Trying Not To Panic

[EllEVElER]

I got my newly purchased '87 to the body shop and pulled the interior, engine, and transmission only to discover the whole lower body is corroded; door beams, cross members, trunk pan. The guy I bought it from included the floor pans, a fender and quarter panels, and trunk lid, but it looks like it needs a lot more than that. Auto body guy says he can't do the work within the quote and my only hope would be to find a parts car and cut out frame parts as replacements. The only good news is the frame is in good shape.

Does anyone have experience parting out a stock regal for a GN rebuild? Looks like the dimensions are all the same. I found a couple candidates within driving distance in good shape. Is this my only option? Should I spend another $5000 - $10,000 on a parts car or eat the costs and abandon the project? Seriously gutted right now. HELP!!

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Should I spend another $5000 - $10,000 on a parts car or eat the costs and abandon the project?

From the looks of the rust, it would be my choice to strip every good part and trash the rest.
$5-10K??
Add 50% to the high side.
On top of that, there's no body shop that's doing collision work, ever going to get it patched up in any reasonable time frame.
How did you get hooked with that mess?

 

[GNVYUS 1]

What Chuck said because...
Whoa, is this a legit GN, you ran VIN etc because who treats a valuable car like this to rot away like its been sitting in a field?

IMO, You'll have to go big picture before moving forwards with body swap or restore so.....

10+ years from now, you keeping it, you gonna go through the stress and time and $ to restore and then drive the wheels of it, then sell maybe 20 years later for a premium or never sell and die with it in the garage?? If so and can afford this then restore it and get it appraised asap after.

BTW restoring a car is a real PIA and nothing is as fast or cheap as you think vs buying a nice one at say $45k. It's never too late to bail and start over with a different approach if you wanna just drive and enjoy.

Are you up for a body swap and fitting the bills from the body, engine and trans because you're looking at well over $35k total to do those 3 big items and to then get it to drive and look great.

 

[TurboTGuy]

We've done a couple GN's in the past where I work , one for a close friend of mine. His took nearly 3 years for us to complete and it wasn't nearly as rough. Admittidly, it was a side job and didn't take priority, but whatever shop you use, it won't be a priority to them either, not without paying thru the nose. Even if you use a Resto Shop, they are notoriously slow and expensive.

I showed a couple of really good body techs at our shop your pics. They say it's pretty much a basket case from what they can see. It can be done, but bang for the buck, you'll end up on the wrong end of the deal.

Do what Chuck says, keep the good stuff, junk the rest. That $10K number you have will easily double, maybe even triple, with what your starting with.

Best of luck.

 

[V6sleeper]

Keep in mind to just PAINT a perfectly straight rust free bare metal car is 15-20k nowadays