E-Muscle, LLC CLASSIC & MUSCLE CAR RESTORATION, SERVICE & PERFORMANCE
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1987 Buick Grand National Collision Repair

         Here was another opportunity (and challenge) I just couldn’t pass up during my early days as an automotive paint rep selling to body shops. Glancing around one of the shop’s yards in an effort to find a “diamond in the rough” - I happened to stumble across this 1987 Buick Grand National.

        From the front, the car looked like a beauty - but the entire rear end had been turned into an accordion by a tractor trailer. OUCH! After a heartfelt discussion with the body shop manager, I discovered the car’s owner had no intention of driving her again. In fact, he was going to put the Buick “out to pasture” once he’d received his insurance check. Imagine that, tossing out one of GM’s premier turbo-charged “go fast” cars because of a mere fender bender! I couldn’t allow this to happen.

        After rooting around beneath the car for a while, I soon realized the accident impact had crumpled the sheet metal but completely missed the rear frame rails.   That’s when I knew the Grand National and I were about to become very good friends! Soon after, I contacted the Buick’s owner and put together a deal that worked for both of us.

        Locating the back half of a Buick Regal at a “bone yard” wasn’t too difficult. After checking to make sure the Regal was nice and straight, extensive surgery achieved making the two cars one. I must say that making one great car out of two “donor cars” is more fun than you can imagine. Especially if you do it so well no one can tell how or where the two cars were joined. The final result after a month of careful body work, lots of block sanding and several coats of PPG High build primer for perfect straight blackness was that I’d created one of the best Christmas gifts I’d ever given my wife. The only problem back then was having to constantly remind her the Chevelles in our family were still “the boss” when it came to cruising to car shows. But at least she could always keep up!