Went To Look At A 83 Regal T-Tops Today

[Peter]

i went to go look at an 83 regal with t-tops today (i have been envying to have a t-top regal) a couple of towns over. The owner put a GN harness in the car because they were gonna do the GN swap but it never happened. The dash is in but around the coulm is all taken out because of the computer replacement. The car has no rear end in it right now and i'd have to get one, or maybe just a 2.41 something to get the car home. the car is 600 bucks but we are talking price right now. the quarters aren't terrible but are starting to show some serious rust that needs to be taken care off, no rot anyways though. floors and frame are both nice. check out the pics

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Not too bad a find. The interior looks like it is at least mostly there (console?), and salvageable, and that is most of the battle with a G body. I would be sure to check the normal frame rot spot behind the rear wheels by the body mount if you have yet to do so. Poke at the floors from underneath a little to be sure there is no rot on the top side. T Top cars love to leak and kill floors. Also check the roof with the tops removed and be sure it is not too rusty to save. If it all checks out, it is not a terrible deal. Just remember that it can all turn ugly pretty fast when you try to buy up any missing trim and body items as they tend to command decent prices. These cars may not have much value as complete vehicles, but their parts are worth a fair amount of money.

 

[Peter]

the way that i look at it, is the is the repairs to the body get ugly, selling off these parts, i dont see anyway i could lose money at that price

also the unseen stuff
he claims the car is complete just in pieces
so i'd be getting the

-header panel
-the trunk if full of part in boxes some new
-all the dash pieces not in the car
-the heater controls unique to the regal (don't know much about this)
- not sure about the center console, hopefully though

the floors are very solid as you could see from the pic and i did go poking around unneath and looked good under the passangers feet area

as far as i could see the only panel may not be worth repairing is the passanger door and even then it could still be fixable.

 

[kingcolbert83]

I say it depends on the market in your area. I would say no because I paid 600 for my car running but that was with my market in my area. I would give him 450 or 500 because you have to get a rear end, but would probably give him 600 just because its t tops and its solid throughout.

 

[Peter]

ya the difference is the t-tops whole-heartedly. In NE they are pretty much non-exsistant to find a regal (thats not a GN) with t-tops, I wouldn't even be considering this car if it didn't have t-tops but since it does and i dont care about the engine because it was gonna be taken out anyways. It breaks down to the differences of

-more body work on the quarters
- harder to pick up the car because i need to install a rear end there
- electrical work because of the GN harness

i think that this work along with the pretty low price makes it a chance worth taking

 

[3XBrownCutty]

seems to be right up your alley, a roller (not technically :lol: ) Waiting for an engine and everything looks real solid. 600 isn't too bad for a t-top car, I got mine for 500 running...no t-tops though.

 

[Peter]

yep we'll see how this progresses, my dad and i are going to take a second look on thursday amd will decide if its the right car then