This past Sunday (25 Aug 2011) I traveled to Grand Rapids, MI to pick up a 1987 Grand National I had made a deal on. I had sent the seller a $2,000 deposit several days earlier. A couple of days before I left, I told the seller I would bring cash for the enitre amount if he didn't want to wait for it to clear, he agreed.
When I arrived, as I approached the GN, the first thing I noticed was the lack the Astroroof we had spoken about. His ad indicated a sunroof nut in several phone conversations, I explained an Astroroof was my first choice in a GN and he commented this GN had one. I was quite surprised to see someone had cut a hole in the roof and put a cheesy aftermarket pop-up sunroof in the car. This was a deal killer for me and I told him I couldn't buy it. He gave me back my check after ripping it into many pieces. Here was $700 in the trash (airfare) and, after an entire day in airports and flying cross country; Colorado to Chicago to Grand Rapids to Houston and back to Colorado, I began anew.
During my search, I had another GN that ended up being #2 on my list so I worked out a deal after a number of phone calls and checking the car out on Auto Check since it had been on eBay. Everything checked out. I had decided the few things I had noticed that weren't stock such as wheels, antenna and a shaved trunk lock, I could live with it since it was fairly low mileage - 64,888. It bothered me that Auto Check only had two entries for mileage and they were both this year as a result of the current sellers activity. So I checked CarFax.
Carfax quickly raised a major red flag! An earlier mileage entry indicated 70,405 miles back in May 1992. Maybe this was an error so I started checking further. I had been in contact with turbo39151 here on this website so I asked what he thought, providing him with a link to the original eBay auction. He saw something I hasn't noticed, the dash had been replaced with a dash from a column shift Regal!!!!!! He noticed the "PRNDL" above the steering column, something that should not be there on a floor shift car such as a GN. As you all know, the PRNDL on a floor shift car is next to the floor shifter. Although I believe this car is a real GN, with the input of turbo39151, I can only assume this car has well in excess of the 64,888 miles indicated. Other items such as new seat covers and original doorpanels, heardrests and 1/4 panels showed a big difference in fabric, pointing to higher than listed mileage. I'm not pointing a finger at the dealer but, someone appears to have tampered with this car in order to get a higher selling price. that could have been anyone prior to the dealer that has it now.
Bottom line, I ran away from this car, it pays to come to this website and it pays to ask questions! Thank-you Louis, this could have been a $13,500 + tax, tag and title mistake! Listed price was $15,995. The car is going to auction around 12 Oct in the St. Louis region although it is currently in Columbia, IL. BUYER BEWARE and do your homework.
When I arrived, as I approached the GN, the first thing I noticed was the lack the Astroroof we had spoken about. His ad indicated a sunroof nut in several phone conversations, I explained an Astroroof was my first choice in a GN and he commented this GN had one. I was quite surprised to see someone had cut a hole in the roof and put a cheesy aftermarket pop-up sunroof in the car. This was a deal killer for me and I told him I couldn't buy it. He gave me back my check after ripping it into many pieces. Here was $700 in the trash (airfare) and, after an entire day in airports and flying cross country; Colorado to Chicago to Grand Rapids to Houston and back to Colorado, I began anew.
During my search, I had another GN that ended up being #2 on my list so I worked out a deal after a number of phone calls and checking the car out on Auto Check since it had been on eBay. Everything checked out. I had decided the few things I had noticed that weren't stock such as wheels, antenna and a shaved trunk lock, I could live with it since it was fairly low mileage - 64,888. It bothered me that Auto Check only had two entries for mileage and they were both this year as a result of the current sellers activity. So I checked CarFax.
Carfax quickly raised a major red flag! An earlier mileage entry indicated 70,405 miles back in May 1992. Maybe this was an error so I started checking further. I had been in contact with turbo39151 here on this website so I asked what he thought, providing him with a link to the original eBay auction. He saw something I hasn't noticed, the dash had been replaced with a dash from a column shift Regal!!!!!! He noticed the "PRNDL" above the steering column, something that should not be there on a floor shift car such as a GN. As you all know, the PRNDL on a floor shift car is next to the floor shifter. Although I believe this car is a real GN, with the input of turbo39151, I can only assume this car has well in excess of the 64,888 miles indicated. Other items such as new seat covers and original doorpanels, heardrests and 1/4 panels showed a big difference in fabric, pointing to higher than listed mileage. I'm not pointing a finger at the dealer but, someone appears to have tampered with this car in order to get a higher selling price. that could have been anyone prior to the dealer that has it now.
Bottom line, I ran away from this car, it pays to come to this website and it pays to ask questions! Thank-you Louis, this could have been a $13,500 + tax, tag and title mistake! Listed price was $15,995. The car is going to auction around 12 Oct in the St. Louis region although it is currently in Columbia, IL. BUYER BEWARE and do your homework.
