Hello!
Figured its a good time to post up and introduce myself. First off, my name is Joe and I've been a big fan of the Turbo Regals(mainly the GN) since I was a teenager. Saw a group of TRs at the Cleveland AutoRama in the early 90's and thought they were pretty awesome. My Dad told me they were the fastest production car in the 80's, or something like that. Back in 2003 a friend of mine wanted a beater car to compete with my turbo Sunbird, initially he wanted a rusty Turbo Coupe. Then I suggested he look at the turbo regals, found a decent looking car in Muskegon, MI. It was a 1983 Ttype, baby blue with 49K miles for $3200. We went up there from Cleveland to look at it and ended up buying the car. Had some cancer on the driver side floor pan but the rest of the car was in pretty decent shape. The carb had been replaced and it didnt want to idle at all, but managed to drive it home and made it in one piece. I had the privilege of making the 7 hour drive and we raced almost the whole way back. The day after the purchase we blew the head gasket, lol. That started the learning curve of how to properly put together one of these engines. The carbed engine didnt stay on there long, it was replaced at the end of 2003 with a hot air engine, and that one didnt last long due to an oil pump failure. In 2005 we finally got it right, well sorta, spent alot of time researching build techniques and reading countless articles. Ended up with a frankenstein LC2(?) with the hot air accesory drive and ECM, but bought the parts needed for the intercooled set up, PT54 turbo and lots of other stuff. This was before I new how to properly tune the engine, and the car was still sporting the original trans, that didnt last long before 2nd gear was toast. There was alot of work done on the car, and alot of mistakes on my part, but I loved it. Late 2006 my friend and I had a falling out, he kept the car but offered to sell it and give me my share, well he figured out how much money I had in it and told me to F off. In 2009 I bought a Fox Mustang and he liked the mustangs better than the buick, he offered to trade and I declined only because I didnt trust him to give my a car that was in worse shape than I left it. Man that was a mistake. Losing that car was like losing the first love of my life, as silly as it sounds. Saw it on craigslist sometime in 2010/11 timeframe cant remember the exact date anymore. But he was asking $6500 for the car.
As weird as this may seem, I'd like to know where the car ended up. Last known location was in Richfield, Ohio. Former(or maybe current owner) was Chris. Baby blue, frankenstein LC2. Anyone ever seen this car?
Figured its a good time to post up and introduce myself. First off, my name is Joe and I've been a big fan of the Turbo Regals(mainly the GN) since I was a teenager. Saw a group of TRs at the Cleveland AutoRama in the early 90's and thought they were pretty awesome. My Dad told me they were the fastest production car in the 80's, or something like that. Back in 2003 a friend of mine wanted a beater car to compete with my turbo Sunbird, initially he wanted a rusty Turbo Coupe. Then I suggested he look at the turbo regals, found a decent looking car in Muskegon, MI. It was a 1983 Ttype, baby blue with 49K miles for $3200. We went up there from Cleveland to look at it and ended up buying the car. Had some cancer on the driver side floor pan but the rest of the car was in pretty decent shape. The carb had been replaced and it didnt want to idle at all, but managed to drive it home and made it in one piece. I had the privilege of making the 7 hour drive and we raced almost the whole way back. The day after the purchase we blew the head gasket, lol. That started the learning curve of how to properly put together one of these engines. The carbed engine didnt stay on there long, it was replaced at the end of 2003 with a hot air engine, and that one didnt last long due to an oil pump failure. In 2005 we finally got it right, well sorta, spent alot of time researching build techniques and reading countless articles. Ended up with a frankenstein LC2(?) with the hot air accesory drive and ECM, but bought the parts needed for the intercooled set up, PT54 turbo and lots of other stuff. This was before I new how to properly tune the engine, and the car was still sporting the original trans, that didnt last long before 2nd gear was toast. There was alot of work done on the car, and alot of mistakes on my part, but I loved it. Late 2006 my friend and I had a falling out, he kept the car but offered to sell it and give me my share, well he figured out how much money I had in it and told me to F off. In 2009 I bought a Fox Mustang and he liked the mustangs better than the buick, he offered to trade and I declined only because I didnt trust him to give my a car that was in worse shape than I left it. Man that was a mistake. Losing that car was like losing the first love of my life, as silly as it sounds. Saw it on craigslist sometime in 2010/11 timeframe cant remember the exact date anymore. But he was asking $6500 for the car.
As weird as this may seem, I'd like to know where the car ended up. Last known location was in Richfield, Ohio. Former(or maybe current owner) was Chris. Baby blue, frankenstein LC2. Anyone ever seen this car?