GBotM Feb. '18 - FIRST PIX - ENTRIES

[GP403]

Ah, thanks to silverfox for this excellent idea. It's simple.

The FIRST pic you have of (ONE OF!) your current G-bodies. Like when you first brought it home on the trailer or in the driveway or whatever. Or the absolute first one you can find.

BUT: You MUST post a story about bringing it home for the first time. I will include this in the voting somehow. No story, no entry.

I'll limit this to the first TEN entries this time. See the sticky re: the rules and procedures etc.

When we hit ten or the 25th (whichever comes first) I'll start voting.

GO!

 

[RunAwayNJ]

My 1986 Oldsmobile 442

We purchased it from a member of this forum, QS442 after finding it up for sale online. We had to trailer it back (as you can see in the picture) from Delaware as the brake lines were shot (and it was going to NJ). We actually got it to NJ the weekend before hurricane Sandy hit. We were working frantically to get it to the point where it was drivable - from brake lines, to engine work, interior, door handles, door strikers and more. Good thing the trunk was full of parts and bits and pieces. It took several days but we got it running and ready. I was a full time EMS worker at the time, so I had literally no time to work on the car because we were prepping for Sandy. So we put up a temporary garage for it, wrapped it in several tarps, and we were ready for Sandy. The good news, no damage at our house or to the Olds from Sandy, yet 1 mile away from us homes were destroyed. Our garbage can blew away, no other damage. And now while much of NJ has been rebuilt, there are still people not in their homes. We were the lucky ones.

And now the 442 is complete, fully restored, repainted, rebuilt engine and trans, that first weekend we had it was a fun time by all. My wife, kids, my friends Rod & Kevin who have a repair shop, and my neighbor Vinnie was a huge help working like mad to get the car ready. Looking back, it was really such a fun time, and we all still enjoy working on the car and taking it to shows. After my mom passed last year, we moved to a new home and my father lives with us now. He loves seeing the Olds and going for rides in it. His first 2 cars were Olds 442's. His father/my grandfather had a few as well. I guess that's why I like them so much.

 

[1evilregal]

while browsing a few of the auction sites that I like going to, I saw this one listed coming up about 30 miles away, and was open to inspect it the day before the auction. I drove up with a buddy to look at it, and found it was my unicorn (GP with T-tops and console!),and inspected the usual problem areas, and found it clean (other than 4 years of dust and mold) and decided to return the next day to put in my bids. luckily there were a couple other cars that brought out most of the bidders, and only 1 other guy bidding against me, and pushed me to my top bid, but ended up with the high bid (whether it was fate, or just plain bad luck, I still haven't figured out ). my buddy returned with me the next day to drag my prize home on his trailer (second G-body he's helped me snag!). the wife wasn't too happy with the way it looked when we pulled up, but lightened up after a good scrub and power washing! (more on that and more, when I finally write a build thread!)

 

[Blake442]

I found my '83 Cutlass wagon in the background of a picture of another car for sale on eBay...
Sent the seller a message and He sent me the first pic of how it sat in his junkyard in Texas from 2001 to 2008...
As luck would have it, He planned to go and visit his parents in Wisconsin for the summer, and for a nominal fee, brought the wagon along and delivered it right to the shop where I worked.
The second pic is right after we rolled it off the trailer after it arriving in MN, June 2008.

 

[Jeff L]

This is the oldest picture I have after I bought the SS in October of 84. It was about a week later and I took a road trip on the backroads of Western CT. If I remember correctly this is at a Revolutionary War military settlement in Kent CT. Luckily we did not have bad weather for a month or so and was able to put on about 800 miles before Winter set in.

A friend of mine who was a photographer took some pictures on the day I brought it home but they were made into slides and it was cool looking at the car pictures on the screen. Talk about old tech! How many can remember sitting through slide shows after relatives went on trips?

Update: sorry to whoever posted an agree on my post. My fingers hit the wrong area on my phone and deleted it somehow?

 

[ed1948]

Aug 2016 is when I started my search, initially for a Cutlass that could be converted to a 442 clone.
Drove all over southern Ontario looking at a Cutlass, a 442, and a pair of SS's.
The SS that sold me was 3 hours away. No winters, some paint respray, all original mechanically and thoroughly rustproofed plus it had the G80 option. From Nov 2016 until June 2017 the following was done:
-body mounts, door hinges, all fluids, re and re interior and thoroughly clean, preserve interior floor, restuff seats, remove all body from the doors forward and reassemble better or equal to original build, service brakes and replace flex lines, drop gas tank and service, reseal firewall, clean grounds, subtle wheel mod, new tires, paint touch ups and correction, touch up very minor chassis rust, redo inst lights, service body behind rear bumper cover, service and preserve door locks assy's.....
Basically, many hours were taken to make it look like very little had been done.

Notice the driver's side door alignment(kinda proud of my largely unnoticed changes)

 

[Rus]

1978 BUICK Century

My first car I got a loan on when I was a teen (1982) was a 1979 Buick Century 4 door. The car was a great car except for the 6 cylinder motor. I was always going to add a Buick 455 V8 but due to poor financial decisions, I lost the car. Although the body style is not a favorite of many, I like it. Then life happened and around 2016 I started looking for a car to complete this dream. I found this in May 2016 and finally purchased it in October 2016. Had it shipped as I could not make time to get it. It was a southern car so without looking at it, had it shipped home. When I got it, what a shock, would not start, once I got it started I saw many lights on dash. The car has a rust free Nice body. Frame was shot. Car had a rubber hose from gas tank to carb for fuel line. Had the rear bumper mounted with a coat hanger. Brake lines were formed out of copper. So over the winter I Got New frame, a lot of new hi po parts and a Buick 455Fun car and, I feel a sweet sleeper and a unique style of g body.

 

[MrSony]

In 2014, my stepdad was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, cancer of the plasma cells in the blood. He wasn't able to work anymore, and my parents dug into his savings to help pay bills and for his treatments. I was 15 at the time, about to turn 16 that September, and my parents have grown tired of having to kart 4 kids around. Since I was only 5 months away from having my license, my parents toyed with the idea of getting me a car, if only to ease the burden of driving 4 kids to three different schools (our district was stupid like that), but nothing really came of it. That is until Friday, April 4th, 2014. My mom, stepdad, and dad were hanging out in the living room when I walked up to my dad and showed him the car. It was my 1985 Buick Regal Limited. Listed with 84,500 miles, 3.8 V6, grandma hubcaps and all. My dad looked it over, and said "We'd never get you anything that nice." We all had a laugh. I showed it to my mom and step dad, and to my surprise my mom said "Call the guy up then.". There was no phone number listed, so I harassed the guy (sorry guy) for about 6 hours until he responded with a phone number. I called the number, and the guy had listed it for his mother who was too old to drive anymore. The car had been sitting in a parking lot outside an old person apartment complex, single story housing area) for the past 10 years. It still has the oil change tag in that little holder on the windshield from March of 2014 at 84,000 miles. We went to Pella, Iowa the next day and drove it home. It was my first time actually driving for an extended amount of time. It was freakin awesome. The first modification I ever did to the car was taking out the old AM/FM radio and installing a pretty nice cassette deck out of a Cutlass Ciera with my birthday money on my 16th birthday. Whether it was from sitting and suddenly being throttled upon by a 16 year old or just old age, the 3.8 blew a headgasket on my way home from school in early November of 2014. I was despondent, thinking I would have to get rid of the car after only having it for less than a year. I decided "Hell nah." and went job searching. February 2015 me and my stepdad went out to Waterloo, Iowa and bought a 1976 350 Buick, which is now affectionately known as "The Blue Motor" by my friends and family. My first job came February 11th, 2015. It was at my local Kmart for 7.25 an hour. It sucked. The people sucked, the customers sucked, the hours sucked, the pay sucked, but I was dead set on having my first car run again. By December 2015, I needed another car. Instead of doing my classwork, at school I would troll ebay and craigslist looking for cool stuff. I ended up coming across a weird black car I've never seen before. A 1970 Ford Thunderbird. I watched over a week the price drop from 1800, to 1500, to 1200, 1000, then 800 dollars. I called the guy up and he said he'd let it go for 300 bucks if I'd come get it that day. It was a hell of a deal. I ended up selling it after I bent a pushrod doing burnouts for $1000, and used that to build up "The Blue Motor". Was a nice piece. .030 over, hyper pistons, comp 268 cam, quadrajet, TA HEI, etc. That motor spun #7, and I was back in the same boat. I did odd jobs here and there, as well as being a Meat Clerk at small grocery store, general laborer at a steel concrete form factory, etc.
In June of 2017, me and my stepdad went and picked up another Buick 350 from just outside Omaha, Nebraska using the very last bit of my Fareway Money. I found it through the v8buick forum. It was actually a 1970 350 SP engine, the GS350 engine. The highest output SBB Buick ever made. 315hp, 410ftlbs, 10.25:1 compression. It was super clean on the inside, minus all the corn. Damn mice. I rebearing'd it and along with new gaskets, and a cam, it was thrust into the Regal. One TH350 later, and here we are today. Man that's a lot of words, but, I wouldn't give this car up for a damn thing. It's my baby. It's my pride and joy. I love popping the hood and saying "Yeah, it's a BUICK 350, and I BUILT IT!" Plus it does great burnouts.

First picture is the day I brought it home, April 5th, 2014. Second is the first wash. My dad used to be a detailer in the 1990s, and he worked his magic. Third picture is earlier this evening. Lots of cool cars and stories up there, good luck to you all!

 

[N3M3S1S]

I honestly don't have some crazy story behind mine. At the time in 2013 I had a Pontiac Fiero that was my daily but my old man was always itching for us to work on some old American V8 goodness. We set out looking for a project and I always had a thing for G Bodies and the Cutlass in particular. This 79 Calais popped up on Craigslist as we were leaving checking out an old ford truck that turned out to be a POS. We scooted over to the guys house and as we turned the corner seeing it in the driveway I knew I needed it. We settled on a price and I drove it home. I could see the P/O wipe tears away as I drove off. Felt bad until I saw all the hack job stuff he did to it. haha. This Calais has been probably the most dependable car I've ever owned and has never disappointed me. I hope I keep it forever.

 

[angel84elco]

Ok I’m a little late but I’ll give it a shot! So a couple years back I had a 1988 burgundy Olds that I had crashed was a real heart breaker! I then bought a 96 impala loved the power but my heart was with the gbodies still! So one day some mustang rear ends me! Just my luck! So the guy had a cheap insurance and they literally took 3 months to pay me! So meanwhile I kept looking for a 87 or 88 gbody I really wanted another 88 olds! So late night I was on the phone searching and searching for a Olds and I found one in California!! Wanted to call the guy so bad but it was like 1 in the morning! So the next day I call the guy and immediately go look at the car! Checked the oil and started her up right away! I said I must have this car I told the guy if I could do payments on it and he let me! I left a deposit on the spot had did some paper work so he wouldn’t hose me and so that he would know I would hose him! Took out a loan from my credit union and drove that sucker home once I finished off my payments.