Should I buy it? (91 GTA)

[budfreak1]

Well, for the first time in over 4 years I got back behind the wheel of a GTA today. I must say, I've missed it.
The car is a 91 black GTA with 350 and they want $2,600 for it. It has had the following replaced recently: fuel pump, exhaust(flowmaster), alternator, rear shocks, front wheel bearing, transmission mount, rubber brake lines, calipers, front brakes, rear brakes and drums, and head liner.
It has 123,000 highway miles and it runs great. Transmission shifts smooth. The interior is in good condition, but could stand to be shampooed and cleaned up. The dash has no cracks and all gauges and buttons seem to work.
The bad points are:
It will need a paint job as it is faded on the hood and roof badly.
It needs rear tires.
It needs the taillights replaced due to fading along the top.
It is missing one center cap on the rear wheel.

Thats about all I can think of to add. So should I buy it??

[FearThisGTA]

If it were me, I woluld for sure. It sounds like a good deal.

[Wes]

I say go for it if its what you want. Prices are pretty much rock bottom.

[87bucketgta]

Buy it!!! You can buff the taillights if there just dull

[FrankieRider2]

How can you post here and even ask us something like this? GET IT! It's a moral imperative.

[mr.turbota]

Looks good to me.
Where I live, there are cars in barely running condition, radio ripped out, the paint shot to sh*t, and they think the car is worth $4,500.00!
I say o for it!

George

[BFRD88GTA]

Sounds Like a great deal to me, go for it!

[budfreak1]

Thanks for all the replies guys!
I just got a carfax run on it and it's been in a collision with an animal. I'm guessing it was in the rear quarter panel because that is where there appears to have been some repairs done as evidenced by a crack across the pillar where some bondo is showing.
Everyones opinion still the same to buy it??

[YumikoGTA]

Originally Posted by budfreak1

Thanks for all the replies guys!
I just got a carfax run on it and it's been in a collision with an animal. I'm guessing it was in the rear quarter panel because that is where there appears to have been some repairs done as evidenced by a crack across the pillar where some bondo is showing.
Everyones opinion still the same to buy it??

Not necessarily. It seem to me that if it was in some collision with an animal, the damaged area would be in the front. As I recall someone on this site had a problem like that with their own GTA. The crack where you say it is, could be from something else, possibly relate to the flexing of the car. Owners on this site have mentioned over the years that I have been here that the GTA body flexes alot from after market power enhancing, driving on severe uneven surfaces, etc. If it was me, I would look all over the under side of the car and maybe look at places inside the car like where the spare tire usually is and places like that. If anything was fixed, you would probably see some of the evidence of the work on the inside and also under the car too.

But if the car does not have some really big hidden problem, the photographs of the car does look like the car is really in pretty good shapes and it seems like a good price. Just be aware that you really do not know how this car was treated before.

Good luck and I hope everything works out the way you want it to, it appears to look like a really good GTA for that price you said.

Yumiko

[budfreak1]

I know all about the pillars cracking due to stress on the car, and this is not a typical crack like those. It appears to be a seam where a new quarter was welded and the bondo cracked. I will look it over really good if I decide to get the cash and go after it and if it's been repaired I may pass on it. It sure does drive nice though and I'd hate to pass it up for only 2,600. My other concern is the paint job needing done on it and how I'm ever going to afford it. Might have to go to maaco.

[87bucketgta]

Man I would drive it faded before I would take it to Maaco. For the money and the pics seems to be very fair.

[budfreak1]

Originally Posted by 87bucketgta

Man I would drive it faded before I would take it to Maaco. For the money and the pics seems to be very fair.

I have nothing bad I can say about maaco in my experience with them. I bought my first GTA wrecked for 200 bucks and it was a rust bucket and maaco managed to fix it up all up and it looked great for about $3,000. granted, there were maybe 3 spots of overspray on the car, but they weren't anywhere noticable and they were small. That paint job lasted for the whole 5 years I owned the car and looked great.

[FearThisGTA]

I would still get it. I hit a an animal years ago with my car and it just cracked the 2 side mouldings on each side of the frt bumper cover, as for the crack, it probably is from bondo; however, imho, I would still get it, drive it and save up the $$$ to get a new paint job and you will be good to go. "With that being said;" "IF" you are just getting it to turn it and make a quick buck, then it would probably not be one that you would want to get. Otherwise, if you wanna get it a a keeper, and drive it to the wheels fall off, then I see no reason "NOT" to get it, but that is just my .02. hth

[YumikoGTA]

While we were restoring my GTA, I have some friends who work at the GM Dealership painting and repair department there. They advised me not to remove the factory materials that cover that metal seam. They said that the factory uses something special that is not that available (or known about) in the general public. They say that the material that they used on this seam has metal in it and also is flexable. So they suggested that I do not remove the factory materials at this seam if I do not have to, because in order to prepare it for painting, I would have to use the standard bondo material on that seam. They said that using standard bondo on there will crack when the body of the car flexes.

I am telling about this because maybe someone who owned this car in the past did not know about that and removed the factory bondo in that area and then just filled it back in with regular standard bondo that can be purchased at those auto part chain stores. Maybe this is all that happened to this GTA. Never know.

My GTA has never cracked in that area on the roof. I know what you are talking about though because I used to see these cars at the wrecking yard all of the time and I would see many of them with those cracks where that seam is located, where the roof and the sail panel connect together.

And about buying one of these cars to fix it up and sell, that seems like a lot of work to do that and it is very risky that you will then be able to resell it for more and make a profit in the end. I have learned from my own work and job experiences that......the more money that you put into a project, the less you will get when it is completed. My own GTA is a perfect example. Before we completely restored it, I could have sold it for about $3,000 maximum. A place that I brought it to for some work, one of the mechanics there wanted to buy it for that price. Of course I did not have any interests to get rid of it, it had personal values to me, not money. But after the four years of the restoration, we put in to that car more then $15,000 of new parts. This does not count our own personal time we spent working on it.

Realistically speaking, I think I could sell my GTA for about $10,000. But that means it cost me $15,000 to sell the car for $7,000 more then ther $3,000 I could have sold it for before we did all of that work. So that would mean I lost $8,000 if I sold my GTA for $10,000.

The difference between $3,000 and $10,000 is $7,000. Minus the $7,000 from the $15,000 equals $8,000. Does anyone know if this formula that I am using if it is correct or not? I am interested to know, as math was not my major.

Yumiko

[budfreak1]

Ah, so that might be the case there. But then the question becomes: Why was it redone and bondoed??
I am definitely not looking to buy this to flip it. I want a GTA so bad I can taste it and I've always wanted a black 91. I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing and getting a good car as I am not a rich man by any means of the word.

[YumikoGTA]

Originally Posted by budfreak1

Ah, so that might be the case there. But then the question becomes: Why was it redone and bondoed??
I am definitely not looking to buy this to flip it. I want a GTA so bad I can taste it and I've always wanted a black 91. I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing and getting a good car as I am not a rich man by any means of the word.

A lot of people love to strip off all of the old factory coatings because they feel that they want to do that. Sometimes there could be reasons like rust or previous bad repairs.

In my situation, we were going to remove all of the coatings because of the problem with the clear coat. In that situation, you have to remove all of the clear coat or just painting over it will not be the proper way to paint it. They also told me not to remove all the way to the bare metal if it does not need to be. Because they said that the best primer and metal coats are the factory ones. Because the metal is new and clean when they have been first applied. They also said that you can never get the metal as prepared for painting better then they had did it at the factory.

The only problem they had was the clear coating. So we were going to remove the old bondo and all the primer on my GTA, but the guys that work for GM that I know, who work in the autobody shop there told me not to. They said for the reasons I mentioned above.

Yumiko

[budfreak1]

Originally Posted by YumikoGTA

A lot of people love to strip off all of the old factory coatings because they feel that they want to do that. Sometimes there could be reasons like rust or previous bad repairs.

In my situation, we were going to remove all of the coatings because of the problem with the clear coat. In that situation, you have to remove all of the clear coat or just painting over it will not be the proper way to paint it. They also told me not to remove all the way to the bare metal if it does not need to be. Because they said that the best primer and metal coats are the factory ones. Because the metal is new and clean when they have been first applied. They also said that you can never get the metal as prepared for painting better then they had did it at the factory.

The only problem they had was the clear coating. So we were going to remove the old bondo and all the primer on my GTA, but the guys that work for GM that I know, who work in the autobody shop there told me not to. They said for the reasons I mentioned above.

Yumiko

I'll remember that when and if I get it painted.

[FearThisGTA]

Actually, according to DuPont paint and other people in the field of auto paint and body, the best thing to do is take it down to bare metal. "IF" you get the car( in which if you dont, imo, you will one day kick your self,lol), then find a quality paint and body shop with years of experience to paint the car.

>>>> As for painting over existing paint, I have heard experts in the field say that it is ok to paint over the exisiting paint, "IF" it has only been painted once, and no more than 2 times. Any more than that and the paint will get brittle and try to crack or flack off. I can agree with this statement, because my own car has been painted 3 times adn as of right now, there is a chip over the rt hd light door about the size of a dime. Had it been taken down to the metal the last time it was painted, this may not have happened. So, just do your homework and shop for a quality paint shop, and not on the prefers quantity of cars painted.

[budfreak1]

thanks for the advice guys. I think I'm gonna try to get the cash and look the car over once more and go for it. It will be nice to back among you all.

[GTA50]

Two parts of the equation for you to do your homework on (oh, what the hell, I teach courses on engineering fundamentals).

The major point for me is to ensure that the frame is straight. Everything else in my opinion is cosmetic. Take it to a frame shop and make sure it tracks straight.

If that works, as Frankie said above - "buy it".

The second part of the equation is what is your skill level? Can you weld, can you fill, can you sand, primer, and paint......and what is your budget?

In these times, patience can be a virtue and to find exactly what you are looking for requires patience.