Dennis Kirban
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2009
- Messages
- 4,765
Kirban 2 cents worth
First, to clear the air I began collecting any literature I could find on the turbo Regals back in 1988 at the GSCA National meet and have gone every year to the GS Nats since. Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s their used to be several big vendors there, some of who worked in Flint and I would buy everything I could find. With that being said what I quote in this thread is based on several different factory Buick publications.
Naturally, like the cars themselves they are not without errors. As many of you must realize most literature pertaining to an given car model is done prior to production. One glowing example is when the ZR1 Corvette project was conceived the original poster called it a 1989 model. When in truth it did not come out until 1990.
Exception would be any service bulletins are annoucements which would have an accurate date etc. Again no hard feeling for 1984-1985 owners but my area of knowledge is 1986-1987.
I even discovered something new while researching this today that I was not aware of.
First, lets look at only the exterior solid color black. Outside of the Grand National and GNX, I think almost every one would agree the choice for interiors that you have seen over the years is the grey. I have had a few that have had a tan interior and I even have had one that had a burgundy interior. I can't recall ever seeing one with a blue interior? Have you?
On the exterior, pinstripes was an option. They were painted dual stripe one was thicker than the other. The unusual thing about them is they broke under each mirror and only appeared on the sides. A mistake some owners make on a repaint. It was not unusual for car dealers to do stripping as an ad on and that is why you see some with stripes across the trunk lid or around the hood scoop. If a dealer did it the code would not appear on your trunk ID label.
The Buick literature did recommend the pinstripe should match the color interior. Meaning a grey gut would have a grey pinstripe.
What I did not know until I read it earlier is in 1986 you could have gotten had your Grand National pinstriped. The literature I have for 1986 only states it was not offered if you had D84 option which was Designers Paint Scheme. (Two-tone).
However, the same salesman book I have for 1987 not only says not available for D84 cars but also WE2 cars, the Grand National.
So, here is my initial question the trunk ID code for the grey stripe is 18A. By the way the pinstripe option was rather cheap just $45 in either year.
So, any 1986 Grand National owner show that 18A code on their label. They did offer a red pinstripe which was code 75A. No orange was offered.
In a later post I will cover some interesting facts on the black 1987 Turbo Regals as it is possible some of you may have a very very rare 1987 black Turbo-T and not be aware of it.
Speaking of black in the original performance days I am talking about mid 1960s notably the GTO which is our first business a black on black GTO would be extremely rare unlike today where black is the sinister color that seems to cross over to every performance car. Same goes for Mopar they had a bunch of what at the time was weird or crazy colors so any black on black example is pretty rare.
So for now lets focus on the black exterior models. By the way the chip guard or rough surface across the bottom sides was standard. What is not standard is having heavy spots of chip guard and light areas of chip guard. I never seen an original Turbo Regal that lacked that chip guard finish.
Also would be interested if any owners of a black T-Type (1986) or black 1987 Turbo-T slipped out of Buick with the standard chrome mirrors. On a black car they would really stand out as being different. The trunk iD label to back up chrome mirrors is DR3. That code is hard to find in any of the production booklets. But matching that code to having chrome mirrors is your proof that they are correct for your car either by dumb luck or design.
kirbanperformance.com
denniskirban@yahoo.com
I am far from out of ideas to share....all comments welcomed.
First, to clear the air I began collecting any literature I could find on the turbo Regals back in 1988 at the GSCA National meet and have gone every year to the GS Nats since. Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s their used to be several big vendors there, some of who worked in Flint and I would buy everything I could find. With that being said what I quote in this thread is based on several different factory Buick publications.
Naturally, like the cars themselves they are not without errors. As many of you must realize most literature pertaining to an given car model is done prior to production. One glowing example is when the ZR1 Corvette project was conceived the original poster called it a 1989 model. When in truth it did not come out until 1990.
Exception would be any service bulletins are annoucements which would have an accurate date etc. Again no hard feeling for 1984-1985 owners but my area of knowledge is 1986-1987.
I even discovered something new while researching this today that I was not aware of.
First, lets look at only the exterior solid color black. Outside of the Grand National and GNX, I think almost every one would agree the choice for interiors that you have seen over the years is the grey. I have had a few that have had a tan interior and I even have had one that had a burgundy interior. I can't recall ever seeing one with a blue interior? Have you?
On the exterior, pinstripes was an option. They were painted dual stripe one was thicker than the other. The unusual thing about them is they broke under each mirror and only appeared on the sides. A mistake some owners make on a repaint. It was not unusual for car dealers to do stripping as an ad on and that is why you see some with stripes across the trunk lid or around the hood scoop. If a dealer did it the code would not appear on your trunk ID label.
The Buick literature did recommend the pinstripe should match the color interior. Meaning a grey gut would have a grey pinstripe.
What I did not know until I read it earlier is in 1986 you could have gotten had your Grand National pinstriped. The literature I have for 1986 only states it was not offered if you had D84 option which was Designers Paint Scheme. (Two-tone).
However, the same salesman book I have for 1987 not only says not available for D84 cars but also WE2 cars, the Grand National.
So, here is my initial question the trunk ID code for the grey stripe is 18A. By the way the pinstripe option was rather cheap just $45 in either year.
So, any 1986 Grand National owner show that 18A code on their label. They did offer a red pinstripe which was code 75A. No orange was offered.
In a later post I will cover some interesting facts on the black 1987 Turbo Regals as it is possible some of you may have a very very rare 1987 black Turbo-T and not be aware of it.
Speaking of black in the original performance days I am talking about mid 1960s notably the GTO which is our first business a black on black GTO would be extremely rare unlike today where black is the sinister color that seems to cross over to every performance car. Same goes for Mopar they had a bunch of what at the time was weird or crazy colors so any black on black example is pretty rare.
So for now lets focus on the black exterior models. By the way the chip guard or rough surface across the bottom sides was standard. What is not standard is having heavy spots of chip guard and light areas of chip guard. I never seen an original Turbo Regal that lacked that chip guard finish.
Also would be interested if any owners of a black T-Type (1986) or black 1987 Turbo-T slipped out of Buick with the standard chrome mirrors. On a black car they would really stand out as being different. The trunk iD label to back up chrome mirrors is DR3. That code is hard to find in any of the production booklets. But matching that code to having chrome mirrors is your proof that they are correct for your car either by dumb luck or design.
kirbanperformance.com
denniskirban@yahoo.com
I am far from out of ideas to share....all comments welcomed.
I've seen many of the bulletins you mentioned but I don't recall any screw ups or revisions as far as the WE4 goes.
