Turbo Buick facts

[86SS86LS]

Just purchased an 87 GN and I like to throw out little known facts to those that are unfamiliar with these cars. Of course, the most common is the stock 87 GN is faster than the 87 Corvette. How did the GN compare to the Porsche, Ferrari, etc. of the same year in the 1/4 mile? Is it fair to say that the 86-87 Turbo Regal, along with the TTA was the fastest car stock, from the muscle car era up until the ZR1 Corvette? Any other trivia or useless facts on these cars? Most people I talk to refuse to believe that an 80's V6 sedan is faster than many of the top 60's-70's muscle cars and modern sports cars.

 

[UNGN]

Actually, most car magazines tested the '86 version of the car and since the '87 was basically the same, they didn't retest it.

Car and Driver ran 13.9 in the 1/4 mile with a 1986 GN in their August 1986 issue, which was comparable to a $40K+ 911 Carrera from the same year.

This was quicker than all other American production cars they tested for that year, and was really the first modern muscle car to break the 13 second barrier in a non "drag oriented" magazine.

The Top speed of a GN was only 124 mph due to the non-speed rated tires and the computers high speed cut out, so to say it was "the fastest" american car would not be correct, as even 1986 Fwd chrysler crapboxes were at least 10 mph faster.

The GN legend really didn't begin in 86-87 (other than the NOS cars running 12's in 1986), but in later when people started realizing how easy the cars were to modify and run low 12's with typical cheap/free mods that would only put a mustang into the upper 13's.

Even well into the late 1990's there were people with no clue how fast a nearly stock TR could be. At one track I raced at a 'Cobra guy was telling everyone how slow my car would be. Needless to say after my first run, he didn't want to race me. There are fewer of these clueless today, but they still are out there.

 

[saywin]

Zr1

When was the first ZR1?

 

[TurboRegal84]

The ZR1 Corvette was put into production in 1990.

 

[chopped39]

Zr1

Those zr1 corvettes sure are nice.hint.hint:biggrin:

 

[RUQWKNF]

To add more to the ZR-1, at the time, it was the most expensive car Chevy had ever produced. I believe if you were looking for cars from the world over, there were only 3 other cars that could run with the GN/Ts in the 1/4 miles stock for stock. These would be,

#1 My favorite exotic, and if I had money, I would own a couple, one red and one black.
Ferrari 288 GTO Twin Turbo, 2.8L V8 with Bosch FI, Twin IHI turbos and twin intercoolers. 400 hp.

Porsche 930 Turbo, 3.3L single turbo, single intercooler also with Bosch FI.

and the Lamborghini Countach Quatrovalve 5000.

The Ferrari 288 GTO was the fastest in the 1/4 typically trapping 107-108mph, but with the junk rubber they had back then they would run low 13's to high 12's, depending on track conditions.
Of course, they would run away from the GNs and Ts past 124.
The Testarossa also existed but they were heavy weights and would run 14s.
HTH

Patrick

 

[saywin]

Contach

I thought the Contach was the only vehicle in the world faster than the GN in 1987?

 

[RUQWKNF]

Those 3 shown were 1986 models.

 

[UNGN]

I thought the Contach was the only vehicle in the world faster thand the GN in 1987?

As stated above, the 930 was quicker (13.1) and were far more of them built than lambos or Ferrari GTO's (only 270 for 3 years)

The owner of Godfather's Pizza bought a GTO and we all thought he was crazy, until the prices on them went to $1,000,000 back in the stupid 1990's.

None of these cars would be considered "fast!" by today's standards.

Other "Exotic" cars from 1986:

Ferrari 328 (14.2 @ 97 mph)
Porsche 944 Turbo (14.5)
Ferrari Testarossa (13.1 @ 107)
Ferrari GTO (13.1 @ 112)
Porsche 928S (14.0)

 

[PHANTASM]

Sweet

 

[turbofish38]

The owner of Godfather's Pizza bought a GTO and we all thought he was crazy, until the prices on them went to $1,000,000 back in the stupid 1990's.

Having lived in Omaha for the better part of my life I would actually run across Willy Theisen and his yellow GTO at least once a month.This is the guy that had his birthday party on the Concorde and flew 40 of his closest freinds to Paris one year.Crazy?I dont think so. My 86 GN was my DD pretty much up until the early 90's so I had to drive it everywhere. I had a lot of freinds in Lincoln so I would cruise up there on the weekends. One way was by Route 6 or which ran pararell to I-80 so traffic was never thick and it had a few sections of flat out road that you could top end on. For a couple of months as I was going into town coming the opposite way would be this screaming yellow Ferrari. I didn't know it was a GTO until he displayed it in the World of Wheels later. Rewind 8 years prior. When I was in HS we would hang out in the original Godfathers parking lot drinking beer and Willy would come out on Friday night and chase us out before calling the cops on us. I knew what he looked like so when I saw him polishing the GTO we started talking about route 6. Lets just say he could car less about a cheaper Buick going fast. He also told me about a secret road that he liked to do all of his top end flying on but wouldn't give me the specifics on the exact location. Years later another mutual freind gave me a pass to try it out since by than I had a little open track time. Wow, I didn't know there was an exclusive club to go fast on that road. I actually needed written permission to drive fast on the States property. I did it once. It scared the living daylights out of me. And I thought my car was set up for it. I guess it was the fact that I didn't have a roll cage is what really scared me. Below is a pic of my GN on that road.

Yeah I remember when that GTO hit the one million mark. I was reading about an auction and IIRC Ralph Lauren either bought or sold one. I wondered if Willy parked his or sold it. $1M was serious money back than. Now its chump change at B-J.

 

[UNGN]

He also told me about a secret road that he liked to do all of his top end flying on but wouldn't give me the specifics on the exact location. Years later another mutual freind gave me a pass to try it out since by than I had a little open track time. Wow, I didn't know there was an exclusive club to go fast on that road. I actually needed written permission to drive fast on the States property. I did it once. It scared the living daylights out of me. And I thought my car was set up for it. I guess it was the fact that I didn't have a roll cage is what really scared me. Below is a pic of my GN on that road.

I heard similar stories in the 80's, but My SC360 would run out of RPM at 115 mph on Dodge street, so I never went looking for a road to go any faster on.

There are a few Nebraska cars nearly touching 200 mph in the standing mile on similar road out near Arnold, NE. Kind of gives perspective about what we thought was fast back then.

 

[tommynos]

Having lived in Omaha for the better part of my life I would actually run across Willy Theisen and his yellow GTO at least once a month.This is the guy that had his birthday party on the Concorde and flew 40 of his closest freinds to Paris one year.Crazy?I dont think so. My 86 GN was my DD pretty much up until the early 90's so I had to drive it everywhere. I had a lot of freinds in Lincoln so I would cruise up there on the weekends. One way was by Route 6 or which ran pararell to I-80 so traffic was never thick and it had a few sections of flat out road that you could top end on. For a couple of months as I was going into town coming the opposite way would be this screaming yellow Ferrari. I didn't know it was a GTO until he displayed it in the World of Wheels later. Rewind 8 years prior. When I was in HS we would hang out in the original Godfathers parking lot drinking beer and Willy would come out on Friday night and chase us out before calling the cops on us. I knew what he looked like so when I saw him polishing the GTO we started talking about route 6. Lets just say he could car less about a cheaper Buick going fast. He also told me about a secret road that he liked to do all of his top end flying on but wouldn't give me the specifics on the exact location. Years later another mutual freind gave me a pass to try it out since by than I had a little open track time. Wow, I didn't know there was an exclusive club to go fast on that road. I actually needed written permission to drive fast on the States property. I did it once. It scared the living daylights out of me. And I thought my car was set up for it. I guess it was the fact that I didn't have a roll cage is what really scared me. Below is a pic of my GN on that road.

Yeah I remember when that GTO hit the one million mark. I was reading about an auction and IIRC Ralph Lauren either bought or sold one. I wondered if Willy parked his or sold it. $1M was serious money back than. Now its chump change at B-J.

man that is one sweet looking road j.k,that car looks awesome are those the widened wheels?very nice pic and going in my collection...