How many 84gn's are left?

grnadnasty84

Cold Air 84
Joined
Apr 8, 2005
i was looking on ebay and somebody trying to sell a 84 grand national said that it is believed that there are only 500 left. the only reason i'm asking this is because i've always planed to convert my 84 to a 87, but if there are only around 500 left i would hate to make that 499 by converting my gn. Just wondering. :confused:
 
I believe everything I read on ebay. If there where lies on ebay, ebay would quickly remove them! ha! just kidding of course.
I have a 84 gn. and I too am curious just how many of them are still surviving. Got to be a way to see how many are registered, but then, I'm sure theres a bunch that aren't registered anymore, just being stored. Then theres the ones that aren't even in the states at all. Out of the 2000 made in 84, I would guess at least half of that number has survived in a complete, not junked or parted out form.
 
I have one!

I have an '84. I think of these cars this way. First of all, there were only about 2100 of the '84 GN's made, that would make it rarer, in terms of numbers, than say a '67 Corvette roadster? You also know that there are not 2100 of these GN's left, my car was put back together, unfortunately, with the destruction of two other '84 GN's. As far as speed goes, these cars were no where near as fast as the '86 and '87's and who really cares? Someone is always going to have a faster car somewhere else? I have a video on the '84's, I think from the speed chanel about how the '84 GN, with some tweaking, were as fast or faster than a lot of 60's muscle cars, but with better gas milage.I think the 84's are just great they way they are and it's a shame they don't get the recognition they deserve for being basically, the beginning of a legend.
 
'84 GN's.... How many?

2,000 were built total. The VINS were never tracked by Buick. People out there are driving "fake" '84 GNs. Certain pieces are required for it to be a legit car. Interior trim was unique to the car itself. (tough to fake this... if painted... walk away)

Only a handful received the moonroof option, a couple hundred received the T-Tops option... and the rest were hard top.

A few nice low mileage examples are still out there. They miraculously come out of storage and are offered up for sale.

I have had mine since '96 and have tracked the membership of the MSN "Hot-Air Website" and observed members who have lost their cars since then due to many factors... ice, wet roads, errant passenger van drivers ect.

I personally doubt there are more than 500 '84 GN's out there.

I converted mine to an '87 set up. When you frag your original motor you may find it tough to find the desired pieces to keep it going... or... if you desire to go faster... you too will intercool it. :D
 
put down one more 84 still alive.
not original motor/trans (from 85)
some guy offered to buy it to put a big chebby in it
he found on with t-tops.
andy
 
i have a 84... now very very very badly rusted from the florida keys. just waiting to find a better donor regal to swap everything over... im keeping mine 84 not 87 converted... i like being different...
 
I got one of those

Mine is an 84 GN. Has been restored with new paint and the best interior pieces the Texas sun would allow. Now it just sets in the garage awaiting bowling grren where it will be my transportation back and forth from the motel to the track. I wanna check my new torque converter and my thumb wheel chip so I may line her up a few times and see. She hasn't been ran in quite a while (2 years at least) after the head gasket failure. I hate going to college 2 hours away from my car. The car has seen 20 psi with just a quick blast on the street, so I think she should be alright.

The story of my car's rough life is in the webshots link.

Jerry Berger
 
Holy Cow Man! Your engine compt. looks like doctor octopus. Very Cool! Do you notice much turbo lag due to all the extra intake air travel thats required for you to intercool?
 
I have an 84 in the bodyshop. I debated for a while about putting the GNX fender flares but I decided to go ahead and cut up the car. This thread is making me think too much lol. Now I feel a little guilty for cutting it.
 
One of the things I'm going to do when "I win the lottery" is find out the exact number of how many TR's are left. You can do VIN search through every state for a modest fee. It may not be accurate but it will eliminate all of the cars parted out and totaled by accidents.

I always convert everything over to percentages. I'm thinking around 20% have survived. Maybe 40% for the IC cars. Hardly anybody bought a hot air car just to stash away. Lots of low mileage 87's out there because of the hype from the 86 IC cars. When was the last time you saw a really low mileage hot air for sale? Point proven. You know I've been into the turbo Buicks for more than 20 years and was around when these cars were new. Now I'm the type of guy who could probally tell you how TR's are in my area and who sold what and bought what. Take that number and guesstimate how many cars might be in the state and multiply that by 50(we'll count Canada as well just to make up for Montana & N.Dakota) and maybe factor in another 10% and you'll see how I came up with my 20%.
 
You guys can add one more to the list, I still have my '84 GN with a few mods added to it, but pretty much stock and unmolested for now ;) i don't think i'll ever sell mines or i might just hand in down to my son when i think he's good and ready, just cause of the fact that only 2,000 were made and who knows how much of our cars have survived througout the years :)
 
Well the actual amount of pipe...

The amount of pipe has been reduced by about 5 feet believe it or not. That intercooler setup was once a spearco frount mount setup for hotairs. It went through the driver side core support hole behind the headlights and then out to the intercooler and then back to the firewall and over to enter the intake. I went straight into the intercooler and then up and around. I have been pondering relocating the TB to somewhere in the pipe after the intercooler, but like I mentioned earlier college wastes so much time. And to answer your question; with a TA-49 reclocked and a newly installed red stripe TC I can get 20 pounds of boost faster than you want it to happen. It would be very easy to overboost.

Thanks for noticing my heap,
PS it will be at the nationals this year if anyone wants to look at it

Jerry Berger
 
turbofish38 said:
.....When was the last time you saw a really low mileage hot air for sale? ......

There were two 84's on e bay a few months back with less than 5k on them. They were asking in the low 20's for them.

Last time I looked my 84 GN was still in the garage :) I can really care less about how fast the car is compared to 86/87. By far the 84's were the best looking. It may take me a couple seconds longer to get there, but I look dam good in the process. :cool:
 
I know of a 84GN w/ ttops around here owned by a knucklehead who should never have been allowed to step near a TR. The car gets worse and worse every year. It is currently sitting smashed in one quarter and door, the opposite quarter bent out (whole body shifted) w/ one broken axle and the other axle bent. I lost track of how many times the motor has been blown up :rolleyes: He threw away the original lear seats in the dumpster because they had a few tears :eek: He recently got ahold of a 87T last year and it has been going down hill ever since too. I think he just killed the motor in that car too, let alone the way the body looks in only half a year. Some people I really think would just be better off with a sbc car :rolleyes: When its all said and done thats two more TRs that will most probably wind up biting the dust.

I know where another 84GN is that I would love to save but it has rust [bad] in all the worst spots (i.e. floors, rockers, doors, quarters-inner and outer, roof edge, roof pillars). Ive taken on some rough projects (thats why my cars never seem to get done) but it just doesnt sound too fun anymore if you know what I mean (damn rust!). This one is probably just best off as a donor to help the Ttypes I currently have :(
 
this 84 on ebay (item # 4631270512) ended at almost $9,000 last night, and still didn't make reserve. and mine (except for seats probably), looks to be in nicer shape than that one, and I have factory astroroof. Which means I'll just be keeping mine for awhile. I've been debating on selling to start a 87 gn project. But I cannot just give this thing away. I wonder how many years it'll be before the first year of the 4 year run of the gn's will be highly sought after? Until then, it appears to me that basically for the 84/85 gn's.... "one mans treasure ......."
 
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