For Sale I put my '84 Suburban up for sale on ebay

[bigmoparjeff]

If anyone has friends or family with the desire to restore a rusty square-body Suburban, please tell them about my ebay auction. The inspection sticker expires at the end of the month and it needs a thousand dollar exhaust system, so after 12 1/2 years of faithful service it's time to let it go. The exhaust wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for the rust. Most of the rust is confined to the outer body panels, so the structure is still in good shape, but I just don't have the time to devote to a project like this right now.

1984 Chevrolet Suburban K20 | eBay

I thought it would be a good time to take a look back at some of the C Bodies and other interesting things that it's hauled around the country.


On my way to Saint Louis for a load of NOS '73 New Yorker parts, then out to Wichita, KS. for '67 Imperial parts. Pic is in PA if I remember correctly.

Back from Knoxville, TN. with the rusty roof Fury

My '67 Newport headed to Bayone, NJ and then off to Sweden.

My '68 300 headed to Sweden for restoration.

Picking up a very rusty '67 300 near Pittsburgh, destined to be restored in Sweden.

'68 300 going from Bath, NY to Bayonne, then off to Sweden for resto.

A friend's 440 Six Pack Challenger

1960 Buick Lesabre from Long Island, NY to my house for repairs, then off to Sweden.

'65 New Yorker from Trenton, NJ to my friend's house in PA.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

'71 T&C from Chicago being added to my collection.

Pit stop at Mr. Fuel in Ohio.

A nice '68 Newport from Jersey, eventually headed to Sweden.

'39 Plymouth taking a short trip in PA to it's new owner. This car has been fully restored and was just finished last year.

My previous Suburban headed to the scrap yard.

A nice big block Chevy pickup from south Jersey destined for Sweden.

1948 Packard Custom Eight from Portland, ME to my house for resto work, then off to Sweden.

'65 300 from New York, headed to Sweden.

Another nice '65 300 for Sweden, this time from central Jersey.

Rust free Florida 300 from New York to Sweden.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Slightly rough '68 300 from Steel's Tavern, VA. headed to Sweden.

Very rough '67 300 parts car from Dublin, VA to me in Dublin, PA.

A friend's '70 GTX to my shop for repairs.

A very solid '67 300 from New York to Sweden.

A '73 Gran Coupe from central Jersey for my collection.

"Barn find Beretta". Less than two miles for this trip.

Basket case '72 Gran Coupe from PA to my house.

'96 Roadmaster wagon from North Miami Beach, FL to PA for my father, just this April. Yes, you read that correctly. It's a whole story in itself.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Time to turn in some battery cores.

A local environmental group had a tire collection day and was only charging a couple bucks per tire for disposal. Took full advantage of the great deal.

Returning home with a Honda V6 purchased at a salvage yard in Queens NYC and a cheap forklift from Connecticut.

Oops! Might be time to improve the driveway.

Abusing the 6.2.

Another heavy load and heavy trailer.

An unusual sight at the local Walmart.

 

[mag162]

What a history!

 

[78Brougham]

What are you going to replace with Jeff, looks like you use it a lot!
Also what's with all the cars going to Sweden? You've got some connection there? Somebody has been gobbling them up!

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Dammit if only a different time.

 

[Ironwolf]

Wow that Suburban has hauled around some serious and good looking Detroit Iron around and about !!!!!!

 

[Samplingman]

That’s a lot of memories, tough to let go I’m sure. Good luck with the sale!

 

[bigmoparjeff]

What are you going to replace with Jeff, looks like you use it a lot!
Also what's with all the cars going to Sweden? You've got some connection there? Somebody has been gobbling them up!

Current plans are to purchase a V10 Ford Excusion, but I've never driven one before. I'm waiting for one to come up for sale close to me so I can drive it and see what I think. If it's acceptable, I'll find a rust free one from out west or down south. I'm not real keen on any of the 1992 or newer Suburbans, as they really aren't full size trucks. They fall somewhere between the Durango and old Suburban. Even the Excursion doesn't have anywhere near the room in the cargo area that the '73-91 Suburbans do. If I don't like the Excursion, I may end up buying another square body Suburban, but this time one that isn't going to rot away on me. I bought the black and silver one in 1999, so I've been driving the same kind of vehicle for quite some time now. I didn't do much C Body towing with that one because the springs are too soft on the 1/2 tons to handle the weight of a full size car on the car trailer. I still had my 1965 GMC 3/4 ton pickup for some of the time that I had the first Suburban, and I used that for moving the big stuff.

All the cars going to Sweden were for the same group of guys. It was mainly two friends that fixed up mostly Chrysler convertibles for resale in Sweden. The two cars that started out as mine, the '67 Newport coupe and blue '68 300 convertible, were restored and kept as personal cars, and the '60 Buick along with the '48 Packard were bought by friends of theirs, also to be kept. The rest were treated to various amounts of restoration work and resold. They have since cut way back on the number of cars they do, as they were spending too much time away from family, plus it's gotten a lot harder to find good deals on those types of cars these days.

Jeff

 

[live4theking]

Wow, I think we should give you a new screen name - BigswedenJeff. I noticed that the enclosed trailer is a CarMate - they are built less than an hour away from me.

 

[mrfury68]

That is a lot of miles and memories on your Suburban. Too bad the newer body styles don't meet your needs and you have to look at Excursions. They were built on the Super Duty chassis so they are bigger and beefier. Beware of the infamous spark plug spitting Triton cylinder heads. I have owned a '97 Suburban K1500 for 17 years I love it. Primarily used as a family wagon but has been pressed into truck duty several times. I cringe when I think of the day I have to let it go. It is one of the best vehicles I have ever owned.

 

[Finn Yorker]

There’s just something in those square body Suburbans that I like. I have been dreaming about a black K5 Blazer with a red interior for years now but never had a ”real” reason to get one.

I have put 490 000km/306 000 miles on my 1989 6.2 diesel van that I bought in 1991. Good engine and reliable but not the fastest thing around as you said.

Good luck with your sale!

 

[thrashingcows]

Keep the suburban and put a 89-93 12V cummins drive train in it and keep it going for another 12 years, or look for an Excursion with a Fummins conversion..... ;)

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Wow, I think we should give you a new screen name - BigswedenJeff. I noticed that the enclosed trailer is a CarMate - they are built less than an hour away from me.

I know that some people get upset about all the classic American cars going over to Europe, but mostly all of these were fairly stale craigslist offerings that no locals were interested in. I can't think of any where my friends jumped on a deal as soon as it was posted. Many dragged on for weeks in the negotiating process. I think my '68 300 and the Packard were the only ebay auctions out of the bunch. The black '68 300 actually came from a dealer in upstate New York. It needed interior work and that kept the price down.

The enclosed trailer belongs to a friend. I think he purchased it somewhere around Carlisle. It's mainly used as a garage and rarely as a trailer. It was cheaper and easier to buy the trailer than to get a permit to have a garage installed on his property.

 

[78Brougham]

I know that some people get upset about all the classic American cars going over to Europe

Actually, I think it's pretty cool to see our classics going over seas, especially our Mopars. Some of the shows we see posted here are awesome.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

That is a lot of miles and memories on your Suburban. Too bad the newer body styles don't meet your needs and you have to look at Excursions. They were built on the Super Duty chassis so they are bigger and beefier. Beware of the infamous spark plug spitting Triton cylinder heads. I have owned a '97 Suburban K1500 for 17 years I love it. Primarily used as a family wagon but has been pressed into truck duty several times. I cringe when I think of the day I have to let it go. It is one of the best vehicles I have ever owned.

I haven't completely ruled out the newer Suburbans. I did see one that I liked out in Oregon, but it sold right after I spotted it. I think the price was only around 5 grand and it was super clean and rust free. The problem with that is now if I were to buy a Suburban, it would have to be equivalent or better than that one, and I really like the green, which is probably the least common color that they ever came in. One of the big issues I have with GM trucks is that 95% are either white, black, or metallic tan, and the remaining 5% make up the rest of the available colors.

If I do go with an Excursion, it's not going to be an easy search. I want a medium green Limited, V10, 2002 to 2004 that doesn't have a ton of miles on it. They made something close to 70,000 Excursions in 2000, then production dropped off fast. I think by '02 production was less than 30K, and as they get newer the ratio of diesel to gas gets much higher. It could take me a year to find what I'm looking for, assuming I actually want one. The shop I worked for had an early 2000's F450 rollback, and I absolutely hated driving that truck, but it's probably not a fully accurate representation of the Ford trucks because I never got to drive it before the thing was half destroyed by the moron tow drivers that they had. The steering box was sprung, the clutch screwed up, and the injector driver was shot by then.

If this wasn't a diesel, it would be the exact truck that I'm looking for, though I'd also like it to be from a no salt area of the country. Otherwise, it's the right color, model, year, and condition, with fairly low miles.

2002 Ford Excursion LIMITED LOADED | eBay


Jeff

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Keep the suburban and put a 89-93 12V cummins drive train in it and keep it going for another 12 years, or look for an Excursion with a Fummins conversion..... ;)

I spend much of my time in a diesel vehicle all week and I'm dieseled out. It's time to go back to a gas engine. I briefly had a 12V Cummins Dodge, and it was like sitting in a giant paint shaker any time it was idling. A friend had a much nicer, low mile 12V Dodge, and it was just as bad.

The Ford V10 is actually a very good engine. It has more power than the fuel injected Ford 460, but gets decent fuel economy.

 

[cantflip]

I spend much of my time in a diesel vehicle all week and I'm dieseled out. It's time to go back to a gas engine. I briefly had a 12V Cummins Dodge, and it was like sitting in a giant paint shaker any time it was idling. A friend had a much nicer, low mile 12V Dodge, and it was just as bad.

The Ford V10 is actually a very good engine. It has more power than the fuel injected Ford 460, but gets decent fuel economy.

I rented one once... loaded with azzoles going to Daytona for the July race... it was nice enough, but I found the V10 to be a disappointment and too thirsty for what it seemed to deliver.

No towing experience but would have to say I'd rather another 'burb anyday.

I like the 3/4 ton, but would want gas, no rust and 2wd... I'll find one that's not stupid $$ someday... or keep my 99... it's very broken in.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

I rented one once... loaded with azzoles going to Daytona for the July race... it was nice enough, but I found the V10 to be a disappointment and too thirsty for what it seemed to deliver.

No towing experience but would have to say I'd rather another 'burb anyday.

I like the 3/4 ton, but would want gas, no rust and 2wd... I'll find one that's not stupid $$ someday... or keep my 99... it's very broken in.

I'm a bit surprised that you found the V10 to be underpowered, unless you were expecting it to be comparable to the Chrysler V10, which is way bigger and way more powerful. A guy in our club doesn't have any trouble pulling a 26 foot enclosed trailer with his V10, and with what I've read online, most people seem happy with them. Anyway, after driving my 6.2 for all these years, even a 5.4 would be a significant step up in power. I don't do all that much towing these days, and really not that much driving at all once I'm home and out of the big rig. Not counting occasional things like the unexpected trip that I just took to Miami, I usually only put a few thousand miles a year total on my daily driver. As I mentioned before, I may hate the Excursion once I get a chance to drive one, and then I'll be back shopping Suburbans again.