I did not and would not ever put my gf's illness on a "pedestal" and I only brought it up to explain why I sold the GP after being ragged on by you. Why are you so accusatory anyway? Why the ragging and the insults and the accusations to begin with? What is your problem? In the end, they're just cars. Or does that make me look like I think that I'm "too cool?" The "too cool" accusation is just plain strange anyway.
For the rest of you normal people who don't understand why I would be so "gung ho" and then sell the car...
-I have not had a hot rod to work on for fun for over twenty years. Just drivers. Some nice ones yes, but nothing too old or collectible. I was very excited to finally get something and wanted to start right away. I had my Harleys that I love, but I want both. I love hot rods AND Harleys.
-In reference to the above, I was so anxious to get something that after I went back to work, I did not save $3-4K as I had planned, and instead bought the first thing that I could afford. It's a decent car for the price, but I do not have the facilites to properly work on it, and injuries from a motorcycle accident in 2002 limit what I can do. They do not physically prevent me from working on the car, but if I work too long and too hard I end up in a lot of pain by the end of the day, and into the next day. So I work in short bursts and leave to heaviest stuff to others. The last time that I had a car that I was restoring and working on like this, I was 21 years old and not 41! I am in good shape but I definitely underestimated my own abilities, abilities that have not been tested for 20 years. Last week I had gone junkyard hunting and found my body parts, but it was very hot out and I had done a lot of walking to find the GP's, the boneyard is huge - and I still had to go back for my tools and then pull the parts, and I was in pain - that's the moment that I decided to sell this one and save up, as originall planned, to get something that requires less heavy repair work, and that I can customize to my tastes.
-This car has 244,000 miles on it. I also had not planned to buy something with so many miles. It is in great shape for the amount of miles, but is still has a sort-of "worn out" feeling to it that I do not want.
-So in essence, I became impatient and made a mistake; and am cutting my losses now before I spend to much money. I will not take me long to save the money that I need to get something nicer. I am definitaly buying another car.
-There are so many cars and trucks that I like, and with a larger budget, my choices beome much wider. So yes, there is a chance that I might not get another GP. Perhaps a Can Am, or a 73 GTO, or an earlier Grand Am, or maybe I will stumble onto a great deal on a TA. Or it might not even be a Pontiac, or a GM car at all. I like Mopars too. I can say that it won't be a Ford - I drive their trucks but I am not turned on by many of their muscle cars, on less I found a Torino GT SCJ 428, but on my budget, not likely. On the other hand, I've seen low mileage, T-Top 400/400 GP's selling within my price range, and I certainly want one of them. I'd also like a 73 SJ 455, with or without a sunroof, but I don't see them for sale too often. I am also always loking for older GP's, easpecially 65-68. IMHO these are the single most undervalued and underrated muscle cars in the entire muscle car world. It's insane that some of them sell for under $4K, with under 100K miles and in great shape. But they do, and I will snatch one up if I get the chance. Same goes for 70-71 SJ 455's.
I was not looking at only GP's when I bought mine either. I was looking at a wide range of cars that can be had in decent condition without winning the lottery. So of course GTO's and Trans Am's were out, but frankly I don't care anymore, I am so used to them being out of my price range that I don't bother. If I could afford one, why not, but at this point I think of the right GP as the equal of any Goat or TA. But when I bought this GP, I was also looking at pre-1977 Cadillac Coupe de Villes, 69-71 Lincoln Mark III's, post-1981 TA's and IROC Z's, 71-74 Dodge Chargers, 71-74 boattail Rivieras, 74-77 Monte Carlos, various trucks, and also 78-85 GP's and Monte Carlo SS. Add to that various oddballs that I could be convinced to buy if the condition and price was nice, basically as long as it is a 2-door it can be attractive to me. I really dig any old car that has low mileage and is nice and unrestored. Take a look at this --
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIte...rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
If I had the money now, I'd drive that home in a heartbeat. If I see that when i have the cash, I'd offer the guy $4K and he'd probably take it. That's a lotta car for $4K, and it's definitelt not one that you see all the time. So heimy you're right about one thing, maybe I won't get another GP. And maybe I'll get one that will put yours to shame. But there are way too many cars out there to only like one. Of course I like some more than others, if I had the money I'd buy one of each. But I don't, I can only have one, and it just depends on what I can find and what sort of deal I might luck into.
This is in addition to my gf's illness. The money for parts and repairs, and time needed would cut in to our time and money together too much. So it was a few factors together that combined to come to the decision.
I don't know why I should even feel the need to explain myself so thoroughly, but then again I don't know why this Heimy dude is so judgemental and just plain nasty. I will still be around and will let you guys know what's up in my car world, and please let me know if you hear of any good GP deals or anything else in my price range. If I hear of anything that might be of interest to the board, I will post it.
Springo
BTW - although I found about fifteen 73-77 GP's at the boneyard, they were all picked over pretty well and there are definitely not any hard-to-find parts there. No rally clusters! But I found my front end parts, although I would have had to use a 76 header panel instead of a 77. A little different, but no biggie. I'm just letting you guys know before you have me back there looking for stuff!!