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Approximate Value of this 1987 Grand National??

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SHANAX

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May 31, 2016
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Hi all, I am new to this forum. I have loved the Grand National since I was 16 years old, and I am now 40 and happened to see one for sale right near me, a 1987. I took a quick look at it the other day, took some photos, but have not had it checked out yet by a mechanic. It does need some cosmetic work, bumper fillers are gone, front and back, and the paint is pretty faded. 93k miles on the odometer. Car is stock except for an aftermarket turbo, that is all I know. I talked to the owner of the garage it was being sold at, and was just told it is being sold for a neighbor who is looking for offers. Apparently he wants "Low Teens" but that seems a little high. He said one guy made an offer of $8k, but it was not taken. Just wondering from the looks of the car any opinions here from current owners, and what I should be looking for as red flags. I am still just looking so was trying to find a forum for opinions. Thanks!

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I'd figure on 6-8K for a paint strip to bare metal, given it's so badly checked.
What's the interior look like?
@93K, I'd do a list of "probables", and take that into consideration, b4 I made an offer.
 
Interior and under hood pics would help others determine what they think it is worth. I am also new to the GN game and in my early 50's and hope to get my first GN in the next few years thus I am here learning. If the car is a true unmolested example other than the turbo I would say $10K following a good "bill of health" inspection would be a nice even counter and $12K would probably be my "best and final".
 
I've always looked for a clean body & paint. That is the most expensive part of the car to fix.

You can often rebuild an engine and/or trans for less than paint & body work.
 
The interior looked good from the quick glance I took, no tears I could find and looked to be in solid shape. I plan on taking it to a local mechanic to get a better look at it in the upcoming week or so, will get a better sense of what it may need. Guy I talked to said it ran find, but of course, the car is sitting at his shop so he won't tell me it is a piece of crap....
 
I've always looked for a clean body & paint. That is the most expensive part of the car to fix.

You can often rebuild an engine and/or trans for less than paint & body work.

I agree with having a straight body and accident free but for me the mechanicals are a lot more important than the paint condition. Are the bumper fillers known to be delicate or is it a combination of the latter and the age?
 
The bumper fillers are a urethane or plastic part that tends to fade, get brittle & break.

There is a forum member here that makes some high quality replacement pieces. I don't recall his name though. Black vehicles are far more expensive to prep & paint than light colored vehicles.
 
The interior looked good from the quick glance I took, no tears I could find and looked to be in solid shape. I plan on taking it to a local mechanic to get a better look at it in the upcoming week or so, will get a better sense of what it may need. Guy I talked to said it ran find, but of course, the car is sitting at his shop so he won't tell me it is a piece of crap....

Good luck and I would get the PPI done asap before some one else walks in and buy's it.

The bumper fillers are a urethane or plastic part that tends to fade, get brittle & break.
That's what I was thinking, thanks.
 
Dont be in a hurry to buy. Make sure of what you are getting and get exactly what you want.
Want to find exactly what you want?? Buy one that is not exactly what you want and the one you wish for will show up.
 
Not enough detail and photos to give a reasonably accurate opinion of its value. Take someone who knows and understands these cars to look at it with you if at all possible.
 
Agreed, there isn't enough info.

Bumper fillers aren't a deal breaker by any means. All of the originals tend to go brittle and fall apart. Paint on the cars are notoriously bad, again not a deal breaker if the car is mechanically sound, but be advise it is seriously, seriously, expensive to repaint a car unless you have a relative in the trade. 8-10k (which sounds like the entire price of the car you are looking at) to get a decent paint job. (Which could take a whole year to complete BTW unless you have the a fore mentioned hook up in the trade). It may feel kewl to own this GN, but can your ego withstand 'Car woudl be great if it weren;t for the paint!" comments you could hear? H

The BIG warning flag for me with the little information you provided is 'aftermarket turbo'. There are two reasons for an aftermarket turbo. The first is that the stock went bad, or blew up. The second is a previous owner wanted to go FASTER.

If the stock turbo failed, that raises a whole mess of questions about the current maintenance condition of the car and it's history of repairs.

If the turbo was added to go faster, it simply cannot be the ONLY modification done to the car unless the person was either reckless or a novice. There are stickies on this site that talk about things to do to maintain the car to get it ready to go faster than stock. There are lots of discussions about recipes to make the car go faster. I promise you NONE of them START with upgrading the turbocharger.

If you can get some shots under the hood and the interior, lots of folks here can spot other modifications that may look 'stock' appearing.

We want to help you. The more of these cars that are on the road running smooth, the happier we all are. We never like to see these cars rotting away or blown up. We would much rather see them at our cruise nights and buick shows.

So that being said, I offer the following information not to shatter your dream, but to try and offer wisdom. I say all of this in the spirit of community and hope it will stoke the fires of your dream and not discourage you.

If you search this site there are lots stories about hearts being broken by buying the wrong car. These Turbo Buicks are a lot of fun when they are running and dialed in. They are money pits if you don't know what you are getting in to. You absolutely NEED to know what you are getting into. Many times the current owner just 'doesn't know'. They aren't dishonest, they just never paid attention and cant answer your questions. That is getting a guy who KNOWS specifically these cars is helpful to have when viewing a car. They aren't gonna snipe you, as I said they want you to be at shows with them. Many times if you have someone in your area, they will do it for free or maybe treating them to dinner or something.

IMPORTANT: If you are about to say there isn't a solid resource in your area who you could ask to inspect the car with you, I say: Who are you going to take the car to to get fixed when things break on the car? Many professional mechanics who work on old chevy's or brand new corvettes have been humbled and made expensive mistakes with these cars. Ask your regular mechanic if they have ever troubleshot a GM Powermaster Brake system from the early 80s. They will either laugh or cry. If they don't cry, they don't know these cars. (I am being humorous). If you are planning on repairing the car yourself, quite often you end up throwing money at parts in an effort to 'guess' what might be the problem. How many wrong guesses do you have resources for before you realize you could have put that money toward a better quality car.

With the information you provided, and the pics, you should NOT be talking about making an offer on this car. Not even for giggles. We all understand how tempting it is, especially when there is one near you. Look at some of the cars for sale on this board or even on eBay and look at the details they offer about the car. Look at the pics they give. Lots of the info could be greek to you, but it gives you an idea of how much information you are missing. It will also give you an idea of the pricing in the market. Generally speaking if you find cars with 120k+ and they are at asking prices of 15k, but this owner can get past 8k for his. Look at what end of the spectrum you are falling in for that price range. You are either stealing the car, or about to step in quicksand, filled with landmines, surrounded by starving veloci-raptors, and a hyperagressive land shark. Given the lack of details, you can understand which way the community might think the car is.

The key is to buy the nicest quality car you can afford. I am not saying the 30k cars are worth overpaying for, but look at the market. What is the 15k guy offering that the 12k guy isnt. The 12k guy talks about the new turbo with only 100 miles on it, while the 15k guy listed every component of the car including it's astrological sign and favorite foods.

Please, be patient when you are considering a purchase like this. It can seriously ruin your dream if you aren't prepared. While it may be rare to have one for sale so close to you, these cars are for sale all the time. Identify your goals for your car, and what you plan to do with it. don't let the price dictate your goals. Find cars that match what you are looking for, then compare the details. look at enough of these cars online, and you can almost smell the true lemons.

Post back with more info on the car, and pick of the engine and interior. We all can give you lots of questions to ask the owner.

Good Luck in your search. I hope you get to realize your dream one day. IMO nothing drive like a Turbo Buick.
 
X2 what dialtone said. You need to find a local turboregal guy to go over the car with you. These are very different beasts and most mechanics know next to nothing about them. A scan master is a must to diagnose and to understand how to properly tune these cars. This site is an awesome resource. The tr is a treat to own and drive when you understand their peculiararities but it can also be heartbreaking and maddening when they get the gremlins. Value is very tough to assess unless you know what to look at but assuming it runs and drives well and its not rotted or beaten it's worth at least 10k maybe more depending on overall condition maybe as much as 14k but. Again very hard to tell with the limited info available. My advice is to locate the nearest tr guru near you and talk to them for a good while. If you aren't a wrench you will need a good tr man to keep yours healthy. If you are a capable gearhead a scan master will make you able to talk to your tr. With out one you will be helpless as will almost all local mechanics.This site +scanmaster=tr repair capable.​
 
Thank you all for your help and advice, it is greatly appreciated. Dialtone, excellent post, really put things into perspective for me here. I am going to talk to my local mechanic who does most of the work on my current car that is not warranty related, and I know they work on several 70s and 80s cars too, but not sure about the Buicks. Going to run it by them this week and see if they have any real experience with this car. If not, I will research more about anyone local to me in the Philadelphia area who has experience with these cars who could maybe help me out. My wife is giving me the talk already about $$ for the car, so the LAST thing I need is to buy a car for $10k and have to dump money into it week after week when things keep popping up. Not to mention the fact that she thinks the GN is ugly as sin.

I literally saw this car for sale on Saturday so am very early in this process. The guy today said it has been on the garage lot for a few months, but they just put the For Sale sign on it this week. I never noticed it, so maybe it was in the back somewhere, which is another thing raising some red flags. I will keep you guys posted as to what happens going forward, but I am not getting that warm and fuzzy feeling inside about this car so far, thinking my dream of owning a nice Grand National may be a little farther in the future....
 
If you are in the Philly area, make a post in the MAGNA section. I sure someone locally will be willing to take a look for you.

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My wife is giving me the talk already about $$ for the car, so the LAST thing I need is to buy a car for $10k and have to dump money into it week after week when things keep popping up. Not to mention the fact that she thinks the GN is ugly as sin.
Hate to sound all doom and gloom on ya but if the wifey is not onboard with this and she thinks a GN is ugly and she expects the spending to stop once you get one, then I know I'm not the only one who see's trouble ahead :D. In all seriousness, good luck in your search and as others have said, take your time. I have always found the "hunt" to be nearly as fun as actual ownership :).
 
Jim Dunn, lives in Philadelphia grand national guru, can help with purchase and get the car running properly for you if you,decide to buy. Also need definitely check out for rust especially around doors and frame. 8000.00 seems like a good offer, car needs alot of upgrades to bring it into this century. Personally i would keep looking and get one already upgraded unless you are looking for a project. I put 40k into mine and probably olny worth 15 so you do the math.
 
I am not getting that warm and fuzzy feeling inside about this car so far, thinking my dream of owning a nice Grand National may be a little farther in the future....
Don't get discouraged so fast as the car could be a true gem.
 
Need more pics for sure.... Bumper fillers are a easy replacement.... Make sure the interior is correct and check... Odd someone would just change the turbo out unless they had an issue or did other upgrades you just don't know about.

I will say that rear window tint, that's going to give you hell to take off if you choose to.. I have done it and the whole neighborhood heard me cursing for days lol.
 
Keep shopping and find one that needs nothing. You will be time and money ahead and will be able to enjoy the car instead of working on it.

If you buy one like the one you're looking at. You are going to be doing a lot of work,or paying to have it done. By the time you get it where you want it you will have spent more money than if you had bought a nice one from the start. Not counting less time enjoying it.
 
Unless you are able to perform most of the work yourself, minus paint and body I'd look for a better car, they are out there. I passed over a dozen TR's before buying my GN, I paid a but more and got a car with thousands of dollars in upgrades and beautiful paint with only 50 thousand miles. It still needed some finishing touches but that was part of the fun.

Good luck in your search.
 
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