[Stuart]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

I don't know what it would be worth. A guess might be around $7500.00 if he never drove it. Truthfully, it would have been worth more as a Pinto today as some Ford dealer may have wanted it on their showroom today.

Never discount what any mint low mileage car will sell for, if you have the right people in the room. A 1978 Pinto station wagon with 15,000 miles on the odometer went for $33,000 at the Mecum Monterey auction back in August.

[flyingn]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

I may be wrong here, but didn't the GN's have that mechanical limited slip unit with the governor and the tiny flyweights they called the "Eaton Locker". Seems like I remember all those delicate little parts blew apart and got caught in various places locking up bearings and blowing the cases apart. I am sure we had more than 1 GN come in with the rear blown apart. Again my memory is a little foggy on this but I think I remember a customer bringing in his own old school case and wanting us to install it in place of that locker unit. Otherwise, I agree, that 8.5" should have been able to survive that power level.

No, they had regular clutch type limited slip rears.

[Simple Man]

Still holding at $70,600.00

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

I may be wrong here, but didn't the GN's have that mechanical limited slip unit with the governor and the tiny flyweights they called the "Eaton Locker". Seems like I remember all those delicate little parts blew apart and got caught in various places locking up bearings and blowing the cases apart. I am sure we had more than 1 GN come in with the rear blown apart. Again my memory is a little foggy on this but I think I remember a customer bringing in his own old school case and wanting us to install it in place of that locker unit. Otherwise, I agree, that 8.5" should have been able to survive that power level.

'83-87 G-body 8.5 rears which were factory assembled with a posi should have a #8 "S spring" posi carrier. Have built up several 8.5 G-body rears that are living in 10 sec GN's & T-types, quite a few more at that level as 8.5 A-body & X-body rears.

GovLocks were the junky Eaton swing out lever style posi units that were optional in GM pickups & SUV's. Have examined many many of this style carrier blown up, carrier destroyed, as well as & taking out the ring & pinion. In quite a few cases, the destruction took out the housings LH cap, & occasionally, the housing where the LH cap bolts thread in. Too many let go in putt-a-round vehicles, no way I will assemble a pickup rear with one, esp for performance use.

Below are most of the GM factory uses of the Eaton GovLock, occasionally, one will run across such a carrier that has been later installed in GM rear that would have originally built as a single track or was originally assembled with a traditional clutch style posi, or a Warner Motive or Auburn cone type posi.

- earliast original version I've run across was in a '71 1/2 ton Pickup rear, 8 7/8 12 bolt Pickup (not car)
- 8.5 1/2 ton (no Big10) Pickup/Blazers beginning w '77 models,
- there's a huge 10.25"(?) version which was used in the late '70's-mid 80's GM 3/4 ton truck rears.
- the S10 7.5/7.625 versions, have ran across several of these rigged into '82+ F-body rears.
- 30 spline 8.5/8.6 GovLock used up into the early '00's is latest application I've run across. Rebuilt an '03 Avalanche rear last month that it's GovLock decided to let go...PITA.

[joegpho]

Wasn't the GovLock used in the 8.5" rears for B-bodies for 94-96?

[dataway]

Current GM pickups use an Eaton Locker ... not sure if it's the same as the old ones. My truck has one. Locks up at the drop of a hat.

[Jack Gifford]

Originally Posted by Chris65LeMans

... If you bought a house in California with 37k down in 1987 and found a renter to pay the mortgage, you’d have a $700,000, paid off, house today...

But- if you would have averaged 10% annually from investing that $37,000 (many people did) you would now have $781,210. Without the pain-in-the-arse landlord deal, maintenance, property taxes, etc.

[unruhjonny]

granted, you can see downturns which effect property value, while in general traditional investments have more inherant risk.
My grandfather has told me something that I think to be wise;
"Don't invest what you cannot affird to lose,"

[Stuart]

Sure, there are better ways to invest money, but another old saying is, "buy what you like." It may not be for everyone, but if someone wants to buy a car and then put it away in hopes of making money on it sometime in the future, more power to them.

[RocktimusPryme]

For me, and its probably similar for a lot of you, its not about trying to get rich with cars. Its more about trying not to get financially murdered. I just try not to be crazy upside down. Pick your spots and don't invest a ton of money into a market undesirable car.

I don't look at any of my hobby vehicles as investments, but I do look at them as assets. On a really rainy day I could sell one of them if I had to.

[TAKerry]

RockP is right, most of our cars are assets, but few are investments, at least investments with a good return. To the GN that was stored, this was def. intended to be an investment. There was/will be a good return but it could have been much better if spent elsewhere. Having said that, I still have to get up and go to work every morning to pay the bills

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by joegpho

Wasn't the GovLock used in the 8.5" rears for B-bodies for 94-96?

Been quite a few years, but I have pulled factory installed Auburn 30 spline carriers out of early "bubble" bodystyle Caprices & Roadmasters. Have yet to run across a GovLock in such an Impalla. A good tipoff is if there is a cast steel carrier bearing spacer on each side of the carrier bearing races, then good chance it's a factory installation.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by 'ol Pinion head

'83-87 G-body 8.5 rears which were factory assembled with a posi should have a #8 "S spring" posi carrier. Have built up several 8.5 G-body rears that are living in 10 sec GN's & T-types, quite a few more at that level as 8.5 A-body & X-body rears.

GovLocks were the junky Eaton swing out lever style posi units that were optional in GM pickups & SUV's. Have examined many many of this style carrier blown up, carrier destroyed, as well as & taking out the ring & pinion. In quite a few cases, the destruction took out the housings LH cap, & occasionally, the housing where the LH cap bolts thread in. Too many let go in putt-a-round vehicles, no way I will assemble a pickup rear with one, esp for performance use.

Below are most of the GM factory uses of the Eaton GovLock, occasionally, one will run across such a carrier that has been later installed in GM rear that would have originally built as a single track or was originally assembled with a traditional clutch style posi, or a Warner Motive or Auburn cone type posi.

- earliast original version I've run across was in a '71 1/2 ton Pickup rear, 8 7/8 12 bolt Pickup (not car)
- 8.5 1/2 ton (no Big10) Pickup/Blazers beginning w '77 models,
- there's a huge 10.25"(?) version which was used in the late '70's-mid 80's GM 3/4 ton truck rears.
- the S10 7.5/7.625 versions, have ran across several of these rigged into '82+ F-body rears.
- 30 spline 8.5/8.6 GovLock used up into the early '00's is latest application I've run across. Rebuilt an '03 Avalanche rear last month that it's GovLock decided to let go...PITA.

Thanks for clearing up the application of the Eaton locker. I knew you or a few others would have the straight story on that. So I guess it's a mystery why we had a few failures on the GN cars? It happens. If a driver does enough stupid stuff, anything can break. Will say I was surprised that car stalled and sold at 70,600.00. That's less than the 2006 Honda S 2000 I mentioned earlier in the tread. Go figure. I'll take the slightly dirty, poorly stored GN any day over a 4-cyl Honda, Miata look alike. Or neither in reality. I think that GN cleaned-up properly would top 100K in a proper selling atmosphere. E-bay may not be the right venue for it. Guess that's why I lose money on every car I buy.

['ol Pinion head]

70,600 seems like strong $$$, but can't say I've consistently tracked what low mile regular GN's have brought in private sales & recent auctions. GNX's, on the other hand, are much more exclusive a vehicle, & extremely low mile well maintained GNX's are priced WELL above that mark.

Personally, the intercooled GN's, Regal T-Types, and the GNX's are the only GM vehicles of the 80's that I've ever appreciated & continue to appreciate. 3rd Gen F-bodys, the anemic '80's Vettes, & wheezer engined Monte SS's & Olds 442's, no thanks.... Have driven quite a few GN's, but having ownied one GM 80's performance car which retained its original crappy water based black factory paint for barely 3 years, it's not been til recently that I would even consider owning one.

[GT182]

Originally Posted by Chris65LeMans

Never dealer prepped, but 757 miles on it?

I can guarantee it came off the truck with under 6 miles on it. So that's 752 miles of running on break-in oil, going for lunch, and the salesmen driving it home to show it off to the neighborhood. I'd say the buyer over paid by $50,000 for a dirty used car that was beaten to death by the dealership's employees, and then hidden away. If it was never dealer prepped then it would have been covered for all those years to keep it pristine.

[1965gp]

NADA and Hagarty (I think) have listed the top values of these cars at 50k for a while. It seems this car is a special circumstance and would probably be worth more than the best restoration.

As was discussed about investing.... my theory is that I am a horrible money guy, don’t know stocks, don’t know property- but I do know cars. The chance of me getting burned on an old car is pretty slim. May not make a ton of $$ but I don’t think I will lose any. Maybe refer to it as a savings account vs an investment?

[Interceptor]

Terrible investments. If the GN was bought at sticker that's less than 6% ROI, less than 5% after cost of climate controlled storage. And with only 757 miles, obviously never driven/enjoyed. What's the point?

The GNX is harder to figure cause you couldn't buy one for sticker price, but I bet it's similar and enjoyed even less. What a waste of a GREAT car.

[TAKerry]

Same deal with all of the new Ford GT's that are in circulation. I dont think Ive seen one cross the auction block with more than 1000 miles!

[Chris65LeMans]

Originally Posted by Interceptor

The GNX is harder to figure cause you couldn't buy one for sticker price, but I bet it's similar and enjoyed even less. What a waste of a GREAT car.

Yeah - I've always thought so, too. I remember watching a show on the Pebble Beach car show at least 20 years ago. Some guy had a fantastic split window Vette that had 22 miles on it. The presenter asked him (half-sarcastically), "So, I bet you'll enjoy taking this car on the 17-mile drive?" "His answer was 'No way!'" Why would he ever think of enjoying it?

[SRR]

Co-worker of mine bought a really nice GN for $10,000 a couple of years ago. It had a bigger turbo on it and non-stock wheels but was in very nice condition. I myself can't get over that ugly ass dash layout, so 80's.