Kirbans Korner

[chopped39]

Back in 85 I had a 82 camaro with a 406 .The car was fast but was not a daily driver.I remember looking at a 86 gn and then a 86 mustang gt.I loved both cars but the insurance was killer. So I ended up trading the camaro for a 70 gs stage 1.Now I needed to find a daily driver. So i was buying beaters till late 88 when I screwed up and bought a new pontiac grand am gt. I drove the grand am and hated it.I was repoing cars at the time and drove an 87 gn and it was all over. I was dropping a car off at a buick dealer and seen an 87 limited sitting on a rack in front of the dealer so I went and checked it out and thought what a grandpa car column shift leather interior.The car had a little over 12,000 miles on it and the guy tells me they want 16,500 for it. I left and went back to work.I was talking to my boss at the time and told him about the car he started laughing and then told me it was his old car and he just traded it in for a new blazer and the dealer gave him like 9,600 for the car. To make a long story short he was friends with the owner of the dealer and I ended up driving it home for just over 10,000 and I still own it today.I have had a couple others but ended up parting them .I still love the car .

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth

Wow did not expect such a good opening response the first day....Will read the earlier posts later this weekend.

Meantime here is a story related to me on Richard Clarks first "encounter" with a Turbo Regal.
I am confident most readers know who Richard Clark is, for those that don't it is safe to say in our world of Turbo Regals he has the largest collection of Grand Nationals/GNXs and parts which would rival whatever GM still has in the parts system today. Unlike companies like myself, his passion and devotion lies with collecting and not selling anything.

Here is his story:

Around 1989 he had a good friend that would drop by from time to time and join him for lunch. One such day this friend dropped by in a plain jane looking Turbo-T. He said to Richard "looser buys lunch" meaning the Buick against Richards exotic ride. Richard can't remember if it was his Lamborghini or Ferrari he had at the time.

He remembers his friend did a burn out...Richard thought he was just showing off. They took off, and Richard lost although in the corners Richards foreign ride closed the gap.

Once at the restaurant his good friend was the clear winner. The first thing Richard wanted to do was to open the hood and count the plug wires. He was dumb founded that a six cylinder packed that kind of punch and was a full size car. The car was basically stock except for a chip back then.

It would be about 2 years later before Richard purchased his first GN a 1986 with a mere 6,000 miles on it for twenty grand. He still retains that car with basically the same miles on it. Later he bought one to drive which fueled his addiction.

I first met up with Richard when he attended one of our first shows at the airbase in the early 1990s. He bought a few of my brand new GNX turbos. Looking back on this story I think its amazing that someone who owned Ferraris and Lamborghinis would become so enamored with a Turbo powered Buick Regal.

I for one, and I am sure most would agree I am glad he did as is input and knowledge has been greatly appreciated by many of us over the years.

As they say the rest is history.....

Keep the stories coming.......every car has a story and a memory.....

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Dennis Kirban]

I had been looking at building a fast car for a while, which meant buying some old car and putting a big motor into it. I had been driving beaters for most of my first 7 years of driving and my dad was going nuts watching me not have a semi-decent car to drive around. He suggested that I look into buying a new car and he'd throw a few grand in to soften the blow. Well, that sounded pretty good. That was the fall of '85. I soon ended up at the local Ford dealership test driving a new Mustang - they were the fastest car out there, I and everyone else thought. The car mags had come out with a few "New Model" issues and I noticed the GN - kinda fast, but the factory numbers were not as fast as the 'Stang's.

As I considered my new car purchase I came to realize that everybody was driving new Mustangs. That was not sitting well with me. So I walked in to the Buick dealership, took a look at the GN brochure and thought "It's not as fast as the Mustang but it looks better and at the end of the day if I actually end up with a more practical, albeit slower, car well that would be okay". I ended up ordering one from the factory with the options I wanted. I remember going through the options list and choosing what my car would and wouldn't have - can't do that today!

So my car is ordered and I'm waiting. That fall all the cars mags started coming out with their performance tests and what do you know - my car kicked everything to the curb! I still have all those mags - probably half a dozen different ones. I ended up trading that '86 GN on a brand new late '87 in Dec '87. I had the first '86 in the city and the last '87 in the city. I still have that '87 to this day and am loving it.

This is the part where I humbly claim that I thought I remembered another Buick Grand National TV commercial. This makes no sense but here goes. They show a Lambo, then a Ferrari, then a Porsche racing down a desert highway when suddenly a Grand National pulls up behind them and passes them. It's so bad it's funny but I remembered being almost embarrassed when I saw it. That's how bad it was.

This is the part where everyone tells me I have lousy memory

kirban 2 cents worth

A quick comment based on your address....you must enjoy that cool air a lot that far north of the US. Plus probably hardly ever seeing another one. Smart enough to keep it all these years also!

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Dennis Kirban]

First GN i saw was one raceing a 89 GTA with a friend at a light in 1991 lets just say the GN was a blip by the time the GTA stopped spinning at that light that's the day i said i will have one of those one day. Then in 1992 i went to tech school in Ohio we were doing fuel injection diag. we get to the shop and to my amazement there's a 86 GN 120 miles on the clock and no vin. the car had fallen off of a car carrier and GM had donated it to the school we got the car running cause a previous class had fubard the wireing and when that thing started up that was it i was in love i got mine in 2007 it's not the best one out there but it's mine

kirban 2 cents worth

Your story clicked with me as my son went to tech school and I remember that GM did donate cars for experience that suffered issues such as falling of car carriers!

They could not be sold. Reminds me when I believe Toyota or Nissan recalled all those min vans a few years back and crushed them.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Dennis Kirban]

I was a fan of the Turbo Regal since my senior year in H.S. I wanted a 1981 Regal Sport Coupe so bad. I loved the lines of the car and thought that the performance at the time was reasonable. Just the thing to replace my trusty old '77 Regal.

Fast forward a few years and I graduate college and land a decent job, so I get the Buick bug again. I visit my local Buick dealer and the dealer's son has a '84 GN that he is using as his demo. I get a test drive in it and am grinning ear-to-ear from the sound of the turbo and the acceleration. Come to find out that a GN that I had my eyes on was a little on the pricey side.... about $16,500 for a decent one with t-tops. I settle for a blue '84 Monte SS that I ordered brand new from Reedman Chevrolet in Langhorne, PA. The Monte set me back $12,800 nicely equipped with buckets and I was a happy camper for a while until I heard about the '86 GN coming out soon.



In November 1985 my dad and I drove to Dearden Buick (also in Langhorne) and was astonished to find 14 GN's all parked in a row, identically equipped. Every car had the basic power options with hardtop but no posi. I would have traded my Monte right then and there if they had a posi/t-top car on the lot.

I don't like purchasing new vehicles during the Winter months so I waited until Spring and found a local '86 GN with the options I desired. The dealer took my Monte in trade and I got the new Buick I always wanted. The car was a blast to drive from day one and the fun part was noboby knew what it was! I had a lot of fun during that first summer driving down RT37 to Seaside Heights every Friday and Saturday night. Many IROC's, T/A's, GT's and TPI Vettes fell by the wayside.

kirban 2 cents worth

A few common threads I have with this story. Some of the turbo Regals I have purchase over the years have come from this dealership and the 1997 Riv I currently own I have a book full of receipts from that dealership.

Also concerning the Monte Carlo SS models with the Turbo regals we have had the Monte Carlo as a trade in was the most popular one traded usually in 1986-and 1987.

Even packed with 3.73 gearing the Monte Carlo was no match for the Turbo Regals. How many of you recall the early Monte Carlos that were turbo charged around 1981? Had that small off center "bump" on the hood.

Like the earlier Turbo Regals probably took 3 hours to fish the 6 plug wires off the car and replace them.

For readers not familar with Reedman this dealership is so large it has its own test track so when you went for a test drive, you did it on their property. They have something like 14 different car lines in one huge complex.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Dennis Kirban]

It was 1988, growing up in Cary, NC. If anyone is familiar with Cary, during the 70s/80s it was much more of a sleepy suburb of Raleigh vs the Yankee metropolis it is now. But I digress. During those years I was in College attending NCSU and drove a 1969 Chevelle 350 Malibu. I had done some moderate performance mods on it (hooker headers, Edelbrock intake, Holly 600, built out TH-400 that I robbed from a Cargo van). My bud had a 1974 Nova 350 that was also built out moderately. We were doing pretty well in our rides, smoking the occasional mustang GTs, Supras, Cameros, 280zs of that era.

Until that fateful day that a friend of a friend showed up in his 87 GN. We were ignorant at that time of anything that wasn't Chevy or Ford and figured a family sedan was laughable. Our 'strip' of choice at the time was the bit of new road paved in front of the Cary Mall on the way to the new I-40 extension. That part of I-40 was relatively new and desolate as far as traffic and cops so that was always the chosen area for any impromptu racin'. We each took turns giving that GN a run and needless to say we were all rather embarrassed as we watched the tailights of the family 'sedan' pulling ahead of us. My chevelle, my g/fs' mustang convertible and my bud's nova were no match. Granted, at a strip with a longer runout, the sbcs would have likely closed the gap, but in those short 1/8 mile jaunts, the buicks low end torque was monsterous and no match. From that day, I swore that I would one day own one of these.

Fast forward to today....The chevelle is long gone. I toyed with a honda(yes, I'm a recovering riceaholic) and enjoyed some Mopar muscle ('63 300). Gave them all up when the baby came. 5 years later, the itch returned for a classic car and this time I started looking for a Chevy II. Then I remembered the days of past and getting smoked by the GN and started researching. When I saw how much aftermarket tuning was being done to these at moderate prices on stock blocks I was hooked. After a few months I found a one owner '86 and here I am today, learning and learning some more.

kirban 2 cents worth

Good story....you grew up in the heart of Chevy country and mostly truck country from what I have seen having traveled alot thru the Carolinas....over the years.

I also always liked the small 1966-67 Novas especially the 327 4-speed ones lite weight body. Our company made the very first reproduction radiator shrouds for those cars......the shroud opening is off center meaning the radiator or engine sits off center in those cars.

The real hook probably with the turbo regals was is ability in stock format making so much low end torque at 2900 rpms. That instant jump that most V8s lacked at the time.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Dennis Kirban]

It was probably 1986. I was 13. My uncle had recently bought a Buick/GMC dealership and his demos of choice were always Turbo Regals (usually GNs). He came by my grandmothers house one evening and told my mom he was taking me for a ride. Since he was a one-time professional drag racer, she knew exactly what kind of ride I was going to be experiencing. I had a pretty good idea too.

Once we pulled out of the driveway and hit the straight of the highway, it was ON! The turbo kicked in and my head went back. A sh!t eating grin took over my face and all I did was sit back and enjoy the power.

We stopped at a convenience store a few miles down the highway. After grabbing a drink from inside, I went to get in the passenger side and was told to head over to the drivers seat. That sh!t eating grin I mentioned earlier instantly got a LOT bigger.

I quickly got in the car and pulled out to the highway. Now, being not of an age to legally drive and knowing this car was dealership inventory, I resisted my urge to just flog the gas pedal. I was trying to be good. Well, my uncle was having NONE of that. He firmly said "STOP." I was confused. I looked at him as if to say "right here in the middle of the road??" Yep... That's what he meant. So I did. Dead stop in the middle of the highway (No, there was no traffic behind us. You could see for a country mile both directions...) His next words were very to the point. He said "Son, I said you can drive this thing. Now DRIVE it... Put that pedal to the floor and show me what this car can do."

Yea... I didn't have to get told twice. I left footed damn near through the floor board and held on to the wheel.... Driving a brand new GN like I had stolen it... Grinning my a$$ off... And loving every second of it.

It was then I fell in love with these cars. Over the next few years I was able to get up close and personal with GNs, Ts, a GNX (didn't get to drive that one ), a GSX clone, Syclones, Typhoons, etc. Those were some good times that I look back on often and am thankful I had the opportunities to enjoy some wicked rides.

kirban 2 cents worth

With your location I am curious with your dealer background do you know or have seen the guy that has the last GN built? Think the town was Spring Hill, Louisana?
Was easy to smoke the tires back then as they were terrible tires when new and worse when they sat....like bricks.

Be great if the Saints can keep their winning record going.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Dennis Kirban]

Around 86 or 87 I was working at Baldwin Buick in Shillington, PA as a Service Advisor.
We often got the turbo cars in the shop either for dealer preps or routine maintenance... and I was one of the guys to test drive alot of cars before they went back to the customer.

Driving a brand new Grand National when I was 19-20 years old, left a lasting impression with me. At the time, I could never afford one of my own... so I ended up with several 3rd gen F-bodies... and a couple drag cars in between.

Now that I'm older, a modded GN really fills all the gaps for me... It's a sharp car, it's comfortable, it's fast and it's streetable.

I'm now on my 3rd one in 5 years.

kirban 2 cents worth

Your story reminds me of something that happened at a dealership near me several years ago. Most young guys that worked at Buick dealerships back then unless they were warned had no inkling a how quick the power comes on when you compare it to the other Buick models in the day.

This instance the GN was being driven out of the wash bay so the ground was wet. The prep kid gunned it the GN got sideways and swiped the wall. I am sure it took a lot of pay checks to rectify that screw up.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Dennis Kirban]

as a senior in HS in 1988 all my friends & I had fast cars, (81 olds Cutlass with a very healthy 455 that would run 11.40's & a 68 firebird with a very healthy 400). well in our small town beside a friends house a guy bought a 87 GN. needless to say the GN would NOT keep up with our cars. fast forward to 1999, the wife needed another daily driver, well I got sick & tired of buying a car the depreciated to nothing. so we started looking for a 64-67 GTO for her to drive, while skipping through the pages of Hemmings she saw a Buick GN with 19k miles, I said well it's a decent running car but nothing fantastic, (boy did I learn quick), we went & looked @ it drove it & she decided she wanted it, so here we are 10 years later & now have an 8 second Buick powered car.:wink: but she likes her vette better than her Buick.

kirban 2 cents worth

One of the very few cars that did not depreciate like most did during the 1980s. Be interesting to hear from someone else that leased a GN when it was new like I did.

I also had a killer 1967 ram air 400 four speed Firebird that can be found on that huge Firebird poster they did way back around 1985. No one gave them cars respect compared to the Camaro.
.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth

On a side note to this thread....we will be bringing back our trivia contests complete with prizes. I got a unique contest in the works that we will be doing once I get hold or Mr AMC Guy to post the photo. It won't be showing a car however but will be car related.

Will probably intersperse contests between the various topics.

Also, if you have any question concerning a turbo regal you can post it any time. Keep in mind however, my knowledge is not strong on engine related problems or questions on the engine. Best to ask that under the proper heading so the experts can field them answers.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Dennis Kirban]

I first became aware of the GN around late 1985. I had a 69 GS Stage1 and a 70 Stage 1 at the time so I was kinda tuned into the Buicks. One of the dealers in Columbus, OH, Sager Buick had an 84 GN on the used car lot. I tried to trade the 69 Stage 1 in on it but they didn't want to give me anything on trade for my car. I drove the 84 and wasn't impressed with the turbo lag it had. In the spring of 1986 I started looking for a new car to drive and began looking seriously for GN but all of the dealers in Columbus wanted to tack on some huge money to the sticker price. There was no way I was going to pay more than sticker. A couple of months later one of my friends at work called to tell me that the GN that he ordered came in and that the dealer had another GN that was loaded was available. It seems whoever ordered it decided to pass on it when it came in. I called the dealership, Buckles Motors in Urbana(30 miles west of Cols), who advertised in the Cols. paper to be a $49 over invoice dealer. The GN stickered for almost $19,000 and they knocked $3,000 off the sticker over the phone. I was interested and made arrangements to drive over to the dealership the next day, Tuesday, and take a test drive. I spent the rest of the day getting my financing arranged and approved.

I had read some magazine articles about the new GN with the intercooler and had decided that if it ran like they said, I would buy it. Of course, if it had ran like the 84, I was going to pass. As you can imagine, it ran like I expected it to run with my wife, the salesman, and myself in the car on the test drive. Back at the dealership we completed the paperwork and the salesman said it would be ready to pick up on Thursday. One of the interesting tidbits about this is that I got to pick up my GN before my friend did although he had ordered his several months before. According to the dealership, his car was pulled off the line at the factory by the feds to check the emissions and so on. He didn't get to pick up his GN until Friday.

I still have the GN and it is still stock. It has just over 48,000 miles on it. I just recently had to have the headliner replaced as it was beginning to sag all over. My GN is one of the few 86's with the moon roof. It's a great car.

Thanks,

Larry

kirban 2 cents worth

You lucked out getting the discount and a factory moonroof example. Plus you still got it.

I bought two non turbo cars out of Columbus, Ohio. A BMW from the BMW dealer think its along the bypass and a Lexus 300IS from the think Nissan dealership that was near a huge new mall east of Columbus....Pete Serio known as the window rattle guy lives in Bexley usually go to dinner with him n way to GS Nats every year.

He found me the two cars I mention above. For many years a GNX sat in that showroom at Emke Buick? Not sure of the spelling I know dealership is near where I bought the two cars I mentioned.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[03FatBoy]

My 87 GN

I guess I am a late comer to the GN scene... although I have gone through many GTO's, 442's a few Camaro's and other late 60's-70's muscle cars. Graduated from high school in 1970, and lived in the area of Nickey Chevrolets, and Mr. Norm's Dodges. After a divorce and having to liquidate the toys, and living in a townhouse with no garage and driving a 4Runner (downsized from a Suburban) I got the itch to have something to play with... and bought a beautiful 2003 Harley Davidson Fat Boy. Having my kids every other weekend, and VA weather, it did not get ridden enough, couldn't take my kids on it, decided to go after the only other car I have always wanted... a 87 GN. Worked out a straight trade (Thanks, Bryan!) and have never been happier.My last goat, a 1964 had a .030 over 455 making it twice the CID of the GN, and the GN is still way faster. Amazing car, have no plans to ever get rid of it. I had too many cars I regret selling, or for that matter parting out and throwing away. The GN is a keeper, even with it's factory checked lacquer paint, it stills gets thumbs-up every time I take it out. Glad to be a member of this board!

 

[Phoneguy]

In 1987 I was an ASE auto mechanic working for a local Goodyear dealer. At that time I had a 1969 Chevelle SS with a balanced 402 and a very well built 400 turbo transmission. The car was not the fastest car around but ran 13.0 with AC. I had heard of the Grand National and had seen them in the magazines and out on the street but never been in one and had never come up against one on the road while driving my Chevelle. After returning from lunch one day I am handed a work order for 4 tires and an alignment, no big deal... I see a note at the bottom of the order that the front and back wheels are different sizes, I look at the year and make of the vehicle and see 1987 Buick and start scanning the lot...I am staring at a GNX !!! I turn to the boss and tell him what this car is and that I had only heard about these cars, never even seen one. I have never mounted and balanced a set of 4 Gatorbacks as fast as I did that day, then off to the alignment rack. As soon as I get finished I tell the boss he needs to go with me on a test drive. He is immediately caught off guard and wants to know what the problem is. I tell him you just need to come with me and see how the car handles. As I left the shop I am just driving normal and checking the alignment on the outer road of a major highway. The boss starts commenting on how he kind of likes the interior but doesn't understand why all of the gauges are needed. We came to a stop light made a left to head back to the shop via the highway, I get the green light and ...well we were at damn near 100mph getting on the highway,that is where my boss got cartoon eyes and says what in the hell is in this thing? After telling him it was a 6 cylinder he said BS. He bought my lunch the next day!! I will never forget that day. It is the only GNX I have ever been in to this day.
I said to myself I would own a GN some day when I got my finances in order, as I had gotten married in 1985. Well fast forward 20 years, a few houses later, 2 kids later I finally got my GN in May of 2007, 43,xxx miles, and fairly loaded. A few mods later I go to the Midwest Challenge and run 12.58 while blowing a head gasket on my first run. This turns into more mods, more money, more power and heads that will not stay put. Well 2 weeks ago the new RPE stroker motor went in and will be back on the road soon.

Bryan

 

[sugarandopium]

no great stories here.
my father got an 85 new, fell in love with it then and there, even before the intercooled cars.....
86-7 was just the icing on the cake.

 

[DJ Red Barron]

kirban 2 cents worth

With your location I am curious with your dealer background do you know or have seen the guy that has the last GN built? Think the town was Spring Hill, Louisana?
Was easy to smoke the tires back then as they were terrible tires when new and worse when they sat....like bricks.

Be great if the Saints can keep their winning record going.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

I have actually been to the dealership in Spring Hill a few times and have had some alone time with the Last GN. Robert Colvin is a VERY cool guy and was all about sharing info on his car. Here's a thread covering my visit to the car.

http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/turbo-lounge/273106-pics-last-gn-ever-built.html


Yea, those tires lit up and smoked for days.

Hopefully the Saints keep up the good work. If they go all the way, get ready for a cooooold winter... Cause Hell will have finally frozen over. LOL!

 

[alwayscode390]

I was never interested in turbo Buicks.

When I was 16 and had my 67'RS camaro ... a kid my age used to drive his Buick GS through the Driver Thru at Taco Bell that I worked at. He won the local BURNOUT CONTEST a few times, so it caught my eye, but always seemed like a boat to me.

When I realized they had a TTA ... the "performance" version of the GNX ... I about shat myself , I had to have one (after owning another PAS vehicle ... the Syclone) ---

 

[theamcguy]

I am ex-military. In July 1985 I started a two year assignment as a military adviser in El Salvador. While there I would receive my car magazines and kept reading about the Buick GN. I loved everything about the car except the fact that it did not come with a manual transmission. I put it on the back burner. Exciting but I really thought a muscle car should have a manual transmission. I returned back to the states in early October 1987. I had read that the 1987 Buick GN build had been extended until Dec 1987 and figured that since I was home, I would order one. I liked the looks of the car, the performance and its uniqueness and figured it would be a collectible car someday. Besides performance wise nothing was close. I went to my local Buick dealer and ordered the car. The day after the order was accepted by Buick the sales bank closed. Got my order in just in time. Car was delivered 15 Dec and I picked it up the same day after work. I remember it was raining, not hard but kind of a mist. That has been the only time the car has been in the rain.

 

[turbo39151]

My father never had much interest in cars as a hobby. He liked woodworking. I, somehow, was fascinated with cars. When I turned 16 my father had made me a deal that he would match any money I'd saved up in order to buy my first car. I found a 69z28 black with the white stripes. Nope. Too fast. Then I found a 78 Z28. Nope. Still too fast. He found me an 82 VW rabbit diesel. It was either that or nothing. Needless to say, I was not very happy with the car. It would stall if I turned on the A/C! When we moved to Florida later that year, I went to a high school with a bunch of spoiled rich kids. Everyone had newer cars, not much muscle- mostly crazy sound systems.

Anyway, I convinced dad to co-sign for me and we went to the local chevy dealer. I wanted a Vette, an Iroc or a maybe even a used GT Mustang. The salesman appealed to my dad to limit me to a v-6 camaro for insurance purposes. So, I settled for that since it was still better than a rabbit.

I started customizing and playing with it but since it was the 2.8L there was really nothing that I could do to get more power. So, I focused on making it "look" fast. When I was done with it, it looked very fast.

One night, I pulled up at a light against what I thought was a black monte carlo. After that beating, I knew I had to have something faster so I went shopping. I was young, made no money and had no credit. I looked at a GTA trans am (a buddy's dad had one and it was awesome) Couldn't get financed. I looked at a newer GN at a dealership but still couldn't afford it. I was basically giving up since all the good stuff was too pricey for me and I was kind of interested in the newer 300zx. (twin turbo anyone?)

Anyway, since I could never buy a 300zx either I was basically resigned to checking out the offerings at the local buy here pay here lots. I looked at an SS monte that had a big dent in the door but still looked cool and was only
$5k. I figured I'd by that and finally have some power.

One afternoon, I was giving my uncle a ride home and I happened to see what looked like a gn sitting in a rinky dink buy here pay here lot. I stopped to check it out and it was an Black 86 Ttype with grey interior and t-tops. They only wanted $5k and would take my camaro on trade. I borrowed the money to pay off the last two payments on the camaro and went to dealer within a few days and finally had my TR!

On the way home I went to pass some slower traffic and nearly wrecked the car due to the unexpected power. From then on, I was hooked. I raced anything that dared and beat all comers. I drove that car everywhere and loved every minute of it. I once contemplated trading for a syclone since it was supposed to be even faster but I kept my Buick instead.

In 1995 while I was stationed overseas it was stolen and never recovered. When I came home I could not find a suitable replacement and ended up with an n/a 300zx. It was very nice but no Buick. I went through various cars but always talekd about the good old days when I had my Buick. So, when I graduated from school in 2005, my wife told me to get a Buick so I'd finally shut up about it. So, since 2005 I've been knee deep and had 5 TR's.

I also found an old briefcase I used to have all my buick stuff in. Even found some old Kirban catalogs back from when there was no internet...

 

[Dennis Kirban]

My father never had much interest in cars as a hobby. He liked woodworking. I, somehow, was fascinated with cars. When I turned 16 my father had made me a deal that he would match any money I'd saved up in order to buy my first car. I found a 69z28 black with the white stripes. Nope. Too fast. Then I found a 78 Z28. Nope. Still too fast. He found me an 82 VW rabbit diesel. It was either that or nothing. Needless to say, I was not very happy with the car. It would stall if I turned on the A/C! When we moved to Florida later that year, I went to a high school with a bunch of spoiled rich kids. Everyone had newer cars, not much muscle- mostly crazy sound systems.

Anyway, I convinced dad to co-sign for me and we went to the local chevy dealer. I wanted a Vette, an Iroc or a maybe even a used GT Mustang. The salesman appealed to my dad to limit me to a v-6 camaro for insurance purposes. So, I settled for that since it was still better than a rabbit.

I started customizing and playing with it but since it was the 2.8L there was really nothing that I could do to get more power. So, I focused on making it "look" fast. When I was done with it, it looked very fast.

One night, I pulled up at a light against what I thought was a black monte carlo. After that beating, I knew I had to have something faster so I went shopping. I was young, made no money and had no credit. I looked at a GTA trans am (a buddy's dad had one and it was awesome) Couldn't get financed. I looked at a newer GN at a dealership but still couldn't afford it. I was basically giving up since all the good stuff was too pricey for me and I was kind of interested in the newer 300zx. (twin turbo anyone?)

Anyway, since I could never buy a 300zx either I was basically resigned to checking out the offerings at the local buy here pay here lots. I looked at an SS monte that had a big dent in the door but still looked cool and was only
$5k. I figured I'd by that and finally have some power.

One afternoon, I was giving my uncle a ride home and I happened to see what looked like a gn sitting in a rinky dink buy here pay here lot. I stopped to check it out and it was an Black 86 Ttype with grey interior and t-tops. They only wanted $5k and would take my camaro on trade. I borrowed the money to pay off the last two payments on the camaro and went to dealer within a few days and finally had my TR!

On the way home I went to pass some slower traffic and nearly wrecked the car due to the unexpected power. From then on, I was hooked. I raced anything that dared and beat all comers. I drove that car everywhere and loved every minute of it. I once contemplated trading for a syclone since it was supposed to be even faster but I kept my Buick instead.

In 1995 while I was stationed overseas it was stolen and never recovered. When I came home I could not find a suitable replacement and ended up with an n/a 300zx. It was very nice but no Buick. I went through various cars but always talekd about the good old days when I had my Buick. So, when I graduated from school in 2005, my wife told me to get a Buick so I'd finally shut up about it. So, since 2005 I've been knee deep and had 5 TR's.

I also found an old briefcase I used to have all my buick stuff in. Even found some old Kirban catalogs back from when there was no internet...

kirban 2 cents worth

Good story.....I started selling parts almost immediately when the cars were new....should we all have been that smart we would have a shelf full of $8 brake switches, and $18 GN dash trim plates.....just to name 2 things that quickly come to mind. Neither would have required much space....or the dozen brand new GNX turbos I bought from a Mustang source.

Glad to see all the memories on your first encounter.....

One common thread.....

You all have the passion.....

You all are alot younger than me!!!!

Keep them coming......as I read them all.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth

Stay Tuned:

I strongly suggest if you are reading this prior to Thanksgiving weekend you take a post it and put it on your computer to check under turbo lounge thread will read "Kirban Christmas Contest"......

Sometime that weekend (not Thanksgiving Day) I will post a very interesting contest. Part of it will involve guessing number of M & Ms and part will require some automotive thinking. Mr AMC Guy will post the related clues at that time.

Top prize......will be something quite unique and a part of top fuel dragster history related to Don Garlits. It will be signed and will have a photo included to authenticate this piece of racing history. My son is making a custom stand for this item. This is impressive what the winner will receive.

This Christmas contest will be separate from the one I will run to my Inner Circle members. Obviously the earliest post to the thread that is correct will be the winner one reason you want to check under Turbo Lounge Kirban Christmas Contest Thanksgiving Weekend.

We will also picture the actual first place prize.

denniskirban@yahoo.com