a real "wth" lumina

my dad mention seeing a black 97 lumina for sale at a local garage today so i went and checked it out. it was being sold for parts for $500.

the first thing i noticed was the colour. it was jet black. im no lumina expert but i dont recall EVER seeing a black second gen lumina. i poped the hood and looked at a few things. i noticed a broken heater hose and the coolent resevoir had some oil in it. the garage owner told me that the head gasket was fried. the drivers side front door was smashed up and would probly need to be replaced but the rear drivers door only had a small dent. the trunk had what looked to be a CB radio antenna fitting in the middle of it. the rear windows where tinted a dark dark black.

inside the dash was torn apart and there was wires everywhere, thats when i noticed the guage cluster. the car had an insane 717,000 KM on it (445,000 Miles)

obviosly i did not buy the car as its way too much work for me but i was wondering if GM every supplied black luminas to sevret service or anything like that as it would be a nice car to have if i could find one that wasent in bad condition.

I've seen black LTZ's, I think...

I've seen black LTZ's, I think...

with 717,000 KM on the odometer?

No...that's a bit strange...wonder what's up with that?

I know for a fact there are black LTZ's, I think the base models came in black also. I'll look at a brochure to be sure. Could it have been a taxi??? That's a lot of miles, the highest I ever saw (on a lumina) was 332,XXX (it was in the junkyard, no engine to be had. There's no telling on either how many transmissions they had. If you could get it a bit cheaper, it'd be great for parts. If it IS an LTZ, it'd probably be worth the time and money to repair.

ok well heres a list of things that i know for SURE need to be fixed on it.

-head gaskets are fried
-rad hoses are split and leak like mad
-drivers side door needs replaceing
-drivers side rear door needs replacing/alot of body work
-trunk lid needs body work
-rear bumper is hanging down
-one blown tire
-throtle cable is non existant :S
-no trans fluid (leaked out maybe?)

god knows if it even runs let alone runs smoothly. without being able to take it for a test drive theres no telling how many transmission/suspension/allignment/steering problems your going to run into. and the fact that the dash is open with wires everywhere scares me. im not a big electrical guy and can really only fix electrical problems if i disassemble the dash myself so i know where everything goes.

with winter comeing it would be a nice project to take on and the owner said he would sell it for $300 just to get rid of it but i just dont have the money needed to put into the parts on this.

ouch. Is it an LTZ?

ouch. Is it an LTZ?
ya i think so. if im not mistaken the back end on the LTZs is different from the base modle luminas and it was different from my dads 97 base model.

the back end looked like this one

http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/show_image.pl?bg=000000&image=http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/6/web/522000-522999/522298_9_full.jpg

as oppose to my dads base model which looks like this

http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/show_image.pl?bg=6666FF&image=http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/5/web/2141000-2141999/2141946_1_full.jpg

no thanks, ive got a 92 lumina that runs fine. i was just on the look out for a project car. thanks anyway though.

btw i live in quebec canada, shipping would be tough

*not shocked or amazed*

I have a black on gray base model 1997 Lumina from Missouri. Was a farmer's car. 169K on the clock.

Was black a popular color? No. But I have seen no less than three for sale on AutoTrader and Craigslist near me. There are two on eBay right now, one for parts, the other driveable.

I see more 1995-1997 models in black than newer ones. Lumina went fleet only in 2001 and rental car agencies hardly ever buy black cars.

I own a black 98 Lumina LTZ. I don't know why you guys like LTZ so much, my Lumina keeps shitting on me every week. First, was the cranking sensor. New brakes had to be done. New rotors. There was a leak in the water pump. Fuel pump went out. Starter going bad. Head Gasket blew. Exhausts came apart, I had to weld it back together. I am not going to evens start with the electrical system, but i think thats on my part. (sound system)

You gotta love what hungry amplifiers can do to an electrical system 12v or 120v.

You gotta love what hungry amplifiers can do to an electrical system 12v or 120v.

Coudln't Agree more....

I have a 2001 with 85,000 miles now, and a friend of mine has a 1996 lumina ls, back, and has 250,000 miles, no problems yet, (I shit you not) no intakes gone blown. Its mainly driven on highways though. Has some slight valve train noise going on, but starts right up, and has just as much pep as mine.

I own a black 98 Lumina LTZ. I don't know why you guys like LTZ so much, my Lumina keeps shitting on me every week. First, was the cranking sensor. New brakes had to be done. New rotors. There was a leak in the water pump. Fuel pump went out. Starter going bad. Head Gasket blew. Exhausts came apart, I had to weld it back together. I am not going to evens start with the electrical system, but i think thats on my part. (sound system)
Well I LOVE my LTZ. hate yours if you must. it's clean and has lots of power..."a runnin' some B****." Hopefully if I take care of it, it'll run 200K+

I have a black '99 LTZ. Only problems I have had are alternator, starter, moon roof and the arm rest broke but that was wifes fault slaming it down and something was in the way. It has around 120K on it. Runs great. I never drive it and gave it to my daughter to drive to school.

Corndog Man

[/url]http://www.atlantamafia.com/1999_Lumina_1.jpg