What Got You Into G-Bodies?

[axisg]

My freinds dad bought "scrap" cars and parted/fixed/sold/scrapped cars and trucks for years as well as being an "old school" mechanic. I learned 95% of what I know about cars thanks to him. He passed a few years back and I really miss him and his influence.

When both his son and I were in high school the G-Bodies started turning up as scrap and due to their parts interchangability. We saved a lot of cars from the crusher by swapping parts between the B.O.P. and Chev lines then selling the car for profit.

His sons first car was a 1979 Beige on Beige Cutlass Brougham 2 door ( yuck what a colour ! ). He pulled the motor out of one car, the trans out of another, and the Wheels off some Camaro I think. Then he shot it with a quick coat of Gloss Black.

The point is I loved these cars for the way the handled, and for the fact they looked goods while being cheap to keep on the road. Drives me crazy to think of all the stuff we tossed over the years and now we need to pay big $$ to buy some of it back.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I killed a rod bearing in my 1979 AMC Spirit's 232 straight six and I needed a car. I was unemployed, 19 and in college at the time and my grandfather had offered to get me a car, but nothing with a V8 in it. So, I got my V6 Cutlass Supreme Brougham. It had a cheap repaint that hid the Bondo and roof rot the car had-for about 6 months. It was my only nice car, so I repainted it blue (it was silver) and had my somewhat better Fiberglass repair rot out in 2 years. I was using it to deliver pizza at the time and hated the slow V6 so, after putting almost 200k miles on it I swapped to the 355 it has now. I never finished it right and am attempting to undo my previous sins and make it a good handling, comfortable car that could be a daily driver if I wanted it to be. Sadly, I could not continue to use it to deliver with due to some issues I had not taken car of properly when I did the swap, and stopped using it for that a year later when I got my Frontier. It now sits in limbo awaiting me to have the energy to weld in that stupid floor pan patch I made in November and finish what little body work I have left. No metal has been replaced with plastic this time- I welded in patches everywhere they were needed.

 

[Peter]

As a kid every single day when i walked to school, along the way there was anolive green regal, not sure what year it was but it was surely around 83 or 84. Anyways as a kid i always said to myself i wanted that for my first car, i had no idea what it was at the time but i know i loved how it looked. So when i started looking for my first car, i was looking for a regal or cutlass mostly (not too fond of the monte carlo header panel) and ended finding mine for a good price. The only way i would be happier with my car is if it had t-tops and a v-8 (but who wouldn't want that)

 

[megaladon6]

when i was about 5 my dad bought a '84 regal with t-tops. and i always loved the look of the 87 monte ss. it just looks mean but it's not completely squared off, you have the curved crease in the body panels that change the look of the car.

 

[jerrycad472]

My first car was as 78 Cutlass 2dr, 305 V8. It was a hand me down from my mom but it was in decent condition and ran ok. Seemed fast at the time. I updated the suspension with aftermarket springs, shocks and sway bars.

My senior year (1988). I sold the Cutlass and got an 81 Regal. It was a 231, black with bucket seats. I immediately painted the bumpers and all of the trim black to look like a GN (fooled a lot of people), swapped the suspension upgrades from the Cutlass over to it. I also swapped in a 350 sbc from a 70 Impala.

Within 2 years I decided I wanted a Camaro. So I sold the Regal and picked up the 1970 Camaro that I still have today. In the mid 90's I was thinking I wanted another G-body, but just did not have the time or money. I really wanted an 81-87 Cutlass. Then in 2001 my Grandmother called and asked if I wanted her 81 Monte Carlo. I only had 60,000 miles and had not moved from the garage in 6 years. I drove it for 3 months, decided make some improvements and paint it over the winter and then is snowballed into a full frame up and LS1 Conversion.

 

[Nightmare388]

My first nice car with all wheels matching and nice paint job was a 1978 Grand Prix with a 301.I met my wife in that car. I have also had a few malibus and regals and I have a 80 and 78 Monte Carlo now. I've always wanted a 3rd Gen. Monte since I was able to drive back in 86. I just love the body style. Plus G body parts are still around to get and aren't priced to high yet. They are fairly easy to work on also. They also make a great drag project with the full frames and they are fairly light for the size car that they are. All G bodys just plain ROCK!!!! That's why everyone loves them.

 

[beeterolds]

i always like the style of the Cutlass...i bought my 83 back in 2002 and its been my baby since... sure its on its 4th motor...6th trans and 2nd rear...but thats half the fun of this hobby!!

 

[ryanwitski]

well i was never a true g body guy, alwys loved the chevelle, vette and maro. i was a poor h.s. kid and after my 1st car rusted to death my dad found 1984 elky. i thought it was a hick car kinda ugly. went to akron to look at it and instantly fell for it. test drove it and did not want to get out. it was comfy, and had style. I drove it to texas and back twice. spent hours working on it and doing burnouts. then i had to sell it b/c it was rusting and i blew the tq convertor. i sold it to a guy who was going to clone it into a ss. It made me sick to see my old conquista being bought by a butcher. but life goes on i guess.

My favorite thing was people coming up to me saying "i used to have an el camino and i loved it!" I now know how they feel. The last of the full chassis cars. RIP my black betty, may you be restored to your orig glory somday and live again to play loud rock and roll and do burnouts making people mad and happy all at the same time.

 

[coolchrisp]

I was givin one for free, so now i have one. haha

 

[Silent viewer]

my story started with a 1964 impala that my father had bought when i was like 10 years old, i thought it was cool as hell! one day i was at the store with my mom (few years after he sold it with a fresh 327 and fresh paint for 1200 bucks!) and i saw a lowrider magazine with a canary yellow 64 impala and i was like holy crap thats the same car my dad had so i grabbed the magazine, i was like 12 and my mom didnt like the half naked girl on the cover but some how convinced her to buy it. so i am at home looking through it and i see this mexied out mid 80s cutlass with this cool stereo and hydros and what not. i was like that looks like my neighbors car that i really liked since it somewhat resembeled my moms 84 riviera which was also a insperation. so from that moment on i fell in love with the cutlasses, for some reason i hated the tail lights of the regals so i didnt like them too much. when i was 15 going on 16 my buddy called me and told me the neighbors behind them were moving and needed to sell a buick 2 door really fast. i drove up there with my mom and ended up driving my 500 dollar regal home, also the most expensive g body i ever bought, lol. the car was clean except for a bashed fender and above the rear wheel well was a little dented. anyways i kept wanting a cutlass and now fell in love with the 81+ regals, my dad called me and said he found a cutlass for sale. i went look at it and it ended up being a 84 cadillac eldorado biaritz which i fell in love with and bought on the spot for 2400 bucks. i sold the regal with a bad rod bearing in the stock 3.8 and the engine was about done anyways. everytime i saw a g body after that i could not help but think that i had to have another one. i bought the next one which was a 86 regal for 200 bucks with bad 307 and bad transmission, i was like 17 and 200 bucks then was like 2000 to me now a days. so i am sitting there with a car and no place to put it when my freind offered me 400 bucks for it which like i said was like 4000 to me today and i sold it to him. i few months later i found a 84 regal that the guy wanted 1900 for it, i wanted it bad and told him i would be back later that day to test drive it, it was a navy 84 with every option including a moonroof and cornering lights. i get there and the guy said that he had just traded it to the sprinkler guy for 700 dollars of work but he would give my number to the guy and let him know i was interested. a week later the guy calls me and tells me the engine blew up and he wanted 500 bucks for it if i wanted it. i went to look at it and i told him all i had was 100 bucks and he said sold! i ended up swapping a newer 3.8 into it and driving it for some time. one day i had to go pay a speeding ticket on the other side of town and i spotted a regal for sale on the side of the road. i pull over and look at it and the car had a different color front clip and a rusty deck lid but was clean and running for 250 so i said i would take it and i drove it home. i sold the first 84 for 1800 which was 1000 more then i had into it and i dumped the money into paint, streo, neons.... the typical stuff younger guys do and 2 months later what do you know, timing chain goes. i am thinking that what better time to swap a v8 into this thing???? thats when the first v8 came, 2 days later i am coming home from work stopped at a red light, light turns green, i go, kaboom gold vovlo semi truck in my front clip! i cried for hours! now over the years i have rebuilt that same car, the shell of the body is at least the same car and several engines, a dozen parts cars and my newest cutlass i think i am going to be buried in a g body! more then 10 years later i am obsessed with them and my entire lifestyle rotates around my car and boat hobbies.