Looking at the first G-Body purchase, 81 Regal with 350sbc.

[naminator]

Looking to pick up an 81 Buick Regal. It has:

350 Chevy w/ an Edlebrock performer intake, Holley carb, and Mallory ignition.
"upgraded" suspension supposedly
3" exhaust (because annoying the neighbors is good)

Comes with miscellaneous extra parts, extra rear gears, the hood has a scoop on it, the tires are shot but the rims look pretty good. It has a decent amount of surface rust on the body, specifically around the windshield, bottom of the doors, passenger side window area, the rear quarters and the trunk lid. Apparently it is mostly surface rust and the frame/floor is "solid". It has either th350 or 700r4 in it with the 350. The guy wants a relatively fair price for it and filled the trans on the weekend and took it for rip no problem.

Currently I do not have a garage to park this glorious hunk of rust. I can do a moderate amount of back yard wrenching and my first goals would be fixing and stopping the rust on the exterior and the trans leak. I know the rear frames on the g-body's can go bad and the rockers, but anything else I should be looking for red flag wise? I can bring a jack with me and probably get under the car somewhat to take a look, assuming I am serious I would take it for a test drive too.

 

[Doug Chahoy]

Don’t ever believe it’s JUST surface rust. Sounds like a $1,000.00 car to me. Rust everywhere, badly leaking trans, and thats just first look.

 

[naminator]

Don’t ever believe it’s JUST surface rust. Sounds like a $1,000.00 car to me. Rust everywhere, badly leaking trans, and thats just first look.

Trust me I don't believe it is just surface. He wants $2000 for it (canadian funny money) and $1000 USD translates to about $1400 canadian as is. As for the leaking trans, he said he bought it about a month ago as a project and drove it very little, but the previous owner had let it sit a year plus. Apparently he topped up the trans fluid and has driven since, but has no idea how fast the leak is.

First step is figuring out how much insurance would be. If it is $150 a month or something ludicrous I will pass. If the insurance is reasonable, I will be going to take a look at it in person. I was reading up on how to tell what trans it has so that will be one task, which would tell me how rusty it is underneath (going to bring ramps and jack) for both the front and back. I will also figure out exactly which 350 sbc is in it. Assuming I cangather this info, I might be able to talk him down if it isn't a 2K car.

 

[Doug Chahoy]

Check the old threads on here, there was one a while ago that showed all the different transmission pans. The TH350 pan looks like a square with one corner missing. I’d chisel him down to 1,000.00 US. He obviously realized the car is worse than he expected.

 

[fleming442]

It doesn't sound like a wise move, but, hey, who makes smart decisions in the name of hotrodding?

 

[lilbowtie]

I hope you are stealing it cause I really don't like the sound of it !!

 

[UC645]

If you mean the passenger quarter window area, it’s never just surface rust.

If you zoom in, look at the top of the rear quarter window, this was hiding underneath:

 

[naminator]

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This is the link to the sale. Anything not on the add that I mentioned was gathered from text messages. You can see the rust and the transcript of the convo is:



Seller: It’s pretty rusty. The doors, rear quarters and maybe the trunk lid should probably be replaced. There’s also some rust holes above the passenger window. Otherwise it’s just surface rust. I believe it has a TH350, but it might be a 700R4. I haven’t been able to drive it all that much.

Me: What about the under body?
Like rear frame rails, etc.

Seller: Surface rust. Nothings rotted through yet

Me: So surface rust, not completed rotten but definately surface rust. With the trans leaking it is pretty fast leak right? But it still runs and drives?

Seller: It runs and drives. I’m not sure how fast the trans leaks, it was sitting for a long while before I bought the car. However I filled it on Saturday and it seems to drive fine today.

Me: How long was it sitting for?
Also how long have you owned it?

Seller: At least a year, and about a month.

Me: So you picked it up about a month ago and before that it was sitting for a year or so?

Seller: Yes, The guy said he started it up a few times, but never actually drove it anywhere

 

[UC645]

Are those holes above the rain gutter?
Canadian fun bucks or not, that price is hard to justify. That windshield channel is going to hide a lot of nasty surprises.

 

[naminator]

Are those holes above the rain gutter?
Canadian fun bucks or not, that price is hard to justify. That windshield channel is going to hide a lot of nasty surprises.

I am sure it does. He has not taken full 360 pictures so I might go check it out (and take it for a test drive if he lets me). I will be sure to take a ton of pictures of problem areas, rust etc and update this post with them for more advice.