John’s 1987 Limited Turbo T Regal D84

Here’s an awesome Buick story from one of our readers!
Not only was this guy the original owner of this rare (D84 two-tone silver/gray) designer paint Turbo Regal, but he is the current owner as well after a 12 year absence!

Much thanks to John for sharing his story with us so we can share it with you!

(You should take 10 minutes and tell us YOUR own story, see the info at the bottom of this post for how!)

—

From John in American Fork, Utah

My 1987 Turbo Regal Story…..

In 1986 & 1987 I had been reading several car magazines, and I was very intrigued by the Buick Grand National.
I went to a local dealership and took one for a test drive, and was hooked.

In 1987, my brother and I became partners in business and we needed a couple of cars for use in our business.
He had a friend who owned a GM car dealership, so we went there to see about getting a Grand National for mine.
The salesman at the dealership said they could not or did not qualify to order or get a “Grand National”.
He said we could order a Regal with the turbo option and drivetrain.
This idea appealed to me more than getting the official “Grand National”, so I sat down with the salesman to special order a “Turbo Regal”.

He opened his sales book and we started going through the options and this is what I created.
A Limited Turbo T Regal with designer paint, leather seats, Astro Roof, digital dash, cornering lights, Delco FM Stereo w/graphic equalizer and concert sound, digital dash along with some of the usual options.
I had a knowledgeable Turbo Regal owner say that he thinks it might be one of a kind, or one of a few with those options.

A few years after owning it I got interested in drag racing and took it to the track regularly.
It’s endured 100 plus runs down the 1/4 mile strip, my sons taking it to proms and them getting speeding tickets.
One of my sons later admitted taking prom dates home early to go drag racing.
Another son confessed that he had taken the car out for joy rides when mom and dad were gone.
I found out about these things years after they happened when my kids were grown up.
It’s been a fair weather driver only, so it has no rust.
Still has the original paint, motor and interior and just hit 120K on the odometer.

But there’s actually a part 2 to the story of this car.
In 2010 after owning it for 23 years I had to sell it due to financial difficulties.
I am the original creator and 1st owner, and also the 5th owner.

Greg from Canada drove down and bought the car in 2010.
He purchased an enclosed trailer locally and hauled it back to Canada.
A few years later, I found out that someone by the name of Dennis bought the car and kept it at his vacation home in CA for transportation when vacationing there.
If I remember right, I think he called me to ask some questions about it.
He would be the third owner.

And then two years later in 2014, I got a call from someone by the name of Ivan in Chicago who had just purchased the car and had some questions.
He bought the car for his father to drive because they loved the Turbo Regals and owned several of them.
I emailed him a copy of the original window sticker and some other information.

Fast forward to the year 2022, I was thinking about the car and wondered if Ivan still had it.
I found our email correspondence from 2014 and emailed him to see if he still owned it, and yes he still had it.
One thing he asked me after reconnecting with him was, how did I get the car with the options it had?
I told him my story and after a couple of weeks we came to an agreement and I bought the car, becoming the 5th owner.

My son and I drove three days straight from Utah to Wisconsin (where he now lived) and back to Utah.
When I sold the car in 2010, it had 115,000 miles on it.
When I bought the car back in 2022, it had 119,000 miles on it so it was only driven a little over 4000 miles in 12 years.
Ivan who I bought it back from said they just drove it to car shows and church and stored it during the winter.
It still had the tires on it that I bought in 2006.

Thanks to Jason Cramer (RJC Racing) for letting me use his enclosed trailer, and thanks to my son Daniel for the use of his truck and time to bring the car back home.
Thanks to my wife Kathy for putting up with it.
And last of all, thanks to my brother David (RIP) for our business adventure together in acquiring the car.

A quick story about my brother and I.
As I mentioned above we were getting business cars.
The car he got was a Porsche 928 S4.
One time we were driving home from work and happened to be side by side on the freeway.
He was in his Porsche and I was in the Turbo Regal.
This happened before I made any modifications to the TR.
We ended up side by side for a race from about 55 mph.
By the time we hit about 80 mph, I was ahead of him by about 2 car lengths and still gaining.

A few weeks later we were dropping his car off at the Porsche dealership for some kind of service and he sarcastically asked the service manager:
How is it possible that a Buick Regal beat me in a race on the freeway?
I don’t remember if the service manager said anything but it was rather funny.
My brother actually liked going for rides in the Turbo Regal and getting a little sideways on the freeway on onramps when the boost hit.