Why did you get a Gbody

[DeltaT]

I love the lines on most of the G-bodies, especially the GN, Turbo Buicks, Regals and of course the 4DR Malibu.

I especially like the 4DRs for their ability to fly below the radar - they are pretty bland looking cars - but there is a million speed parts for them, they are all full-framed cars, and parts are cheap and plenty.

They can be made to handle very nicely with basic mods and upgrades.

And lastly, they are cheap to insure.

Jim

 

[classic80]

I've always loved the looks of Malibus, and passed on a few deals right after high school that I probably shouldn't have. I ended up playing with imports for several years but always had it in the back of my mind that I would go back to Chevy v8s. Recently came across a deal on a Malibu, so I jumped on it. Now here I am, getting rid of one of my Hondas to help fund the Malibu project...and I don't regret it

 

[beermonkey9417]

the reason i got my elky is because back in my day(mid 80's) my moms boy friend was always werking on cars in the garage. hed swap motors, paint cars and do body werk. well he had a buddy who owned a el camino and would do parts runs, and id go with. man when he would pull up to a light, it didnt matter who was next to us, he would race anyone and anything, busses, lil ol ladies, cops, he didnt care. i always like that feeling and the smell of engines and burnt rubber. i like to watch him shift on the coloum and make the "go faster!" face. and i liketd that its a 2 seater and has plenty of storage in the back. and the shape, the way the bed and cab mould together looks way better than any p/u ive ever seen. so when i saw this one on CL, i had to get it. and now 4500 bucks later im still fixing it up...cant stop now, i still gotta drive it.

 

[CaliCuttie]

I have a few reasons for buying my '86 Cutlass.
First off was cost. At $1700 for a Cutlass in great shape and need minimal work was very enticing
I grew up around muscle cars. An everyday reality growing up was seeing my dad come home from work, jump into his coveralls and work on one of the dozen and a half Pontiac GTOs I would watch him rebuild from buckets to beauties. Times have changed though, especially with the dawn of the internet. And now you can't find the deals on GTOs like you used to.
In comes the G-Bodies. With 60s and 70s muscle cars out of reach financially, I looked into other alternatives. Mustangs were to common and too small for me. Firebirds and Camaros were too run of the mill as well, way too anonymous. Which then leads me to G-Bodies
My brother's first car was an '86 El Camino so I wasn't the first person in the family with a G-Body.
Looking through Craigslist I started thinking of the prospects of my own G-Body. (don't hate me for this next part!)
Monte Carlos were too expensive and are well established over here already as being the cool guy car, plus most of them weren't even real SS's.
Regals were hard to find with any of the options I liked. T-Types were too expensive.
All the Grand Prixs i've seen in my area are buckets.
Then we moved on to the Cutlass. I fell in love with the split grilles that do this shovel scooped arch (never seen another car quite like it). It will take any small block Olds V8 you drop into it. I saw this great potential for being this muscle car that never was, a beauty born in the wrong era. Without the EPA and the 73 Arab oil embargo, I'm certain these cars would have come stock with 350s w/ 2bbl carbs, or optioned for the 4bbl or 455 big block. And hell that's what people do anyway right?


The G-Body was the last of anything that would resemble a muscle car (until the retros we have today of course). It was a very last taste of the muscle car essence, being blessed by the Dept. Highway Safety's mandated return to lower impact-resistant bumpers, being the last of the RWD midsizes, and the last of the classic era, switching to the digital/computer reality of modern cars.
In a nutshell I love how these cars think they're still in the 70s even if they were built up until 1988 :wink:

 

[mheath717]

When I was 15 I saw a young kid driving a two tone cutlass. It was black up top and silver on the bottom. I was hooked as soon as I saw it. From there I saved up $1500 and bought one of my own. So I have had my hurst since age 15. I didn't set out to get a Hurst, but there was one sitting around the corner from my mom's house. I saw the paint scheme and thought... That looks like that special edition cutlass I saw on ebay for like $18,000... So I went and took a closer look and sure enough it was a Hurst. So I've taken it from a rusted out car with a cracked block to my daily driver. Ive got a lot of work left today... (Paint, floor pans, etc) But I don't ever want to get rid of it. It was my first car, and I love it. One day it will be fully restored, and I can put it aside an start another gbody project...

 

[STL84Calais]

When I was growing up, my cousin had an '86 GN he used to store in our garage, I always liked the car...
As far as me getting my Cutlass it was entirely an accident. I've always been a Ford Ranger fanatic, street, off road you name it. I had a real nice '98 street ranger, all black, billitt grille, powder coated wheels with chrome caps, you name it. My neighbor took care of demolishing it as I was pulling out of my subdivision one day (she didn't look as she was pulling in). My grandpa's neighbor had just lost his wife, and was selling her car, an 84 Calais. He said it was her favorite car, and I quickly found out why. At first sight I noticed the resemblance to a Grand National and fell in love with it instantly. I haven't looked back, in fact I now have a taste for almost all G-Bodies, and have found myself positively hooked on Oldsmobiles! I think it's mostly the allure of being different, not many people have what I have, and I like that. I still keep up with my Rangers though, I now have an '85 4x4 for a DD and off road play toy!

 

[CamaroAdam73]

I just happen to be in the right place at the right time?

i had just blown up the LS1 in the 87 trashette, it's a long story how that engine even ended up in that car, don't ask please.

I was at a party drinking and bullshitting with this dude i had just met, and i noticed in the backyard of this house was a purple 81 Monte, not SS. I asked what was up with it because it looked half decent, sitting on some cragers. Turns out the guy didn't want to sell it, had a 383 with a blown rear seal. But he did however have a 1988 Monte SS with a hilariously setup drivetrain, a 396 BBC bolted up to the nearly stock 200R4. 1500$, bought her on the SPOT.

Not even a month later, both head gaskets went ( i kind've suspected it right off the bat, lotsa water in the exhaust and missed like a blind guy at a shooting range, under load) and blew the transmission up at the very same time, in actuality the 200 blew first, and i over revved and puked the head gaskets. Turns out one head was cracked anyways, driveside.


So to sum up how sh*t worked out, i ended up with a drivetrain-less 88 Monte SS, the doors for an 87 vett( just thought it was funny that that's all i had left of that car) a blown LS1, bottom end was scattered, and a 396BBC that pretty much needed all around rebuilt. And the remains of a 200R4, a piece of the input shaft came through the valve-body and pan.

Friend of mine had a run of the mill, 2bolt main 350, freshly put togethor, carb to oil pan, fan to flex plate. I traded both the LS1, and the BBC for this and a 700R4 with some goodies in it. And that ended up being the drivetrain for my Monte for awhile.
The only thing i actually regret, is not buying the right crossmember to fit the 700R4, i tried to just modify my original one, got the dimensions wrong and did allot of damage to my transmission.

And thats how i ended up with a G-body!