How many of us here are the original TR owners of their cars? And Odd never seen before options.

TurboTGuy said:
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.
Click to expand...
What a very cool story! Thank you for sharing this! Great history and stories to be shared for sure!
 
Dad made a $500 deposit and ordered a 87 T Type in Dark blue with gray interior. He ordered the Limited package with it. Waited and waited and the dealership never placed the order.

So down to Cerritos he went, found a Gray T Type and filled out the paperwork. He wanted a sunroof so the dealer had ASC McLaren do the work and picked it up one week later. Fast forward 24 years.

The sunroof was leaking and I found ASC down in San Diego across from Miramar NAS and they fixed it. It needed adjustment on the cables and a new switch.

Dad gave me that car about 4 years ago. Don't worry though he has a 2 GNs. One is a street car and the other is a race car.

And yes we stay busy maintaining the fleet.
 
Not quite old enough to buy one new but my pop bought his 87 Gn in the summer of 88 of the original lady owner. I drove it as much as he did from 90 to 95. My dad always got a lot of grief about letting a 16 year old drive his GN. He always said he can't beat it any harder than me and if he is going to take it somewhere I know it will get a good wax job. He still has the car. We started to get it back on the road and my pop got sick, maybe 2015 we can get her back on the road.
 
Ordered our's in '87 (see sig) local Buick dealer had two GN's and two T's all black.
Didn't want black,also didn't want to pay sticker plus!
They also had no interest in ordering one for me.
Found a dealer that would(see sig)
After we picked it up took it by the local dealer and showed them the car.
And told them this is what you could have sold if only you would have worked with me!
They were unimpressed and said it will never be worth as much as a GN.
Oh well, fast forward 27 years they are out of business and we still have our Turbo T!
 
My story:
Three years ago I scraped up $3,000 and was on the hunt for a turbo regal. After many months of searching, I ended up in a field in southern NJ. On a trailer buried under 2 feet of leaves was a rusted out ,flat tired ,smelly, dirty one owner 86 t type with 70,000 miles. I was alittle skeptical until I pulled up the rear carpet to see a hole the size of my head in the floor pans. Then I knew I wasn't leaving without this beauty. I almost got buyers remorse when we dragged it out of the weeds but when we tried to fill it with gas and noticed there was no bottom to the tank, I knew she was a keeper!!!!!!!
(True story)
 
TurboTGuy said:
Funny thing is, when I met the guy who is now my boss back in '91, we met because he commented on the GN I had at the time.

We got to be friends and he listened to me tell the story of how I came to buy the '86 many times, including the part about the little white "T".

Now we just laugh about how weird the story of how I ended up with this little car is.
Click to expand...
I think that white T just wanted to be owned by you and somehow found you.:D
 
I'm the original owner of an 86 T Type. My car was an 86 Buick Engineering development car. The vehicle number was 46GF143.
 
My first T was ordered in late summer 1986, and a couple months later the dealer told me the car could not be built until after Dec.31 because it was 17 pounds over the CAFE limit for 1986?

When the dealer called, he also gave me 2 choices, build it like ordered after Jan 1, 1987, or delete the power seat and remote trunk release and they could build it in Dec. 1986, which is what I decided.

When it arrived at the dealership in Dec, the paint on the hood, roof and trunk was so thin, primer was showing? GM never did figure how to deal with water-based paint. :(

The dealer repaint was good since I had known the paint shop manager personally, but in less than 20 years it was peeling and flaking in many areas, and now it has a show quality paint job deserving of a 9500 mile TR!

I have too many other turbo Buicks of mine to deal with, so I put my son's name on the title so he will eventually get more enjoyment from it than I have, as he is only one year old than the car! :)
 
I am not the original owner but I did buy it from the original owner. It's not a gn but a t type. I have really no options in my car. The guy said he wanted the lightest turbo buick but with t tops. Car has manual windows , manual locks , even chrome mirrors. The only power option is the trunk release. I have manual seats also too. Only real option is t tops. I hardly don't see any turbo regal with chrome mirrors. I think that is pretty rare option instead of the sport mirrors. Car is a 87.
 
Here is a picture
 

Attachments

  • 1416767491162.jpg
    1416767491162.jpg
    56 KB · Views: 113
Circa 1986. No tag, Dealer badge just above the Buick on the trunk so it must have been the weekend I brought it home

Nothing special about it except it had the coil pack decal from an 87 on it. And a major intake gasket leak.




 
Last edited:
aminga said:
Circa 1986. No tag, Dealer badge just above the Buick on the trunk so it must have been the weekend I brought it home

Nothing special about it except it had the coil pack decal from an 87 on it. And a major intake gasket leak.




Click to expand...

Damn, another great lookin T. All I have is a black GN. These posts are making me want a white T. This is not good. Per my wife
 
Bump.

Gotta be more good stories out there............
 
TTipe said:
I'm the original owner of an 86 T Type. My car was an 86 Buick Engineering development car. The vehicle number was 46GF143.
Click to expand...
Would love to hear more about it also. I parted out an 86 GN that was an early build car. Engine's in my summer DD.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

GNVYUS 1
T Top Restoration, New SS Panels, Weatherstripping and Pics, Video Of The Process.
2
Replies
25
Views
4K
GNVYUS 1
GNVYUS 1
Grandpa’s 87
The story of Grandpa’s 87 Turbo Buick (Full)
Replies
12
Views
3K
Marty Fairchild
M
N
For Sale: 1987 Regal Turbo LS3 Conversion
2
Replies
22
Views
8K
nwarky
N
M
Racetronic hat / AN FITTING / floater and 340 pumps
2 3
Replies
46
Views
4K
motrhed87
M
F
new guy here with an 87 GN
Replies
8
Views
1K
Mark T-TB
Mark T-TB
Top