How many TRs do you think are still left?

[Jay J]

I was looking at the number of TRs that come up on the board that are being parted out and it made me wonder how many of these cars are still around? Maybe 1/3 being preserved and taken care of, another 1/3 are beaters,and 1/3 just gone... Any thoughts?

 

[novaderrik]

your numbers are optimistic, at best. i'd say maybe 1/3 of them even still exist in any form at all.

 

[TexasT]

I don't think it is optomistic to think 2/3 are left out there. The TR was pretty special when new and owners bought them as such. I will admit you don't see clean gbody cars near like even 10 years ago. I just think people have them put up.

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[bison]

If bet there are more turbo regals out there than the NA cars of the same years. These cars were saved from the beginning. More than half of them still around. There's a huge division between junk and nice stuff. Not too easy to find anything in between.

 

[JP112_89]

Not only car accidents but door bottoms, rockers, floor pans, rear wheel wells rust and rot over time if not maintained properly. The rust and rotting "cancer" would be the biggest killer of these car's imo.

Joe

 

[HUMBLE-U2]

Iam hopeing theres far fewer out there. hence making the value of a real legit # matching 87 TR/GN which I own. go up ala 60,s and 70,s muscle cars & pony cars.in the 80,s other than the buick turbo cars the rest all suck big time. inc the ford mudstain, Camaro, corvette.i think the 80,s Plymouth GLH Turbo cars were quick but butt ugly.

 

[bison]

Demand is what makes them gain value. Not how many are left. More is better with these. The extended run of 87's really got the sub culture going and that's what makes things popular and gain value. There wasn't enough out there till 87. If there was 500 left this board wouldn't exist or at least it wouldn't have traffic.

 

[Jay J]

Demand is what makes them gain value. Not how many are left. More is better with these. The extended run of 87's really got the sub culture going and that's what makes things popular and gain value. There wasn't enough out there till 87. If there was 500 left this board wouldn't exist or at least it wouldn't have traffic.

Thank you very much indeed Bison. The last 500 would never generate what we see here. Having what I would call this cult following (in the most positive sense) is a good thing... Here is to all those who pull these from lake bottoms, rust belt states and all other forms of decay to keep this honest piece of history alive.

 

[novaderrik]

i think my estimate is probably pretty close: a third of all TR production would be something like 10,000 cars.. that's a lot of one kind of any 26-30 year old car to still be around...
take this a little further: how many of the 547 GNX's are known to still exist? it's a pretty unique car that is owned by a small group of people, and from what i've seen around here over the years people know who owns which one... if there are, say, 300 of them that are accounted for, then that's just over half of them- why would a similar proportion of the regular TR's exist than that?

 

[bison]

There are probably over 500 gnx's still around. They would have the highest survival rate of all of them

 

[dwall]

There are probably over 500 gnx's still around. They would have the highest survival rate of all of them

That sounds pretty good to me.

GNX started out as "1 of the Fortunate 547," a number went to select dealers, and also had mark-ups and dealer premium pricing. I remember hearing second hand, that someone on the dealership grapevine would know which dealer still had one & how much etc. My guess is a lot ended up in the hands of buyers who could afford to store, maintain and occasionally drive a Sunday driver instant classic. I know of two here in Dairyland - one 3K & one 8K mile originals that have led very sheltered lives. You know - out in the garage marking its territory in the extra stall.

There are a few rare REAL GNX's that have been restored because they were worth doing. No Dodge Diplomats get put on the rotisserie, so while some GN's of T's get rusty, wrecked & parted, others might slip through to the crusher or "Cash for Clunkers," I believe the GNX would more likely survive.

 

[bison]

That sounds pretty good to me.

GNX started out as "1 of the Fortunate 547," a number went to select dealers, and also had mark-ups and dealer premium pricing. I remember hearing second hand, that someone on the dealership grapevine would know which dealer still had one & how much etc. My guess is a lot ended up in the hands of buyers who could afford to store, maintain and occasionally drive a Sunday driver instant classic. I know of two here in Dairyland - one 3K & one 8K mile originals that have led very sheltered lives. You know - out in the garage marking its territory in the extra stall.

There are a few rare REAL GNX's that have been restored because they were worth doing. No Dodge Diplomats get put on the rotisserie, so while some GN's of T's get rusty, wrecked & parted, others might slip through to the crusher or "Cash for Clunkers," I believe the GNX would more likely survive.

Yes and Gnx's weren't and aren't rare. At anytime you can find 10 or more that are for sale. Even when the selected dealerships got them most were sold at close to the price on the invoice. Some dealerships couldn't even sell theirs to their normal traffic flow and wound up selling them to other dealers. It was hard to sell a $30000 car in 1987. That's over $60000 today. A lot of $$$ for a g body regal. Of course you hear about outrageous prices paid for some when they hit the market but that wasn't normal. The price didn't really take off till about 10 years ago. Before that they were all over for less than $40000. Truly a collectors car.

 

[Undercover87T]

FIgure on 50000apx built from 83-87. I think 2/3 is a fair estimate but it could be less. But in what state do they exist? Some cut up and made race cars, some low mile garage queens, some beater quality, and some in between.

 

[dwall]

The GNX qualifies as rare for me, but Concours D'elegance I'm not. Anyway 547 for whatever reason is still a small number by most standards and premium prices were routinely paid. Dealers were trying to get what they could. The American way.

Top GNX's were asking over $100K for a while. Yea I know not any more. Still collectible as a true LImited Edition 'tho.

GNTTYPE has some fun numbers for our cars:
http://www.gnttype.org/general/product.html

I check listings now & then for GBody Regals. There are a lot for sale - more than just turbo cars judging from our area. Originals, low riders, baby buggies, hot rods, racers and many Chevy drive trains. Oh well.

 

[novaderrik]

FIgure on 50000apx built from 83-87. I think 2/3 is a fair estimate but it could be less. But in what state do they exist? Some cut up and made race cars, some low mile garage queens, some beater quality, and some in between.

i don't think there was anywhere near 50,000 TR's built in that time frame..

edit: according to this page:

http://www.gnttype.org/general/product.html

there were 39,690 turbocharged Buicks made from the 84 model year to the 87 model year, with over half of them being 87 GN's...

 

["Reaper"]

I live in Panama City Florida we have 10 here. 2 GNX 1 T-Type and and 7 GN's. I know one of the GNX #'s it's 509 not sure of the other one yet. We all drive our almost daily.


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[Undercover87T]

i don't think there was anywhere near 50,000 TR's built in that time frame..

edit: according to this page:

http://www.gnttype.org/general/product.html

there were 39,690 turbocharged Buicks made from the 84 model year to the 87 model year, with over half of them being 87 GN's...

Add all the numbers together according to that page and from 83-87 you get 48,626 TR's, 30,354 being GN/GNX . Were did that site get these numbers from anyway if GM kept no records?

 

[novaderrik]

Add all the numbers together according to that page and from 83-87 you get 48,626 TR's, 30,354 being GN/GNX . Were did that site get these numbers from anyway if GM kept no records?

you're right... my ability to operate the calculator built into Windows was impaired at 4am after 10 hours of working... but i didn't include the 83 models in it, either...