how long have you owned your Turbo Buick?

[agteacher]

2 years

 

[scottk]

Tr/gn

Bought my first GN in August 1989 !Sold it in1999 , Bought my current T-type in1999

 

[ALVAROG1983]

i feel you

June 15th 2007 and its been nothing but a money pit ever since!

i'm in the same spot haven't even got to enjoy it ate

 

[at7we2]

June 15th 2007 and its been nothing but a money pit ever since!

HAhahaha!! tell me about it brother!!! welcome to turbo Buicks! :biggrin:

 

[GullsGN]

Well, back in 87 I had just had both my hips replaced at 33 and decided it was time for a new toy. So, I told my wife that I was going to look for a 67 GTO. She went ballistic. She said, "here we go again. You are going to mess up the garage, ruin your clothes in grease and battery acid, you are going to spend a ton of money, and after all that crap you will be using my car because you are waiting for another part! Why don't you stop being such a cheap son of a b***h and buy something new." So I did. I drive it every day from the day the street sweeper comes out in the spring until the day the first sand truck comes out in the fall. It is slightly tweaked and runs perfect and gets 25 mpg.

Steve

 

[forcedfedv6]

LOL...thats kinda funny, hey man I have been there more times than I can count. No doubt these cars can push you to your limit and just be a complete pain in the a**. Most GN owners will tell you this if you are in the market to buy one before you make a purchase. Sometimes you just have to walk away from it for a little while and then give it another shot. If you are really fed up with the car then just sell it, it's not worth being miserable over

I'm not mad at the car but more at the reliability of some engine builders that I have deal with who wont stand behind or warranty thier job, I'm out 11k for an engine that only ran about 1,200 miles then took a dump, really bad leakdown, now the builder wont work on the car and keeps giving me the run around, and he is a vendor on this board I won't mention any names but PM me and I will tell you straight out who to stay clear and far away from.

 

[14mins]

Thanks for the replies so far.

At some point my GN ( my wifes claims it is her GN) my son will get it. I think it is cool how many of these cars stay in the family.

Back when i bought my one and only GN i had a late model vette that my wife drove to work. I did not originally plan on my wife driving the GN on a daily basis, but after a while it just worked out that way. That vette just sits in the corner of the garage to this day, no one really cares that much about driving it. My son would take the GN in a heartbeat over the vette.

I posted in the opening thread that my car had a few issues for many many years and 1 of them was fast idle. We used to live on a busy street and every morning (to my dismay) my wife would give the car 3 seconds to warm up before driving off. She would put the car in neutral and it would back down the driveway and into the street because of the driveway incline. Every morning she laid a new 10 foot black mark on the payments. I always chuckeled at the 100's of tiremarks she left. Car has 130k on it now on the original tranny with just the art carr upgrades and still runs strong. Every year for the last 5 we take a family trip from fort worth texas to bowling green for the yearly GN nationals. This year my son got to put many a mile on the 87 for the first time.

 

[ttaowner]

april 2003 i got my first one.now i have had many. these cars are worse than drugs !!!!

 

[LBNJWE4]

I bought mine in 1990 ( with 32,000 miles all stock) i wanted to buy one new in 1987 but money was a issue. To this day i wish i would have bought a new one and just made payments. The sad part of all of this is the car i bought in 1990 never ran all that great, rough idle and a few various issues. All the trips to the dealer were the same, replace the mass air, coil pack, TPS and so on. ( i wish i had all those used parts back now) It was my wifes daily driver for years. It got so bad that i finnaly parked the car in 1997 and it just sat in the garage for years. My son used to harp on me for years to get it back in shape and drive it. In are around 2002 with the help of all the guys on the internet i finally got the car right. Did all the upgrades plus a few more and the car runs like a dream now. Before i got this car right with the help of you guys on the net i had a opportunity to buy a mildly modified Typhoon in 2001 in perfect shape, low low miles with the exception of a small engine stumble for around 10k ( i bet money now it was a very minor issue). I debated on that for days and the car finnaly sold.

I bought mine in 1990 also, and parked it in 1997 also! Mine always ran great, and I parked mine because the paint was getting bad, and my parents bought a house in NC with a big garage. So I moved it down there until I could get a place with a garage up here in NJ. Well, I finally got it last year, brought the car back in Aug. Didn't need much except for some dry-rotted rubber. I just need bumper fillers and paint for it to be where I want it.

 

[jgme]

Ordered it in April of 1987. Arrived and purchased on July 27, 1987. My first new car.

 

[Smokin-6]

I bought my 87 T in April of 1987! Just painted it and changes the timing belt, valve springs, exhuast and injectors (60's with TT chip). I replaced alot of the old upgrades, it's got 77000 miles. Alky and Bigger turbo are next!!

 

[SwingOp3]

In Oct '85 I ordered a GN from the factory and got it Jan '86. I drove that until Dec '87 when I walked in the showroom to look at the last GN that the dealership had. I ended up trading in the '86 for the '87 GN and have had it ever since. That was the one of the best moves I ever made. The guy who ended up buying my old GN from the dealer started it up 3 days later in a minus 20 degree morning, went in the house for a bit, looked outside 5 minutes later to see his new car in huge cloud of smoke!! Ends up one of oil lines blew, sprayed oil everywhere and destroyed the engine . He got his money back for the car and I have no idea what happened to it after that.

I've finally pulled my car out of storage this summer after 8 years and am in the process of updating and adding some speed parts. It's a whole different ball game now compared to when I was building it up in the early '90s. But the biggest difference is what we are all doing now - the internet, with all the forums and articles available. Thank you to all who give their time and knowledge.

My car now has 40,000 miles on it. Scanmaster, TT chip and fuel pump/hotwire kit coming this year. Next year injectors, alky and who knows what else.

 

[JST A 6]

As of the 30th of this month it will be exactly a year since I got mine. Been around them for a bit before that; in '94 I met a guy that had bought his WE4 in '89 and had been racing it since that time, and whenever I came home on leave from the military I was always going over to his place to see what he was doing with it. In July '98 (I remember the month and year because I had just gotten out of the military) I almost bought a hot air car for about $2000 just because it was affordable, but my friend with the WE4 talked me out of it--said I'd never be happy with a hot air car. He told me to look for an '86-'87 but of course they just weren't around in my price range since I had just started a new job as a civilian. Finally found a nice one I could afford to buy last year, and since then I have found I really still can't afford it...about $4K in upgrades, plus extra parts getting stashed away, plus storage facility for the winter, plus diecast models, etc... I remember somebody on here had in their signature, "Its not just a car--it's therapy"--well, I'm thinking mine is more of a sickness for me...:biggrin:

 

[JoelGN]

Bought mine in February of 1998. Disassembled and painted later that year. Had 67k on it and was bone stock. Now has 73k. Used primarily for pleasure and car shows. Used to beat everything on the street at 1/2 WOT, or less, until some SOB started turbocharging the Cobras.

 

[lloyd smale]

had a simular story when i bought mine. I had boughten a 87 442 and had many problems with it and they bought it back under the lemon law. I went searching for another. couldnt find one anywhere. Stopped by the buick dealer and dont know why. they had two Ts there a white blackout hardtop and a we4 t top. I had read about them in the magazines and wanted it pretty bad. Only thing is it was 2 grand over my budget. The dealer through me the keys and said i at least need to take a ride in it. Took the wife out for a ride and i think it took 10 years off her life. Needless to say it came home wiith me. Problem is that same white nuckled wife was the reason i had to sell it 2 years later because of my divorce. Ive got a much better wife now and I just retired and plan very shortly to fill that void that has been in my life for 20 years.

When I first read about this car Christmas '85/New Year's '86 I knew I had to have one. It looked very similar to my first car (a '65 Olds 442) and it was super fast. :biggrin: I looked around at the local dealers, but the few that had one wouldn't even let you sit in it unless you put a deposit on it first Then I went to Klick-Lewis in Palmyra, PA. Home of the $49. over invoice. They had an '86 two-tone grey, T-top Limited sitting out front, so I stopped to look at it. A young salesman named Dennis came out and asked me if I would like to take it out for a test drive? "Are you kidding ??" He goes inside, and comes out with a plate and the keys. He throws the plate on the back and hands me the keys and says "see you in a half hour" !!! "and by the way, about 3 miles out on the left there is a staight road where you can really see what it can do. Just turn left at the Convent" !!! Some things you just never forget.
So in April '86 I ordered my "T" and told them to hold the order until the '87 model year. GM shipped the car 8/23/86, arrived at the dealer 8/29, but I couldn't pick it up until 9/20, because the dealer didn't get the MSO for several weeks. What a painful few weeks. I have pictures I took the day it arrived at the dealer. It still had the big foam blocks on the bumpers to protect it during shipment. List was $16,959. and I paid $15,014

MAN AM I GETTING OLD

 

[zues1]

how long wanting to own

i bought my 1st in 89, in 87( 17yrs old) told parents found perfect car 6cyl 25 mpg thought i was growing up out of hot rodding til found out it was turbo charged wouldnt let me have that one.2yrs later bought 1st one.drove three months, 3 tickets later sold to my mother.fooled with mopars for years but begged for my old car back now. sold out mopars bought 86 gn 1yr1/2 ago. now 5 turbo buicks later my old car back 3 weeks ago(needs restored) do i have sickness or what! oh for board member looking for insurance state farm classic car stated value $15000 a car $250 a year must be garage kept 2500 mile year. thanks mike

 

[Turbo38V6]

May of 1996 here. Had the fastest car in high school.

 

[Walt Skarb]

I have owned my 1st Grand National since Feb. 16, 1984 and still own it. I have since owned an 86 t type, since sold , and still own an 87 turbo t purchased in 1991 and a turbo trans am purchased new in
May of 1989. Only regret selling the 86 t type.

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

Bought it new 2-21-84, before that I bought a new 79 Buick Turbo Sport Coupe in early 79 while a senior in high school.. After reading a article about it in Hot Rod magazine, I did every mod to it that they did, it spanked my friends 350 Firebird on a daily basis..... as for the 79 coupe, my buddie sold his Firebird and bought my 79 Buick Turbo after I bought the 84 GN.
Well I drove the 84 GN today and got a compliment at the local mini mart.... still getting compliments all these years, almost everytime I drive the car....yea, I wouldn't trade the past 30 years for anything...

Chuck

 

[Carr]

I had mine since 04, I believe I am the 5th and the last owner of the car.