Originally Posted by Maelochs

Trek Bike Models by Year and Color suggests the bike your son was considering was a 1990 Antelope. The other bike you picture is more likely a 1992 model.

According to Vintage Trek - Steel Road Bike Timeline, Trek Bicycle Corporation "Some 1987 TREK frames and/or bikes were subcontracted to the Taiwanese bike company Merida. These were Model 800, 830 and 850 mountain bikes and Model 300 road bikes. See Note 8 on the serial number page for more information."

Page Vintage Trek Bicycle Frame Serial Numbers, bike states: "The SN list for 1986 has some serial number ranges with annotations about POs (purchase orders) to "Merida". These are for Model 800, 830 and 850 mountain bikes and Model 300 road bikes. These were made late in the year, so they probably were all 1987 models. At least some of these were provided to Trek as "frames only". One reported SN in these ranges, for an 850, was prefaced by the letters TML. From the serial number list, the number of Trek frames or bikes made by Merida late in 86 totaled at least 8251.
"Merida is a Taiwanese bike company that was established in 1972. It is currently a major, worldwide player in the bicycle business. See http://www.merida.com/ for information on this company."
LA"

So possibly the frames were built in Taiwan and sent to the US for assembly. The tubing was purchased by Trek USA, shipped to Taiwan, and the frames shipped back? That is 1986 only , anyway.

Prior to that, "The Japanese Connection - Beginning in 1981 or 1982 (and extending through at least 1986), Trek used Tange, a subcontractor in Japan, to build some frames and parts of frames. The 300 and some 400 series were a complete (unpainted) frame and fork from Japan, but painted and assembled in Waterloo. The 500, 600, and 800 (MTB) series had the main triangle built in Waterloo, the pre-assembled rear stays were attached, and the whole works painted and assembled in Waterloo. The 700, 900, and 170 series were completely built, painted, and assembled in Waterloo. Some 600 series were all Reynolds 531 frames. Trek had Reynolds seatstays and chain stays shipped from England to Japan, where they were assembled into the rear triangle assemblies and then shipped to Waterloo to be attached to the main frame."

Further down the page it says "An 8 or 9 character alphanumeric code was used for mid- and low-level frames subcontracted in Taiwan. Most of these bikes were labeled "Made in Taiwan" (although the sticker often is easily removed). This form of serial number appears to have been used during the period 1987 to 93. The number leads with a T (for Trek?) then a numeral, one letter or two, then five (sometimes 4) numerals. Sean Hickey suggested the first numeral is the year of manufacture, and the letter is the month of the year (A - L). This is confirmed by serial numbers that were submitted by other Trek owners. If there are two letters after the year numeral, the first is the month. The second runs from A through at least Y. It might be a way of extending the 5 digit number series by a factor of 26." So .... possibly frames were being made on both sides of the ocean?

No clue. Not sure that it matters. Whatever happened in 1992 has long been over.