What got you hooked on TR's, and why.

awesome... It seems that theres more than a few stories, of someone gettin whooped by one, then having to have one for themselves.... I love it lol.
 
I was clueless

It was 1988 and I had been working for Rapid Transmission in San Diego for 7 years. I was the head builder out of 4 transmission rebuilders they had employed at that time and had some say over which units I preferred to build. One of the models on my list was the 200-4R. I considered them one of my gravy units. One day a 200-4R came across my bench that had the largest intermediate servo I had ever seen on any 200-4R and for that matter any unit type that was even related to the 200-4R. It caught my interest. An R&R tech walked by my work area and I stopped him to ask if he was the one that pulled out this 200-4R. He told me it came out of the blue car that was still on one of the racks. He also made it a point to say that it had a turbo.

Darn! Dinners ready. I'll be back.
 
I was clueless, continued

A turbo. Hmmm. Up to that point I had driven other early 80s production turbo cars, domestic and import that frankly, did very little to impress me. In fact, my opinion at the time was that a turbocharger just meant more things to go wrong with the car. Who really needed that headache. Still, that was an awfully large intermediate servo. Was this car going to bang shift on the 1-2? It was just a V6. Shoot. I could just see it. The customer is going to end up complaining about a harsh 1-2 shift. I decided that I had better test drive this car myself. I instructed the R&R tech that was going to do the installation that I wanted to be informed when the car was ready for the test drive and that I would perform it personally.

The tech approached me, handed me the keys and let me know the car was ready for its final. The tech told me it was a pretty good ride. Yeah, sure. Before that point, I had not even taken the time to check out the car much. As I walked up to the car it just looked like another Buick Regal to me. I don't remember noticing any badges on the car. It was an odd blue color, but it looked cool. I don't remember much chrome. It was blued out and the windows were tinted. I had an eerie feeling as I opend the door and positioned myself on the seat. The car had a mysterious feeling to it. It started out as an ordinary test drive so I did little to study the interior. In my head, I was in cruise control, getting ready to take my usual test drive route. Usually, this meant a trip to the nearby freeway entance, a short trip down the freeway to test torque converter lock-up and then a couple blocks through town to get back to the shop. I turned the key and the engine came to life. Something struck me as my attention focused on the exhaust tone. This car sounded a little different than the usual Regals I had driven before. Still, I stayed focused on the test drive at hand and didn't give it another thought. I pulled out of the driveway as normal and proceeded to the freeway on ramp a few blocks away. As I moderately accelerated onto the freeway on ramp, I paid particular attention to the shift points and the shift feel. Felt OK. A positive shift, but not outrageous. Timing felt right. A little more throttle to meet freeway speed. Wow, this feels pretty good. Little did I know that I was not the one taking this car for a ride. It was the car that was slowly beginning to take control of me. I performed a passing gear check. Holy Crap! What was that? OK. I looked down at the dash and gauges. Looking for anything that could clue me into what was happening. Both hands gripping the steering wheel. Was I the unwilling passenger of a monster car or something? I had never felt a rush like that from a production car in my life. I went through the street racing scene in my teenage years with a SBC Chevelle. I knew what performance felt like and grew bored with cars from countless test drives of your normal everyday commuter car. I was at a time in my life where I was trying to better my career and did little studying of what was going on in the performance car world. You might say I was rather single minded in my goals and had blinders on to everthing else going on in the world around me.

To be continued...
 
I almost bought one when i got out of high school in 87 but to much money. i was driving a 82 camaro with a 406 with an edelbrock crossram with two 660 holleys. the car was fast. then one night i was on archer ave in chicago and a gn pulled up next to me and i just laughed . well to my surprise that thing was faster than i thought . yeah he won!. It was an ans car. well about 2 years later i saw a buick regal on a car ramp at crossroads buick in west chicago. i went to look at it. It was an 87 limited garnett red with tan leather interior with column shift and an astro top. i thought to myself what an old mans car. well i found out i knew the original owner of the car . my boss. i was repoing cars for .he knew the owner of the dealer. and thats all it took .i went and test drove the car and i was sold.i could not believe how fast the car was and it was stock except for a chip . so drove the hell out of that car for five years. its been sitting since 95. im doing a frame off on the car right now. hopefully it might be running next year. but it will probably be two years. best looking cars ever made in my eyes.
 
I was clueless, continued

My mindset was quickly changing from test drive mode to wonderment mode. I was driving a car that was determined to show me its stuff. And who was I to interrupt that. I let the car take me past the usual off ramp and I continued down the freeway. There was a long uphill climb off the freeway about 3 miles down the road. I decided that would be a good test for the car to show me what it had. Soon the off ramp came up and I slowed as I approached the end of the off ramp. It turned into a right turn that merged onto a cross street with a fairly steep uphill climb for about three quarters of a mile. I purposely came to a slow speed before putting my foot into it. It had the typical turbo lag that I was used to with other turbo cars, but when it came up on boost, HOLY COW! I took it up into 3rd gear and settled at a comfortable speed. As I approached the stop light at the top of the hill, I can remember myself totally admiring the car. Shifting back and forth in the seat, asking myself over and over, what the hell is this car? How is it that I don't know a thing about this car? The car had hooked me and I knew that one day, it was very possible, I may own one. I was a stout Chevy guy up to that day. Now it's the Chevy guys that don't have a clue. To think that some people confuse a turbo Regal for a Monte Carlo. On that one day, that beautiful blue Buick showed me the truth.

I now own a 84 GN race car, a 87 very mild street/strip WE4 T-type and a 87 GN stocker.
 
oddly enough

I am just a car guy....I like to go fast. About 8 months ago I traded an 80 el-camino I built ( a 500hp sollid-roller cammed 409 sbc el-camino) for my t-type (not quite stock ;) )


I'm happy :) (but now I'm thinking if a turbo w/ six is this fast then 8 cylinders.......)
 
I've liked cars as long as I can remember and GM's to be exact. When I was younger I watched the speed chanel like a fiend when they had all those specials on all different muscle cars. One day they had one on Grand Nationals and I was hooked I just didn't know it yet. Couple years later as I am getting older and learning more I just can't get them out of my head. I turn 16 and start driving my parents Suburban after driving that for a while a friend of a friend has a Typhoon for sale and since my parents want to buy me my own car to drive an AWD SUV seems like a great safe car right? Although I really wanted a GN I figured another one of GM's turbo six creations could stave off the craving's for at least a couple years but I was wrong. Less then a year later a friend is out test driving cars and stumble's across a nice 87 GN that I just can't pass up. 3 days later I traded the Typhoon in and was driving home in my dream car. I like to think of it as a Graduation present for myself.
 
I feel GN's are one of those perfect looking cars.

Remember when you were a little kid and used to draw a picture of a car? Usually we'd all draw a boxy little car, that looked very simple. Yes, it was a GN!

Also, they accelerate and feel like no other car.

Also, the Turbo sounds like the Turbine of a Fighter Jet!
 
i was born in 1980 and grew up reading magazines and learning about cars and performance. i found it odd that camaros and mustangs with aftermarket everything would run 13's-12's, and v6 TR's with a couple of boltons (stock internals)were running 12's even 11's, just something that gets youre curiousity going when youre young. i also remember all the car craft issues with the street car challenge(i think thats what it was called cant remember) and there was always either t-types, or corvettes, nova's.... that swapped in TR drivetrain. that gets you thinking that they are something special when people are pulling v8 out to put these engines in!
 
I was at a car show around 94' when I saw my first GN, The body lines color and a v6 with a big turbo turned me on. I showed the car to my father and I remember him saying "whats so special about this car" I had no clue I was just drawn to it. Then the owner came over and informed us both of what the car was and the power they made. After we were done talking to the owner and started walking away dad said "I still don't think it will take my 5.0" at the time he had a new GT vert. 8 years later after hard waiting I purchased my GN and my father had remembered his doubts about the cars and changed his mind fast after his first ride :D
 
Always beena fan from seein TRs woop my Camaros, Trans Ams, and buddies cars - I have always been a Speed Freak! My dad was looking for a Crown Vic in Feb of 87 when I talked him into test driving a GN. He said don 't tell your mom but we're buying this car. Mom was hacked when he got home, until she drove it. Christmas of 87, I had a great job in the oil industry and bought myself one for Christmas. I drove it 7 years, put 100,000 miles on it and sold it for what I paid $17,452 - never forget it. Always regretted selling it. Lost everything in Katrina, to ease my heartache, my wife agreed to let me get another GN, reluctantly. After her first test drive, she let me know that this car was now her car and I would have to buy my own next year. Yeah, that's a good wife!!!!
 
tscruggs said:
Always beena fan from seein TRs woop my Camaros, Trans Ams, and buddies cars - I have always been a Speed Freak! My dad was looking for a Crown Vic in Feb of 87 when I talked him into test driving a GN. He said don 't tell your mom but we're buying this car. Mom was hacked when he got home, until she drove it. Christmas of 87, I had a great job in the oil industry and bought myself one for Christmas. I drove it 7 years, put 100,000 miles on it and sold it for what I paid $17,452 - never forget it. Always regretted selling it. Lost everything in Katrina, to ease my heartache, my wife agreed to let me get another GN, reluctantly. After her first test drive, she let me know that this car was now her car and I would have to buy my own next year. Yeah, that's a good wife!!!!
Click to expand...

That's a great story, sorry about your loss with Katrina, but glad your wife let you get another GN:D
 
for me it kinda started around 92-93. I have just moved to pensylvania with my mother and stepfather. I was at wal mart one day and saw an all black car roll into the parking lot there. Ive always been into cars and it looked cool, I looked at the emblem on the fender and it said grand national, had never seen one before and didnt have any idea what it was even, basically wrote it off, was more into mustangs at the time anyway. then one day, I really cant remember when really, I was probally looking through a car magazine, it could have been hot rod or maybe turbo, you know back when it was good and had mostly TRs and TTAs in it and not rice, I think I saw a GN, read about it and thought it was cool. did more research and found out exactly what they were. fast foward to about 01 in hawaii. I had a honda prelude and had just bought a 68 cuda with a 440 swaped in, was tyring to sell the prelude, it was the end of a brief period of toying with import performance that can only be described as a momentary lapse of reason that the cuda thankfully snapped me out of. some time in there I started looking for a car that was good on gas, the cuda was killing me but I had no intention of selling it. look at a few cars, a guy had a..cant remember the year... t type for 4k. went to take a look at it...well it was a POS. the windows wouldnt roll down, the drivers seat was broken, it was painted black to look like a gn, had gn seats and sterring wheel, I drove it and it was a complete dog and the shocks were gone, needless to say I passed on it. sometime after i got the cuda my friend picked up a 88 monte SS. we had swapped cars for a while because of the gas and my ex GF was visiting and didnt like the cuda because it " was old, sounded like a boat and didnt have AC" key word in previous sentance EX. so there was my first experience with a T, I knew it was probally just a piece car beacuse by this time I fully understood what they were and the addiction had begun, however slight at the time. what the car swap did was solodify my love for GM g bodies. that monte was just nice. it drove great and even though it was stock with the dog 305 in it you could tell it had a little bit, we knew we could swap a 350 in it and planned to until someone ran into him and totaled it. fast foward to about a year and a half ago.. ive always wanted different cars and am always looking at ads and stuff, even knowing full well that i can buy any of them was at work at wal mart and they had that dub city die cast, you know the one that 3.0 turbo sfi on the bulge :confused: . well the dipwad import guy that worked with me said something about it. I knew how much the costed, but at the time the other ar that ive always wanted, a 68-70 charger was way out of my reach. I decided it had to be a GN. I like that fact that there modern, turbod and are one of the most responsive cars to mods ive ever seen. I love the way they look with that black bad ass paintjob. they are the perfect car. they are also universially feared by the import crowd and the v8 guys. basically its an extention of my love for g bodies and the GN is the best of the breed. so the search continues.. hopefully in about 6 months I will be picking one up. when finances are right. dont know ive never been beaten by one, ive always known better and I hardly see them on the road, never really driven one, except that one junk one. I just know I want one.
 
keep savin, and dont settle for a beat down one either. keep your standards high enough to keep yourself from falling in a money pit. Maybe try a hot air?
decent ones can be had for a moderate amount of money. throw a great cooling system and an alchohol kit in, and youre in business.
 
Years ago I remeber being at a fast food place and a dentist here had a 87 gn. He was across the street at the gas station and was pulling out as I was leaving myself. In a blick of the eye he was pulled out and blowing the rear tires off the car!!! I was like, GOOD GOD!! Well I wanted one bad but was about 18 then or so and of course had NO money lol. I keep my 72 chevelle running and life went on. Years later I went to work at coachmen, a rv plant and there was a fellow there with a 87 T-type, limited with all the granny stuff on it. Teal colored, side lights, I mean the biggest granny car you would ever see [ can you say super sleeper!!! ] I didn't ever really pay it much attention at all. We became good friends while I was there and still are to this day. The car still had not really got my attention that much at all until I seen him leave the stop light past work one day. WHAT!!!!!! Doug had been holding out on me lol. After several rides with him and finances finally better I started looking for my own. I found her in north carolina. Doug went with me to look the car over as he knew LOTS more about them than I did. When we finally got there about 10hr drive and seen it it was super nice and clean as a whistle. We all got into the car, me driving, the owner and Doug in the back seat and went down the road in her. We got off on a side road and as I turned the owner said we were in a good place, get on it!!! Well you didn't have to tell me twice. I was straight and running probley about 10mph and stomped it to be dissapointed!!! I was like oh man this sucks but then the T63 turbo kicked in and holy cow!!!!!!! It was all over the road with all 3 of us in it! SOLD SOLD SOLD baby!! I couldn't wait to get it back and loaded up on the trailer! It's been a money pit ever since but man what a rush! Finally got to run it a while back and on street tune it ran 12.11. Thats the fastest I had been before and man what a rush. Now its time to turn up the boost!!!!!!! Daniel Ray:D :D
 
keep savin, and dont settle for a beat down one either. keep your standards high enough to keep yourself from falling in a money pit. Maybe try a hot air?
decent ones can be had for a moderate amount of money. throw a great cooling system and an alchohol kit in, and youre in business.
Click to expand...

trust me I am. dont really have any interest in a hot air car, its gotta be a intercooled model. I pretty much know what I want and will get it when I can, when I can afford what I want.
 
My first car was a 1965 Olds Cutlass. High output 330 w/ 2 speed jetaway trans., buckets, console shift. Pretty fast, or so I thought at the time. Fast forward to late 1985, still big into Oldsmobiles. Started reading about this Buick that suddenly was outrunning almost everything. At the time I didn't even know what an intercooler was or what it did. The more I heard about this car the more I had to see one. I started visiting Buick dealers throughout eastern PA. The first one I saw was in Lancaster. Love at first sight was an understatement. There it was my '65 Cutlass, but all black (If you look at the '65 Cutlass and the GN they have almost identical body lines and are the same interior layout as well as drivetrain layout.) Unfortunately, if you didn't have grey hair and a briefcase full of cash most dealers wouldn't even let you sit in their GN. That was until I went to Klick-Lewis in Palmyra, PA. home of the "Any car $49. over invoice." Sitting on the corner was an '86 Limited in two-tone grey. The young salesman came out and asked me if I wanted to take it for a test drive. "Are you kidding?" So here he comes with a plate and keys. Throws the plate on the back, hands me the keys and says "See you in a half hour - and by the way there is a nice straight road 2.1 miles on the left for you to open it up." Imagine my first test drive in a turbo car, with no salesman driving or even looking over my shoulder. When I got back he told me he saw my smile two minutes before he could see the car! Needless to say - SOLD!!! I ordered my '87 Turbo "T" in April of '86 and told them to hold the order for the '87 model year. It was one of the first '87 turbo cars made.The car arrived at the dealer in late August, but I couldn,t pick it up for three weeks because they didn't get the MSO. Agony! But worth the wait. With a sticker of $17,797. I paid $16,004. Total. Including taxes and tags. I still can't believe it !
 
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