1983 Buick Regal T Type: no Grand National, an overdrive automatic

For 1983 the turbocharged Regal Sport Coupe was renamed the Regal T Type, and this record's own overview states plainly that there was no Grand National offered that year. Stainless-steel tubular exhaust manifolds lifted the carbureted turbo 3.8 to 180 hp at 4,000 rpm and 280 lb-ft at 2,400 rpm, and a THM 200-4R overdrive automatic replaced the previous three-speed transmission, a change that in turn allowed a 3.42 axle ratio.^1,2

Production of the 1983 Regal T Type is given as 3,732, a figure on which two enthusiast compilations agree, though this record's own production note is careful to add that the two compilations cite two different underlying books, and that neither book's own source Buick production record was actually seen by this record's compilers, so the agreement is between two secondary tellings rather than two independent primary counts. A related figure not scoped to the Regal at all notes that the Riviera T Type also used the same turbocharged V-6 in 1983, with 1,331 turbo Riviera T Types listed by one of this record's sources, a figure this record treats strictly as context for how the engine was shared across Buick's 1983 lineup rather than as any part of the Regal total.^1,3

The 1983 turbo V-6's rating is presented as settled at 180 hp at 4,000 rpm and 280 lb-ft at 2,400 rpm, sourced to Buick's own literature as compiled by this record's sources, but a conflicting figure of 190 hp at just 1,600 rpm, with the same 280 lb-ft at 2,400 rpm, appears in one enthusiast compilation; this record's own conflict entry explains that a second source specifically identifies that 190-hp figure as an error traceable to the particular book that compilation cites, which is why 180 hp is the figure entered in this record's rating while the 190 figure is shown only as an attributed error rather than a genuine rival claim. The THM 200-4R four-speed overdrive automatic is documented as the T Type's transmission, and the car's axle ratio and final drive are given together as 3.42 and 2.29 to one, the only specification value recorded for the year in this record. One option is documented for the year, RPO Y44, a decor package combining Designer's Accent Paint, a blacked-out grille, blacked-out wiper arms and bezels, wide rocker moldings, and a sport steering wheel.^1,3

Identification details for the year are limited to the T Type's badging: this record's own identification entry notes that 1983 T TYPE emblems carry a vertical, rather than slanted, letter "T," alongside new V-6 logos added to the fenders. No prices, no paint colors, no interior trims, and no performance-test data were found in an accessible documented source for the 1983 Regal T Type, so those sections carry nothing further in this record. An unpublished lead notes that a November 1982 Motor Trend article, "Building a Better Sport Coupe," is cited by two of this record's sources as covering the engineering changes behind the 1983 T Type, but that article itself has not been read, so no figures from it are carried here, and this record's engineering detail for the year is limited to what the two enthusiast compilations state directly.¹