Thinking of selling the GN

[turbosam6]

Don't get me wrong, I still love the car, but I never drive it, for fear of breakage. It seems like every part is skyrocketing in price, the events are getting smaller, and we have kind of a small vendor selection. I wish my car was stock, I would enjoy it more. I toyed around with the idea of putting it back to stock, but its too much work. It would be easier to sell it and buy a stocker or just not buy another TR. I have about half the money in my Z28 as I have in my GN. The Z is faster, cheaper, more reliable, and has a booming aftermarket. There are countless vendors and get this, you can still get parts for them!

The downside is the camaro is a cookie cutter car, while the GN is different and rare, and going ever upwards in value while my camaro drops. Also the TR community is awesome, something I've never experienced with mustangs, F bodies, etc. I just can't bring myself to actively sell it. I don't need the money, although the space would be nice. I always said if someone would give me $25K for it it would be gone. But for $25K you could get a stage 2 car.

The GN has turned into a "collector" car, and I'm just not a collector kind of guy.

 

[broke1]

I know what you mean Sam

And it seems the only to choices we have are to either give the cars away or let em just sit there.Nobody wants to spend a lil more on modded car

 

[zam70]

Sam - You are facing the EXACT dilemma I did when I decided to sell mine.
I was to paranoid to drive it because of everything I had in it...it was truely sad that I worked so hard to make something so great and in the end it just became a source of stress for me (and yes, I seriously stressed over the car) - it had to go, I didn't want to but, for my sanity, it had to go.

Luckily, a close friend of mine bought it (Steve, the guy at Elite who worked on your car) and I am still heavily involved with it BUT, all the stress is GONE - it's a wonderful thing (for me).

I sold it amazingly cheap (because of who I was selling it to) and he has done wonders with it (performance wise) because he isn't totally paranoid about it (although more paranoid than I've ever seen him about anything). - We discovered that YES, it will in fact pull the front wheels WAY off the ground when launched hard (something I would never do).

I bought a cruiser Bike and have never been happier...

It's just the curse, you build something the way you want it - then stress out that you'll destroy it...
I still love these cars - there's nothing else like 'em...

 

[turbosam6]

Thats sounds cool Scott. I don't think I would want someone close to me to buy it because it would break my heart every time I saw it. Then if some dumb ass bought it and hurt it I'd have to kick his ass. Its like when you're with a girl you know you should break up with but you don't want anyone else bangin' her.

I'd never get what I want out of it anyway. Honestly I think its worth about $20K right now. I have more than double that in it. I have so much time and money in this car that the paranoia is killing me. I get downright nervous every time I turn the key. My camaro, on the other hand, is more fun. I suppose one day it will break on me and the cycle will begin again. But I have visions of that car getting relieved of its street duty one day and becoming a single digit car. I want another one to drive, it'll be stock. ish.

 

[dgreen1069]

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one with these issues. I made the mistake (for the second time) of buying a virtually perfect low mileage original car. Like the rest of you have said, I stress a lot about what could happen to it everytime it leaves the garage. On the other hand, I bought a Goldwing three weeks ago and have had a blast riding it around. I have more miles on the bike in three weeks then I have on the GN in 6 months. I want to sell the car, but I can't motivate myself. I had a couple of guys interested, but I decided I'd try EBAY first. Now I can't motivate myself to put it on EBAY. I guess in the end I don't want to see it go. I know it should, just for my sanity and the spot in my garage.

 

[TurboJunky]

I've had my share of extremely low mileage Turbo Regals and quickly found watching them sit and fluxuate in value was like watching paint dry. I couldn't bring myself to drive such low mile cars and devalue them.

I decided to liquidate my 424 mile GN and ultimately get my current car which is still almost 100% original but with higher miles. Personally, I LOVE the white + WO2 combo and wanted one just like this for many years. It was 1/3 the value of the GN which meant I put a lot of $ in my pocket. This gave me a car I could actually drive and enjoy with ZERO maintenance.

Why not go that route??

 

[salvageV6]

I don't quite understand the dilemma here?

You put $$$ into the car and now funds have dried up so much you couldn't afford to put $$$ into the car to fix a problem with it?

Then it sounds like you should drive a beater for a while and save up some repair money say $5K or so then drive the real car.

Either that or you have modified them so much they no longer make good driving cars and are only good for racing?

Or you used the wrong buildups?

I don't quite get the durability issues that you think you will have?



Maybe it's those that only look at the car as an investment instead of transportation that have issues.

Remember an $18K car is as good as a slightly used Camry, how would you treat one of them.

Drive Ur Carz.

 

[BUICKTR]

These Buicks do BREAK pretty easily. I love my car, but I've had a lot of stress over the years with it. I have come very close to selling it. I'm still DEBATING if I get a good offer!!

 

[turbosam6]

Originally posted by salvageV6
I don't quite understand the dilemma here?

You put $$$ into the car and now funds have dried up so much you couldn't afford to put $$$ into the car to fix a problem with it?

Then it sounds like you should drive a beater for a while and save up some repair money say $5K or so then drive the real car.

Either that or you have modified them so much they no longer make good driving cars and are only good for racing?

Or you used the wrong buildups?

I don't quite get the durability issues that you think you will have?



Maybe it's those that only look at the car as an investment instead of transportation that have issues.

Remember an $18K car is as good as a slightly used Camry, how would you treat one of them.

Drive Ur Carz.

I have more than enough money to fix whatever could break, but why should I keep shelling out money when my LS1 goes faster for cheaper? The durability issues? Dude, don't you replace your bearings like once a year or something? I'd rather not do that. Buicks have crappy oiling and building a stage motor or TA block is out of the question. I refuse to spend $25K on a motor that if it breaks, I may have a hard time finding another not to mention paying for it.

I did go too far with the mods, I admit that. The other issue is theres no one remotely close to do my engine work, or tuning work. Let me rephrase: The ones close enough to do it are the reason I'm scared of the damn thing.

The stock block buick is a delicate thing, and I'm tired of messing with it. I've changed my motor 3 times in 2500 miles. Tell me not to worry.....

 

[salvageV6]

Car only has 160K on it, stock longblock, never changed nothing.

Must have me mixed up with someone else that likes to change bearings often.

You saying the Chevy don't break stuff in the 10's with NOS?

The part about faster cheaper more reliable for the Chevy I believe would just be your experience, seen plenty of them break big stuff too nowhere near as fast as you are running.

I'd just detune it a bit and drive it.

Cost of parts isn't that bad at all for the age of the car for what you will need to use by street driving one.

Crappy oiling system is good for 300K on most longblock buildups, not sure about those big heads and cam racecars.

I do agree there aren't enough good stock block engine builders in the country however.

 

[Whistle Pig]

I have liked these cars since 1985 . I have only owned mine for four years. Bought it for ten grand , put another ten into it, beat the living daylights out of it and get good gas milage to boot!
It's just a car. If I bought a new car four years ago for 20,000
what would it be worth today. Now the car has 75,000 miles on it . sees 25 psi everyday and its still worth at least ten twelve grand? dont know don't care! To each his own. If I cared about breakage I would buy a foreign car/ ,,,,, bah I'd walk.

 

[Nojug]

I dont agree with the LS1 being cheaper and more reliable ask Evil gn he had a low 11 or high 10 sec GN 3 or 4 years ago and sold it for a TA because he was tired of it b/c of a few small problems. The TA ran high 10's with h/c and spray then motor blew. He spent all kinds of money he said atleast double what he had in the GN and it ran like 10.40's he sold that and just bought another GN. If you only get 1,000 miles out of a set of bearings you need to find another engine builder. I do agree with the depleading vendors and events but they dident make alot of these cars and there nearing 20 years old.

 

[Inneedofabuick]

Build a hybrid.That way you get all the power of the 3.8T without worrying about messing up the car.

 

[BandAid]

Sam is'nt this the 2nd time now that you threaten to sell the GN,,save it for your boy, you have plenty of $$$ ,store it ...he will love it.
Dennis

 

[turbosam6]

Salvage I did have you mixed up with another guy, sorry 'bout that!

Yeah, I'll probably keep it. Its just hard to want to beat on something thats increasing in value every day. As my life gets more hectic its getting harder to find time to turn my own wrenches so sometimes I need a mechanic to do it, and theres no one I trust to do that on the buick. For example, I just dropped my Z28 off at Billingsley racing to have the 12 bolt rear installed. He's 1 hour from home and very good.

If I build a hybrid it will have an LS1 in it, theres absolutely no reason to use a 3.8 anymore. Turbo an Ls1 and hold on!

 

[lieu910]

As these cars have become collectable, it becomes a mixed blessing depending on an owner's philosophy. There is no right or wrong. Some say drive them and enjoy them, others are more interested in preserving them. I fought these battles when I owned my SS Chevelles. I will never own a concours level car again, as it's a guilty pleasure to me. Funest car I have owned was a '69 roadrunner cloned out as a 440 - 6bbl car. It was fast, nothing was original or numbers matching, and it looked amazing. If you blew the motor, all you were out was some money.

Where I stand on the subject depends on what day you ask me. Typically I only put about 500 miles a year on the car anyway, so it is somewhat of a mute point I suppose. At that pace I'll have 33k in ten years!

As to the F-body vs. GN struggle you are having - those are valid points you make. I think the 6-speed cars are a hoot to drive, as is the GN. If I had to pick a car to take to a cruise, it's the GN hands down. Only fellow f-body owners seem interested in other f-bodies, whereas most people seem to have an appreciation for GN's. GN's have street cred, and that's pretty cool as an owner.

That said here's the botom line. Keep whatever dunks your cookie at the time. I'm a firm believer that you can have it all, just not all at once. If you miss the GN - buy another one. Sure it will cost more, but nobody has ever accused us of being the most practical or cost-effective hobbyists either.

Good luck brother. Try to remember it's still just a car and there will always be others.

 

[SPOOLN]

FUNNY THINGS

Yeah i use to stress over my car to. There are alot of Scammers out there that always use the words like, RARE, DISCONTINUED, NON-EXISTENT,VERY FEW, OUT OF PRODUCTION, NON LONGER EXIST, CANNOT GET ANYMORE, PRICE OF PARTS IS GOING UP. R-12 cann't get. Its all Bull ****t! This year at the nats there were plenty of vendors selling parts. In fact there was one there that had a ton of factory GM NEW parts that had been ware housed. You just have to know how to shop the parts scalper because it's there business to MAKE you feel the SUPPLY and DEMAND effect.

Prolly the one that gets me is the Old AC coolent trick of R-12. I shopped several AC shops and they all wanted me to convert to 134a, my bill would have been over 500 bux. I got my system charged for $ 65.99 bux a car. and it is the real r-12 from glasier.

I would not sell my car because of feeling the stress of scalpers. The ford and chevy camps do have a larger following because of production. But whenever i go to the tract Brand Xers always approach me to sell my TR. It is a real compliment.

 

[turbosam6]

The reason I bought the GN is because I have always owned "different" cars, I didn't like the cookie cutter factor. But as I got into it, the performance took precedence over the style and I find myself saying "I could go as fast or faster for half as much". You are right though, most any gearhead will appreciate the GN. I've had ford, mopar, GM, etc. owners all compliment the car. Its nice knowing I'll most likely have the only Gn at the cruise spot. Like I said, I'll probably keep it, I just get to thinking sometimes and thats dangerous for me.

 

[Not Avg 6]

I think if someone is seriously racing, then our 18 yr. old GN's (which can still hold there own)are just starting to get outdated. Compared to stroker LS1's with spray or modded Mustang Corba's with aftermarket Kenne Bell superchargers and don't add spray to that one. Niether one of those cars get the looks or respect that our GN's get. I really enjoy crusing in the GN watching the boost gauge go pass 20+ and killing most at a stoplight. But, I also feel like if I go to the track to often or get back hooked on street racing, parts breakage will follow.

Sam, enjoy the GN (yours is really beautiful) and RACE the Camaro.

 

[madhat]

I would be sooooo proud if I could drive around a beautiful GN that I could actually boost up! I've basically been broke ever since I got mine 2 years ago and despite the fact that over probably a year(feels like the full 2 years) total I haven't been able to get on it at all, I STILL have mine, desperately trying to keep it working from one problem to the next! Sure i get upset when my car gets hurt(about a month ago, my 3. came off the left side of my hood while washing), but I get over it, fix it if I can, and go on because hey, when it does work, it is more fun that any F-body I've been in. But hey, once I get my wife's rx-7 running, I may give up on it adn go buy an FD, but probly not because(sadly enough) 3rd gen rx7s are supposed to be even more unreliable than my car!