What Inspired You to Buy Your Turbo Buick ??

My desire came when I was a small boy, about 7-8 years old. My uncle worked for GM in the 80s and his “executive” car was a GN with a digital dash. That had to be in 88-89. Anyway, he let his brother, my dad, borrow the car. And I distinctly remember being in the back seat with that white/black interior as a kid. But what really made me remember this car was the fact that he, my dad, pulled up to a toll booth with a ZR1 next to him. Him being the racing type decided to race this ZR1 from the toll both. Blew him (the ZR1) away. And this all when we had full luggage for three people in the back. I mean, come on!

So, my dad had to return the car to his brother at GM and I can tell you, he didn’t want to. Up until the day he passed he always talked about that GN. Being the best car he’s ever driven and being the most memorable. We used to sit and drink on our porch that I grew up on and speak about this car. Always this car. He loved it. I loved it.

Last year I finally found one in great condition. The reason I bought it was only because me and my dad just loved it. And I mean loved it. Now that I actually have one of these fantastic machines as an adult, I can say, it’s a pain in the ass, it drives me nuts, but it is so fun to drive and it brings back some great memories. And guess what? It’s still a badass and I’m glad to own one. I love this car, all it’s quirks, and I plan to enjoy it as much as my father did in the 80s. This car does something to all of us, let’s embrace it.

To end, have to say thanks to this great community. I never realized that there was such a great group of people who love this car as much as I do.


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My desire for these cars had nothing to do with the car itself initially. It was the beginning of a Father and son relationship. Up till this point my ol man was working his tail off to give us a better life working crazy hours at work. Growing up he was a dude I feared to mess up around but watched from a distance because he was a no nonsense kind of guy. He was always into muscle cars from the time he started driving. Nothing he owned stayed stock for any given length of time.
So my Mom had a brown Buick regal and my older brother being a car nut himself kept telling my Dad to upgrade it to a Grand National. All the magazines came out showing what this car could do, and the ol boy pulled the trigger on a brand new one in 1987. It evolved from there to where this car brought the boys of the house together. Then we all jumped into it and drove to the track. This was mind blowing for us that have never heard or seen anything about a track. Anytime the ol boy jumped into the car we were anxious to jump in the car with him and laugh like no tomorrow when the turbo spooled, the idiot lights on the dashboard lit up and the tires squealed like a stuck pig. So being a car nut myself I had a Omni GLH turbo that I rigged up with a 60mm Precision turbo, big injectors, intercooler, fuel pump etc that ran in the 13's back in 91. My Dad at the time owned my white T-type that I have today. I asked him to come get some, I was so confident that I would whoop him because my GLH would run 13's, but on the roll would annihilate the 11 sec Mustangs. So I poured some C16 in the tank and wicked it to beat the ol man. We were rolling in the top of 2nd gear and I cheated and hit it before him. The GLH pulled him by a car and a half on the hit and I was beaming that I was going to beat him. By the top of 3rd gear I see the white T starting to walk by me with him laughing as he was doing it. So eventually I sold my GLH and bought his white T, and that was the day my ol man became my best friend. I did not like the look of the car, just liked the speed of it, but because this car brought us together it became something I eventually loved. We would wrench on them together, clean them, race them, and the best of all..... We took our first drive to Bowling Green for the week and watched the Buick scene at its peak when everybody was there, and vendors row took a day to consume. It was the best time to be a Buick lover, there was no shortage of racing, cars rolling all over Bowling Green at nights, in the hotels. just a amazing time to be alive. To this day we are still as tight as butt cheeks and talk Buick's none stop. My car is extremely sentimental to me. It's been mine for the last 30 years, but everytime I see it, I see him. Amazing how Motorsports can do this. For that reason, I will never sell it.
 
Cool thread interesting to see who were Buick guys before the TR and who were lured over to Buick by the TR's.
Myself I started driving Buick's in about 1979. My wife now had a 1970 GS then and that got me hooked on Buick's so I can always blame her nowadays for having a lot of Buick's lol.
Bought a 71 GS in 1980 and kept if for a few years. Since 1980 I have never been without at least one Buick.
From 1984 to the mid 90's I lived right down the street from a Buick dealer, I cruised by all the time going to work and back (in a Buick GS from the early 70's as I had several in this time period) to a sea of black! GN's were everywhere. I never could afford one so I only looked. lol
I got married in '85 and my son was born in '88 so there was no TR in my future at least that is what I thought?
I loved the V8 Buick's and was more than happy with those. In 1995 I had two wrecks that year a 1985 Buick Century that I bought cheap in a auction and a 1970 GS that I had owned for awhile.
The Century, I T boned a lady that ran a stop sign and the GS I had a guy make a U turn with a trailer right in front of me and I T boned him. Both cars were total losses. I got paid for both accidents right around the same time and had 10K in my pocket looking for a new Buick.
Still with Buick V8 on my mind I wanted a 1967 Buick GS 340 car that I knew was for sale. I had seen the car 6 months earlier at a car show and I really love the 67's. The owner of the GS was out of the country on business I found out later... this went almost 4 months trying/wanting to buy this 67 GS.
It just wasn't to be. I cruised the local papers almost everyday(before the internet) looking for another Buick to buy this 10k was burning a hole in my pocket but I was still holding out hope on the GS.

Looking through the paper I saw a 1986 Grand National for sale from a new car dealer north of Dallas me and the wife decided to go look, it was in my price range at $8500.00. We test drove it and bought the car that day. I didn't even haggle on the price I was so happy after driving the car. And still to this day waiting to get a '67 lol.
 
I was working the AAA booth at the 86 national new car auto show at the convention center in DC the Buick Division had the new 86 GN on display across from us. At the time I thought here we go again, another dumb-ass wanna-be muscle car with graphics, all that GN turbo 6 on the seats/dash etc. I thought was stupid and flashy. Fast forward 2 years when my dad bought a used one with 30k miles and took me for a ride, that was it, I still have that car today, although its a bit quicker now. Can't ever sell it, Pop just died in Feb. this year and everytime I drive it I think of him and that time period back in the 80's.
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Mike
 
In '87 I was 12 years. My brother was looking to buy his first new car. He gravitated to a Monte Carlo SS. I was hoping he'd buy it. Parents said no. He got a brand new '88 Cavalier Z24. I always gravitated to g-bodies. My uncle's & friends dad's cutless's. Fast forward to 1991-1992. I learned about more g-bodies. Found out about Buick's g-body, the Regal, then the GN. My friends and I were gear heads back then, I carried on.

The GN was the car to have. We were at a mall and walked by a kiosk selling stitch patches and iron on patches. I flipped the book pages and found the grim reaper in a cemetery with a GN coming out. I said, that's the one I want. I had it ironed on my jean jacket. Fast forward to 1993-1994, my friends and i learn about a gas station with an adjacent coffee shop that happened to be a local meeting point where all the big boys would meet for their weekend race meet. It was a car show every weekend. Later on my friend and I had left and happen to end up behind a corvette and white t-type. They both took off, we've never seen a car take off like the t-type did. We caught up to the t-type and i waived my jean jacket screaming YEAH!! at the driver like rabid fan at a football game. I definitely thought i was an idiot. lol

Fast forward to 1995. The local mechanic shop/gas station that serviced my boss' delivery vehicles has a GN that may be added to the used car fleet. I inquire about it. He said he'd sell it to me. I desperately sold my '88 Nissan 300ZX with custom paint, lowering kit and stereo, as fast as i could. Sold it, and bought that buick as fast as possible. Sold it in '97. One of many dumb things i did. Sold it to go to school was the second dumbest thing i did.

March, 2020. I got my ass right back into one. Only this time, my family enjoys it with me.

By the way, I believe over a long period of time these cars shrink.
 
I was working the AAA booth at the 86 national new car auto show at the convention center in DC the Buick Division had the new 86 GN on display across from us. At the time I thought here we go again, another dumb-ass wanna-be muscle car with graphics, all that GN turbo 6 on the seats/dash etc. I thought was stupid and flashy. Fast forward 2 years when my dad bought a used one with 30k miles and took me for a ride, that was it, I still have that car today, although its a bit quicker now. Can't ever sell it, Pop just died in Feb. this year and everytime I drive it I think of him and that time period back in the 80's.
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Mike

Great story. Right on,never sell it. Funny how an inanimate object can always bring back such incredible memories with someone associated with it.
 
Well that or we may get into it when we can fix it. She is already saying I will blame her if it gets messed up..lol
Thanks for the reply.
 
Bought my 87 WE4 in January 1992. Had an 86 Olds Cutlass at the time. I had been reading about the turbo Regals since they were new. Finally got my chance at one and never regretted it. My first performance car. Daily driven for 4 years and has been garage kept since 1996. 150k miles now. I bought my car when the prices had come down a bit and I got a great deal. Definitely a keeper for me. Lots of memories.
 
Well, long story short. While spending the summer of 88 in Redford, Michigan with my cousin Tony I got a chance to ride in his cousin's, Billy, 87 Grand National. My cousin Tony, he was my cousin by marriage and Billy was Tony's biological cousin. That's why I do not refer to Billy as my cousin as well. Tony and his dad decided to take a ride in their 87 C4 Vette and Billy just so happened to stop by with his 87 GN. Billy ask if he could follow along in his GN and Tony and his dad said sure. Billy offered to me to ride with him and the next thing you know we were racing the Vette from street light to 60 or 70 and Billy's GN was quicker off the mark every time and left the Vette in his dust.

Billy told me that usually his GN was faster, but due to the record 104 degree temperature in the Detroit Metro Area the intake temperature was just too hot. The intake temperature too hot, I was like yeah, sure, whatever. I had no idea what he was talking about.

The quickness of the car, the all blacked out G-Body, the sound of the turbo and the fact that the speedo maxed at 85 made me want a GN so bad. Too me, the things I mentioned all contributed to the coolness factor. I was 15 years old at the time and 20 years later I bought my 86 GN. I had test drove several 86s and 87s, but the one 86 GN I test drove just seemed to be tuned really well and seemed to have more power than the others. Plus the owner had powder coated the lower and upper intake and the engine bay was really clean. Went to my bank and got a certified check for $13k and rest is history.

However, I only knew I wanted a GN because of its being unique and how quick it was. I did not know though that there was such a thing as a T-Type or Turbo T. I had remembered someone mentioning to me about the special edition of the GN the GNX, but only vaguely and I didn't remember it was called a GNX. Had I taken some more time and did more research I probably would've discovered the T-Type and T's and it is entirely possibly that I would've ended up with a limited edition 87 T or a WE4.

When I bought my GN and brought it home it ran just fine, plenty of power considering a stock turbo and instead of enjoying just having it close to stock for a couple of years I immediately upgraded to a TE44 turbo, cold air kit, 42# injectors, alky kit and my fuel pump was replaced. This was in June of 2008 and for some reason the Walbro 255 pumps were failing and my first time to the dragstrip I made four passes and I wanted to get in one more. It was the only pass my wife recorded for me and I just so happened I was running against an 87 GN. I got my best 60' time, but a little after the 1/8th my car reminded me of a jet because of all white smoke coming out of the exhaust. I popped a head gasket. The person who did the upgrades was convinced that I had not topped off my alky or purged it or something and that was the issue. So I had it towed to him and talked me into getting ported heads in addition to replacing the head gasket. I truly thought that it was my fault that I didn't do something correctly, but once the engine was zipped up and the guy tried to start it, it would not start. So he checked the fuel pressure and it was 0! He called me up and said the fuel pump was dead and I needed a new one. I said, well I don't want to put the same type back in my car and have it fail again and he said he would put a Walbro 340 in it. Then he called me back and said the pump replacement was free of charge. He had told me where the headgasket had blown was a very odd place and it was usually in this particular due to detonation. Well I guess I got the fuel pump for free because he realized that the fuel pump had completely failed while I was at WOT and the cylinder(s) leaned out and the gasket had actually melted I guess from me running pure methanol and not diluting it. I am not certain, but I still have the melted head gaskets to this day. During the summer of 09 my car never really ran all the great, because I kept getting false knock. It was false because I turned the boost down to 15psi and I was still seeing knock, even 110 octane. Then I had my car out one night and it was really cold and I launched from a stop sign and my crank ended up in oil pan. I did have my car back on the road by 2010 and then I bought a stock 109 block and had my engine rebuilt in 2016. My wife and I cruised in it until the summer of 2022, but I started pulling it apart to upgrade to the GN-ECU and during that upgrade I decided to clean up and replace "a few" things. Hopefully I will have it put back together by this spring and tuned and hopefully running at least high 10s.
 
Back in early 1987, I had a Mustang GT with ported heads and nitrous. The only two cars I ever lost to on the street were Buicks. I figured if you cant beat 'em, join 'em.
Glad you did !!
 
Beginning with "long story short" is like beginning with "no offense" 😛
I can't seem to ever make a long story short. I make a short story long and a long story nearly impossible for anyone to bother to read.
 
Enjoyed your post just being a dick
I didn't think that when I read your comment, I started a laughing because I can't seem to contain myself when I start talking about astronomy, boxing, ICEs, Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Turbo Regals and talking about the past in general. To be completely honest, most of what I write is mind numbing and not remotely interesting. Then when you add in the fact that I have to take Adderall, I can't shutup. LOL!
 
I didn't think that when I read your comment, I started a laughing because I can't seem to contain myself when I start talking about astronomy, boxing, ICEs, Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Turbo Regals and talking about the past in general. To be completely honest, most of what I write is mind numbing and not remotely interesting. Then when you add in the fact that I have to take Adderall, I can't shutup. LOL!

I didn't think that when I read your comment, I started a laughing because I can't seem to contain myself when I start talking about astronomy, boxing, ICEs, Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Turbo Regals and talking about the past in general. To be completely honest, most of what I write is mind numbing and not remotely interesting. Then when you add in the fact that I have to take Adderall, I can't shutup. LOL!
Yep think I remember u replying to my Ali vs Holmes thread years ago
 
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