The decision to sell the Chevelle was made and we went to a show in Lake George, NY with ads printed up for selling it. We had plenty of interested people and one offered us the asking price! By the way, out of 800 cars we won a top 50 trophy. Driving home after the show I was really questioning myself if I was going to go through with the sale! As it turns out I did and the car I had owned since 1976 went to the new owner in New York. Now what?!

Trying to be practical on deciding what would be our new "HOT ROD" we thought about what to look for to take the place of the Chevelle. At the time I didn't want to get involved in restoring an older car again and wanted something with all the creature comforts like A/C, etc. A street rod that was already done might fit the bill but not too many of them were built to be fast ( also a requirement! ) So thinking back to the days of racing against GN's pretty much clinched it. A Grand National would be perfect! Fast, comfortable, collectible and a respected vehicle on the streets. I started reading everything I could get my hands on about these cars and started searching for one.

My requirements were mileage had to be under 30,000, paint in very good shape and it was not to be a car that was raced or beat on from the bust I could tell upon inspection. Also I did not want t-tops! The search was on! A local GN had always caught my eye but the owner was not interested in selling so I gave up on that one. Looked at another car in the state and got my first test ride in a GN! I knew I had to have one soon but this one was not the car, needed too much work to bring it up to show standards so I passed on it. Next I hit the Fall Englishtown Raceway Park swap meet in the hopes of finding "my" GN. There were a few for sale but none that met my requirements. Giving up hope I continued up and down the rows of parts with my friends and wondering how long it was going to take to fill up my empty garage with a GN. I spied a GN pulling into the car corral area that looked great, lowered slightly and with billet wheels but by the time we got over there it was gone! My friends and I looked at one more row of parts and we had seen just about enough. Getting ready to head home, one of my friends and I went down the row of cars for sale again and there was the GN. The owner had moved it farther down and had not left after all. As soon as I saw it I knew it was destined to be mine! The mileage was only 4700 and the car still smelled like new! I was a little skeptical about the mileage but after going over the car with a fine tooth comb as they say I determined the mileage was accurate and gambled that the owner was being honest. A handshake sealed the deal and plans were made to pick up the car the following weekend.

Since the GN was located in Queens, NY of all places, I decided the last thing I wanted to do was drive it home so the services of my friend Tony Scinto were enlisted. He has a crew cab dually truck with a new flatbed and he offered to truck it home to Connecticut for me. Four of us headed to NY that morning and I was a little anxious about the neighborhood we ended up in with $17,000 cash in my pocket. After checking that VIN numbers matched, cash changed hands, the car was loaded up and we were on our way home!

After close inspection upon arriving at my own garage, I discovered that I was now the proud owner of one of the nicest GN's in the area. The mileage was correct from what I saw under the car, like bare metal on the floor pan with not even any surface rust, tags on all suspension parts, just like a new car. It wasn't perfect as no car is: missed a small ding in the front passenger fender and it did have a small dent in the left rear quarter from something being in the trunk and these were the first things taken care of. The car was modified by the original owner with a Ford 9" rear being installed and the car being lowered with spindles in front and cut springs in the back. Besides the wheels and tires the only other mods were a K&N air filter, dual exhaust system and test pipe. I was concerned that the car was raced but never found any rubber buildup under the car anywhere and it did have some gauges in the front of the console but they were not hooked up. If it was raced they did a heck of a job cleaning it up! After owning a pro street car there wasn't any way I would ever have a stock vehicle and this car has been the perfect choice for me. To see the complete list of modifications I have done since purchasing my GN see the FEATURES AND MODIFICATIONS section of my website! As a bonus upon further investigation it has been determined that this GN was built in November 1987 making it one of the last GN's ever built!!