Ok, so I just looked at my profile. I am a "new member" who joined the board in 2002! Wow. Slacker doesn't even begin to cover it lol.
I first found out about turbo regals in 1987 when my father brought one home on a whim. He had gone to buy a replacement for his Thunderbird Elan and came back with this BEAST! Anyways I learned how to respect the power, the less than adequate handling and the piss poor braking abilities as I learned to drive. Needless to say I didn't get the keys much, but when I did whoa boy!
Fast forward to 1992, I am in the navy and looking for a car. I found a 2 owner 87 gn with ttops (silly me I really loved those things) for 9k with 70k original miles. I actually passed on a retired fbi turbo regal because it didnt have t's. It DID have the grill lights , gun racks in the overhead and trunk, upgraded suspension and braking from the factory, and a LOT of early go fast goodies under the hood that produced low 12 sec timeslips. And a price 3500 less than what I ended up with lol (foolish me!) I drove mine hard and fast for about 5 years till I rolled 100k on the odo and shortly thereafter threw a bearing. At this time I had such grandiose plans for a slightly better than stock rebuild, but life got in the way.
Joined the civilian job pool ,met my wife ,had a little girl and didnt have time, or money, for a toy. I should done the right thing by my family & the car , but I couldn't bear to let her go. My daughter ended up with a diagnosis of neuroblastoma, a rare form of abdominal cancer, so the next few years were spent in and out of hospitals in the ny area. Thankfully our efforts were rewarded and she just started her first year at college last month.
All along the gn has come with me. First parked in my father's driveway. Then when I bought a house I towed it down the GSP and I started to get the grime and rust worked off. Had two more girls and started fostering my 2 nephews and again time and money went bye bye. Still couldnt part with her.
There have been 4-5 abortive attempts to resurrect the gn but each time something more important comes up. Top it with the lack of a garage and I am sitting with what my friends affectionately call the planter. Surprisingly little rust on the usual problem areas, ie trunk floor and cowl , fender wells, doors and jams. But a totally rotten interior due to long rotted weatherstripping. And floors. And a dead engine.
Been getting the bug ALOT lately as my friend finishes his monster 86 svo build, and I see alot of coworkers buying late model pony cars (stangs chargers camaros and even a g8). Coming back on here to see what kind of ideas and help I can glean, and also parts!
So theres my tale. Hope to see some of you at the track in, oh, say 18 to 24 months!
Rick
I first found out about turbo regals in 1987 when my father brought one home on a whim. He had gone to buy a replacement for his Thunderbird Elan and came back with this BEAST! Anyways I learned how to respect the power, the less than adequate handling and the piss poor braking abilities as I learned to drive. Needless to say I didn't get the keys much, but when I did whoa boy!
Fast forward to 1992, I am in the navy and looking for a car. I found a 2 owner 87 gn with ttops (silly me I really loved those things) for 9k with 70k original miles. I actually passed on a retired fbi turbo regal because it didnt have t's. It DID have the grill lights , gun racks in the overhead and trunk, upgraded suspension and braking from the factory, and a LOT of early go fast goodies under the hood that produced low 12 sec timeslips. And a price 3500 less than what I ended up with lol (foolish me!) I drove mine hard and fast for about 5 years till I rolled 100k on the odo and shortly thereafter threw a bearing. At this time I had such grandiose plans for a slightly better than stock rebuild, but life got in the way.
Joined the civilian job pool ,met my wife ,had a little girl and didnt have time, or money, for a toy. I should done the right thing by my family & the car , but I couldn't bear to let her go. My daughter ended up with a diagnosis of neuroblastoma, a rare form of abdominal cancer, so the next few years were spent in and out of hospitals in the ny area. Thankfully our efforts were rewarded and she just started her first year at college last month.
All along the gn has come with me. First parked in my father's driveway. Then when I bought a house I towed it down the GSP and I started to get the grime and rust worked off. Had two more girls and started fostering my 2 nephews and again time and money went bye bye. Still couldnt part with her.
There have been 4-5 abortive attempts to resurrect the gn but each time something more important comes up. Top it with the lack of a garage and I am sitting with what my friends affectionately call the planter. Surprisingly little rust on the usual problem areas, ie trunk floor and cowl , fender wells, doors and jams. But a totally rotten interior due to long rotted weatherstripping. And floors. And a dead engine.
Been getting the bug ALOT lately as my friend finishes his monster 86 svo build, and I see alot of coworkers buying late model pony cars (stangs chargers camaros and even a g8). Coming back on here to see what kind of ideas and help I can glean, and also parts!
So theres my tale. Hope to see some of you at the track in, oh, say 18 to 24 months!
Rick
