HOT ROD mag: G-bodies=beaters

[lg1200]

95% of the 'builds' i see on here are beaters in every sense of the word. people come to this board to get that beater running for what they need and they're gone. then they'll buy a pontiac grand prix or equally newer beater when the old cutty or regal goes out. no one is dumping serious money into these cars except a few true enthusiasts. so don't be mad that the guy was talking about 95% of this board's members and was technically right.

 

[Explicit_Spade]

You can't find anything for $500 anymore. That said, nice ones here can be found for $3500. I couldn't paint my car for that here at a shop.

I bought my rust free 86 MCSS as a rolling chassis for $500.

When it is up to $3500 it will be running with a Junkyard 5.3 and 4L80E, Craigslist Ford 9" with some nitrous, and I will have collected some parts for a budget ebay turbo build. That being said, it will just be a beater with a cheap powertrain that I'm not going to worry if it blows up. The hood is going to get a large hole cut into it for the truck intake manifold to fit and I might not get it painted just to keep the awkward beater look it has going on (pic for reference).

 

[67rstbkt]

95% of the 'builds' i see on here are beaters in every sense of the word. people come to this board to get that beater running for what they need and they're gone. then they'll buy a pontiac grand prix or equally newer beater when the old cutty or regal goes out. no one is dumping serious money into these cars except a few true enthusiasts. so don't be mad that the guy was talking about 95% of this board's members and was technically right.

You Sir......are 100% correct 😀 While I love the g-body platform, that's just the way it is right now. Maybe in another 20 years that will change, but fact is GM made a huge quantity of these cars. Besides a few models, they are not anything more than a "beater" for many. The second car I ever owned was an 87 Cutlass Supreme. I paid $1600 for it in 1997 because it was the cool car to have on the east coast. Even then, with it being only 10 years old, it was a beater. I built my first hot-rod out of it, threw in a SBC :shock: , and drove it until I moved away from NY. I hate to say it, but HRM has it right. Besides, if there are still thousands upon thousands of g-bodies on the road 20 years from now, will they ever achieve collector status? One of the things that makes collector cars today so special is that they are the few that survived. These cars were built for the masses, to be consumed and then recycled into the next model.

 

[L.A.X-RATED]

You can't find anything for $500 anymore. That said, nice ones here can be found for $3500. I couldn't paint my car for that here at a shop.

I bought my rust free 86 MCSS as a rolling chassis for $500.

When it is up to $3500 it will be running with a Junkyard 5.3 and 4L80E, Craigslist Ford 9" with some nitrous, and I will have collected some parts for a budget ebay turbo build. That being said, it will just be a beater with a cheap powertrain that I'm not going to worry if it blows up. The hood is going to get a large hole cut into it for the truck intake manifold to fit and I might not get it painted just to keep the awkward beater look it has going on (pic for reference).

join the club!!! heres ONE of my "beaters" i picked up for 350.00 thats going to get the same "treatment" 8)

 

[Brother Al]

67rstbkt... being from the North East originally, you know what is true out on the West Coast, SW Desert, and Great Plains doesn't hold true up here in the Rust Belt. Are there beaters out there? Sure there are... there are still beater cars from the 60's and 70's on the road too... albeit not many.
I cant speak for every part of the Rust Belt, but pickins are getting damn slim here in the Mega Metro from Boston to Jersey ... the Only G Body I see with frequency outside of "the cruising season" is few random Cutlass Supremes, Cutlass 4 Doors, and the occasional Monte... mainly because they were GM's best selling models at the time and GM sold tons of them. Few of the '78-'88 A/G Body's I see on the road these days would qualify in the "Beater" catagory and definately dont rate at K Car status... perhaps the J Body would. Most of the cheap cars I find fit into the "project" or "Parts" catagory.. ie. ) failed projects and lost causes rotting away in people's back yards, cars that are otherwise too screwed up or unsafe to pass inspection... and junkyard G Body's are pretty damn rare now, as are 3rd Gen F Body's. The examples I do find are typically stripped when they arrive or are picked apart within a week or two. Most of the G Body's I see these days are nice drivers to minty show cars.

I used to source '64-72 & 78-88 A/G Body's for parts to resell... My life took a path that led me away from being able to do that... now that I'm getting back into '78-'88 G Body's, I'm finding it VERY difficult to find salvageable stuff in this region... you have to go look in less populated regions for "good" stuff. I've had the same problem with '82-'84 F Body stuff... despite '84 being the highest production year of both '82-92 Camaro & Firebird... the prices for NOS bits has Skyrocketed... the same is true for a lot of specific G Body parts. That in itself is proof that the table has turned... the value of Non-Turbo Regals hasn't soared yet because of the economy, but there is a demand... I sold a few of my remaining '78-88 G-Body goodies a few years ago and made a surprising profit... 2 minty '81-88 Monte doors netted me a quick $200...

 

[67rstbkt]

67rstbkt... being from the North East originally, you know what is true out on the West Coast, SW Desert, and Great Plains doesn't hold true up here in the Rust Belt. Are there beaters out there? Sure there are... there are still beater cars from the 60's and 70's on the road too... albeit not many.
I cant speak for every part of the Rust Belt, but pickins are getting damn slim here in the Mega Metro from Boston to Jersey ... the Only G Body I see with frequency outside of "the cruising season" is few random Cutlass Supremes, Cutlass 4 Doors, and the occasional Monte... mainly because they were GM's best selling models at the time and GM sold tons of them. Few of the '78-'88 A/G Body's I see on the road these days would qualify in the "Beater" catagory and definately dont rate at K Car status... perhaps the J Body would. Most of the cheap cars I find fit into the "project" or "Parts" catagory.. ie. ) failed projects and lost causes rotting away in people's back yards, cars that are otherwise too screwed up or unsafe to pass inspection... and junkyard G Body's are pretty damn rare now, as are 3rd Gen F Body's. The examples I do find are typically stripped when they arrive or are picked apart within a week or two. Most of the G Body's I see these days are nice drivers to minty show cars.

I used to source '64-72 & 78-88 A/G Body's for parts to resell... My life took a path that led me away from being able to do that... now that I'm getting back into '78-'88 G Body's, I'm finding it VERY difficult to find salvageable stuff in this region... you have to go look in less populated regions for "good" stuff. I've had the same problem with '82-'84 F Body stuff... despite '84 being the highest production year of both '82-92 Camaro & Firebird... the prices for NOS bits has Skyrocketed... the same is true for a lot of specific G Body parts. That in itself is proof that the table has turned... the value of Non-Turbo Regals hasn't soared yet because of the economy, but there is a demand... I sold a few of my remaining '78-88 G-Body goodies a few years ago and made a surprising profit... 2 minty '81-88 Monte doors netted me a quick $200...

Well yea, absolutely - Rust belt operates under a whole different set of rules. 10 year old cars turn to junk unless they are well cared for. My 10 year old Cutlass (at the time) had rot in both door bottoms and the lower quarters. I can tell you that out here, you can find G-bodies with no rust at all in the junkyard. Same with the F-bodies. There is still an abundance of the g-body, just depends where you are. If someone in the rust belt is a true fan, they can get one and ship it - of course that'll cost a little more than if it was local. I think the Hot rod article is just a general list - the definition of beater will really depend on where you live. The GP I bought a few years back cost me $1000. It needed paint and wheels, but was otherwise a good running car - that's right, I said running. I drove it home. No rust, no major dents, passed smog with flying colors. I painted it, put some decent rubber on it, cleaned it up, tuned it up, and fixed a few minor issues and just drove it for over a year until I sold it (for not much more than I paid for it). At the end of the day, it was just a dumb article. They need to write something to fill the pages after all.

 

[tobyp]

I have all the chief editors cards, names, email addresses, stories of both of my builds on rare limited edition gbody cars. One being a canadian 442, whith 442 miles at the first signers delivery!! Also have a 84 Grand National that just had everything including the kitchen sink installed in it to make it new again. I have met with ALL the major magazines on writing a quality story to show the re-birth of the platform combine with all the new parts being introduced into the aftermarket to keep NOS prices down and keep people interested without paying 1/2 their limbs to keep them operating. ALL major magazines are supposed to write articles on this including Hemmings Motors. It seems whether I was a mopar guy, A-body guy, Tri-5 guy....I would take interest in seeing a revitalization of a limited edition car than a "what are you driving as a beater" article.

See what they have come up with soon.

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

Only new parts I see offered for G bodies are expensive LS swapping parts, if you are still using old school motors you are SOL.

 

[jiho]

Some people here seem lacking in self-humor.

I think HR saw the response to their earlier article (the Turbo Buick boys cried a river over that one) and decided to run a sequel. Noting how big the G community is, they figured it might pump up sales at least for one issue.

Rags are like TV, it's all just ad stuffing. The first rule of marketing is, you don't care how irritating your ad is as long as it gets into the viewer's head and sticks there.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Actually I was not angry at HR for intentionally dumping on us. Rather, it was the general lack of respect. They just dismissed the entire G-body line. I'm sure the JEEP owners feel the same way, as they should. I mean c'mon, these are rear wheel drive AMERICAN cars that make great Hot Rods. Isn't that what the mag is all about? Or are we all supposed to drive a red Camaro? Most times HR gets it right, other times they just shoot themselves in the foot.