1986 Buick Regal T Type and Grand National: intercooled

For 1986 the Regal's turbocharged 3.8-liter V-6 gained an air-to-air intercooler. AutoWeek's specification box for its test car lists 235 bhp at 4,400 rpm and 330 lb-ft at 3,200 rpm, with sequential port fuel injection and a four-speed automatic, and the Grand National it tested carried a $14,349 base price.¹

Production figures for 1986 show two lineages converging on the same headline total even as their internal breakdowns differ in detail. Over-Drive Magazine's production table lists 7,896 Regal T Types, noting that the total includes 5,512 Grand Nationals, and gnttype.org's separate lineage splits that same 7,896 turbo cars into 5,512 Grand Nationals, 1,921 T-Types, and 463 cars under a package labeled WH1, with this record's own production note stating plainly that the two lineages agree on the 7,896 total even though they present its internal split differently. This record's own key facts add that Over-Drive separately states 2,384 of the 7,896 performance V-6 Regals were T Types, a figure that equals gnttype's 1,921 T-Type row plus its 463 WH1 row exactly, which this record's own key facts note suggests, without stating outright, that gnttype's WH1 rows are themselves T Types under a different label. All 1986 rear-drive Regal production totaled 91,229, made up of 39,734 base Regal coupes and 43,599 Regal Limited coupes, though this record's own production note flags that the same source's article text elsewhere gives 43,559 for the Limited instead, a forty-unit gap within a single source. Separately, 4,138 Regals of all engines were shipped to Canada that year, including 441 Grand Nationals under RPO WE2. A related but distinct figure, kept explicitly out of this record's own counts, notes that Buick also built a front-wheel-drive, non-turbocharged LeSabre Grand National in 1986, with gnttype listing 112 of those; this record's own key facts state directly that the LeSabre Grand National is not a Regal and falls outside this subject's scope entirely.^2,3

Pricing for the year gives the Regal T Type coupe at $13,714, separate from the $14,349 base price recorded for AutoWeek's Grand National test car, alongside a stand-alone turbocharged V-6 option on non-T Type Regals at $660. Lear Siegler bucket seats for the T Type added $600. Beyond these, an extensive regular-production options list runs from air conditioning at $750 through dozens of smaller items covering radios, wheels, seating, mirrors, and trim, many of them priced differently or marked unavailable specifically on the T Type relative to the base Regal or Regal Limited.^2,1

The turbo V-6's own rating carries a genuine three-way dispute that this record does not fully resolve: AutoWeek's contemporary road test gives 235 bhp at 4,400 rpm and 330 lb-ft at 3,200 rpm, Over-Drive instead gives the same 330 lb-ft at 2,800 rpm, and gnttype and Wikipedia both give 235 hp at 4,000 rpm with 330 lb-ft at 2,400 rpm; this record's own conflict entry enters the contemporary AutoWeek figure while showing the others, and notes that an MVMA specification sheet that could settle the question has not actually been read. Compression is given as 8.5:1. The four-speed overdrive automatic's gears are 2.74, 1.57, 1.00, and 0.67 to one, and the axle ratio is given as 3.42:1 standard with no optional alternative offered. The Regal coupe's wheelbase is 108.1 in, with length and width given together as 200.6 and 71.6 in; AutoWeek's test car weighed 3,256 lb and wore 215/65R15 tires. That same test recorded a 0-60 mph time of 6.9 seconds and a quarter mile of 15.7 seconds at 97.3 mph, though this record's own performance note is careful to add that the quarter-mile figure is stated in the article's text rather than printed in the specifications box, so whether AutoWeek itself timed that run is not explicit.^1,2,3,4

A decoded example VIN for the year, 1G4GK477XGP400001, breaks down as USA-built, General Motors, Buick, G-body, Regal T-Type sales level, two-door coupe, the LC2 3.8 SFI intercooled turbo engine code, a check digit, model year G for 1986, the Pontiac, Michigan assembly plant, and a serial number, with RPO WE2 on the trunk sticker again the only reliable identifier of a factory Grand National. This record's own identification entry states that 1986-87 cars specifically add "intercooled" emblems beneath the fender GN emblems, alongside emblems on the trunk lid and dash trim plate that this record's own identification entry describes as part of the same authenticity marks. Thirty-three Regal paint codes are charted, with this record's own paint note again cautioning that the list likely mixes codes from across Buick's broader lineup and that turbo-car availability is unstated, while the Grand National itself was built only in black. The Grand National's standard interior is again documented through the same buyer's-guide description covering 1984-87 as a group, calling the base scheme black and gray with some cars receiving Lear Siegler leather in a light-and-dark-brown combination instead.^5,2