Good Deal?

[jimm0thy]

Im looking at getting a GN soon and a local guy has one for sale around $9k , breif description -

1987 Buick Grand National, 110,000 miles, motor/trans rebuilt, TE60 Turbo, 3"down pipe, 10"convertor, 50lb injectors, etc. interior clean

Sounds good to me but wanted other opinions.

 

[scottyb]

That's a tough call. I'm no guru, but a rebuild at 110k raises a flag that might keep me away from a 9k price tag. It aint been driven by grandma for sure. If all else is good and the car has the right "feel", then haggle him....a lot.

Opinions are like ass holes, and I'm definately one.

 

[1 RARE T]

"motor & trans. rebuilt" ?

Why ? By who?

$ Seems high to me.

Got pics or other details?

 

[1 RARE T]

Yeah, Te-60, 50's, d/p, 10' convertor,

Interior may be clean but I suspect the rear quarters are covered in rubber.

May have seen full boost more than one too many times.

 

[strikeeagle]

There are plenty of 100K mile, $9K GNs available. You'll have lots of cars to look at in that "category", so take your time, and pick out a damn good one at that rate.

I bought a 3K mile GN for under $12K. It's not impossible. And spending a few more $ up front could get you a hell of a nice car, and save you big $ in the long run.

Take your time...

 

[BlackBandit]

I'm with strikeeagle. I didn't pay that much for my GN up front, (about 6500) and I've been payin' for that ever since! I guess it's a good thing I love to work on cars. Seriously though, I probably have about 4 or 5 thousand in parts since I bought it with a new engine on the way it and most of it I wouldn't have had to spend if I'd put up 9-12k up front. I'd also have allot more driving time with it, as opposed to shop time. On the up side I know EXACTLY what's been done to it and the quality with which it was done. Plus when I'm finally finished I can say I did it all. Just my experiance.

 

[jimm0thy]

Thanks , theres a shop not to far that does classics that just got an 87 GN in that was only used for shows and all stock. Prolly go for that when its up for sale and just do mobs later.

 

[turbojimmy]

It depends on what you want to do with it. $9k is a bit steep whether it's been rebuilt or not, but I wouldn't necessarily let the rebuild scare me away from an otherwise reasonably priced car. Just make sure whoever did the work knew what they were doing.

Look at it this way, if you're going to buy a 110k mile car and have any aspirations of tweaking it, it might not be long until you need to rebuild the engine and/or trans anyway with that kind of mileage. That'll cost a minimum of $5k to have it done right plus whatever you paid for the car to begin with. Both my engine and trans packed it in within a year of each other around the high 90k-mile range (seemed like mid-12s was the breaking point for whatever reason). Obviously there are examples of people with a lot higher mileage cars going faster without breaking them, so YMMV.

If you want a nice, original example that you want to keep that way then a car that's had the drivetrain rebuilt is not a great idea. It's no Sunday driver.

Jim

 

[Drew L]

Where are you? Drew