How about an Opinion or first thought?

I found this 87 GN on EBay today..good til Fri/Sat Jul 03.10:
It first looks like a real bargain especially if you could get 11,900 accepted. But I'm not much of an appraiser on the market.
They are about 30mi from my place.
Any opinions?

Here are my thoughts.

Very nice looking ebay ad, but NO information about the car. Is it a GN? Check the vin to make sure. They call it a nice buick regal. It has a T-Type steering wheel and no GN wheels. Seats have GN covers, but that is easy to do and easy to paint a T-type black and put emblems on.

The engine is heavily modified and with the tach and gauges, I would say this car has been run hard. Not a big issue, these cars are great fun, but not easy to tune. All the turbo air intake is worked, and the external waste gate indicates high boost used. The car also has the typical engine tie down strap added by people that drag race these cars.

If you are ok with all of that, then it is a good looking car. Since you are close, go by and drive it and check it out. 11,900 could be a good price, but you could also run in to thousands needed to tune for a driver. Get engine history, with that many miles. Has it been rebuilt? Make sure you don't have blown head gaskets. Check the 200 4R tranny. We are putting the 2nd tranny in my son's GN now, and at $1600 plus for each, it's no fun. A well built 200 4R to handle the GN power is very expensive.

Good luck. These are fun cars. That one looks nice, I like those wheels.

You can buy a near stock GN for about that same money. If you are wanting a driver, and not a strip car, I'd say stay away from this one.

Mark.

Thanks for all the insight.
I never had a GN, but my son in Austin Tx has one as original buyer.
My history is the GS 455 which I loved then.
Maybe I'll keep looking for a 1970 GS 455.
Anyway, I still want to go by and look at it with your observations in mind.
I'll let you know.
Is there a ID Letter in VIN that tells me?

Tom

Quote:

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Originally Posted by carmantx

Here are my thoughts.

Very nice looking ebay ad, but NO information about the car. Is it a GN? Check the vin to make sure. They call it a nice buick regal. It has a T-Type steering wheel and no GN wheels. Seats have GN covers, but that is easy to do and easy to paint a T-type black and put emblems on.

The engine is heavily modified and with the tach and gauges, I would say this car has been run hard. Not a big issue, these cars are great fun, but not easy to tune. All the turbo air intake is worked, and the external waste gate indicates high boost used. The car also has the typical engine tie down strap added by people that drag race these cars.

If you are ok with all of that, then it is a good looking car. Since you are close, go by and drive it and check it out. 11,900 could be a good price, but you could also run in to thousands needed to tune for a driver. Get engine history, with that many miles. Has it been rebuilt? Make sure you don't have blown head gaskets. Check the 200 4R tranny. We are putting the 2nd tranny in my son's GN now, and at $1600 plus for each, it's no fun. A well built 200 4R to handle the GN power is very expensive.

Good luck. These are fun cars. That one looks nice, I like those wheels.

You can buy a near stock GN for about that same money. If you are wanting a driver, and not a strip car, I'd say stay away from this one.

Mark.

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The Buick Turbo cars are a bunch of fun.

But so are the big blocks.

Is there a ID Letter in VIN that tells me?

the RPO code looks like a better indicator:
http://www.gnttype.org/general/vin.html

Thanks,
That helps a lot.
Tom

71 GS455 100k Miles. Restored
0 Bids/Offers at 6,900.00

that's low opening price. Probably have bids up to 12 or so, and I am guessing he won't let it go for that.

It is a buyer's market right now.