Two 1987 Gran Nationals found in garage

[Guest 56BuickSuper]

http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2017/04/07/twin-1987-buick-grand-nationals-parked-for-years-uncovered-in-dirty-garage.html

 

The story says it all.  Mr Earl, was this you?

Edited April 7, 2017 by 56BuickSuper (see edit history)

[SpecialEducation]

The real story:

https://www.facebook.com/1956Buick/posts/1262768057132063

Edited April 7, 2017 by SpecialEducation (see edit history)

[60FlatTop]

I love looking for how this part will be worded either in articles, chapter meetings, or just casual conversation: " to come up with a fair and reasonable price".

 

The big secret, forbidden to tell. If you haven't watched the antics of avoiding price watch how they do it, very entertaining. If you are one of those whom provides these entertaining staements, your efforts are always enjoyed when i listen.

 

As for those two abused cars! I looked at the pictures and pondered, if I had $200,000 in cash in my garage, would I leave it on top of the leaves or kind of hide it under them.

 

Through my years in the hobby, I have found that cars really do carry the personality or Karma of the previous owner. I don't think the ownership of those cars will be as rewarding as projected. Sorry, seeing cars like that brings an imagine like this to mind.

 

Enough, I'm going out and spritz a little detailer on my cars.

Bernie

 

[EmTee]

Yikes -- I'm going out to my garage to trim my toenails...

[NTX5467]

IF those two vehicles are what they are, they need to be in a museum, BUT some enthusiast might purchase one (at an elevated price) and then proceed to "enjoy" them as might be desired.  Typically, originality will go out the window as necessary changes are made to accommodate even daily or occasional use.  Rubber fuel line items are one thing, for example, plus other rubber items as tires.

 

I have a customer that purchased a Chevy SS454 pickup when they were new.  His instructions were to NOT clean it up in make ready. He wanted it to be "as assembled" as when it left the assembly plant.  Considering it a future collectible, that's how he wanted it, which the dealership complied with.  He drove it to his nearby shop and parked it.

 

As the later model years had many improvements from that original model year, the later ones made better vehicles, to me.  ONE big improvement was the 4L80 OD automatic!  It was amusing to watch Chevy enthusiasts when the designations "SS" and "454" were mentioned together, as if it was 1970 all over again, but with less horsepower.  I think he later sold it for what it was (an untouched original vehicle).

 

As many in the collector car hobby have discovered when a niche vehicle has an unusual option (as the factory cell phone option in some Buicks), as the technology changes, over time (as some earlier OnStar owners found out), that earlier technology becomes obsolete and unusable.  Preserving them can be important, but their utility value goes away, for what that might be worth.

 

A good while back, a chapter member decided he wanted a GN.  He looked for on unmolested one, as it seems that most GN owners "raced" them and had made appropriate "changes".  He finally found one that a doctor had purchased new and just drove for is daily car.  It had a few scratches where his dog had greeted him, but that could be easily fixed.  When he drove it to one of our chapter meetings, when he drove up, the "radars" of the GN guys perked up as it was one they didn't know about.  They casually swarmed the vehicle and started telling the owner how he should modify it to "make it run better".  That was not in his desires, yet they drank it all in as their dreams of what tey'd do with it couldn't be repressed.  The owner kept the car for a while and then got something more conventional in design.

 

For somebody so motivated to maintain (unmolested)  and show these vehicles, THAT would probably be the best thing that could happen to them, collectively or individually.as Historical Preservation is their real value (now and in the future).

 

NTX5467