $$ before it goes to parts car heaven!

Alex: "These F bodies are not that bad to push, let me tell ya!" Literally me pushing: ☠☠☠

I have a ls1 camaro and also did a few videos of getting it started from sitting 12 years and I gotta tell you it feels good to see things resurrect again. Congrats on getting the car started !!

One of your best videos yet, always enjoy your content. Too bad it's not worth totally fixing it up. Would love to see you part it out.

I had a 1995 Formula Firehawk WS6, LT1 with 6 speed manual, that car was the fastest darn stock vehicle I’d ever owned.

Alex, regarding getting rid of the mice: I would recommend the Classic Rat Zapper. I have used one for a long time whenever the mice try to move in. It uses 4 AA alkaline batteries and electrocutes the mice when they ground the contacts inside. I found the mice in our area (I live just north of you) really like cocoa puff cereal. A couple of pieces of cereal in the far end works like a charm. The mouse goes in, grounds itself on two metal plates, and dies quickly. Then you just dump the mouse outside or in the garbage.

Sad to see all the rust! Glad it ran for you! Enjoyed your video! Thank you for sharing!

Good to see you passing it on to someone in need, especially a young enthusiast, good karma bro. Watching from Mission Beach, Queensland Australia.

A really great donation to that kid besides that car would be a 24x conversion with a 411 PCM so he doesn't have to go through the Optus spark blues.... Watching this video reminds me of how glad I am that I sold my LT1 cars

Welcome to Legit Mouse Garage!! I hope you get all them little dudes out of your garage! They are cute tho! 😂

I just did the same thing. The car that made me fall in love with Monte carlos finally came up for sale so I bought it. It’s been 24 years of wanting this car and I finally got it. It’s rough but not too bad. 💪🏻 such an awesome feeling buying your childhood dream car

Just wanted to say that I live your videos and I think it is great that you do good like giving the cars to people.

A cat would make pretty quick work of the mice + they're always a nice addition to the family :). Just make sure to not have any loose coolant around!

Man.. that thing makes me feel REALLY good about my 98 Formula, even with the clear coming off, the bad fuel pump, and the broken rear diff. Welcome to the 4th gen club, mine was my economy car for long distance drives while I was in the military. Yeah a 5.7 LS1 is an economy engine. I think it needs a stroked 6.0 and a 9" because I have other stuff to do long trips in.

LOVE THAT CAR :) GLAD YOU HAVE IT NOW CANT WAIT TO SEE WUIT YOU DO WITH IT

Learning so much from you, brother! These videos are addicting!

I didn't get a notification for this video, but I saw your post on Facebook. I'm glad to see that you're going to turn this experience into a positive one. Great video, Alex!

Hi Alex. Thank you for all the enjoyable content you create. I have enjoyed and learned quite a bit by watching your videos. Im hoping you and anyone who reads this can benefit from my experience. I bought an auction car that I did not know had mice until I got it home. I struggled for months trying to get rid of them before I was successful and they did extensive damage to the wiring on the auction car as well as my daily. Mice do not have bladders. They urinate as they walk leaving a trail. The trail of urine is an attractant scent for other mice that can be picked up from quite a ways off. This means even if you get rid of the few that are in the car their urine trails or anything that they have urinated on like carpet, seats, etc. will continue to attract other mice. I do not wish to alarm you or anyone. My intent in sharing this info is to encourage you to scrub and disinfect anywhere you even suspect mice might have walked. What compounded the problem I had beside not knowing that mice urinate everywhere is that modern cars have wire casing made of a biodegradeable food based product mice can actually live on. Ingenious idea right? Many cars have suffered thousands in damage this way. There have been hundreds of law suits by consumers against car manufacturers that are easily found with an internet search. The manufacturers won and consumers were on the hook for the costs of the repairs. I hope you do not have the small problem turn into a months long nightmare like I did. In my experience I also learned that Honda makes a wire harness tape that is infused with capsacin to keep the mice or pack rats from eating and living on the vegetable oil based wire casing. Also in my experience that peppermint spray works well as a preventative measure. It does not work to overcome the attractive smell of their urine if mice have established themselves somewhere as they have in that TA. Until you remove and discard everything that is covered or saturated with their urine in that TA it is a big invitation to any mice downwind of it. Please learn from and benefit from my experience. Also please be sure to wear mask and gloves. Mice waste carries and spreads many harmful diseases that are highly transmissable to humans. Stay healthy and well please. Sorry to communicate this info to you that might be distressing. Im hoping you can nip it in the bud before it escalates like my situation did. Id also recommend not using the pellets that are an attractant that they eat and then die. They can eat them then crawl into a wall, hvac, or dashboard and die. Difficult to find and the smell is sickening. Best Regards.

Sup bud! Love your channel and all you do for everyone you can. Your amazing! I put moth balls in the garage. I never have any wildlife anywhere around the garage. Smell is a little strong but it works. Also shave a bar of Irish spring soap around the yard. Everything will stay away. Good luck!

Looks like a nice car to work on, I guarantee that when you finish you'll have a Sence of accomplishing the cars restoration ,you'll be very proud driving her down the street knowing you did everything to bring back a nice long gone but back trans am muscle car. It'll be nice to see it back on the road again.

LSC, it looks like the Philipino cat drove the car heavily during winter prior to parking it. Good thing you didn't pay too much for it and it kinda sucks that it can't be saved but it is what it is. I was going to suggest saving the Trailblazer he also had but that looks to be just as bad if not worse than this Trans Am.

My first car was an 86 IROC-Z with a 5.0 TPI. My second car was a 99 Trans Am with the LS1. Every day I regret selling either of them. The 86 was a little crusty, but those IROC-Z's handled great and sounded mean. The 99 was a money pit, but damn it was fast. My favorite pastime in that TA was smoking mustangs and the occasional jaguar that thought they had a chance.

You can always determine the coolest guys in the neighborhood by what cars he’s pushing down the street home. LoL Definitely another epic LSC video. Just remember to keep T-Tops as souvenir. You deserve the Momento. Lol.

I have a beautiful 88 GTA trans am I love more then anything my dad gave me for my high school graduation in 2010 Trans am are my life!!!

That's what every car looks like here in Manitoba, Canada. I like your channel as you deal with similar issues to us up here. Rust, cold weather and broken bolts.

I found mouse droppings in my garage last year so I lured one of the neighborhood cats in with a bit of food and closed the door on him. Let him out the next morning, no signs the mouse survived. Welcome to the food chain.

Yep! Sometimes you see what you want to see. They are/were fun cars!

The classic snap traps work great. If you have trouble with the mice snatching the bait without getting trapped, then bait the traps without setting the traps to gain their trust a few times and then set the snare. The glue traps in the big tin box trap works great also.

I am still amazed at your car finding skills! Congratulations!

Alex, I am not sure if this translates to F bodies, but my C4 vette with an LT has a Flood Start mode. You hold the throttle and clutch to the floor while cranking the starter. It deactivates the fuel pump, and allows you to crank the engine to get some oil pressure into the system. Saves me from having to remove the fuel pump relays. Hope this helps!

Alex-low tech-mouse control, spring trap, raw bacon tied on to trigger with string. Works every time, don't chew your nails or pick your nose.

I was super happy to see you bought it! At first, I thought... $1500!!??? What a steal!! Then you put it up on the hoist.... Dang!!!

Just when I got excited 😞. I hope you find another LT1 car to do a series on. Keep up the great videos Alex!

One of my high school dream cars also. Keep up the good work.

I really appreciate your latest video. I now feel like I understand what your life has been like. I have much more respect for you buddy!

Very good, thank you for the content, and yes, I really appreciated it!

What a score! Glad u are the one with it, only if I could find a deal like this😏😜 love the LSC content🙌🏻💯😁

Good Morning Alex! I'm going to love this build! 🤜⚡🤛🇺🇸

I got the last tire inflator! Thx for the code Alex! Great Christmas present.

Always been told to use Irish spring soap. Buddy left bars of it in his boat to deter mice. Come spring, the mice ate the soap and pooped green sh*t all over the boat. Not sure peppermint works either or if you are just adding flavoring. 😂

The seller made out well with $1500 in his pocket and a junker out of his driveway

I’m glad you bought it!!!!

Had a friend back in the 90s that bought a 95 FireHawk back in the day. Loved that car.

So happy your channel is doing so well.

Well done Alex !!! Looking forward to learn more from you and your projects

Cool I like the videos on this Trans Am. They were definitely a cool car when I was a kid, but I just like its what got you into cars. Ive got a few of them like that that were in my neighborhood. 240z and a Mitsu Starian.

I like when you listing issues for 40 minutes and on every one you adding on the end "but besides that is fine" :D True love!

The best way I've seen so far is peanut butter bait, roller pipe, ramps and a water bucket trick. You can buy it on Amazon for like 20 bux just need a painter's bucket. Kit comes with walk up ramps and a roller. Sean Woods is a YTber out of Washington/Oregon area. He reviews a lot of mouse traps and in his case, I would recommend that plus clean the bucket thoroughly wearing gloves before you set the trap. Mice are very sensitive to human smell and won't go near a trap if they smell you've been near it. Sean Woods might be able to help as well, though I know he deals with his family a lot, but you both could collaborate.

Wow! That escalated quickly from a diamond in the rough to the type of revival Vice Grip Garage does.

Love this channel ❤ I keep waiting for uploads lol

This episode was hilarious, only because I’ve been in the same position with 4th gens in the rust belt. The absolute coolest part was him donating to the kid if it ran. Great video

That’s why I miss my mom’s 96 Trans Am. The Chicago winters are brutal and the first thing to go are the brake lines from the salted streets.

Hey Alex! You should try hyflex gloves! They are really nice mechanic gloves and cost affective

Some new floor plans/rails & all new suspension/subframes & rocker panels & it’ll be good to go

I love watching your videos. You’re such a wonderful person.

my grandfather actually owns a bright red, 1996 trans am (with the convertible top). Theyre absolutely amazing cars. always been my dream to inherit it. We paid a good sum to get the top and interior completely redone (let it sit in the rain down in the humid parts of florida unfortunately) and were planning on getting it brought up here to where we reside now in Georgia. Cant wait to drive it again :D!

Keep it up love your work 🤛🏻

Cars sick af. I want one. Congrats.

I had a similar incident happen a few years ago. A couple down the road from me had a 85 Monte SS was able to buy it back in 2014 for a father son project. Got quite a bit of work done to it decided to pull the front clip and you could stab through the firewall with a screw driver. Shortly there after it got sold for parts a few weeks later. Broke my heart to see it end the way it did but it fueled my fire to get into cars.

Sad to see that TA all rusted out. Nice of you to give motor and transmission to someone that needs it. 😉✌️🎄

In terms of the mice situation, regular spring mouse traps work pretty good if there’s just a few mice. Just put a nice piece of cheese or ham on the trap as bait and they’ll eventually get caught. If you’re worried about there being more than like 5, check youtube on multi catch traps

I've got a 95 Suburban 2500 and I'd love to see you snag a similar car and go through different tiers of upgrades for performance and looks. Like "if you have 1000 to spend, these are the worthy upgrades" and kinda go up from there

I feel this. I had a super nice 87 trans am in my high school days. So many memories with that car. Lucky for me I was able to buy it and fix it up to near show quality while in high school due to some reasonable music success back then. Sold it in 99. Though about trying to track it down many times but I thought it would be impossible. But one night in a hotel room waiting for surgery the next day, I decided to try. I was talking with the current owner within two emails and one Facebook post. I'm in Iowa, car made it to California after a brief stay in Chicago then Colorado with the guy I sold it to. It still had the same tires on it! My custom color shifting paint was faded and clear coat flaked away. Interior looks like someone put two pitbulls in it and the pissed them off. It still ran but had the same gremlins it had when I owned it, even after I dumped a fortune under.the hood. It LOOKS solid as in still no rust but it would need everything, I can only do paint and minor bodywork myself. I wish I had the means to do everything myself. The car meant as much to my mom as it did to me and I'm giving her a kidney soon, so it'd be fun to share that rebuild with her because we haven't really had a whole lot to smile about in recent months. Unfortunately it's too much for me to do. I was super excited I found it. Then I saw it. It could be brought back, but maybe in another life, I could do it. Super disappointing. But, no mice!

I always thought the firebirds were just a little cooler, just a little more unique (grew up a ford guy), and as I’ve gotten older I’ve developed a weird fixation on the WS6 cars 🤔🤷🏻‍♂️. Having watched the first video in the series and the one where you explain how LSC came to be this second video was pretty cool. Can’t wait to see what’s next!

Most likely that rusted floorpan was caused by leaking t-tops and the car filling up with water. You could put a new floor pan in it, assuming your doing the work. Otherwise that could exceed the value of that car. Classic industries has all the parts.

Ahhh the wonderful, Heat and Moisture sensitive opti-spark... got to love engineers. Engineer 1 - "hey this heat sensitive moisture sensitive optical distributor works amazing, you should put it on that new motor you're designing, because its damn near impossible to beat its performance without some serious re-design of our engines" Engineer 2 - "Heat sensitive, and moisture sensitive... this sounds like we could profit cause it will go bad so often" Engineer 1 - "Yeah, and its made of plastic, with 2 condensation reliefs so you can actually fill it with water if you try, where should we put it?" Engineer 2 - "well, if i make the water pump extend outward, it might make it a little more fragile, and reduce airflow, and it would attach directly to the cam which sounds like its a performance upgrade" Engineer 1 - "Direct connection without gearing, that means no need for adjustment! We can advertise that" Engineer 2 - "yeah and if we keep the engine mounted low enough, that it scrapes puddles, and reduce airflow through the engine bay the car may go faster due to aerodynamics, until parts fail" Engineer 1 - "Were adding a lot of heat and moisture capabilities, are you sure this is a good idea" Engineer 2 - "yeah, cause this way its hard for mechanics to reach in and do anything. Also how about we scoot the motor back under the firewall so the spark plugs are extremely dificult to change" Engineer 1 - "you truly are an inspiration" Engineer 2 - "Thank you"

You and VGG are the best things on the innerwebs, good job

I'm not a big car guy, I just never have been. All I know is that when I was born my dad bought a 2002 WS6 Trans Am Firebird. He built it up and made a bunch of changes to it, and I loved the car. Trans Ams are definitely really cool, and it's nice watching you fulfill your dream car dreams.

I love F-bodys. Have to get one again. I bought a really nice CLK500 with a 7G-tronic last spring as I thought it would be as fun but my long gone Camaro -95 Z28 with a 6 speed was much more fun. Way less quality in most parts except mechanical where they are probably equal, but much more character. I'd be looking for a manual LS1 Camaro with some mods.

Regardless of the condition of the car. I think 7 year old you would approve 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

That young kid will def appreciate the "donation". Acts like that will produce gearheads for life. Good for you--and him. Maybe get him to make some vids of the swap in progress.

After watching the first video of this car when you washed it, I was hoping so badly that you'd buy it and have your childhood dream car. When I then found this one, I was so excited to see that you actually did buy it, only to have my emotions come to a crashing halt when I saw what the condition was. What a shame. Such a beautiful car. I've loved Firebirds and Trans Ams since I was a kid, and have a 98 Firebird that I purchased in 2000 currently and had such high hopes for this! But glad to see that the engine runs so well. Hopefully we'll see a follow up video of the engine running in someone else's car, keeping it's spirit alive!

Anyone other than a RU-vid would be wise to sell it for parts. That said, it's all there and with time and space one could strip it all the way back. With shrewd negotiations buying spares it would make an interesting rebuild series.

Definitely going to end up like Sam crack with a bunch of cars that never get finished 😉

Reminds me of a 1999 F250 super duty I bought. The 7.3 turbo diesel's a beast, like brand new, but there's more rust than metal on the body. I'm slowly rebuilding the truck a few pieces at a time, and cutting out parts of the truck and wielding new metal in a few pieces at a time. It's a long process, but a vehicle can be brought back to life with enough time, money, and labor.

I loved the engine exhaust. Amazing sound.

Currently own a 1996 camaro z28 with a Holley terminator! Would love to come check out some of your collection! I’m about an hour and a half south of Chicago!

Derek would get it running and drive it back to Minnesota (or wherever he lives now). 😂

This car to you was like my dream car, the 1968 Camaro I eventually got. The problem with these pony cars is the treatment they got from the owners(rough, fast, hard driving and marginal maintenance). Had they been treated as, say, Mercedes, they might've kept up their resale in the same way.

What a trip down memory lane. I have a 95 Camaro RS that I bought about 7 or 8 years ago. It was in very similar condition to your T/A, especially the floor pan and rear axle and rear subframe and rear inner wheel houses. The body, motor, trans and interior were in really great shape and I had spent $2700 on the car. Most people would have junked it or parted it out, well after about 6 years I got it completely rebuilt and back on the road. It is not a show car but just a reliable summer time daily driver, that with the T-tops out still manages to turn a few heads every time I take it out.