I'm sure I have told my story here before but here goes again.
Have been into cars since the 70's. Ever see the movie "Dazed and Confused"? Well that was my high school years. I couldn't afford the nice muscle cars all my rich friends had as my parents made me pay my own way. So, while my friends were driving their new 70 Chevelle SS's, Novas and Torinos I was slumming in a 66 Falcon with a straight 6 and automatic transmission.
Only paid a dollar for it.
Well, like any kid back then, first required item was a set of Gabriel Hi-Jacker air shocks. Air those babies up and get that dog in heat look.
Long story short, I swapped in a 289 and manual 3 speed from a friend's Mustang that was rolled at 90 mph and now I had a "hot rod" too. Ended up blowing up the 6 cylinder rearend and learned that a 66 Fairlane 8" rear would bolt right in. This car helped me learn a lot about cars in general but
since Falcons were not considered cool, I eventually ended up with a 66 Chevelle that I bought for $350.
Little did I know that this car would be mine for almost 20 years and end up in just about every magazine except Field and Stream. Some guys change cars like they change their socks but for some reason I just hold on to things for a while. The Chevelle was a daily driver for a few years as I slowly fixed it up and eventually graduated to a full on show car. Went from a 327 with nitrous to a 427 tunnel ram with nitrous and Doug Nash 5 speed and then the ultimate transition to a pro street car with a supercharged 454.
Assembled all the motors myself, just learned by reading and then doing it. Even started a car club in the 80's that went strong for 15 years. Unlike most of my friends who got married and started families in there 20's I just played with cars and traveled around the country going to car shows and running my own local events. Many trips to the Car Craft Street Machine Nationals when they first started back in the late 70's out in Indy, then Illinois as well as Super Chevy Sundays at Maple Grove in PA and NH.
Finally got serious with someone and got married at 37 for the first time. Most of my friends were already on their 2nd marriage or divorce.
Once married, I ended up selling my truck and car trailer and the Chevelle rolled on it's own to shows. (Was actually more fun doing that) THEN, baby time. Was a father at 40 and no way was I cutting the cage out of the Chevelle to make room for a baby seat. Time to sell. Went to the big show at Lake George NY with a for sale sign on it and got my price. Won at the show too. Was tough driving home afterwards knowing the car would not be mine at the end of the week when the new owners were coming to pick it up. Still remember that feeling of driving down I-91 with my friends coming back from the show, listening to the blower whining and looking out the windshield at the dual 750 Holleys and scoop obstucting my view.
My plan was to buy something already done as I didn't want to build a car with a baby on the way. Wanted something with creature comforts, good looks and performance. Hold on we are getting to the Turbo Regal aspect of this story................
Tried to think of what I could pick up that met my requirements, street rod? No thanks, restored muscle car? Too boring. Hmmmmm, thinking back to the 1988 Car Craft Nationals East when it was held at Englishtown NJ got me my answer.
Remember a BUNCH of these weird sounding black cars beating up on all the classic 60's and 70's muscle cars. The place was crawling with Buick Grand Nationals and my friends and I all hated them! How can a brand new car put a hurting on our beloved hot rods. Didn't make sense. Most of us ended up running against one of them at some point in the day. (that Nationals had a show AND drag racing) At the time my Chevelle had the 427 tunnel ram motor with nitrous but with my manual shifting abilities it never ran the number it was capable of. As far as I can remember I DID beat the one I ran but it was real close. Even found a picture of this event years later showing me running it. Have attached it here, notice how different Englishtown looked back then!
So here we are now in 1995 and I am now in need of a "new" car. A Grand National it is! AC, cruise, power windows, back seat for the baby and power to boot. Chevelle has been gone for two weeks now and ironically the Englishtown swap meet is coming up.
Bunch of friends and I go down there and only a few GN's for sale and most were beat. I was looking for the lowest mileage car I could find and if it had a few mods on it that fine with me as I wouldn't be keeping it stock. Walked the whole swap meet and then I see it! A lowered GN pulling in with aftermarket wheels. Made a note of where it parked and we only had one row left of parts to look at and then would head for where the GN was. Get there and no GN! Friends were bugging me about leaving as we had the NY traffic to look forward to on the way back to CT.
Told them I had a feeling that this was "my" car and one friend and I walked farther down the track where the cars for sale were parked and there it was. 4700 miles and it was CLEAN. Still smelled new inside. Lowered with billet specialties wheels, all stock under the hood except for a K&N filter. Interior had oil and water gauges in the console but were never hooked up. Weirdest thing was the rearend. For some reason he put a Ford 9" in it! Always suspected that maybe it was raced but never found any rubber buildup under the car when I got it home. Unfortunately the original wheels, tires and rear did not come with the car as they were sold off. The guy was the original owner.
This car came out of Flushing NY near the 64 world's fair sphere/globe. Remember that big scene from Men in Black movie? We had to drive right by there to get the car the following week. Hard to believe that was 14 years ago and yes, have only had the one GN during this time, not planning on giving car up as it's the only vice I have.
Most ironic thing, the original intention of selling the Chevelle and buying the GN was so the whole family could go to shows, cruises, etc but as it turns out, my son could care less about cars. Video games and computers is his thing.
