Kirbans Korner

[t-topflyer]

I'm a lot like Rodimus Prime above since I was born around the same time. I've been into cars as long as I can remember. Probably came out of the womb with a matchbox car in my hand. My dad used to buy old car trader magazines that I would thumb through and he would quiz me on which cars were what. Built a lot of model cars growing up as well. Naturally progressed into the real thing. I remember seeing my first Grand National around 1986 on the showroom floor at the local Buick Dealer as my dad was there getting service done on one of our cars. I can recall just being fascinated with the wheels. Don't know why, but I fell in love with them. Remember an older gentleman driving a GN to church every Sunday and staring out the Sunday School window at it. I know I should have been focusing on the lesson, but hey that's how it goes for a car guy. Lived near us and sometimes on the school bus we would pass it as the gentleman's wife was on her way to work early in the morning as we were in route to school. Fast forward about 20 yrs and numerous not so exciting cars later and I got my first Turbo Buick. Never looked back! Love reading the stories keep em coming.

 

[turbobully]

It was 1996 I was a senior in HS. My first car was a 79 malibu w/ a 400 SB, a TH350 combo. I drove the car hard for two years destroyed two rear ends, the transmission, and had to weld the frame in two places. I decided it was time to get something better. My father told me he would help me w/ the purchase of a new car for a pre grad present. Everybody had mustangs and I hated them! I thought about a monteSS but a friend told me about this regal w/ a turbo charged 6. I went and checked out this kids blue Ttype and thought that it looked like a granny car, then I went for a ride! I didn't end up buying it but found a 87GN w/ about 67K on it. I spent my senior year eating mustangs for breakfast lunch and dinner (ok I did get smoked by a couple guys that were running low 12's but they had a lot of $ in them). That summer I worked my ass off and bought some centerline telstars, and a suspension kit from PST. I still have the car that I spent too much money on (about 14K w/ the price of the car and upgrades). I almost sold it 4 differnt times through college, etc. I am in the process of a resto and performance upgrades and I am loving every minute! Someday it will be my son/daughters car.

 

[38turbo]

kirban 2 cents worth

Rules like always no employees related to Turbo Buicks can participate.

This opening contest is very very easy. First correct answer is a winner and a DVD will be awarded.

Here goes for you late nighters:

Every year 1984-1987 original Turbo Regal had a single digit on a certain part. Name the part I am thinking of.

Simple:

As they say the clock is ticking.......[/QUOTE

a 6 on the hood liner

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth

Rules like always no employees related to Turbo Buicks can participate.

This opening contest is very very easy. First correct answer is a winner and a DVD will be awarded.

Here goes for you late nighters:

Every year 1984-1987 original Turbo Regal had a single digit on a certain part. Name the part I am thinking of.

Simple:

As they say the clock is ticking.......[/QUOTE

a 6 on the hood liner

kirban 2 cents worth

Good opening guess, however it is wrong. By wrong I mean it is not the answer that I am thinking.

This game is still open to players.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth

Member rite after Thanksgiving our major Christmas Contest will be posted under its own thread under Turbo Lounge. Important to tune in early as earliest correct answer takes the grand prize.

The grand prize is a part of of drag racing history.....This grand prize is signed personally by Don Garlits which I photographed so winner will have proof. My son is making a unique stand for it as well that will be included.

A piece of drag racing history.....I also just made Don a deal so I will have others as well.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

Love the stories, most make me feel old compared to when your experiences first "kicked in" compared to mine. However, at the same token I share a common thread only my memories in high school while a far different time period offered a virtual buffet of a very wide variety of US performance cars compared to being in High School in the 1980s.

Even though the cars were cheaper then, everything was relative so pumping gas at $1 an hour in 1964 and seeing new $3400 cars was like 1987 making $6 an hour viewing $16,000 cars.

 

[Little6pack]

Even though the cars were cheaper then, everything was relative so pumping gas at $1 an hour in 1964 and seeing new $3400 cars was like 1987 making $6 an hour viewing $16,000 cars.

HE HE I was making 1.70 hr in 74 & 2.25 in 1975.. I am not far from it now
later on I was making more in 78 & 79

I pumped gas & worked grocery store.

Both had UNUSUAL customers.

Vette owners were the worst & arrogant.

We had a carpenter who brought his lincoln town car in for fill up. He use to love to open up the trunk
& show me the FULL FLETCH BAR. That was a rolling liquer store. Every weekend he had a different babe in that lincoln & headed for camping in New hampshire.

Another guy came in with a 455 70's GP (i think 70) He saw my GTO & always left doing a burnout. If I can find the OLD goat photo at SUNOCO station I will post it.

 

[Dennis Kirban]

HE HE I was making 1.70 hr in 74 & 2.25 in 1975.. I am not far from it now
later on I was making more in 78 & 79

I pumped gas & worked grocery store.

Both had UNUSUAL customers.

Vette owners were the worst & arrogant.

We had a carpenter who brought his lincoln town car in for fill up. He use to love to open up the trunk
& show me the FULL FLETCH BAR. That was a rolling liquer store. Every weekend he had a different babe in that lincoln & headed for camping in New hampshire.

Another guy came in with a 455 70's GP (i think 70) He saw my GTO & always left doing a burnout. If I can find the OLD goat photo at SUNOCO station I will post it.

kirban 2 cents worth

Speaking of Sunoco they really offered alot more choices than 87-89-93 proof

Someone can chirp in but I think it was like 8 choices of octane....back in the day.
Reminds me when I worked at this station I was driving a $200 1950 Ford club coupe. The owner had a real sleeper of a car a 2 door sedan Valiant which was fairly new in 1964 stuffed a 327 Chevy engine in it. I got to wash it....that was about it back then.

keep the stories coming I figure sometime around Thanksgiving will put out the next intriguing question to the readers of this thread....

denniskirban@yahoo.com

calling it a nite....

 

[Turbo Indian]

kirban 2 cents worth

Speaking of Sunoco they really offered alot more choices than 87-89-93 proof

Someone can chirp in but I think it was like 8 choices of octane....back in the day.
Reminds me when I worked at this station I was driving a $200 1950 Ford club coupe. The owner had a real sleeper of a car a 2 door sedan Valiant which was fairly new in 1964 stuffed a 327 Chevy engine in it. I got to wash it....that was about it back then.

keep the stories coming I figure sometime around Thanksgiving will put out the next intriguing question to the readers of this thread....

denniskirban@yahoo.com

calling it a nite....

I worked @ a Sunoco in the 80's, in that era we had
86 octane = economy
87 = regular
89 = plus
93 = premium
94 = ultra

 

[phil conrad]

It was 1989 for me. A friend of mine was a mechanic at a chevy dealership. He called me and told me about this 87 Buick they had taken in on trade. One test drive and I had to have one. I did not get that one because of a lack of credit and money. I sold a couple of 1970's Olds 442's and I had my first GN.

 

[GNGAL]

---- a girl in love ----


I have always had a need for speed, and always been an adrenaline junkie.

I was dating a guy back in 98/99 and we would drive around looking at cars on the street. He'd quiz me to ... "what's that one?" .. and so forth. We'd make a day of it, good times. Then he took me to a friends Mobile gas station/auto shop... where there a was a GN and a 1971 white Fastback. I was first taken by the fastback, just the lines and everything. But after learning about the powerful "sleeper car" GN... I was hooked.

Back in 2005 I saw what I wanted and got it.

I purchased my car from a guy in Florida through eBay. Since then, I have raced it... and turned heads ever since.

I cant lie.. I love seeing people do a double take when they notice a girl driving! :biggrin:

I am a totally different person when I am behind that wheel.. I am me.

Im slowly learning how to work on it thanks to great friends and the awesome community here on turbobuick. Thanks guys !

 

[Evans Ward]

I was just out of high school and in the car market in 1976 and wanted the Buick Century Free Spirit Indy 500 Pace Car replica. Those cars were very limited quantity and I could not locate one then. Remember, this was all before the electronic age where you can click and find anything you want now, and then you had to actually call information to get a number and then make long distance telephone calls on a rotary dial phone landline! Well, since my local Buick dealer couldn’t get anymore of the Pace Cars, I turned to Pontiac and bought a 1977 Trans-Am in black, 400 automatic. The redesign of the TA had just come out and this even pre-dated the Smokey and the Bandit flick that made them so popular! Loved the TA but deep down still wanted a special Buick. My first sighting of a GN was in 1985 here in Macon and that car's really menacing black car really caught my eye! I had been reading all the magazines and knew that the hot air turboed ’85 version put out 200 HP that year which was pretty stout performance numbers at the time. I have to say the thing that attracted me to the 86 GN was the Hot Rod magazine that claimed on the cover, “Buick V6 beats Corvette”. I still have that issue and remember practically memorizing each word of the article. Intercooling seemed to be the hot ticket to kick this package up a notch or two! I went performance car shopping in August of 1986 specifically looking at the new GM G Body cars (GN, Monte Carlo SS, Olds 442, and Pontiac Gran Prix 2+2) of the day. All of my local dealer lots had all of these cars except for the 442 so I was able to test drive them excluding the Olds. Started with the MCSS, then GP 2+2, and then GN. Was totally blown away by the power and performance of the GN on the test drive! Had a young salesman who told me to “get on it” which didn’t take much prompting. All the salesman could say about the GN was “awesome”!! I remember it stickering for over $17,000 which was a lot of money in those days. I would have paid more as I had my mind made up to purchase one and I finally had my special Buick. Bought the 86 GN and financed it through GMAC for 5 years. It was a great vehicle, very trouble free, and I kept it stock except for a K+N filter inside the air canister. Surprised many a performance car on the street with it- in those early years, it wasn’t known as it is now so you could be very unsuspecting on the street. I sold it in 1998 and bought my present TR in 2000. I enjoyed my GN years but now a days I prefer to fly beneath the radar screen in a chromed trimmed Turbo Regal. Hope some of you enjoyed going down memory road with me. Glad still to be here too.

 

[QuickBuick87]

kirban 2 cents worth

Rules like always no employees related to Turbo Buicks can participate.

This opening contest is very very easy. First correct answer is a winner and a DVD will be awarded.

Here goes for you late nighters:

Every year 1984-1987 original Turbo Regal had a single digit on a certain part. Name the part I am thinking of.

Simple:

As they say the clock is ticking.......

That would be the "power steering resevor"

Ken

 

[Little6pack]

kirban 2 cents worth

Speaking of Sunoco they really offered alot more choices than 87-89-93 proof

Someone can chirp in but I think it was like 8 choices of octane....back in the day.
Reminds me when I worked at this station I was driving a $200 1950 Ford club coupe. The owner had a real sleeper of a car a 2 door sedan Valiant which was fairly new in 1964 stuffed a 327 Chevy engine in it. I got to wash it....that was about it back then.

keep the stories coming I figure sometime around Thanksgiving will put out the next intriguing question to the readers of this thread....

denniskirban@yahoo.com

calling it a nite....

260 = Super high octane
240 = super
200 = med
190 = reg
170 = economy

Those are the dials I remember.. My boss allways said put it on regular if they wanted regular. I had many arguments when some customers forgot to say economy.

 

[theamcguy]

260 = Super high octane
240 = super
200 = med
190 = reg
170 = economy

Those are the dials I remember.. My boss allways said put it on regular if they wanted regular. I had many arguments when some customers forgot to say economy.

There were actually only two grades of Sunoco 170 and 260. Regular and meduim were just a blend of 170 & 260 metered by the pump. I remember working at gas stations in high school and college.

 

[GSX-PKV]

There were actually only two grades of Sunoco 170 and 260. Regular and meduim were just a blend of 170 & 260 metered by the pump. I remember working at gas stations in high school and college.

+1 I also worked at a Sunoco station in HS and that's how the blends were done.

 

[Little6pack]

+1 I also worked at a Sunoco station in HS and that's how the blends were done.

YUP CUSTOM BLENDED..

No more 260 today

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth

Will read all the latest postings shortly but for those of you that do not get our weekly email from our company today I want to make this important announcement.

I also posted this announcement as a new thread under turbo lounge.

We have confirmed with Don Garlits he will be a guest of ZDDPlus at the GS Nationals next May which is the 30th Anniversary for the GS Nationals.

This is a rare opportunity to meet the man that is legendary in the top fuel dragster world for 50 years. Its hard for many of us to fathom being shoehorned in dragster that pumps out 6,000 to 8,000 horsepower and be rocketed down a 1/4 mile in 5 seconds or better at speeds of 275 mph and higher.

This is all made possible by ZDDPlus.....My part was making the connection. I just spent some time with Don in Florida the other week. Wait to you see the top prize in our Christmas contest.

He may bleed Hemi.....but every drag racer has the same goal to be the quickest and his 144 national wins stands above all others in that field.

So, watch ebay buy something to bring so he can sign it.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Dennis Kirban]

That would be the "power steering resevor"

Ken

kirban 2 cents worth

Still wrong....I can't believe no one has guessed this answer as I thought it would be real simple....be sure to carefully re-read the clues.....

I know this group is smart......

Keep trying

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth

On Sunoco....I would guess most of us guys pumped gas at one time or another in our younger days. A dying art today except for 2 states:

I am sure someone can quickly name the two states. I know them want to see if readers know them.

Speaking of Sunoco I have one of those little pocket transister radios that looks like the Sunoco gas pump from back in the day.

As for Evan Ward story back in 1976 I bought a brand new Trans Am 455 4-speed. I think that was the last year for the 455. It was the second new car I ever bought brand new. I was so disappointed in the lack of power when I sold it a year later it only had 900 miles on it.

Keep in mind prior to that I had bought and sold many GTOs reason for the disappointment in power! I just can't see the value in many of the US cars built in the late 1970s and early 1980s with low HP, funky looking bumpers and lots of emission piping.

Once I see a lull on the current history topic if first encounters I will fire up the next line of questioning.

Speaking of the Monte Carlos back then, the funky areocoupe comes to mind and in the Pontiac world the 2 plus 2. Not sure how much weight they added but they made a slow car even slower not to mention very little trunk space.

Over the years in dealing in Turbo Buicks I had a few owners want to trade me low mileage areocoupe examples. I always said no. Only took in trade maybe 2 Monte Carlo SS total as I knew they are hard to sell.

For a car to have any type of demand....simply being rare is not going to get much action.
Car needs hype, and performance besides.

As many of you know the Grand National was probably the first car in the GM line up to literally outshine the Corvette and that trend still continues today. I am comparing 1986-1987 Turbo cars to 1986-1987 Corvettes even in todays market. It was truly Buicks moment in the sun so to speak.

The saying back in the earlier performance days was race on sunday sell on Monday.

Keep the stories coming.....

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[JOHNDEEREGN]

kirban 2 cents worth

On Sunoco....I would guess most of us guys pumped gas at one time or another in our younger days. A dying art today except for 2 states:

I am sure someone can quickly name the two states. I know them want to see if readers know them.

Speaking of Sunoco I have one of those little pocket transister radios that looks like the Sunoco gas pump from back in the day.

As for Evan Ward story back in 1976 I bought a brand new Trans Am 455 4-speed. I think that was the last year for the 455. It was the second new car I ever bought brand new. I was so disappointed in the lack of power when I sold it a year later it only had 900 miles on it.

Keep in mind prior to that I had bought and sold many GTOs reason for the disappointment in power! I just can't see the value in many of the US cars built in the late 1970s and early 1980s with low HP, funky looking bumpers and lots of emission piping.

Once I see a lull on the current history topic if first encounters I will fire up the next line of questioning.

Speaking of the Monte Carlos back then, the funky areocoupe comes to mind and in the Pontiac world the 2 plus 2. Not sure how much weight they added but they made a slow car even slower not to mention very little trunk space.

Over the years in dealing in Turbo Buicks I had a few owners want to trade me low mileage areocoupe examples. I always said no. Only took in trade maybe 2 Monte Carlo SS total as I knew they are hard to sell.

For a car to have any type of demand....simply being rare is not going to get much action.
Car needs hype, and performance besides.

As many of you know the Grand National was probably the first car in the GM line up to literally outshine the Corvette and that trend still continues today. I am comparing 1986-1987 Turbo cars to 1986-1987 Corvettes even in todays market. It was truly Buicks moment in the sun so to speak.

The saying back in the earlier performance days was race on sunday sell on Monday.

Keep the stories coming.....

denniskirban@yahoo.com

We still get our gas pumped in Kansas, so guessing Colorado as #2?