boostorbust
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2006
Hi everyone..Glad to be a part of this group..I am a proud owner of an '87 Grand National and a member of "Poor Boys Car Club of Shelbyville"..Well here's the story of my GN..In the beginning I was not into these cars at all because by nature I'm a big block 4spd chevy guy (my other car is a '70 SS Chevelle w/427 4spd..under construction)..In 2003 I opened an auto repair shop and one of my parts suppliers told me about his Grand National, I thought thats nice not really thinking much about it. Over the course of a couple of months I asked him if a few times if he wanted to sell the car. He finally told me to go and look at it, so I did..What I found was an all original, adult owned non-butchered 1987 Grand National that had spent the better part of 8 years outside under a tree so you can imagine the condition, poor at best but there was rust through only on the bottom of the doors and the lip of the trunk lid but it was a very complete car..I ask "how much" he said $2500.00. I thought $2500.00 was way too much and tried to talk him down to no avail..gotta remember I really didn't know anything about these cars and did'nt care so I quickly did a little research and called and told him a tow truck would be there in the morning. Little did I know thats a steal, of course the wife was ready to beat me to death apon seeing the distressed Buick..The story goes..Steve the previous owner to me traded a Ford Escort in on the GN in 1991. He loved the car. Weekend raced it often. The last time he drove the car was home from the Indianapolis Raceway Park after watching a friend get killed drag racing his motorcycle..So Steve parked the car in his backyard under a tree...Since purchasing the car I hemeraged money to get her back to "a very close to" original state with the help of Ty Branson who did a wonderful job on the body and paint and Red Armstrong for endless tech support and Robin Roberts who helped me mechanically.. I have won a few trophies at local car shows and I love the attention that it gets..In closing I had no idea that I restored one of my favorite cars and it will be with me until there is no me..And I hope to make the GS nationals in Bowling Green May '09..quick list of options..power asc sunroof..manual windows..cruise..manual climate control..analog guages..no power anything except door locks..kind of a strange optioned car from what people have told me...anyway I hope you enjoyed GN Resurrection..will post pics later..Thanks..