How much money can be made parting out a 86 GN?

[Michael McCoy]

No flame taken Warren. I tried giving my opinion on the matter, but got slammed instead. If $$ was all I was in this business for, I would have closed the doors years ago!

 

[bishir]

Well, I think I heard what I wanted. "I can make money" That's good. It doesn't matter really how I do it, but if I can get my car fixed and STILL come out ahead I'll be doing alright. I'll still have to pay some though and do a lot of work. I just got to hope this GN is worth buying now. I should know tomorrow.

Anyways, thanks for the opinions. I knew it wouldn't be an easy subject on this board.

James

 

[Pat Adkins]

Just make sure it looks as good as it does in the calender when you put it back together.

 

[Grumpy]

welll my motto has allways been "If in doubt piece it out " Its a car ...not a person !!!
James accually the only pain in the butt thing about partin it is you will take time to do it . Looks aweful in your yard all apart ... an waitin for people to show up or "check's in the mail " I have pieced out some of the rarest an fastest cars out there ... Save some bones from it an then after 10 years sell it to be restored good luck fixin it !!!! didnt look bad at all to me .

 

[tim87tr]

Originally posted by bishir
Anyways, thanks for the opinions. I knew it wouldn't be an easy subject on this board.

James

Just do whatever you want and what it takes to get your car back on the road, and delete this thread

 

[vicious6]

I have to agree with Mike, to some of us these Buicks are not "just a car". A Toyota is just a car, a Suburu is just a car. If that's all you guys think of them why are you wasting the time on this board anyway. It's all about the $$$ is'nt it. Well to me and plenty of others like Mike and myself that is definitely not the case. I don't know if anyone else here has noticed but these cars are now out of production. For each one of these cars that is "parted out" and could have been saved that's one more that people will never be able to enjoy....ever. As far as "parting out some of the rarest cars ever", I definitely would not be proud to state that fact. That's my 2 cents and my Buicks are not just cars. They are a part of my family and my life.

 

[jmidolo]

It's just a car , have you looked around lately? There's more 10k mile cars that have been up for sale for more than a few months at a fraction of the $18k new price of 87. While they are not being produced anymore, if you think buying a $9k 80,000 mile car and "restoring" it is a smart choice over buying a $15k 10,000 mile car, you're nutz....

 

[Rick]

It would be a pain in the booty to ship a car piece by piece. Look how long it took Johnny cash to put together a Cadillac one lunch box at a time. Also, unless the parts are near perfect, others are probably not going to want to pay much for them. Good luck in whatever you decide.

 

[John Larkin]

James, buy the car and let everyone know you've bought the car. Then put a fair price on it complete and see how many of the "purists" offer you money to keep a piece of history alive. I have a sneaking suspicion you will be sitting there wondering why no one is calling. If they do call and buy, then use the profit to buy parts. If they don't, then use the car and part the rest. This is a very simple situation. However, someone did mention the fact of the '86 being more rare. That is probably something you should consider: restore the '86 if feasible and junk that common old '87?

 

[1badTTA]

I personally would swoop up the '86 and then make every reasonable attempt to get it running again before deciding to part it out. If you can get it running with some of the parts off of your '87, just replace those parts with new ones and now you have 2 running cars and you can look for a deal on an NA Regal for the body parts you need. On the other hand if you make a valiant effort to get the '86 running it it just needs too much then you have absolutely no guilt in parting the car out and you will get your money back for the car plus the parts you get off of it.

It all boils down to how bad the car is and what it needs. When the guy says "all it needs is a coilpack", he may actually mean that he drove it with a bad coilpack and blew a headgasket due to it misfiring. As for swapping the coilpack, have the common descency to at least wait till you are around the corner to get the car running, it will make him feel better about letting the car go so cheap, also don't tell him you plan on parting it out if you can't get it running.

JMHO for what it is worth.

Maybe you should post a poll

 

[soonergn]

What's the big deal about fixing an engine? People do complete rebuilds every day. How does that make a car worth nothing but parts? Now if the car was mangled horribly in a wreck or was a severe rust bucket about to collapse in the middle and nobody in their right mind would try to bring it back, then I wouldn't feel bad about taking it apart. But this is a complete car and TR's are rare enough already. Take the fenders, hood, and bumper if you need to but leave the rest for someone else to bring back. It would make a great project car for someone that really wants a TR but can't afford a nice one or a great father/son project. Of course, you realize that a fender from a GN and another from a regular Regal are EXACTLY the same with the paint removed, right? One just happened to get painted black. The hood is a different story but they aren't hard to find, yet. As a died in the wool TR enthusiast, I just like to see the marque preserved as I think most of us would, although there are some "here today, gone tomorrow" people who don't care about using up the stuff and moving on.

 

[jmidolo]

A GN that is complete for 2k even if the motor does not run is most likely a rust bucket, ratty, nasty a.ss interior all dog'd out and usually just what the price reflects...a parts car. If where otherwise, I would be truely surprised. Not saying that you can't get something that "only needs a little fixing" for 2k..but 99.9% of the time....the 2k reflects the cars condition...shi.tty.

 

[bishir]

Jim, you're right about the price of the car reflecting the condition. This car is rough, but the body isn't rusted out and it's in good shape. Some of you might remember my GN crashing at the dragstrip. I need to fix that and this car will allow me to do that while making extra $$$ selling the parts. Does that mean the car is going to be sent to the crusher? NO! In fact, I've already been contacted regarding the shell of the car. Another TR owner needs it to build it up again because their car was stolen and then retrieved needing a rebody. So this car will live again, but I don't see any harm of parting it out and making a profit if its going to see the road again as a TR.

Like I said earlier... It's going to get my GN back on the road (even though I know most parts can come from a regular regal)

The shell will be rebuilt by someone else needing to rebuild their GN so the car isn't going to be crushed..

Someone will buy the drivetrain and their will either be a new TR powered vehicle on the road or one that still runs...

Sounds like a win/win situation to me!

James

 

[1badTTA]

Lets see, that is 3 GN's needing help being made into 2 GN's that are complete plus a few more getting parts that are no longer made and in short supply plus someone getting a drivetrain for a hybrid. Nothing wrong with that, and the theft recovery car will still have a 7 in the VIN (assuming he is going to use the entire shell and VIN number).

Good luck James and good to hear you found what you needed to get your car back together for a good price.