Somebody broke into my GN!

[Fast One]

Some fucking asshole(s) broke into my GN a few nights ago during the blizzard. They cut my car cover & punched-out the LR quarter-window, then reached forward to unlock the driver's door from the inside. That's when my 150 DB CompuSTAR alarm went nuts & scared whoever it was away. Long-gone by the time I got out to the driveway with my loaded Model 12 pump & it was snowing so hard there weren't any tracks to follow. Bummer is that I had turned the motion & shock sensors off sometime last fall, 'cause I was getting a lot of false alarms from bikes & cars with loud pipes. Forgot to turn 'em back on when I put it away for the winter. If those sensors would've been active, the alarm would've gone off when they started fucking with the car cover, instead of not until they tried to unlock the driver's door from the inside by reaching through the broken quarter-window.

Now, I find out that the GN has quarter-windows w/blackout trim that are unique to the '84-'87 GNs, and there aren't any new ones or repros left. And people who have used ones in nice shape are charging 500-600 bucks for 'em. Turned it in to the cops & insurance.

Joel

[Z28SSMAN]

Ouch! That's too bad. The trend now is to steal from others instead of working for it.

[MR.hp]

Well that just sucks, time to set some traps for the rats, you know they'll be back. Couple of bear traps should work for starters.

[Fast One]

Yeah, if the fucker(s) come back - they'll be on video this time. Plus, I enabled the motion-detector & proximity detector on my alarm (disabled 'em last fall, due to too many false alarms from bikes with loud pipes going by) - so it'll go off before they get a chance to do anything to the car. And my trusty Model 12 pump is loaded with 5 rounds of 00 buckshot!

But some bear traps sounds like a great idea!

[fast toys]

Sorry someone ruined your GN. That's a shitty thing to do. Hope the Ins. fixes it right for you.

[Fast One]

Thanks. Ins isn't the big problem - it's that nobody makes replacement G-body quarter-windows anymore & the GN is the only G-body that has black chrome ones. All the rest are chrome-trimmed. People who have real GN ones for sale want over 500 bucks for a pair of used ones in decent shape (no dings, no scratches in the glass, etc)! Haven't found anyone just selling the driver's side yet. Fuck!! Slowly coming to the conclusion that I'll have to get one from a regular G-body & have it de-chromed & painted black chrome to match the rest of the trim. Plenty of regular G-body ones available in good shape for around 100 bucks or so.

Joel

[Fast One]

Finally found a used quarter window. Had to buy a pair, though 'cause nobody wants to sell just one. $350 plus shipping & tax, so it was almost $500 total. Got 'em from a well-known GN parts guy on the GN & T-Type parts group page on FB. He has an excellent trader rating. Should show up by the 20th. The others I found that are in decent shape sold for $500-550/pair!

[Fast One]

Quarter-windows showed up today! They're in pretty good shape. Just a bit of adhesive/sealer of some sort stuck to part of the rubber surround on the driver's-side one. Here's a pic.

[Fast One]

Just brought the GN to the shop this morning to get the window done & the driver's side door lock replaced (yeah, the asshole tried to jimmy the lock before breaking the quarter-window). Ins says they'll also replace my car-cover with one of the same quality. That's pretty cool. I had figured it would probably end-up on my personal property ins, which would mean that with $500 deductible, I'd have to pay for it. But since it's covered under the GN's stated-value policy, it counts toward the $500 deductible on the car.

[MR.hp]

Just brought the GN to the shop this morning to get the window done & the driver's side door lock replaced (yeah, the asshole tried to jimmy the lock before breaking the quarter-window). Ins says they'll also replace my car-cover with one of the same quality. That's pretty cool. I had figured it would probably end-up on my personal property ins, which would mean that with $500 deductible, I'd have to pay for it. But since it's covered under the GN's stated-value policy, it counts toward the $500 deductible on the car.

The lock cover is pretty easy to do Joel. We used to fix those all the time at Pontiac when I worked there along with rebuilding steering columns. Yup those were the days, easy labor money for me as it over 5hrs pay to rebuild one. Now it would be well over $1000 to repair a column.

[Fast One]

They didn't damage the column, though. Just fucked-up the door lock, then broke the quarter-window & unlocked the driver-door from the inside. By then, the alarm was in full pissed-off mode & had disabled the engine. The alarm was so loud, they didn't even get into the car.

[Fast One]

image_626.jpg image_627.jpg image_628.jpg

Fuck, now I found our that the guy sent me a window from a vinyl top G-body - and they're different. Body shop sent me a pic of the replacement in the car & there's a fucking 1/4" gap between the window frame & the C-pillar sheet-metal. Dude I bought the window from swears it's from an '87 GN, but Buick never made a vinyl top GN. Posted the pics on our MGNTA group on Facebook, and the guys in the know immediately said that the replacement is from a vinyl top car. Sent the guy pics of the difference, but haven't heard anything back from him yet. So..now my GN is sitting in the body shop without a driver's side quarter window. FUCK!!

The replacement left-side window in the car. The undamaged right-side window. And a pic of the original next to the replacement. The difference is obvious, isn't it??

[Fast One]

Dude from FB Marketplace won't respond to my messages anymore, after I sent him those pics. So....I filed a claim with FBM's claims dept. They say they can't see any difference between the windows! I told 'em to actually open the pics & view 'em in full-res, then zoom in & the difference will be obvious. Haven't heard back yet.

Then, a Buick guy from up by Tower MN who owns a body shop (and has a sweet '70 GS plus a couple turbo Regals) posted on our GN club page that he has a genuine GN left-side window in perfect shape! So, he's sending it down here with a friend from the 'Cities who goes up there every weekend. Then I'll meet his buddy at work during his lunch break, check out the window & give him $250 cash, then he'll bring the cash back to the guy in Tower the next time he goes up there. Pretty damn cool, I'd say!

In the meantime, I had to do something, so the shop put the wrong window in temporarily. Of course, now I have to pay for the 2nd window & the labor myself, as the ins co isn't gonna pay twice. But at least I'll have the correct window in it. What a fucking mess this has been!

Here's the correct window from the Buick guy up in Tower:

image_629.jpg

[Fast One]

So, can you guys see the difference between the original & the one the dude on FB sent me? The fuckers at FBM claims say that I got what I ordered & won't do anything. WTF???

[Fast One]

After a lot of emails & repeating the same shit to different people in Facebook marketing's claims dept - they FINALLY admitted that the dude sent me the wrong window, and said that they've initiated a full refund. I'll believe it when I see the money in my account.

In the meantime, I got the correct window from the guy up in Tower today. It's in excellent shape! Just waiting for the body shop to let me know when I can bring it back in & get the window installed. Couple pics:

Window 1.jpg

Window 2.jpg



Anyone need a couple quarter-windows for a vinyl roof G-body? I now have a pair for sale....