New guy here, hi everyone.
Just picked up a gem this week. I lucked into a deal through a friend on a 1997 GMQ LS. I know the cliche of 'elderly owned' and I know everyone who wants to sell a car says that...but I actually got one that had been owned by an older couple and basically used as their church car and for 'going out of town in'. Its a 1997, and has been garage kept, babied-since-birth...and is sitting on a beautiful 66.2k miles. The belts are all black and look solid, no discoloring or fraying whatsoever, the seals and hoses are great, not a drop of anything anywhere. I had it inspected anyway, of course, just in case, and the report I got said it's as good as it looks - the coolant is clean & light green, the power steering and brake fluids are clean, the oil was a golden tan, etc. The interior is like a trip back to 1997 except for one stain on the carpet. This lovely couple also decided a new set of tires might help them sell the old hulk...so it even came with 4 crispy-clean Michelin's. I couldn't slam my $3200 down fast enough. So, long story short, this thing rides like a dream. It's in exquisite shape, with only a couple of very minor flaws. It's a blank canvas, and I keep thinking of things I want to do to it, and all week I've been reading up on mods and upgrades, my oh my...and along the way I stumbled across this site.
I have a couple of questions I'd like to get some help with, and this seems like a good place to drop them.
So, how can I tell which options package it came with? Someone said the VIN will have that info but googling it hasn't been as helpful as I'd like...any of you GMQ guru's know anything about that? Like, how can I tell if it was the "LS Premium" or the LS performance, or whatever? I don't know much about those things. I'm wondering because I want to put a Kenwood in it, and apparently there are two different wiring harnesses, one for 'premium sound' and one for I guess the basic job, and I wasn't sure which one to buy. I'm guessing by the features it's a good package but again, I don't know anything about it.
Also, oddly, the hood latch striker is...well...missing. It's just gone. There's just a square hole in the underside of the hood, that it should go across - and the latch is catching there, but it's not quite right. I need to put one of those on it, but again, my searching has turned up only limited info. The part number that I come up with most often (6W1Z-16K689-A) shows as 1998+ so I'm not sure if that's the same on the 1997. Searching the 1997 has only brought up that one, and one for Mustangs, and I haven't had time to hit the salvage yards yet to physically check. Anyone know if that's the same one? the holes look similar, just not sure.
Anyway, I'm absolutely loving this old beast, and I want to deck it out - I have some plans for this thing to get it turning heads.
But, enough from me for now - thanks in advance for any insight ya'll can give. I'll post some pics later.
-Cuss.
Just picked up a gem this week. I lucked into a deal through a friend on a 1997 GMQ LS. I know the cliche of 'elderly owned' and I know everyone who wants to sell a car says that...but I actually got one that had been owned by an older couple and basically used as their church car and for 'going out of town in'. Its a 1997, and has been garage kept, babied-since-birth...and is sitting on a beautiful 66.2k miles. The belts are all black and look solid, no discoloring or fraying whatsoever, the seals and hoses are great, not a drop of anything anywhere. I had it inspected anyway, of course, just in case, and the report I got said it's as good as it looks - the coolant is clean & light green, the power steering and brake fluids are clean, the oil was a golden tan, etc. The interior is like a trip back to 1997 except for one stain on the carpet. This lovely couple also decided a new set of tires might help them sell the old hulk...so it even came with 4 crispy-clean Michelin's. I couldn't slam my $3200 down fast enough. So, long story short, this thing rides like a dream. It's in exquisite shape, with only a couple of very minor flaws. It's a blank canvas, and I keep thinking of things I want to do to it, and all week I've been reading up on mods and upgrades, my oh my...and along the way I stumbled across this site.
I have a couple of questions I'd like to get some help with, and this seems like a good place to drop them.
So, how can I tell which options package it came with? Someone said the VIN will have that info but googling it hasn't been as helpful as I'd like...any of you GMQ guru's know anything about that? Like, how can I tell if it was the "LS Premium" or the LS performance, or whatever? I don't know much about those things. I'm wondering because I want to put a Kenwood in it, and apparently there are two different wiring harnesses, one for 'premium sound' and one for I guess the basic job, and I wasn't sure which one to buy. I'm guessing by the features it's a good package but again, I don't know anything about it.
Also, oddly, the hood latch striker is...well...missing. It's just gone. There's just a square hole in the underside of the hood, that it should go across - and the latch is catching there, but it's not quite right. I need to put one of those on it, but again, my searching has turned up only limited info. The part number that I come up with most often (6W1Z-16K689-A) shows as 1998+ so I'm not sure if that's the same on the 1997. Searching the 1997 has only brought up that one, and one for Mustangs, and I haven't had time to hit the salvage yards yet to physically check. Anyone know if that's the same one? the holes look similar, just not sure.
Anyway, I'm absolutely loving this old beast, and I want to deck it out - I have some plans for this thing to get it turning heads.
But, enough from me for now - thanks in advance for any insight ya'll can give. I'll post some pics later.
-Cuss.
Comment