I was living/working in Sedona, AZ in '86, driving a clapped out old '70 Olds Cutlass. I had read the article in Hot Rod about the GN and wanted one soooooooooooo badly.
So, a couple of months later, in Feb of '87, I go to a job interview at the Mint Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas, what is now the big side of Binion's Horseshoe. I got the job and while having a celebratory drink at the Union Plaza, I hit a $27K plus progressive jackpot on one of the first generation video poker machines.
I am now GOING to buy a GN, come hell or high water. The search lead me to a GN at Peter Epstein Buick in Palm Springs, CA. The day I was driving out to look at it (no internet back then) I get a call from a guy in Indio, CA who says he has a car "identical to" a GN he can sell me for 5K less than a GN. Indio and Palm Spings are only separated by a few miles of ugly desert so I said "What the heck, I'll stop and look at it".
I get to the dealer in Indio and the salesman excitedly takes me around back to show me a plain jane, white exterior, blue bench seat, column shifter Regal with a bump on the hood, a little "T" on the fender, and the 3.8 SFI badges on the hood bump and deck lid. This thing was a grampa car like no other. They wanted 11K.
I wrinkled up my nose, said no thanks and head on out to Palm Springs where I paid $17K cash for an 86 GN with the plastic wrappers still on the seats and just 9 miles on her................. She was my pride and joy. 10 years later she was stolen out of my driveway in broad daylight. Never even a trace was found.
Fast forward 15 years and a very costly divorce and I've stashed enough money away to think about another Turbo Regal.
I'm looking at Craigslist and see a car advertised as GN/T type. The ad says "White T-Type 68K miles, restored to California emissions legal. Buy with confidence, Lou's Automotive."
So I call, we talk, I go look at and buy the car, from Lou Czarnota aka TurboLou. It is a plain jane, white exterior, blue bench seat, column shifter Regal with a bump on the hood, WITHOUT a little "T" on the fender, and the 3.8 SFI badges on the hood bump and deck lid. This thing is a grampa car like no other. Lou tells me all the badging is in the trunk. I paid 11K for it.
Now here's the kicker.
Even though Lou told me the car had been repainted recently, once I laid eyes on the car, I thought could it be? Might it be? Was there a chance this little car was the one I took a pass on all those years ago?
So I go to GM Archives and find out that this car I just bought was shipped from Detroit to San Jose, CA and then dealer traded to a store in, you guessed it........ Indio, Ca.
Now just how many Turbo Regals with those options do you think that dealer in Indio bought back in 86?
I'd venture to guess just one.
Now, I cannot be 100% certain, but all the research I've done since buying this car indicates that it is indeed the very same car I chose not to buy nearly 25 years before.
So, this story isn't so much about options on the car...... but then again, depending on how you look at it, maybe it is.
I think it's kind of cool.