Intro & Delivery Day

First a little background. When I moved to California, I was cruising the car sites looking at what was for sale just for the heck of it. I was bored and on AOL, so I loaded up multiple pages at a time. Lisa and I were in the middle of looking for a house so buying a car was out of the question and not even considered, but it helps to stay abreast of the market and be aware of deals and steals (not to mention lemons and cars that get passed around more times than a $5 hooker). I wanted a Trans Am because that has been my big love for years. But none were to be found that I could be bothered with as I wasn't doing the project car piece of crap routine this time. If I was going to do anything (which I really wasn't intending to), I was going to get something that could be driven anywhere without questions. I stumbled upon this car being offered for sale by a guy who needed to get rid of his toy since his wife was tired of looking at it. It had been his driver for 2 years and he had since moved to the world of a truck for reliable transport for whatever reason and the Grand Am had been delegated to weekend duty and garage space occupancy. Lots of interest was shown by everyone on the board for the car, but no one seemed to be buying and this car was priced to move. Two months went by with the car being advertised for sale and I emailed the guy to ask about it and we struck up a conversation about the car and his time with it. Everything seemed on the up and up, but I wasn't in the market and told him if I ever was I would let him know because next to a Trans Am, a Grand Am is one of my favorite cars. Well Lisa and I close on our house and begin moving in and the Grand Am goes in the back of my mind. Then it we realize how hot it is in the house with no AC. Lisa and I discuss getting AC installed, but figured it would be something like $5000-6000 we didn't have. I mentioned possibly selling the Saturn and getting a cheaper car and using the rest of the cash to get AC installed or just have some more money in savings. Lisa said it was my car and that she liked the idea. I mentioned the Grand Am and Lisa was fine with it (she's wonderful about things like that). I went out to Phoenix where Devin lived and spent a few hours driving the car around and talking with him about it. No dishonesty or tricks here, the car was just as he described (albeit he was a bit critical of some of it's flaws). It was refreshing to see an honest car seller. I told him as soon as the Saturn sold I would be back if the car hadn't sold. According to Devin, he had tons of emails about the car but no one wanted to do anything but haggle over the price without even coming to look at it. In the end I was the only one who looked at it.

The car arrived early Saturday around 10AM. Devin had driven through most of the night to get it here despite all of the problems he had getting a trailer and the car ready to go.



UHaul had given Devin all sorts of trouble because according to their computers the car weighed 4100lbs (try 3495lbs) and that the trailer was too small for it. So he had to rent a trailer from a company that rented tractors. He was hoping to just drop it at UHaul and be done, but that didn't happen since the company he rented from is local to Phoenix.



Interior has a little bit of sun damage, but it's not completely fried. Car is originally a California car from the Hollywood area.



Car is now off the trailer and in the driveway. It has a new InDesign nose that won't crack or flake away like the factory ones did.





No car would be complete without the obligatory bucket of parts and manuals.





All the trim, all of the emblems, factory service manuals, complete removed AC setup (not cut or broken out like most people like to do). The previous owner decided to paint it himself and a bird must have pooped on the car before he got a chance to because there is bird poop underneath all the paint on the hood for some reason. Lazy painters. So it needs new paint. It's a good 20 footer, but get up close and you notice the flaws. Nicer than the Lemans Maaco job though. The previous owner also wasn't electrically inclined either and when he replaced the dash he didn't bother to hook most of the accessories up. That's an easy fix though.

Interior is Grand Prix based and body is Lemans\GTO style. Handles like you wouldn't believe and accelerates like crazy. It's a great car to drive. Needs some minor work, but definitely isn't a basket case. Has power windows, power sunroof, AC, AM\FM stereo with in-dash 8 track and full gauges (of course the tach doesn't work). Motor is what I assume to be a 400 4bbl as the VIN decodes to that and it doesn't look like it's been removed from the car any time recently. Motor has HEI ignition upgrade from the unitized ignition that it came with, so that's likely why the tach doesn't work (not hooked up). Lots to see and do!

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Last updated September 15th, 2004