Just Got An 85 And Have Some Q's....

[86turbonational]

Hello!!

I have just got a deal on an all original 1 owner 1985 turbo regal and have some questions. Now I was really looking for a GN but it didnt work out that way. This car has 60k original miles on it and has been parked since 1990!! i bought it from the original owner and still have the original "A" title in hand.

The car is in fair shape and is not running at this time. I was gonna acutally do a frame off resto. on this car and make it look like a GN but now im not so sure. this car is silver with grey interior, it has a bench seat with column shifter, analog dash, hard top, it has the chrome bumpers with all black trims outside. it came without a spoiler from the factory.

either way this is gonna be a body off resto. but I am wondering if the car would be worth more money in pristine shape as a silver turbo regal or a black GN??

Also, I would like a mid to high 12 second car that gets driven on the street and holds its manners well. Should i intercool it or just leave it hotair?

everything is getting completly rebuilt and will be brand new! I have the abilities to do anything at this point and money isnt really an issue, i was looking for a great car to restore and pamper and i have found it

so what do you guys think? GN or T-TYPE? hot air or intercooled?

I love responses so lets hear them all!! lol


jim

 

[84GNGary]

If all things are equal original GN's will fetch more than T-Types. All the TR's at that time came out as Regal T-Types and the Grand National (WE2) was an option that is associated with the vin and the RPO codes on the trunk lid. If you paint it black and put GN badges on it you just made a GN clone, not a GN. Someone who really knows these cars can usually pick out clones. Also the hot air cars do not sell for as much as an 86 or 87. There were a couple of pristene very low milage 84 GN's for sale a little while ago and they were out there for a while struggling to get 20k. IMO 85 TR's are kind of an obscure year lost between the 84's which were the first year for the sfi turbo's and the intercooled cars. Keep it a T-Type, fix it up, enjoy it and good luck with it.

 

[86turbonational]

Here is the RPO codes from the inside of the trunk. I was not looking to make a quick buck, i just love the look of the GN compared to the t-type but it has been brought to my attention that some of these t-types are very rare cars depending on options. I really dont want to hack up a car if its rare to make a GN clone, however if its just your everyday t-type than i will make her look like a GN and then enjoy it to the fullest!!!!

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/james131gc/regalrpocodes003.jpg

 

[MoeJr]

If it were my car I would keep it a TType as less T's in 85 than GN's though only by 2. 85 is least amount of TTypes made from 83-86.

Again I am a bit of a purist in that if it came a hotair leave it a hotair. You can get 12's out of a hotair. With alky you can run some pretty good boost on a HA from what I have seen written on here by guys that run the HA's and alky.

I say give it a try and be different.

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

if youre going to do a full frame off, ya mind as well make it as original as possible. not only will it fetch the most money if you care to sell it, but... its cooler that way imo. if you want to go ahead and make it fast, theres things you can do to it, to make it fast, that are not permanent. you know, down pipe, exhaust, chip, cooler t-stat, aluminum radiator etc etc...

 

[cool 84]

If fast is your only goal, I would say add an intercooler. It seems like the IC makes every other mod you do more effective. It's also cheaper to go with the IC than to add enough other mods to equal the intercooler's gains.

If you have money and want to keep it looking somewhat stock, you can still go fast. Do mods that no one can see. 4.1L block. Go with a moderate cam like a 212-212 that will pull very hard with ported heads yet idle like a stocker. Do a killer set of ported stock heads, big wheels in the stock turbo housings, ported stock throttlebody, ported stock intake (highly suggested). Aftermarket stock style headers which look stock. You can even run a bigger uppipe and downpipe and get the stock style steel wrap put on them and I guarantee it would be hard to tell they're not stock. Alky injection to help make up for the lack of an intercooler injected in the back of the intake adaptor so it's hidden. You could literally have a deep 11 second car and appear to be bone stock. Other than the uppipe and downpipe, there's no way anyone could know you weren't bone stock. I really wanted to go this route years ago but didn't have the money at the time.

 

[86turbonational]

Well as i stated I will only be looking for mid to high 12's. I did post a link to the photo of the RPO codes in hopes that someone here will be able to tell me if theres anything rare about this car. I really need to figure this out first before I do anything to the car. If its just an everyday t-type than I will be converting it over to a GN clone and keeping it for a LONG time if its somewhat rare than i will restore it as is and sell it off to buy a real gn.

I just love the all black and I do understand that it is basically the same car. I will most likely keep it hot air seeing as how im only looking for 12's..

 

[my85grandnation]

Here is the RPO codes from the inside of the trunk. I was not looking to make a quick buck, i just love the look of the GN compared to the t-type but it has been brought to my attention that some of these t-types are very rare cars depending on options. I really dont want to hack up a car if its rare to make a GN clone, however if its just your everyday t-type than i will make her look like a GN and then enjoy it to the fullest!!!!

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/james131gc/regalrpocodes003.jpg

EEk that looks like quite a bit of rust. Hope the rest of the car isnt like that, or if it is hopefully you got a heck of a deal on it.

 

[86turbonational]

actually the car has almost no rust on it. if i keep it it will be media blasted and painted inside out.

 

[my85grandnation]

I have a real 85 GN that I am considering selling if youd like to have a real GN instead of a T-Type. It needs restoration but is a solid car, both body and drive train.

 

[86turbonational]

I have quite a bit of work ahead of me if i do anything with this car. I would be doing a body off resto. so i would be looking at some time next year or so. im still trying to decide if i should keep this one or not. the car has the following,


1 1985 t-type with 60k original miles

2 silver exterior/grey interior

3 black trim with chrome bumpers

4 bench seat with column shift

5 manual locks/windows/mirrors

6 suppost to have stage 2 parts but im not sure yet.


I would be putting the all black bumpers and the gn interior with center console and buckets. I just want to make sure that it is not something rare before i start doing this. if it is than i will restore it as original and sell it..

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

to be honest, id ditch it...if youre going to change over the interior as well its going to be A LOT of work. i mean a ton. not only will you throw a TON of money into it, but if you DO for some reason decide to sell it (you may WANT to keep it, but some things happen out of your control) and none of it matches the rpo sticker, it will be absolutely worthless.. i mean, you wont get 5 grand for it bro.. for some reason, rarity is not directly proportional to price for buick. i seen a REALLY good condition 82 & 1/2 grand national go for like 7 grand. out the door. that makes NO sense whatsoever in the auto collecting world.. but thats the reality of the charge air tri shield world....
Especially since thats a bench seat column shifter.. very undesirable in our world. Their resale value is HORRIBLE... Cut your losses and get a real gn if you like the all black cars. you can get hot air GN's for dirt cheap man.

 

[86turbonational]

ok ok ok... I didnt like the turbo regals until i seen this http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c361/james131gc/MVC-005F.jpg one from this board!!!! since my car is already these colors and the only thing i would have to buy is the center console i have a goal in mind who evers car this it is AWSOME!!!!

 

[forcefed3.8's]

Silver rules.

 

[usetaboost]

I'd leave it the way it is. Silver is awesome on these cars and I'd leave the column shift. I had a 2 tone black and silver 79 sport coupe with the pillow seats, no power anything, lots of chrome and a column shift. Grandma car my ass! Believe it or not after I got the new turbo on it and put on straight pipe it killed a lot of the quicker cars.