Sometimes I wonder........

[Tom87GN]

how many turbo regals have been parted out over the years......

Seems like every day I see one on this forum that is being gutted. Granted......most of them are probably parted out due to some unfortunate event like fire, flood, accident or other. But I see complete cars with running engines and full interiors that are being taken apart and sold.

The sum of the parts individually is greater than the complete package.

I know people need to make money, especially in this economy, and I look for the right replacement parts for my GN just like the next guy. It just seems like the desire to bring one back to life isn't there, and it's just easier to part it out.

The only reason I even started this thread is because it seems like there are a LOT of turbo regals that get the axe.

It's kinda sad to me. Just my opinion.

I think I'll go home and hug my GN after work today.

 

[Heg87t]

I own one T and bought 1/2 a T to part out in 2010. It was always in Michigan and very rusty. Not worth saving the body but the parts will live on.

I agree with your topic though, too bad that good cars are all taken apart to be sold...

 

[chopped39]

Any car that gets parted here is beyond repair. The first thing I do when I get one is put the impact on the body bolts. If the body is rotted there its done in my eyes. But when I see some of these cars that are being parted that are real clean It makes me wonder as well. I know guys that do this for a living so I cant knock them for it.Everybody has to eat. I hear what your saying though

 

[TURBOTIMMER]

Not sure, but I hear a lot of this happens in Connecticut.

 

[ttaowner]

i have probably parted about 30 turbo cars maybe 40 perhaps but guess what they were all shit boxes beyond repair !!!!! if a car needs doors,floors,holes in the quarters and usually a bunch of interior or the t top roof is all rotted guess what its coming apart!!!!!!! i'm not out just chopping up somewhat repairable cars just for the fun of it.
i currently have 7 turbo cars here now that are mine

we4 #1 was rescuced off someones lawn that was sitting there for 4 years and it needs doors and some other stuff done to it because its all original as far as paint goes.it went 11.80's within a month of owning it and it was all original to begin with.

we4 #2 was bought without a engine in it and looked really bad inside due to water leaking in it. i putall the seats in from another car,changed gauge cluster that was rusty had to swap out rear package tray because it was green with algae. the gas tank was out for fuel pump and the rear was out for better control arms and bigger rear bar. also had axels out to do longer wheel studs. stripped another gn of its engine and tranny and exhaust to bring this car back from the dead.

my maroon trooper t cop was dead for 21 years sinking in someones front lawn and i swapped in a engine and tranny from the wrecked gn i parted out the year before. also the gas tank was rotted inside as well as the sending unit so these parts came off a rotted out blue turbo t i stripped. the rear suspension was all out to do hotchkiss stuff and big rear bar that was off my old t that i stripped because it was rotted. most people would of stripped this car but i chashed it for 9 years so it will live again

blue t # 3 of mine was off the road since about 1994 ish the previous owner registered it and only drove it for a lil bit probably because he knew the turbo was shot and i converted most of this car over to black trim and put buckets in with a console and column and gauges . same thing tank was out to do pump and i had rear out to swap out bigger sway bar and better control arms. also did hr parts motor mounts, swapped turbo and dp and complete exhaust etc......

my other cars i have also did plenty of work on them but they werent nearly as bad as the 3 above.

so im not on here just killing cars for the fun of it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am a enthusiast just like you guys and i'm not paying other people to do all my own work on my cars for me,

and if any of the cars i parted out were worth saving believe me i would of saved them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[EYE-OPENER]

With what most of the parts so expensive and sought after on these cars, some may make out better parting them out then selling them outright.

 

[Bweavy]

I have parted quite a few out. I don't mean 30 or 40. I scrapped 80+ cars when I moved from PA to NC. These were cars that were not worth fixing back then. They helped save a lot of other cars. We transported 85 down here on 9 car carriers & trailers. The cars parted helped save a lot of wrecked cars & get them back on the road. I do remember 1 week we had 3 we-4's that were wrecked. I had a clean black 86 Regal that came in & that car saved all 3 of the we-4's. This has helped my business grow into where we can remanufacture parts & bring cars I would of parted out 10 years ago back to life. I have 35 or 40 behind the shop that are bare shells to almost complete. Most drive tranes are yanked & on stands or pallet racks marked which vehicle they came from. When the sheet metal is done we will re-assemble & sell as rollers.

What your going to see is the aftermarket quality parts bring down the price of GM used & NOS Parts. You'll see the cars becoming affordable again. It will be like back in the late 90's where parts will be plentiful & reasonably priced. I predict in 3 years you will be able to build a Buick & Olds from the ground up. You can damn near do that with the Monte Carlo SS now.
You have a body on a frame You can put a SS back together. We just received in the 86-88 SS doors, rad supports (works on our cars as well) Hood hinges etc..
Nose & rear bumper covers are complete & the trunk lid to follow.

So if you part a car out hang on to that shell. It may help save another wrecked Buick in the future. It does still piss me off when I see a good running car ripped apart for the $.

I also predict one day these cars will be like the 60's muscle cars. Number matching will mean something. The economy sucks now but I have been around these cars long enough to see the values go up & down like a roller coaster. Any one see what the 83-4 Hurst olds pull in $ wise now? 10 years ago they were $1500 cars. The buzz is out & they are making a come back.

You have Us, Hwy stars, Kirban, Mike's Montes & other larger companies (Good Mark, Year One, OPGI,AMD, Parts place, etc.. finally realizing this is the next big market. I see Bob Hebert selling new parts. James I see you saving quite a few here as well. Mike Dopkins always saving something. I'm watching guys who have been doing parts from the beginning to new guys getting in on it big & small. This market isn't dead it's just getting ready to take off .

The guys that are just parting because they can't sell will be saying I parted that car out & got $4500 in parts. Now that same car would be worth $8k a few years from now. Grumpy use to say it best part it out it makes mine rarer. Or his most famous line in doubt part it out.

You think I'm crazy look at a few of the sites that only dealt in 60's & 70's muscle cars. You see them having Gbody sections now. This started about 16 months ago, The buzz. Most larger companies laughed when we teamed up with Good Mark. Now it is the next big market besides the 82-92 F-Body. Parting these cars will come to a quick stop soon or at least decline. They will be sold as restoration projects.
Then you'll see regals & cutty's turned into tribute cars.
The more companies into this the better it is for the owners. Price wars happen & the parts get cheaper & cheaper.

Ok my psychic reading is over for tonight

 

[ttaowner]

I agree 100% with what your saying Brian I used to be into 60's and 70's pontiacs and they started drying up and I found a beater 87 turbo t and I worked on it and needed parts for it and I then got into these cars and now all these cars are drying up as well. I went onto Craigslist a few months looking all over the country probably 150 diffrent cities all over out west down south etc for regals under $1000 and most are gone!!! Mostly what's left are cars with 24" wheels for $4000 which are good ls engine projects but not good for what I want them for. Turbo cars have been rare since new and are always gonna be rare . I don't necessarily see the 85 and earlier cars ever being worth a real lot though.

I was once told by a Gto friend that it costs as much to paint a Gto judge as a lemans so why bother

 

[m233roller]

I think YOU need a BEER or 40 after that!!! Hi Buddy!!

 

[Tom87GN]

I totally get everything James and Brian said.......I get it. Trust me. I was just sitting at work (where no one is currently because of the Holidays ) thinking to myself "I wonder where all the Turbo Regals went?"

There was no hidden meaning or attacking meant in my thoughts.....just innocent questions....I promise.

Listen, if my GN was rotting away half sunk in the back yard, I'd expect someone (or me) to part it out too.

But, it's good to hear from you guys who have been doing this for so long, and that you are also in the business of saving the ones that can be salvaged. Kinda puts it into perspective for me and others how many cars just the two of you have worked on and collected over the years, let alone all the others.

One of the reasons I was wondering is because I used to be REALLY into this board and others years ago.......like 4 years ago. I just recently got back on here to re-ignite my original passion. 5-10 years ago I was seeing a ton of these cars being parted out. I guess I was a bit shocked to see that it is still going strong and the only thing that scared me was that there were less than 50,000 of these things ever made (all Turbo Regals collectively from the beginning through 1987) from what I remember.

These things really ARE going to be ultra collectible aren't they?!!?

 

[INEEDAGN]

Bottom line is that they can't all be saved. MOST but not all that are parted werent worth the effort to restore. Now that repro parts exist, you COULD save almost all of them. However supply and demand still plays out. If clean cars are under 10k, very few will be restoring rust buckets. But more and more people want them with each passing year, if the old car market ever rebounds, rustbuckets will be restored. Buick built about 40 THOUSAND intercooled cars alone, so supply will be around awhile. There will never be a time when you can't find several intercooled cars for sale at any given second of the day. Price will vary of course and reproduction parts will help everybody, even the NOS hoarders.

Only one I ever parted out was a rebodied disaster, full of many clean parts that all went to loving needing homes.

Big thanks goes out to Bweavy and any others who stick their necks out to reproduce parts to keep these piles of crap on the road!

 

[ttaowner]

The only ones I see being ultra collectibles are the 86-87 cars and the rarer ones more desirable. T top cars which are less desirable now will probably be less desirable in the future.

Don't get me wrong they will all be worth something but the ones on the top of the heap will be the cars that everyone has always wanted all along.

 

[ttaowner]

Bottom line is that they can't all be saved. MOST but not all that are parted werent worth the effort to restore. Now that repro parts exist, you COULD save almost all of them. However supply and demand still plays out. If clean cars are under 10k, very few will be restoring rust buckets. But more and more people want them with each passing year, if the old car market ever rebounds, rustbuckets will be restored. Buick built about 40 THOUSAND intercooled cars alone, so supply will be around awhile. There will never be a time when you can't find several intercooled cars for sale at any given second of the day. Price will vary of course and reproduction parts will help everybody, even the NOS hoarders.

Only one I ever parted out was a rebodied disaster, full of many clean parts that all went to loving needing homes.

Big thanks goes out to Bweavy and any others who stick their necks out to reproduce parts to keep these piles of crap on the road!

Well said !!!!

 

[INEEDAGN]

If non rusted t top cars still exist in the future I think their popularity will increase, as focus shifts from drag strip terrors to lawn chair racing at the local car shows. Convertibles are worthless for everything but show too, they leak and are noisy and rust like crazy but convertible muscle cars are more expensive than hardtops.

 

[Tom87GN]

Big thanks goes out to Bweavy and any others who stick their necks out to reproduce parts to keep these piles of crap on the road!

Ditto!

 

[charlief1]

As an aside here, when I got my 83T it was valued at around 11K. As of right now NADA shows it's at 14K and Haggerty shows it at 19K. the "values" are going up on them and they will be going up in value as they get older and rarer so expect the parts and info to be out there. The fact the the monteSS has parts and we're just getting them is rediculas be we're finally getting the parts that we need to restore them.

 

[chopped39]

I have parted quite a few out. I don't mean 30 or 40. I scrapped 80+ cars when I moved from PA to NC. These were cars that were not worth fixing back then. They helped save a lot of other cars. We transported 85 down here on 9 car carriers & trailers. The cars parted helped save a lot of wrecked cars & get them back on the road. I do remember 1 week we had 3 we-4's that were wrecked. I had a clean black 86 Regal that came in & that car saved all 3 of the we-4's. This has helped my business grow into where we can remanufacture parts & bring cars I would of parted out 10 years ago back to life. I have 35 or 40 behind the shop that are bare shells to almost complete. Most drive tranes are yanked & on stands or pallet racks marked which vehicle they came from. When the sheet metal is done we will re-assemble & sell as rollers.

What your going to see is the aftermarket quality parts bring down the price of GM used & NOS Parts. You'll see the cars becoming affordable again. It will be like back in the late 90's where parts will be plentiful & reasonably priced. I predict in 3 years you will be able to build a Buick & Olds from the ground up. You can damn near do that with the Monte Carlo SS now.
You have a body on a frame You can put a SS back together. We just received in the 86-88 SS doors, rad supports (works on our cars as well) Hood hinges etc..
Nose & rear bumper covers are complete & the trunk lid to follow.

So if you part a car out hang on to that shell. It may help save another wrecked Buick in the future. It does still piss me off when I see a good running car ripped apart for the $.

I also predict one day these cars will be like the 60's muscle cars. Number matching will mean something. The economy sucks now but I have been around these cars long enough to see the values go up & down like a roller coaster. Any one see what the 83-4 Hurst olds pull in $ wise now? 10 years ago they were $1500 cars. The buzz is out & they are making a come back.

You have Us, Hwy stars, Kirban, Mike's Montes & other larger companies (Good Mark, Year One, OPGI,AMD, Parts place, etc.. finally realizing this is the next big market. I see Bob Hebert selling new parts. James I see you saving quite a few here as well. Mike Dopkins always saving something. I'm watching guys who have been doing parts from the beginning to new guys getting in on it big & small. This market isn't dead it's just getting ready to take off .

The guys that are just parting because they can't sell will be saying I parted that car out & got $4500 in parts. Now that same car would be worth $8k a few years from now. Grumpy use to say it best part it out it makes mine rarer. Or his most famous line in doubt part it out.

You think I'm crazy look at a few of the sites that only dealt in 60's & 70's muscle cars. You see them having Gbody sections now. This started about 16 months ago, The buzz. Most larger companies laughed when we teamed up with Good Mark. Now it is the next big market besides the 82-92 F-Body. Parting these cars will come to a quick stop soon or at least decline. They will be sold as restoration projects.
Then you'll see regals & cutty's turned into tribute cars.
The more companies into this the better it is for the owners. Price wars happen & the parts get cheaper & cheaper.

Ok my psychic reading is over for tonight

When should I expect inner and outer wheelhouses and rear quarters? If they are in the making I will wait.
These cars are going up in price little by little. I cried when that two tone limited went for 9800.
There will always be parts cars but the prices are up on those as well. I remember buying a we4 for 2k with a lot of new parts but the body was junk.Now rollers are going for 3500 and up. Did you ever find someone to repop that sunroof plastic surrond trim I sent you?

 

[Bweavy]

I agree 100% with what your saying Brian I used to be into 60's and 70's pontiacs and they started drying up and I found a beater 87 turbo t and I worked on it and needed parts for it and I then got into these cars and now all these cars are drying up as well. I went onto Craigslist a few months looking all over the country probably 150 diffrent cities all over out west down south etc for regals under $1000 and most are gone!!! Mostly what's left are cars with 24" wheels for $4000 which are good ls engine projects but not good for what I want them for. Turbo cars have been rare since new and are always gonna be rare . I don't necessarily see the 85 and earlier cars ever being worth a real lot though.

I was once told by a Gto friend that it costs as much to paint a Gto judge as a lemans so why bother

James remember when you could get a hot air fore $1500 or less? I had a rule never pay more then $1500 for 1.
Priced any lately? you ever think you would see an 84 GN come clse t $10,000. Low mileage clean ones are. The guy that had a new one & sold it in 86-88 is paying that $.
My first car a 67 GTO. Back in 85 I would be able to find Tempest, Lemans, & GTO's being parted sort of in the price line we are now for GN's. You priced a 67 GTO lately? You could buy a lemans back then for $400-$800 pretty clean but needing restored or just a driver. 25 years later... it's comparative.
I agree if your going to restore a car do a good 1.

Mike I don't need a beer. Just trying to slow down the parting of nice cars. Then saying don't junk a straight frame stripped car. One day some one may need that if there cars get totalled. $250 for scrap where you could eventually sell it for double to help some one out with a rusted mess or a wreck that had a sentimental attachment. Your car got wrecked. I don't think you would buy another 1 to replace it. You would probablly rebuild? Just throwing out out there. Sentimental people want what they had. Call it nostalgia but it comes down to a passion for a vehicle. Guys my age mid 40's remember these when they were new. Guys in there mid to late 20's probablly had a Gbody in high school. Not unlike my 67 GTO. 20 year old car. Reasonably priced. Every time I drive a GTO it takes me back.

 

[Bweavy]

Tom you used a key word in your reply PASSION. yes one day these cars will be highly sought after. They will never be a Hemi Cuda convertable, but think about what a GNX $ wise was doing when the market was strong in 06-7? I have been around long enough to see themarket get crazy & then to drop. We are in a good position now the market is soft on vehicle prices. So if you want one now is the time to buy. Set on it until the parts are done. then the price wars begin & you'll be able to restore. Then re-sell at a profit when the market is strong.


IneedaGN I gave away $100,000.00 in NOS parts & 2 cars (test fit vehicles, rust free never wrecked, original paint) for the cause. I have been hoarding these cars & parts fr years. Yes I said gave. You ever see some one handle a set of NOS red lights, reverse lights, Chrome & black out bezels for samples? They have no idea what those parts would sell for. They picked them up look at them pass them to another engineer & watch them get tossed around? I had to walk out of the room. Plus you have to have triple of what you are reproducing. 1 for the cause. 2nd in case it gets damaged or lost. 3rd unit to compare. You use a used part your new part is a used part brand new.
I have seen this in repo parts already. New but a worn out assembly that is loose. New but a new 100,000 mile part.
I had cut up a 23K mile 84 Olds. This way the parts could be built with out destroying their fitmant vehicle. Then they took my other Olds & will remove that part & install for quality fitment. Then ship to us where I will take a rusted H/O or 442 & install to verify.
Then we will critique it & it all begins over again. In the past aftermarket parts had a bad name due to the lack of passion to do it right. I can't speak for every one else but working with Good mark one of the clauses was that I had the final say so in the part before release. I gave up being paid for my parts for this stipulation. I'm a picky SOB with a Passion.

So keep this in mind....
So if you want one now is the time to buy. Set on it until the parts are done. Then the price wars begin & you'll be able to restore. Then re-sell at a profit when the market is strong!!!!!

 

[Bweavy]

Charlie I had a walk in customer yesterday who is getting ready to drop 10,000.00 in a LS GN clone. His friend had an 85 GN t-top & I asked what he did with it? Still sitting behind his home. He drove to Ohio & bought a 83 T-type for $4500. I said really? Yes it was that v8 turbo car they made but the turbo set up is missing. He will be calling you for the stock parts. I said oh my LOL, have him call me we need to talk.

Chopped39 we are working on the OLDs inner & outers now. The Monte is done already. Buick is next.

As far as restoration parts I have a whole list in my forum of what is coming out. Other vendors do as well.

Now lets get back to the subject of not parting out perfectly good running cars for $.
Trying to buy up low mileage wrecks to save.
Explaining how you can sell off your performance parts to re-gain $ & put stock parts that no one wants back on the car in expensively.
Just to finally realize that an all stock car is worth as much or more then one that has a lot of hi-performance parts on it. Then you recapture at least 50% back of what you spent on the performance parts.

I hope you realize that I am including every one who is trying to save our cars in my first post. If I left some out & I know I did but not on purpose. They are competition but as long as the parts are being built with quality that is what really matters. The used part guys like I still do are helping to save what is left. I know I have spoke with Bob Hebert & he keeps most of the cars he parts down because he has the room. Bob will be setting pretty in a few years.
There are some items that will never be reproduced. So there will always be a need for used parts. I got a quote on the 86-87 Main accessory bracket & the power steering reservoirs. Big $$$ !!!
What we really need to do as vendors is work together on getting these done. I have tried with a few already & can't & there are some I work with daily.
The truly Passionate guys will keep these going.
The guys who are in it for just the $ will always do this for just the $.
Tom I hope your original post helps the guys that are on the fence to part it.