Tips on buying an 87 GT(is it really a GT?)

[LincoConti87]

Well actually it was not chopped and thrown back together. Unless I misunderstood it merely had the motor and tranny missing and replaced. The reason I care is that a 4bang had a bunch of undesireable parts that may not be obvious to most people(me). Sure I would be able to tell if it had an 8.8 or not but when it comes to suspension and brakes and what not it would be hard to tell. I dont have the vin yet but from what I read the engine code on door tag should read either E or M for 5.0HO which would basically prove it to be a V8 car to start with whether LX or GT because thats no big deal. I guess I can just look at a basic Ford vin decoder to get an idea as well. Was kind of hoping for a resource that would explain all the stuff. Every once in a while one of the stang mags puts one out. I had one but I think I tossed it.