I am looking at purcasing an 87' GN that was stolen and set a blaze. Here is a link to pics of the vehicle. http://moldy.net/bgn/grandnational.html
The interior of the vehicle does not look that bad considering the fact that it was set on fire. The fire looks like it was mainly in the right front protion of the interior. I know I will have to replace the interior which I dont really care about. My concern is with the electrical problems that will come from the dash. It is melted. The guy is asking 3,100 for it. He says there is 52,000 miles on it, and the body looks pretty good. Do you think that it would be worth it at this price? How much would all of the electrical wireing, interior, and such cost me. Also I am by no means a mechanic or electrition, however I am pretty good doing anything as long as I have some instructions, and I can use tools. I am looking to invest 5,000 in this thing to get it on the road, and I don't want to sit in my garadge for two years ether. Am I nuts here? What will it take to get this thing to run, money and time wise? thanks for the help!
ouch. Sorry dude, but I wouldn't pay more then $500 for that thing. It looks like it has been sitting for a while and it has got a real funk to it. I had to take my dash out once I can tell you that the stuff behind there is no walk in the park.
I was just checking prices on GN's (in Florida) yesterday. You could prolly get one for $5k, $10k or $15K depending on the condition. The $5K ones didn't look that bad.
(flame suit on)
If you ask me, most GN's are over priced.
If I had to do it over again, I would buy a turbo-t for real cheap and just black it out. (you can buy the GN emblems if you wanted). You could probably buy a turbo t for 1/3 of what you would have to pay for a GN.
I bought a fairly nice '87 grand national - not a blacked out ttype regal! for 5500.00 w/125k miles on it. The interior is near perfect, the engine and tranny are both in good condition - rear end is rusted and may have to be replaced and it has a few body issues, but overall in really good condition for a 14yr old car. I have it tore down and am replacing all worn parts outside of the block - intake/maf/turbo/dp/exhaust and all the needed goodies to go fast - but I'm leaving the heads on, only mods to engine is to replace the valve springs! I don't think GN's are over priced, just some individuals asking more than they are worth and others willing to pay. It's called Supply and demand in the open market!! My advice - forget some burned out husk - spend 5-6K and buy a good car. You can drive it while you save for the mods as you go - much more fun/enjoyable that was for sure. Don't make the mistake of jumping into a deal without doing the research! Good luck with your future turbo buick.
Don't bother. If someone invested their time, and took off all of the good parts and sold them, they probably wouldn't get $3800 for them, and that is if they did the work for nothing. You would need a complete interior, probably all of the wiring harnesses, except for the tail light one. A new computer. He said it might be OK. Yah right, not if it was hot enough to melt the windshield. Oh yeah, and you would need a windshield, a roof, and he never listed the miles did he? Save yourself the aggravation and buy something that is running and running good. They are nice cars, and do cost a bit, but nothing compared to the time and money you would have to put into that thing. My opinion?? Don't buy it.
Brian
brian, well first of all DONT BUY IT, and next if you did good luck finding all of the parts as the other guys saidit needs a whole lot of work i just sold a 1987 gn for $3600 and it needed seats that car was scarry fast, it had 85 on the clock it was a bank repo, i bought it for the seats for my 85 that was a recovered theft ( i paid $900 for that) just wait and dont be in a hurry trust me you will find what you want, oh btw a friend of mind said he has a 87 with 80k he is ASKING $7500, said it is in great shape, so i dont know where your from and no im not trying to sell you a car just steer you in the right direction
scott