whats this 87 gn worth?

B

Boostedpimp

awd v6 power
Joined
Aug 2, 2003
Been offered this car straight up for my gmc syclone and im wondering if it's worth it or not. Im NOT a t-top guy but the car looks pretty clean in the pictures... My syclone is built pretty good and in great shape but has 93k on the clock and gets treated better then my wife :) but the no back seat thing is kind of sucking right now since I have a 1 year old.

Here's some pictures of the car... tell me what you would say it's worth

http://i39.tinypic.com/2zxz1n9.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/2ng936c.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/oaalwi.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/xbjp0w.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/2zrqecl.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/qxm0kp.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/2ymac2f.jpg

The owner picked the car up from indiana and drove it back to maryland and it's been sitting ever since except for the occasional startup. It has 54k miles on it and never had any problems he just hasn't had time to get it tagged and drive it. He also isn't sure of what mods are done to the except for 42.5lb injectors, 3" downpipe and a set of weld draglites as well as a complete set of four stock rims... but I see an adjustable regulator do you guys see anything else that's aftermarket?

Also the pic of the interior was taken a few weeks ago when he was in the middle of reinstalling the oem stero head unit into the car so it's not like that now. Aside from that he said the t-tops have never leaked on him or previous owner and are of factory style.

Here's pictures of my gmc syclone... http://s571.photobucket.com/albums/ss160/v6turbo/

So let me know what you guys think this car's worth and thanks for your input and help in advance

Ryan
 
No AC, no cruise control. Looks like a lot of work. Straight up trade....sorry to say, no.

I would like to see a better picture of the 3" downpipe.
 
The pod gauges are aftermarket.

The intake tube is definitely not stock.

The wiring looks hacked on.

I concur with the last poster, keep your Syclone.
 
Keep the truck, that GN looks like too much work would have to be done to make it look as nice as your truck.. :)
 
Wow thanks guys it's weird to see people actually knowing what my truck is and liking it. I get no love on other forums or meets with the truck and I was of expecting people to say take the t-top car over the truck without a doubt but it seems you guys know what your looking at and gave honest opinions after looking over the pictures of the t-top car so I appreciate your help and comments.

I'll hold out for another one I guess.



also the owner did tell me the ac was deleted and that the car was "professionally" lowered 2inch's all the way around but I forgot to mention that in my first post.
 
54,000 miles? maybe 1/4 mile at a time! Keep the truck, or at least sell it for what it's worth and pick up a nice GN. Good cars are out there and come up at the right price every so often.
 
kirban 2 cents worth

In looking over the above posts, and having been fortunate enough to have owned one of the 2 original Syclones GMC used for all their testing.....I agree in this instance on the surface, your Syclone has a greater value. (I like the Vette wheels) factory wheels were down rite ugly after the first 6 months.

Unless you have owned other GNs in the past its best to get one that is stock or nearly stock to start with only to save you the possible issues of trying to sort out whatever the previous owner(s) have done.

Being in the business that is my 2 cents. My wife drove our Syclone as an every day vehicle being only 4 ft ll inches tall workout as their is no adjustment in those seats!

The license plate we used on the truck was ZRl KLR.....

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

Owned a few Turbo Regals over the years.....
 
Dennis Kirban said:
In looking over the above posts, and having been fortunate enough to have owned one of the 2 original Syclones GMC used for all their testing.....I agree in this instance on the surface, your Syclone has a greater value. (I like the Vette wheels) factory wheels were down rite ugly after the first 6 months.
Click to expand...

wow I thought the testing trucks were all crunched?

If I had the factory wheels polished I would have kept them but I didn't and I really liked the look of the zr1 wheels

Dennis Kirban said:
Unless you have owned other GNs in the past its best to get one that is stock or nearly stock to start with only to save you the possible issues of trying to sort out whatever the previous owner(s) have done.
Click to expand...

I've owned two 87's in the past and I wouldn't mind one with some mods but of course I don't want no hack jobs.. so I completely see where your coming from with that advise.

Dennis Kirban said:
Being in the business that is my 2 cents. My wife drove our Syclone as an every day vehicle being only 4 ft ll inches tall workout as their is no adjustment in those seats!

The license plate we used on the truck was ZRl KLR....
Click to expand...

hahah yeah it is kind of crampted in there but im 6' 1" and never had a problem with it.. just make sure that seat is all the way back and im good btw that license plate is great
 
kirban 2 cents worth

To answer the above: GMC actually brought their prototype Syclone to our Reunion event held at a Navy base back in the summer prior to 1991. It was a non running truck.

Because of that connection they told me when the truck came out to go to any GMC dealer and they would make me a deal on a new one. No dealer would work with me so I called up GMC headquarters. They then said if I was willing to wait 6-8 months they would sell me one of the two Syclones they used for magazine coverage etc. Being in the business I said that would be great.

Part of the downfall with the Syclone is it was introduced in January of 1991 same time the war started up making it a difficult sell originally. Plus the price of like 21 grand?

That summer they called me I went to Michigan even my wife came got the nickel tour etc and got the truck it had 9,000 miles on it tires were worn on the edges but it really ran a strong. (My mechanic said it was the strongest running Syclone he ever worked on).

As you know these trucks unlike Turbo Regals are like air tight. Driving from Michigan to PA my wife and I started to have eye problems like eyes kept drying up....weird. Over a period of time she actually broke two inside door handles as you really have to slam the door unless you crack the window.

My truck was number 9 or 16 can't member which. I was smart enough to get it in writing that it was the actual cover truck on that Car & Driver issue. I have it somewhere.

I had my son drop in a B & M shifter fit perfectly in the factory boot in the console.
Changed out the elelphant ear mirrors to the later ones. Had muffler shop split the dual exhaust perfectly and still keep the spare intact.

My kid made a L88 style hood and I had small Syclone decals made for the scoop. Our buick style billet adjustable fuel regulator fits that truck.

Blew the turbo at 22,000 miles man the labor to change out the turbo was a fortune. My kid made a fiberglass tail gate with no latch assemble made it work by electric. The ZRl was as you know just coming out during that same time period and that was its main competition in the GM world reason for the license plate.

My wife used it as a regular vehicle loved it, whenever one of her girl friends would ride with her they always though something must be wrong with the transmission because of the way it shifted. The valve body as you probably know was straight out of a Vette or had Vette specs.

The dash as you probably know is straight out of a Pontiac Turbo Sunbird if memory serves me correct.

When we were getting our truck I saw checks on the desk from Tom Cruise and Clint Eastwood who also bought one during the same time period. Feel free if you want to somehow paste what I said to any Syclone forums.

I did sell it to a guy in Indiana last I heard it is somewhere now in Texas. My wife really misses that truck. It was perfect for her. You always would hear the injectors ticking....With the L88 style hood on damp days moisture affected the distributor which as you know is all the way in the back of the engine.

A great idea from GMC but like most performance trucks of any type values seem to really drop after a few years.

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

sorry if above seems long winded but thought you would enjoy the story.
 
Sounds awesome, do you have any pictures of all your rides over the years Dennis?

Ty
 
Dennis Kirban's Syclone...

Hi Dennis and fellow Syclone :biggrin: and Turbo Buick Regal enthusiasts:

Dennis, great story and thread about your old Syclone and if I may, just a couple of corrections and additions based on my memory from when you told me that story many years ago and also as this story appeared in Kirban's Side of the Road Edition One, I believe.

Dennis' Syclone was actually Serial #18 and was VERY low among the Syclones thats were released to the general public back then and adding even some more neat history to Dennis' Syclone was the fact it was the actual GM Fleet/PR Test vehicle used by Car & Driver Magazine in the September 1991 issue with a article called 'The $96,000 Sting' where Car and Driver used Syclone #18 in stock form as a head to head test against a Ferrari 348ts! Do I have to tell you which vehicle (truck) won! ;) The Syclone on the low end cleaned up against the Ferrari although the Ferrari beat the Syclone out on overall top speed however, most feel the Syclone could have possibly beat the Ferrari if it had not been for the factory speed limiter in place at the time. Remember both vehicles were claimed to be bone stock with no modifications, perhaps other then some 'factory' special tweaking.

Adding some even further neat history to Dennis' old Syclone #18 was the fact that he had with the documentation with the truck the Factory GM/PAS Certificate of Authenticity with the VIN and Dennis with his great connections at GM was able to get in writing on factory GMC Truck letterhead from GMC Truck Worldwide Headquarters in Pontiac, MI a letter dated September 30, 1991 signed by T.D. Smith, stating that his 1991 GMC Syclone #18 was utilized by GM Public Relations Department as a automotive Press evaluation vehicle and confirmed further in writing that it was used and featured on the September 1991 issue of Car & Driver and used in Autoweek, The Detroit Free Press, Automobile, Motor Week PBS television show according to the letter.

As Dennis stated and according to my research it was last seen somewhere in TX with approximately 55,000 miles still carrying all the neat modifications that Dennis son, Darryl did back to the truck when his wife was driving it.

Good clean, original, documented, unmodified Syclones are difficult to find, especially since they only built 2,995 of them (1991 production #'s) and believe it or not are actually getting stronger money in some cases then clean Buick Turbo Regals even in todays difficult economic times ie: a super low mileage 1991 GMC Syclone went at the RM Auction in Novi, MI last year for around $34K!

More to come later on other rare Syclone's like the ASC/Larry Shinoda built giveaway (1 of 10) Marlboro Syclones! Super rare liek a GMX but only 10 built!

:biggrin:
 
John send me a private email with your address will send you my 2 volume set of kirban side of the road stories mostly car trips and interesting cars I have owned or seen... about 150 pages.

Here is another quick Syclone story....

When we had our Syclone of course not many were around. Only time I usually drove it is on Sundays my wife and I would go out for donuts (yumyums). This one sunday we are coming back in the Syclone and I pass the airbase that we used to have our reunion events at.

In the one huge huge parking lot I see a bunch of foreign cars running an obstacle course with cones set up etc. We stop. The fastest running ones as you can imagine are all Porsches....

I ask the guy running it could I take a try at it with my truck. They said sure....
So I run the course carefully first time out since I am not familar with the track.
My time was probably near the last place.

Now I am hooked to try better. At this point everyone thinks I am trying to run this course with a regular 2 wheel drive truck that has a set of fat tires on it.

I run a few more times pushing it faster, get better times. Now some of the partipants are starting to get a little curious about what the is behind the little black truck with ZRl KLR plates...

By the time I quite I had finished in the top 3 not bad against seasoned Porsche owners. I am knocking Porsche by any means because you gotta hand it to those
Germans they really got it together those cars and getting traction.

Needless to say it was fun.......

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

The joke at our house is most of my cars seldom have a birthday.......in otherwords I don't keep them long.
 
kirban 2 cents worth

Your rite on the truck number I was shooting off memory I knew I had a low number truck. I am guessing as to who you are but if its who I think you are I bought your GN years ago when you lived on the west coast and moved out east and I sold your GN to a guy on the west coast weird huh? Can you verify I am correct or got the wrong guy?

If I got the rite guy you know Yum yum donuts are the best.


kirbanperformance.com
denniskirban@yahoo.com
Running out of ideas for my closing line to keep it different.
 
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