Looked at 86 GT today...advice?

QUICK91LX

Founding Member
Dec 7, 2001
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New Jersey
Today I went to look at an 86 GT that I found on Craigslist for $2000. It has a motor out of a 91 that was installed nicely, no hack jobs, and it pulls hard. Car is really tight, no rattles, drives and stops straight and smooth. Decent set of Pony wheels, needs tires. Interior is so-so, carpet is stained, few cracks in the dash, tear on drivers seat and a small piece of plastic cracked and missing from directly below the radio. It has an awful spray bomb paint job, there is some sort of screwed on plate over the drivers door lock and there is a small bend in the bumper cover under the passenger fog light. The car is very clean and straight, no rust at all. Not even under the hatch or on the bottoms of the doors.

Overall not bad for $2000 it seems. What actually scares me a little is that in both front fender aprons are some small splits near the top edge where the fenders mount. Sort of as if maybe the car was lightly hit at some time. I also noticed that the factory sunroof sits high at the left front and low at the right rear. The car sits level so I didn't suspect a bent frame.

What do you guys make of the overall package? He is very firm at $2000.

Pick it apart as much as you want...I am considering it because it runs and drives SO well, figuring I can work with the interior and paint and also modify as I go.

ANY and ALL advice, thoughts, nitpicking, etc is welcome and appreciated!!
 
Look at the bottom of the doors VERY closely. Those doors are prone to rust and even the slightest bubble is bad news. My doors had tiny light surface rust spots when i got it...3 years later i had holes in my doors. It's getting hard to find '79-86 rust free doors.
 
Look at the bottom of the doors VERY closely. Those doors are prone to rust and even the slightest bubble is bad news. My doors had tiny light surface rust spots when i got it...3 years later i had holes in my doors. It's getting hard to find '79-86 rust free doors.

I hear ya on that...these doors are in great shape, I couldn't see anything starting to form. That fact along with the way it runs are reasons why I have such interest in the car. Any thoughts on the engine bay apron cracks or misalignment of the sunroof?
 
Well the inner fenders are a dead giveaway on whether a car has been wrecked or not. They're like tin foil, even running a car in the ditch and jack them up and they're almost impossible to fix to the point where you can't tell it happened. It's tough to tell if a unibody car is tweaked...but they can be fixed. The sunroof thing is weird...are you positive it's a factory sunroof? 2k is pretty cheap if it's overall solid and runs good...
 
yeah i can def tell the difference between a factory and aftermarket sunroof, this is def a factory unit. It runs good and has no rust so I may go ahead with it and actually have a car I can drive again.