Hello fellas. I potentially may be looking at a 86/87 regal t type we4, grand National, or just a plan regal that has been cloned. I’ve known about the car for about 20 years. The guy lives in the neighborhood and acquired the car back when officers could buy seized cars from what ever circumstances that they could not be given back to the person that it was taken from. It went through a police auction Id imagine locally and if my memory serves me right when I was on the job it was sitting in a warehouse with all the seized unreleasable vehicles. He bought it. I think I’ve seen it out of his garage less then a handful of times. He’s moving and knows I’m into Buicks but I never took much time into researching and learning about all the turbo guru stuff. I’m a 68/69 guy with no knowledge of the turbo/G body world. So with the help of you guys could you please tell me what to look for on this car? It looks to be a grand National or a t type we4. I don’t remember if it had buckets. I believe it was a t top car. It also could possibly be a clone of a turbo car being just a regal t-top. I read that on certain years there is a white sticker that decodes all the options. Would that sticker as well match the vin? Also will there be specific numbers or letters to tell you if it’s a GN, t type, or just plain regal. Like the A-body cars are there vins and code stamps on specific locations of the block and transmission? Will the body tag break any information down? The officer never truly had much interest in the car. I don’t know if he even knows what he has. Again this came through a police auction well over 20+ years ago because I knew he had it 20 years ago. It may have been part of his pension plan. I just want to know what I’m looking at. One of my first Buicks was an 85 t top regal white paint burgundy interior. Thanks
Check the tag on the DS firewall. That’ll have paint/body codes. The can come with bench seats, column shift, etc. There should be an RPO/SPID sticker on the trunk lid that will have all of the options, paint, & VIN so you can make sure they match. The codes will tell you the interior type. Look for LC2 that’ll be the turbo motor. T-Tops are obviously notorious for rusting around the tops/pillars. Look for cracks by the rear opera windows(due to body flex). Look on the pass underside for a yellow BRF trans tag. Unfortunately there are various options. For me technically I have a base Regal with a turbo. There’s that option, The Grand National, Turbo Regal Limited. You can go to GNTType.org & decode all of the RPO/SPID codes if you can get a picture of it. That’ll help. There’s more aluminum drums(easily added later though), G80 limited slip, & there’s a code to determine if it’s a Grand National. There’s more. I’m sure people will chime in. The base Regals, T-Types can also be lighter due to aluminum bumper supports, aluminum wheels, etc. I’m drolling on here so….LOL. I’ll help with any questions you have I can try to answer. Kyle
Alomg with the above info, look for the following, Digital tach, and boost gauge in dash cluster by speedo. Below fuel gauge it should say "Premium fuel only" Shift indicator should have the "Overdrive" position after the "D" position Rear axle is the GM corporate 8.5" the cover is more round verses the standard 7.5" which is a bit oval. Stock brake booster is a Powermaster, NOT a vacuum booster like we are accustomed too. People have changed over to vacuum or Hydroboost, but if this was a seized car in a crime, I doubt the criminal cared to swap over. Kinda tough to check, but the torque convertor is a D5, it will have "D5" stamped around the diameter of the convertor housing. Its a higher stall (2200 to 2400) convertor.
If it’s a factory Turbo car, it will have an 8.5 rear, a bulge hood and powermaster brake system (or did when it was built). It should have 15x7 wheels, chrome on GNs and aluminum on all others. GNs are always black with two tone grey/black bucket interior. All three roof options were available (solid, T, sun). In ‘87, the turbo option was wide open. Any version other than GN could be bench or buckets, solid roof, t top or sunroof. Any color, any vinyl top. 87 also had WE4, which is the black over grey buckets with black trim (WO2) and no vinyl top. If it’s an ‘86 it needs to be either a GN or T Type. Ts can be any color. Either way all the trim will be black (again, WO2) and it can’t have a vinyl top. Patrick
Thank you guys very much for all the help and knowledge!! I’m hoping to take a look at the car this weekend.
Unfortunately fellas I won’t probably have pictures until I meet the new home owner. I guess the car sold with the house!!! So there is still a possibility of the car being for sale. I just have no idea who will be my new neighbor. Did the house sell him or the car. Probably the best of both worlds if he is married because it’s a nice house with a big garage. I did find out some details. It’s an 87 regal t type we4. It does not have t tops. The car was never high on his toy list. Being an officer I guess consumed a lot of overtime and when he wasn’t working fishing during the summer and snowmobiling was big for him. He’s retired and moved on. So stay tuned. I will see what the new home owners plans are with it. Now knowing it doesn’t have t tops I’m not as interested in it. I’ve been wanting a convertible 68/69 and I really like how my buddies 87 GN with t tops rides. It’s a bit tighter and more soft on the ride. The t tops I figured was a happy medium for me. Either way when I meet the néw neighbor I will let you guys know if the car is for sale and if I can get pictures so on!
If you can buy it for the right price, do. T top cars are slightly less valuable so you may be in a good place owning/selling/trading a solid roof car. I personally love a T roof car, having had two second gen T/As with them, but you and I are less common. The WE4 is the second rarest (T Limiteds are rarest) and a lot of people want them, and a lot of those people want them as light and stiff as possible-aluminum rims, drums, bumper brackets and low options. Patrick
While the non GN cars are not pulling down the same amount of money, they’re exactly the same weird enough. Sans various option choices. The car, motor, trans, & axle are exactly the same. Just no black paint. I personally like the non GN’s. Not as common. I’ve contacted the GM Heritage Center as I believe the D84 designer paint versions are the rarest. Though they had no info on the D84 production numbers. Now I have the most common D84(two tone silver). Not that this matters any, just interesting facts for myself. Kyle
