What attracted you to the Regal/TR/GN?

[SS/GNX]

I liked the Gbodies ever since I was 15 years old... to me they have nice body lines, look tough in their own way. Thats why I bought a Monte Carlo SS...

As far as the TR stuff goes, a classmate at the same time I bought my Monte, bought a Grand National... I regret not doing the same, but I didnt know how bad @ss they were until much later. Pretty much when that same classmate got his car blowing away corvettes on the street... really badly!

Soon to follow he had the car in the 10s, then low 10s. I was shocked.

SO... I just put a GN motor and trans into my Monte! Now its still my car ive had for 10 years, but now it has the motor and trans I want.

 

[TURBOPOWERED68]

Engine and the way it holds value
I like the Monte SS better

 

[GregInAtl]

A friend of the family had many of the TRs new, 7 at one point from 87 until a few years back including GNXs. He let my dad borrow a GN when his car was in the shop in 1987. As a car guy my dad stabbed it and went flying up the road in this silent monster, I watched in disbelief at how fast the car disappeared in the distance, After 1 ride, I was done. I ended up driving it (his only 86 GN, his personal daily driver) several times, and I always said I'd own THAT EXACT car, the one that "ruined me". I had it in my senior quote in the year book.....I was CRAZY over that car. After years of waiting, hoping, and working real hard, we settled on me getting from him it 2 years ago. Even after 20 years, everytime I see it i can recall 1987 and the disbelief of the car. I love GNs, but that car is just special to me.

 

[Whut]

I have always been tall and liked how big the interior is in the G-body. I liked the Monte SS better but only because it came with a V8. My first car was a 1979 Cutlass Supreme theft recovery that I got for $300 back in 1991. That car was falling a part since the day I got it and my father asked what I wanted for my 17th birthday. I had spied what I thought was a maroon Monte SS at this little mom & pop dealership and asked if he would get it for me. He said no but only because it was to much money but he then figured out a way for me to get the car and start being "responsible".

The deal was laid out on the table. For my birthday he would put a down payment on the car as a gift. My mothers gift would be getting the loan for the remainder of the car. My responsiblity lesson would then be to make the 36 montly payments of $158.64 on time. If I was late once the car would become my fathers and he said he would sell it. I also needed to obtain and pay the insurance on the car which luckily my parents credit was so good the loan was unsecured so I could put liability on the car.

So for my birthday, Feb 17th 1992 I woke up to see a maroon G-body out of my bedroom window. I had frost on the window so I just knew there was a car out and figured it was a Monte SS. I was disappointed at first to see it was a rosewood T-type and my father said it was the car I told him about at the dealership. He also said it would save on insurance as it was "just a V6".

After about two minutes of pouting I figured it was better than nothing and got dressed to go check it out. I apologized to my parents and let them know I appreciated what they did and would not complain as the car was in fantastic shape. I went out and got in the car and noticed a turbo boost gauge on the dashboard. I just thought "no way, this car has a turbo?" and popped the hood to actually see what the motor was. When I saw the turbo sitting there I immediately shut the hood, started it up, and drove out of my parents sight slowly. Once I got out of their line of site I mashed the pedal to the floor and the car went sideways.

From that point on I was addicted. I blew that one up a couple of times which made my mother kick herself for agreeing to getting that car. My father would punish me for no reason just so he could take the car to his work and show it off to his buddies. We bonded a lot over that car and learned how to work on and tune them together.

I am now on my third one. When I went to pick up my current GN (13 years later) the first thing I did was go to my parents house. It was nostalgic standing over another turbo motor with my father BS'ing about everything we would do to it. Now that I am older and make more money the current one is by far the best one I have owned. I got this one off this site, it was one foot in the grave and for the past three years I have been dumping money into everywhere to bring it back to life. It now looks new and with everything I did to it over the winter I am hoping for some nice 11 second timeslips to match. Hopefully my dad will have a free weekend and can come out to see me race.

 

[superjaay]

The wait is over

My first exposure to turbo Buicks was in my senior year in high school circa 1990. One of my friend's sister's boyfriend(one of our site members) had an 87 GN. There was a few other guys around town with TR's that were all bad to the bone. I was able to watch convert after convert give up on the V8's and buy a turbo Buick after having been beaten. I unfortunately was born into a family of GM V8 fanatics. At that time my dad had a 79 Hurst Olds W-30. I really wanted a Z28 like my uncle drove until I saw first hand the power a little six banger could make. Every time i would tell my dad about the turbo buicks he would say they were no good and not dependable. I guess the TR's really showed everyone since I have seen many TR's on the road with more than 200k miles.
I however was on my way to college and could not afford to pay attention much less buy a turbo regal. After college there was marriage, grad school, and then kids. For many years i was unsure if there would be any TR's left by the time i was ready to buy one. I even bout an 87 V8 regal limited with t-tops to fill the void in my life.....But I blew the engine up in two days. I lived vicariously through my buddy that bought an 87 Turbo-T with 42k miles on it in 1993. We had lots of fun in that car, all over the state of Georgia. We even knocked in a few M/C SS and mustang heads.
So now it is 17 years after seeing my first TR ( I am 34 now), I finally have gotten one. A sweet 87 stocker with 94k miles and lots of life left in her. I have even convinced my Dad who now drives a 96 Impala SS that turbo buicks are good cars. I must say after all these years of waiting, it was worth it. I smile every time i look at my car, and can't wait to hear that turbo call my name. I fully intend to take my time and build her up right, because I have so much lost time to make up for............

 

[QuickBuick87]

Really cool reading through these stories, here's mine. Back in 1991 I drove a MINT 79 T/A 403 modded to run low 14's. Back then, that was pretty quick! My brother in law was looking to buy a Yellow IROC but couldn't find one in that color(I guess they're hard to find in yellow). Well anyways, he gave up but found a light blue 86 T-Type. He took it for a ride, and it was his. He came over to my house that weekend so I could check it out. It was a cool looking car I thought but when he popped the hood I really busted his chops about it being a lowly V6!! He said, well lets go for a ride. I can't begin to tell you what was going through my head as he was giving me that hellride!! I told him when we got back to my house that the T/A was going to be sold(even though I loved that car and it was MINT) and I was going to get one myself. Well, money was pretty tight that year so I had to put off buying one as at that time they were EXPENSIVE and my salary, well it was low. So after getting a better job later that year, and saving up a bit the search was on. Then in Aug of 92 I saw an ad for an 87 Turbo T, Garnet Red with 72,000 miles for sale in the local Bargin News for $5,500!!! Mint interior, and lowest options i've never seen on a TR(even to this day). Was talking to the owner and found out it was an ex CT State Police chase car and that he bought it for his wife. You would have never known that it was a cop car as it was SO clean!! I really didn't no a lot about these cars when I did look at it but offered the guy $4,800 for it. He turned it down but after about an hour of talking/looking at the car he accepted! I later found out that he changed out the rear for a non-posi 2.41 geared rear and put the orginal in his Monte Carlo with an 5.7 TPI engine. He told me this after I gave him a deposit, but really I didn't care. I wanted that car!! The car now has a little over 160k miles! The only thing I really have had problems with that car was trannys, for obvious reasons...:wink: My GN....I bought off THIS site from a post in the Turbo Lounge from I belive LittleSixSteve?? from NH. He know a guy in his area that had a 87 GN he got in trade for his Delorean. After getting his phone number, and some pics from the seller, I took the 3 hour ride to NH on a weekday to check it out. Except for some clearcoat problems(sound familar??) and a real bad tune a deal was made and I went to pick it up the following weekend. The owner GAVE ME THE PLATES so I could drive the car home to CT!!! I still can't thank him enough for this!!! My wife could NOT believe the condition of the car when I got home. And I will never forget that picture in my head of my 'new' GN in the driveway. Thanks Mark in Manchester NH for your trust in letting me use, then keep those plates!! Sorry for the long post, but that's how I got "mine". Keep these stories coming!

Ken B.

 

[86TexasT]

I`ll try to make this long story as short as possible. I`ve always been a Chevy Guy, BB, SB, didn`t matter. Back in '86 a good friend of mine (who always had fast cars) went to look at new Corvettes, test drove, decided not to buy. On the way home, stopped off at (you guessed it) Buick Dealership, bought a silver T Type of course. More room, faster, cost less. Could not leave it alone. He went to Conley`s & bought some goodies, had me install `em. With (5) bolt ons (remember this is back in '86, not alot of parts available yet) we got in to the 12`s. After that I went to work for Conley`s Performance Plus & learned alot about these cars. I had job of test driving these cars, someone had to do it. .I still drove Chevy. I left Conley`s & finally bought my 1st. TR for $1100.00. The brake power master went out & needed cosmetics. I intended to part out & make some $$$. Went to pick-a-part, bought vacuum brake setup & started driving car. A guy offered me a very good price for the TR, I sold it to him on a Friday, I could always buy another one later. That following Sunday I saw a baby blue '86 TR at a swap meet, had to buy it. Drove it for about 2 years, a guy made me an extremely good offer. I took it, fixed up my house. I took an '84 GN in on trade with a bad engine. Fixed it up for my son who was 15 at the time. Made him help me work on it, 1) he learned how to repair, 2) he would take better care of it. He`s 23 now, same car w/intercooled 4.1L in it. About 3 years ago the guy called me & said he was selling the '86 blue TR & wanted to give me 1st. chance, I bought it back. Once you`ve owned a TR, you always go back.

 

[QuickBuick87]

Always liked the blue T's. My 2nd favorite color after dark garnet red, course i'm a lil biased.......KB