this is gonna be a long story. since september of 2007 my dad and i have been driving around for hours in the countryside looking for a barn find GS...never got 1 until a very close friend of my dads died. his name ws dave. I was also very close to him. Dave was sort of a drunk but my dad always tried to help him out and he wasnt a bad guy or anything just go mixed up with the wrong people. when my dad was working on customers cars Dave would "coach" me on what to do if i was doing something wrong. he would always hang out at the bar across the street and come over to the garage. So fast foreward to after the viewing and people were going down to the bar to reminiss about dave and what he meant to them as a person and a car nut. my dad never goes to bars or drinks but he went down there. he was talking to a guy that my dad sold a 73 eldorado convert to. they got talking about how i wanted a GS. the guy says he knows a guy who is a big cadillac freak but has a 71 GS convertible. so my dad comes home and im telling him about the car that we have on ebay, and then i made fun of him about something but i forget. so he goes i know where theres a car that you would like but since you made fun of me im not gonna tell you. im thinking wow you jerk im going to philly tommorow for a sixers game and wont be back till sunday. so next day after we get home from the funeral i tried to get the car out of him but he wouldent tell me so i spend a saturday in philly thinking about this car. fast foreward again until i get home. my mom and dad are picking me up from my friends house and i ask about the mystery car again. he said when we get home were going to dunmore (10 mins from my house in scranton) we drive up and look and he asks me if i remembered about the guy that we sold the convert to, i said yes what about him. as soon as we turn the corner at first i see what i think is a 71 skylark with a tarp over the roof, then we pull up to it and its a 71 GS 350 hardtop! my jaw dropped. the car is really rough, has rot aound rear window, both fenders, the right quarter, and on the roof. it has buckets which i think is standard for 71 GS's. the rear window is shatterd along with the passenger side window and the winshield is cracked. the car is restorable but it would be one insane project. the guy that has the convert said if he can get the car he will trade it for our 73 riv project. so all this time there has been a GS in our backyard and we didnt know it. sorry for the long story, if you read it all hope you enjoyed it. heres a picture taken on my phone so its not the best quality.
Cool hope it works out for you.Just a heads up many people on this board take offence to "rough language" not I but I've seen remarks before.Let us know what happens. Jamie
ill edit the post. dont want any trouble just trying to add flavor to the post as it drags on and on...
Looks like a good project. Should be a great starter car. One suggestion. Break that huge mess up into a few paragraphs and a lot more people will take the time to read. It can be hard on the eyes as is.
Cool car. Good luck with the project. I see you recently joined this site. You will find it to be a wealth of information. There are some fantastic guys on here that are very well versed. Seeing as it's a sbb 350 car, you'll want to watch Seans input on these engines. Mark Burton has some cool stuff for the 350. Don't forget to read Larry's thread on tuning. You will soon see who knows what they are talking about. I'm sure I left other experts off of the list, these guys just have lots to offer and I read as many of the tech posts as I can.
sorry for confusing the car is not mine yet, a guy my dad sold the eldorado convert to is working on getting the car for me. if that doesent work out im going to try and talk to him. as for keeping it an original resto. i would probally put a mild cam in it and 2.5-3 inch exhaust, and bigger rear tires. but im going to keep it stock looking. heres for pics i took today after football
Good story. I see you are fairly new here ,so don't mind the critics they can always find something to bitch about. Maybe when I'm perfect I will be a critic too but until then I will keep it shut. Bob H.
lol getting these comments reminds me of my summer saturdays at my dads garage... sure pick on the younger kid.... haha no but if i get my hands on that car i promise there will be no dissapointment for critics to cry about. not saying anyone is a critic or anything...
Nice going buddy wicked find! I dream of a cracking GS barn find, aint gonna happen over here though!! LOL!:TU:
Update *update* right now it doesnt look good. My uncle whos really put my family into a finacial situation a couple years ago is trying to make amense with me by tracking down the owner of this car. The owner of the garage says the owner of the car dropped it off about 8 months ago and told him to do body work on it. The owner of the garage refused saying it was not worth restoring. Yesterday my uncle talked to the owner of the car for about an hour. the guy said he bought it new. he also said it has the biggest engine available for that year. Finally the bad news. He said it was worth $27000 restored and he would never sell it unless he got what he wanted which was alot of money. he did not say how much but im guessing between $9000-$11000. I personally do not think its worth more that $2500. If the car was a stage 1, it would have stage 1 badges on the fenders, or if it was a 455.... 455 badges would be on it but it just has GS badges which led me to belive it was a 350, Am i wrong? i know 70s were badged by engine on the fenders 350- GS 455- GS 455 455 stage 1- GS Stage 1 So now i feel as a 15 year old to meet this guy in person talk to him by myself and convince this guy that this car would be in a good home and would not be harmed in anyway. I am determined to get this car
It is true that it is hard to break even on a restoring cars that do not have limited numbers, but most people don't restore cars to resell them. Usually they have some sort of value other than monetary value.
Keep looking...you'll find one. A quick search of Craigslist in your PA area shows several Skylarks for sale. You could find a good project car to get you started.
I feel your pain. I found a GSX up the road from my office. I haven't been able to get ahold of the guy, but his neighbor says that the guy tells him it's worth about $150,000. It's a rusty car that you would never think about restoration on if it were a skylark or a regular GS, but a GSX would be worth it to me. If you can talk to the guy, who knows. I just noticed a pickup truck for sale parked in front of the house with the GSX. I'm going to call and pretend that I want a POS beat up chevy truck just to talk to the guy. I'm going to wait till it's not raining so that I'll be in my GS when I talk to him and we'll see where it goes.
yes it might, I never checked but zooming in on the pictures i think it does. Does it mean its not a 350? *QUOTE* Keep looking...you'll find one. A quick search of Craigslist in your PA area shows several Skylarks for sale. You could find a good project car to get you started. I am not done with this car yet. you cant quit after one bump in the road. 1967 GS 340 i read your story about the GSX. i guess soometimes people attached to a car feel its worth well more than what is actually going to bring in o No:
You need to talk to the guy. You never know. I'm still keeping the thought that the neighbor that I talked to may have motivation of his own, like trying to buy the car for nothing for himself. You have two or three people between you and the owner of the car, so who knows what could happen if you talk to the guy. I would keep my eye open for other project cars though.
yes i am still keeping my eyes open. its not like I havent stopped checkin ebay or other sites. once my dad sells off a few cars im gonna start re-advertising on the site but until then Im not gonna give up.
It is a good idea to keep your eyes peeled for different cars. Last August when I was looking to buy my first car it was between my Skylark and a '77 Z28 with a 4 speed. Glad I bought the Skylark though! But anyway, good luck with trying to buy the GS, it will be well worth it in the end. :TU:
