how long have you owned your Turbo Buick?

Ordered my GN in Nov. 86 Car was built in Mar. 87. Picked up at Dealer on Apr. 9th. Hope to add another car soon!
 
Bought mine in Jan. 95. I've put 25k or so on it but 20k were in the first four years. I mainly get it out once or twice a month now and scare friends with it.:D
 
I bought my '86 T-Type last August from some guy that had it sitting for over 2 years under a tree... Anyhow, the car didn't start right away. According to him it had a bad alternator. I took a look at it and it was a vacuum line that was broken/leaking. 0.79 cents later for a piece of rubber and the car started right up. The guy looked at me with disbelief and didn't want to sell. We had a long talk and $4K later that baby was coming home with me. I drove it from Baltimore to Va with no problems. Although the car has 146K miles on it, it runs really nice!! :biggrin:
 
JW87T said:
I remember test driving it and two salesman came with me. It had rained a little bit and the streets were damp. He kept cautioning me not to give it too much gas because it would spin. I got on it one time and I saw what he meant.
Click to expand...

My neighbor was a mechanic for Buick when our cars were new. He said many a T-Type or GN was back in their body shop in less than a week with the whole side smashed in. He just wrecked his 11th TR (well really an 86 limited with an intercooled 4.1) so he's on to his 12th when he finds a rust free transplant victim.

Edit: just to clarify: he didn't lose control. He was driving on the expressway during a heavy rain. Someone cut him off, he hit the brakes and spun off the road.
 
I ordered my '86 in June'85. It was built 8-5-85 and delivered on 10-16-85 w/ 60 miles showing on the odometer. I brought my baby boy home from the hospital with it on 6-17-91 and told him the car will be his someday. Well, now he's knows what the car feels like from the drivers seat. Nothing better than a great son, and a great car!
 
Love these cars! Purchased my 86 GN new in January 1986. Loaded car with T tops. The original motor without internal modification ran a best of 11.17 at 122 mph with the Kenne Bell "Hot Flash" lock-up chip. With ported original heads and TE 34 turbo and liquid intercooler it ran 10.7 at 124.96 mph. Put the car away for 5 years then in 2003 pulled the original 3.8 still running well and installed a Stage 1 274 with Buick Motor Sport crank and quality aftermarket internals, larger turbo, PTE front mount and non lock-up Art Carr converter. Car ran 9.95 at 22 PSI without too much difficulty. Car continues to have the original paint and I drive it everywhere. Other new cars will be bought and sold but not the turbo Buick.
 
Baught my 86 last year in July from a board member and have been adding things ever since wasstolen and recoverd 2 months ago now back makes me happy every time i drive it its not perfect but its mine
 
I bought my '87 Gn shortly after I graduated in '97 from my parents:biggrin: they had bought the car I think in '94 I had it for a while and started to mod it. After a few transmissions and new paint job the car was totaled by some dumb a** lady in a hurry to get to QuikTrip:mad: That accident hurt me pretty bad a head on collision and no seatbelt. I bout another one right after the inssurance settled I did ok I got what the car was worth. The next '87GN I bought was real nice with a few minor mods, well I had some change form the law suite of that wreck and lets just say I went a little crazy with buying parts. After a few years of buying stuff and breaking a few engines the car was done and beautiful. just as I got the car finished and dyno tuned I got hit by some kid in an F-250 that feel asleep at the wheel:mad: well the amount of money I had in this car was sick, i had to fight with the insurrance company but I did get just over 20k for the car. Then I bought the '87GN I have now. Fortunately I bought the salvage from the wreked car and the engine Trans, rear and interior was still good. I just did a transplant.

Some people think I am crazy for building another but I absoltely love these cars! The engine is apart now because the cam wiped a lobe I am saving for a roller kit. I NEVER GIVE UP ON THIS CAR EVEN WHEN IT'S KICKEN MY A**
 
I bought my first TR in the fall of 1985 it was a 1985 Limited, leather, loaded Gold Regal. I sold that car to buy my first house.

I've owned about a dozen of the 85-87 TR's and my current car found me in 1996 when a friend was going through a divorce.

These cars are a hobby, sickness and addiction.........not exactly in that order!
 
I have owned one since 1988. Currently scraping up money to get the third one back on the road.
 
June 20, 1986 with 356 Miles. It was a dealer transfer from Georgia so they got to drive it first.
 
Picked up my GN in May of 1986 the Monday I was out of college. It was my DD until 1992.
 
You mean this Pile Piece Of SH** I keep throwing money too, next thing i'm going to throw at it is some gasoline and a match and watch it burn, have it on tape so that the whole community can enjoy it, bought it in 2000 and now i wish i hadnt.
 
forcedfedv6 said:
You mean this Pile Piece Of SH** I keep throwing money too, next thing i'm going to throw at it is some gasoline and a match and watch it burn, have it on tape so that the whole community can enjoy it, bought it in 2000 and now i wish i hadnt.
Click to expand...

LOL...thats kinda funny, hey man I have been there more times than I can count. No doubt these cars can push you to your limit and just be a complete pain in the a**. Most GN owners will tell you this if you are in the market to buy one before you make a purchase. Sometimes you just have to walk away from it for a little while and then give it another shot. If you are really fed up with the car then just sell it, it's not worth being miserable over:cool:
 
I've had mine since July 2006. I had been looking for one for some time, and I finally found one I could afford on autotrader.com. I called the guy and made the deal the day after it was posted, and that weekend, I drove all the way from Oklahoma to Virginia Beach to buy it. I paid $3,000. It's in pretty rough shape -- chipping paint, broken bumper fillers, dented fender (from his son coming home drunk in it, according to the owner, lol), and there were numerous mechanical problems with it -- the stock turbo had the worst shaft play i've ever seen, and wouldn't even spool up; the o2 sensor was broken off and hanging by the wire (wtf?); and 2 of the towers on the coil pack were bad. I'm really surprised that thing made it home, but it did (i at least put an o2 sensor in it before i drove it back!). I finally got it running right, although the turbo I put on it is way too big -- i am looking for a smaller one currently -- but I have been fighting a no-start condition for about a year and a half that I am just now starting to get to the bottom of. I will say that when it was running right, it was the best car I've ever driven. I just love how it feels -- I don't think anybody will argue with me when i say this car is a breed of its own. nothing else drives anything like it.
 
I bought my cuurent one in July of 1998, I owned another one in 1994, but it was stolen after only 3 months.

For me it has been a interest of mine since college when I saw that Car and Driver article on it where it had a faster 0-60 time than the Lamborghini Countach in that same issue (I was obsessed with 0-60 times). My friends and I went to a Buick dealer to "test drive" one but was told to come back with my parents.

I have owned many other "muscle cars" over the years, and liked them all, but none measure up to the Buick IMO.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
GREMLIN CONTINUES TO BE PRESENT MAKING DRIVING UNSAFE
Replies
15
Views
601
MikeS
M
J
Found an 87 GN that has been sitting for 10+ years in storage..
Replies
10
Views
553
granitestategn
G
O
I bought a 1987 Grand National !
Replies
3
Views
476
Late2TheGame
L
VADR
Losing Power at WOT - No Codes
2
Replies
25
Views
2K
John Larkin
John Larkin
G
Fender roller for TB community
Replies
7
Views
558
outatime86
O
Top