Your Cars Story of How You Came to Own it

[slvr87trbot]

Back in 2000 I was Building a 84 S-10 Blazer w/ a sbc n20 motor, as i was in the process of back tubbing it out, a friend of my fathers came across the car at a insurance salvage auction. He called my dad and told him as he knew i was looking for one. that nite i sold the motore and the next day the blazer. Lucky enough to have people who wanted to buy my stuff. The following day i went out w/ my dads friend w/5000 cash in my pockets- talk about feeling alittle uneasy- it was faded and needed some interior work and was totaled by insurance for light hail damage. I couldn't believe it, as i opened the hood it was clean and had new sensors, hoses, radiator, oil change, tranny fluid, etc.. Then made me think that maybe he had let it go for a running issue that he couldn't figure out. As the auction started nobody there was paying any attention to the car, then as it rolled up for bidding iI was high bidder at 1500 and as the hammer was about to go down some A$$ knew what it was and was just gonna make me pay for it when he had no intention to buy it, he finally stopped when my dads friend's son jumped that guys A$$. I lucked out and got it for 2200 and after buyers fees etc... i had 2600 in the car. Got it back to the shop and started checking the car out and lifted the fuel rails and the injectors were just dripping. Put a new set and it was off. The glove still had the previouse owners info and phone # I called and talked to the guy to get the history and he was the original also, he special orderd the limited exterior trim but the TT options, he was a traveling salesman in del rio tx and moved to san angelo where he let the car go. He asked me if i figured out what was wrong w/ it and i told him the injectors he flipped out and wanted to buy it back. :as: After a couple of months that junk plastic gear for the timming chain well you know. Then a few months after that the cam bearings went after 143000. Rebuilt it and got the break in miles took it to the track on a fri. nite and that following mon. morning the wife had a nice smash up, :hanged: bent the frame,and smashed the rf. Ten months later after i found a complete 81 regal i took that frame and blasted and painted it and rolled it under my body w/ poly mounts and 81 frt end- really looks like Crap-got it going again and the tranny went out along w/ the rear end, so got those fixed and brings me to now. Just trying to get it looking like the right year model and not such a hoopty. Well i thought I had a fun story to how I lucked out and came across my unicorn (1987 silver turbo t) Thought I would share it w/ all of you and see how many other stories that might be similar to mine. :goldcup:

[Be4u]

Back in 2000 I was Building a 84 S-10 Blazer w/ a sbc n20 motor, as i was in the process of back tubbing it out, a friend of my fathers came across the car at a insurance salvage auction. He called my dad and told him as he knew i was looking for one. that nite i sold the motore and the next day the blazer. Lucky enough to have people who wanted to buy my stuff. The following day i went out w/ my dads friend w/5000 cash in my pockets- talk about feeling alittle uneasy- it was faded and needed some interior work and was totaled by insurance for light hail damage. I couldn't believe it, as i opened the hood it was clean and had new sensors, hoses, radiator, oil change, tranny fluid, etc.. Then made me think that maybe he had let it go for a running issue that he couldn't figure out. As the auction started nobody there was paying any attention to the car, then as it rolled up for bidding iI was high bidder at 1500 and as the hammer was about to go down some A$$ knew what it was and was just gonna make me pay for it when he had no intention to buy it, he finally stopped when my dads friend's son jumped that guys A$$. I lucked out and got it for 2200 and after buyers fees etc... i had 2600 in the car. Got it back to the shop and started checking the car out and lifted the fuel rails and the injectors were just dripping. Put a new set and it was off. The glove still had the previouse owners info and phone # I called and talked to the guy to get the history and he was the original also, he special orderd the limited exterior trim but the TT options, he was a traveling salesman in del rio tx and moved to san angelo where he let the car go. He asked me if i figured out what was wrong w/ it and i told him the injectors he flipped out and wanted to buy it back. :as: After a couple of months that junk plastic gear for the timming chain well you know. Then a few months after that the cam bearings went after 143000. Rebuilt it and got the break in miles took it to the track on a fri. nite and that following mon. morning the wife had a nice smash up, :hanged: bent the frame,and smashed the rf. Ten months later after i found a complete 81 regal i took that frame and blasted and painted it and rolled it under my body w/ poly mounts and 81 frt end- really looks like Crap-got it going again and the tranny went out along w/ the rear end, so got those fixed and brings me to now. Just trying to get it looking like the right year model and not such a hoopty. Well i thought I had a fun story to how I lucked out and came across my unicorn (1987 silver turbo t) Thought I would share it w/ all of you and see how many other stories that might be similar to mine. :goldcup:
I love these stories!

[oneshot]

Me and a buddy were driving down the street one night and we spotted this 87 GN in this residential housing area. Well lucky for me my buddy new how to hot wire a car, 5 min and one smashed window later i finally got my 87 that i had been looking for.

[JBenn911]

Saw a real nice low mile(60,000) GN come up in my area on eBay..Dude wanted 10,000 for it..No one bid...Took a closer look at the pictures on eBay, recognized it as the car I had been drooling over for some time...One day while coming back from grand jury, I stopped at knock on the guy door(in uniform..LOL)..Introduced myself and told him I saw it on eBay..Asked him for his absolute bottom line on the car, provided I could start it and take a run..Took it for a quick spin(brake light was on..though PM was dead, turned out to be a shorted wire!!), left him my card and awaited his call. Next night he calls and asks me to come by..Took my buddy who's a mechanic over with me..Turns out the two used to work together..He asks my buddy if I'll give it a proper beating or am I just using it for a garage queen..Buddy says, He'll probably blow it up in a month!..Dude comes over and says..6500.00 cash and it's yours !! Needless to say, it was a good thing I had just sold my Impy and my Monza..was there next day with tow truck and cash..Turns out he was son in law of original owner and kept meticulous records(if only the Turbo Regal shop he had do alot of work, kept such good records.. :shock: )

And now here she sits....LOL

[turbo nasty]

The 87 GN my parents bought new and when I came back to the states from a overseas tour while in the service in 2000. My parents were going to sell it and I had a worked turbo Skyline over in Japan when I left and was looking for a turbo powered car here in the states and the GN was it. The car was stalling and running like crap, running rich, hiccuping, pinging, overboosting, etc.
My pop had put over 700 bucks in a new cam sensor, ecm, chip, timing chain, oil pump, MAF, fuel can sol, O2(bosch), coil pack, module, fuel filter, and a bunch of other crap trying to fix the problems.
Knowing the cars history and that it was just 1 or 2 things and it would be up to par. I think it had right around 90k on it and it had a pre/post luber on it for 40k miles of its life.
Started going over it and the TPS was off and was not reaching PE, TV cable was off, the stock replacement chip was crap so I slapped new injecs and a Casper thumbwheel in and the old chip was 90% of the problem, new fuel pump/hotwire, K&N(in the engine bay), spring cleaning(IC was pretty oily), gutted the cat.
First time out I cut 13.7 in the high 90'smph with a 2.0 60'...I was happy. Manual windows, manual seats, manual locks, no rear defrost... :rock:

The 86 I bought off a a guy that had a unexpected bun in the oven and wanted to get rid of the GN. The car was alot worse(rust sux) than I thought and got hosed a bit on the purchase(impulse buy) but I will eventually turn it in to a race car...heck the wife told me to just make it a race car. Kinda torn on it right now on direction..

[Be4u]

And now here she sits....LOL
Hey, that pukish green stuff looks cool! Where can I buy that mod!? :shock:

[JBenn911]

Hey, that pukish green stuff looks cool! Where can I buy that mod!? :shock:


:haha: :haha:

It's EASY to make !! One part High boost, one part loose head bolts, and 6 passes down the track..Ignore any possible signs/noises and there you have it...LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!

:rock:

[Aztlanahauc]

I have a friend who is a car dealer and while at auction one day back in 2002 this blue T-Type comes across the block. Now him knowing how bad I wanted one starts to bid on it and he got it for 2500 dollars. Now I didn't have the money at the time because I just got a house. So he holds it for me for almost a year and I am finally able to buy the car from him in Jan. 2003. Only bummer is that it has a salvage title for being a stolen recovery. The cool thing about it is that the guy who it got stolen from saw it outside the shop I work at and told me if I ever wanted to sell it to please give him the first chance to buy it back.

Now it sits awaiting the head gaskets to be replaced.

[floyd84]

I was at a friend's house and my truck wouldn't start. My friend drove me home. So I went back the next morning. Turns out the negative lead on the battery shook loose. So I drove it home. On the way home I see a beautiful silver T-type with a hardtop(I've wanted one exactly like this since they came out when I was a kid). As I'm driving by and drooling, I nearly cause an accident when I see a for sale sign on it and swerve to go into the parking lot. I pull up and see that the sign had bent back. It had a phone number and said $750(I think somethings up). I call the number on the sign. The guy tells me he lives a few block away and will be right there. Two minutes later an elderly man drives up in a brand new C5 convertible. We start talking. He's the original owner. He tells me the whole history about the car. He drove it every day to Trenton (about 60 miles each way), till he retired in the early nineties. He racked up 248,000 miles on it. I test drove it and fell in love when the boost kicked in at 30mph. I go back and the guy tells me that if I fixed the bumber fillers and rebuild the engine, I might be able to get two or three thousand for it ;) . So I tell him that my bank was closed(sunday) and that my atm would only let me take out $500 out at one time. Before I can tell him that it would be a deposit and I would give him the rest tommorow, he say's he'll take $500. Half hour later he drove it to my house, pulled the plates, gave me the title, and drove away in a brand new bonneville SSEI. Needless to say, the mods started right away with te-44, thdp, etc. Right now, she's at Dynotech getting a complete rebuild and then goin to my friend body shop. I think she's worth a little more than two or three grand now.

[JayC]

I drove to the dealer and bought it off the lot brand new with 17 miles on it.

Boring story :)

[phillyturbosix]

Even more boring.. eBay and eBay.. :arco: Steals on both of them too! :rockwoot:

[HYBRID-T]

My father bought mine as an insurance total in 92, had me swap on the front end and put a quarter panel on it and let it sit till 01. I then took it from him and began the transformation from:

http://www.ls1camaro.net/freehosting/buick before.jpg
to:


http://www.ls1camaro.net/freehosting/resized%20badass.jpg

It was originally dark blue and someone had painted it a god awfull HEAVY HEAVY metalflake blue before putting it in a ditch.

[HYBRID-T]

And from:

http://www.ls1camaro.net/freehosting/buick before engine.jpg


To:

http://www.ls1camaro.net/freehosting/Hood-Show-Through%20resized.jpg

[HYBRID-T]

Last ones I promise:icon16:

From:

http://www.ls1camaro.net/freehosting/buick before interior.jpg

to:

http://www.ls1camaro.net/freehosting/Interior resized.jpg

Adam

[JBenn911]

:shock: :shock: :shock:

Damn man....Very sweet looking ride...Talk about a night and day difference..You should be proud of all that work

:anbet: :anbet:

[SinistrV6]

I was at a friend's house and my truck wouldn't start. My friend drove me home. So I went back the next morning. Turns out the negative lead on the battery shook loose. So I drove it home. On the way home I see a beautiful silver T-type with a hardtop(I've wanted one exactly like this since they came out when I was a kid). As I'm driving by and drooling, I nearly cause an accident when I see a for sale sign on it and swerve to go into the parking lot. I pull up and see that the sign had bent back. It had a phone number and said $750(I think somethings up). I call the number on the sign. The guy tells me he lives a few block away and will be right there. Two minutes later an elderly man drives up in a brand new C5 convertible. We start talking. He's the original owner. He tells me the whole history about the car. He drove it every day to Trenton (about 60 miles each way), till he retired in the early nineties. He racked up 248,000 miles on it. I test drove it and fell in love when the boost kicked in at 30mph. I go back and the guy tells me that if I fixed the bumber fillers and rebuild the engine, I might be able to get two or three thousand for it ;) . So I tell him that my bank was closed(sunday) and that my atm would only let me take out $500 out at one time. Before I can tell him that it would be a deposit and I would give him the rest tommorow, he say's he'll take $500. Half hour later he drove it to my house, pulled the plates, gave me the title, and drove away in a brand new bonneville SSEI. Needless to say, the mods started right away with te-44, thdp, etc. Right now, she's at Dynotech getting a complete rebuild and then goin to my friend body shop. I think she's worth a little more than two or three grand now.



Son of a....!

Why doesn't this stuff ever happen to me??!?!

Congrats on an absolute STEAL!!

[map 87 gn]

Since they came out I always wanted one, but being 21 in '87 & just out of college I couldn't afford one. The only thing I had gotten close to it was a '84 regal 2 door with T-roof, buckets, 305 4 barrel with dual exhaust. I lined up once with a GN at a corner, we went for it (street racing is very illegal & that is the only time I did it ) of course we all know the outcome. Finally was ready financially to get one about 4 years ago. Started looking for one locally (looking only for '87 GNs) & found one for sale on E-Bay that was local. Contacted the owner & went to check it out & do a test drive. This was my first ride in a GN & like everybody else, I was hooked. The car was in pristine "almost" stock condition with the usual "Custom" original paint from GM. It had around 65,000kms (roughly 39,000 miles) . Unfortunately the bids went higher than my bank account & the reserve price was not met. I then continued to search for other GNs but they were in rougher shape or had higher mileage than the first one I had tried. Finally spring 2003 arrived & I was looking in the autotrader & found a GN that was interesting & noticed the phone # was the same as the person that was selling one on E-Bay in the fall of 2002. I called him back & went to see it again (yes it was the same one) & finally bought it a few weeks after for around $18,000 CDN (i.e. around $12,500US) & became the 7th owner with original pics of the delivery of the vehicle to the dealer & some original paperwork. Since then I am enjoying every summer & met other Buick enthusiasts . Even the previous owner missed owning a TR so much that he bought himself another '87 GN. Once you go boost, you never go back

[Bryan C.]

When I bought my first 85 GN, I had put down money on an RX7 and was waiting on financing. Then I saw the GN at a dealership the next day. The RX7 dealership started giving me a hassle about financing (I was 19 and had no credit), so I took my money and put it down on the GN. I later traded that GN in on an S10, the GN had issues and I needed something to get me back and forth to work reliably. A few years later I was ready to by another GN and I found an 85 at a dealership. We bought it. Three years later a friend of ours had an 87 GN for sale, so we bought it. Later that year, a friend of ours was in a head on collision in an 86 GN. After the insurance was settled, we bought that one.

Nothing real exciting.

[whistlingT]

Mine sat wrecked under a pine tree. I worked on the guy for 3 years and he finally sold it to me. It had sat for 7 years total so I took it back gutted the interior and shampooed everything a lot. Replaced the carpet and headliner all all looks great it still has the plastic protection on the instrument surround. The car only had 40k on it so it was worth it to repair. Then I started working on the driveline removing all fluid and plugs and seeing if it would spin over with a bar it spun great so I lubed the cylinders replaced all fluids new plugs and cleaned the gas tank an lines. New gas and it fired up perfect. The car only had a chip from back in the day and a k&n. I replaced the fender header panel and bumper installed fiberglass bumper fillers striped it to bear metal and refinished the car. I replaced all the seals and have not got almost 57k on the car. Odd T with chrome mirrors, concert sound and am/fm, black out package, posi, only options are rear defrost and well that is about it. My trunk sticker is the shortest I have ever seen. Great car!!!!!!!!!!

[Limited-T]

My car, an '87 Limited, was originally purchased in California by the original owner brand new in '87. He drove the car daily, and kept it until he moved up here several years ago. My brother had been working and saving every dollar he earned, and bought the car instead of a T-Type. My brother drove and ocassionally raced the car before it sat in the driveway for over a year before I began starting it and driving it around the block to keep it going. Not long ago, my brother said he wanted something else to drive instead, so he sold the car back to my dad, and now I am the next owner of this great car that I drive daily. Still runs good even after 165,000+ miles on the clock!

[BIGHEADCHRIS]

I got my 87'GN in 97'.I had just sold my Aero Coupe(rough) and was desperatly seekin a 93-4' 6-speed Lt1 T-top camaro.There was none to be had,anywhere.While riding down a road heavily populated with car lots I spy an amber marker light surrounded by shiny black sheet metal poking out from between two other cars.Without hesitatoin (or regard for saftey) I U turn and buzzin to the lot.There it sat 31k on the ticker.After a test drive,it was Camaro,what Camaro?I had to fight off three other pepole jockying for position to buy it.Luckily(and suprisingly)I had the best credit of the bunch,and got it.A week later i went back to get the tag or somthing and he told me that a lady who was also droolin on the car the day before,came in a few hours after i left with the car with cash in hand to buy(full price!)and actually broke down and cried when she learned it was gone.

[coolguywalt]

I ended up finding mine not far from home. After finally considering getting one, I just hopped on eBay to see what was out there. At the top of the page was one with one owner, 68,xxx miles, in my price range, and only 20 minutes from my house. I contacted the guy and test drove it that afternoon. Drove like a champ. Owner had EVERY oil change and any documented service in recipts there too. Included in the huge stack of papers was the original business cards from the guy that sold it to him in 1989. He always used GM oil filters (even says so on all the oil change recipts) and had a case of them in the trunk (the ones from 1989 that had the box that said that it was for the 89 TTA). Bought it that night and drove it straight home to the garage and the rest is history.

[DandyRacing]

Back in 1994, I was driving down North Main St. in Baytown, Tx., and drove past the Chevrolet dealership used car lot. There it was, sitting right out front, a 1987 T-Top Grand National. I had seen these cars around and really started liking them. At the time, I had a 1980 Corvette, black. I ended up buying the GN for $7000 drive-out. It was really in pretty good condition, even though a high mileage car. It didn't use any oil and ran good. I sold the 'vette and have had the GN ever since. Have since rebuilt the engine and it has the mods in my sig.

[cablebandit]

After my 00 T/A was totalled by a hit/run driver I took the insurance money and bought another 00 t/a that was totalled and rebuilt it. I am very hapy with the results
here is a before pic
http://www.incontt.net/software/d/92-2/frame+059.jpg


and one i took of it this past weekend
http://www.incontt.net/software/d/20-2/PC300096.JPG


it is my daily driver. best run is 9.98 @ 142 on 93/alky

[zbuickman]

In the early nintys I decied that I wanted one. The first car I founbd was my 86 GS. My brother had recently totaled his 88' Lesaber t-type. So I let him buy it and said when you go to get rid of it let me know. Thats how I got that for $150.00. The looking continued. I was even looking as far as a place called Kash fine cars in burbank Ill. Saw an awsome GNX for sale there, though out of my price range then though. Ended up finding mine in an auto trader and it was local. Got a fairly good deal. $4200 and a story about how I cant drive it in town if I dont want tickets. Seems the car was KNOWN. He wasnt lying. The known status died down a couple years later. 12 years later I still own it.:rockwoot:

[BoostedSix215]

Mine was my moms car. My parents bought it off of Kirban in 1994. It was her grocery getter when it was nice out. It was all stock except for a K&N filter when i bought it off of them in 2002 and i've been having fun with it since. :rockwoot:

[Bruce]

Back in the late 70s, I was involved with an oem program for turbo'd cars. Just little 2000cc, and a 1500cc engines. But, I was hooked..... We were using blow thur webers, and had lots of intial problems with pressurizing things. Not to mention getting the calibration right for the webers... It took what seemed forever to get things civilized, but oh man what a ride. They eventually used a Bosch ecm, and then pulled the plug on the whole deal. I told myself, that eventually I'd do a turbo car the way I wanted to.... Only took about 25 years...

While mine certainly isn't even in the running for being fast, for me, it's just been the answer to what's been almost a life long dream.

[Black-Jacket]

someone stole my yukon, used the insurance check to buy my truck

[Black-Jacket]

Hybrid-T is that manual trans in your car?

if so pm me some info on the swap because ive never seen it done?