Photos by nifticus392, from the Cohort.
It’s always interesting to experience the birth of an icon, and the context in which they arrived. Some icons come to be by bucking trends, while others are just fashionable, encapsulating the spirit of their era. The Buick Grand National is a bit of both. The model was born out of necessity; the upheavals of the ’70s created the power-sapped malaise era, and when all the fun seemed gone, Buick appeared with its turbocharged V6 Grand National, grabbing the automotive spotlight for a few short years. In that short span -from ’84 to ’87- the model left a lasting impression. No wonder; it outpaced Mustangs and Camaros of the time, and nearly matched the more expensive and entirely new Corvette C4.
While the moniker had appeared earlier, the Grand National as we know it came to be in 1984. Those who lived at the time, know that as soon as it appeared it quickly became a darling of the US automotive press. Its numbers justify the hoopla; for ’84 its turbocharged 3.8L V6 offered 200hp of power at 4400rpm, taking the car from 0-60 in 7.8 secs, and covering the quarter mile in 16.2 secs. Impressive specs at the time. By ’86, the GN’s numbers had increased to 235hp, and a hotter spinoff had a one-year run in ’87; the GNX.
As a halo car, the Grand National did its job. To see one on magazine covers and articles was the most common of things in the mid-80s. With its blacked-out trim and menacing stance, the car had a kick-ass ‘muscle-car of the 80s’ look that became iconic.
Of course, there was a lot of ‘GM of the ’80s’ in the Grand National. The interior and trimming are a mix of nice additions with cheap GM of the time. The dashboard layout is very-80s in its plasticky boxy glory, once it becomes unglued the headliner velour drops in a tent-like mode too familiar to those who rode mid-80s GMs cars, and 85MPH is the highest reading its stock Regal speedo will provide. And well, lots of switchgear will be familiar to any Malibu driver. On the other hand, seats were nicely appointed, and there were other neat enhancements considered luxurious at the time.
In sum, it’s one vehicle to take you back to the ’80s, drive you in comfort, and speed away in a manner most cars from its era wouldn’t come close to.
The Grand National has yet to receive its full CC treatment, and it’s a model with an origin story that deserves an extensive take. Yet, a previous owner has already told of his GN experience in these pages, leaving testimony to the vehicle’s exciting and temperamental nature. As has often been the case with many of Detroit’s performance machines, it’s been up to the work of later enthusiasts to clean up and improve on the original’s mechanicals. But that’s par for the course in the muscle car world, and who said living with an icon is easy?
Further reading:
COAL: 1987 Buick Regal Grand National – Rock And Roll All Night, Broken Every Day
One of my favorite cars. Ever. Especially the GNX.
It’s hard not to like these cars, but at they time they seemed a good example of GM’s confusion about brand identity. Sure, Buick had had a performance image on and off, dating back to the Fifties and again with 455 intermediates. But suddenly, here was the hottest GM coupe and it wasn’t a Chevy or a Pontiac. Huh? And then they used the engine for Indy cars, only to be replaced by the Olds Aurora engine, a brand that had very little performance image by then. All that said, I did have a chance to ride in a few times, and drive at least once, a colleague’s Regal Turbo. An ‘82 I think, not a GN but very tastefully optioned in a way that anticipated the T Type which came a few years later. It was a very enjoyable experience.
Buick had a performance image in the mid 30’s with the Century.
This is the Buick I would own, nothing Buick built after this is of interest to me.
Those turbo 3.8 Buick engines went into the Aussie Holdens at some point in time, they seem to get up and go ok, I wonder if was at the same state of tune as the Buick.
And now Buick is just another manufacturer of boring ugly CUV’s.
Yes, and it is very sad.
Alas, there is nothing in a Buick dealership to entice me inside today.
Makes me sad.
My GGF opened Casner Motor Co in Alpine Tx in 1915, Buick was a staple for many years there. Sad that B.O.P. was/is treated like the red-headed step children. They came too close to being able to “dethrone” the precious Camaro and the “Almighty” Corvette too many times. Now 2 of. the 3 are gone and Buick hasn’t made anything like the G.N. (or GNX) since GM shut it down
The car that Darth Vader would have driven.
To be read in the voice of Darth Vader
I feel a disturbance in the Force…….
Luke and his damn Landspeeder must be near
Just wait until the Turbo Boost kicks in and the young Jedi will be mine!
I’d like Grand Nationals better if they weren’t all painted black and based on a “personal luxury car”. I like the obscure Firebird Tran Am Turbo better since it’s an F body with the same engine.
Technology marches on and the 3800 Series II in our 2003 LeSabre makes 205 horsepower which is comparable to an early carburetor equipped GN which makes wonder if a turbo 3800 could crack 300hp
It just now occurs to me that this car has certain parallels to the Studebaker Super Lark of 1963-64. Both worked with the tough, basic engines they had and made them terrors via forced induction. Both employed the best suspensions and brakes they could cobble together on the cheap, and both used aging bodies that evoked an earlier style and did what they could to make them cool in terms of trim to set them apart from the same stuff being sold to grandparents everywhere.
The parallel is far from perfect, of course. Buick was a successful division of a successful company and had a far bigger budget, and the intervening two decades brought additional tech advances that made the turbo V6 relatively stronger among hot cars than Studebaker had been able to do with more limited time and funds.
I am amazed that we have never had a full-scale treatment of a GN. I have never caught/photographed one, so that lets me off the hook. 🙂
As soon as I saw that you posted something, I held off because we think very similarly. These cars were out of style, replaced by the new Ford Aerocoupe TBird and Cougars. Ford was making big bank on these cars, eating GM’s lunch, so GM tried to goose up their boxy personal luxury coupes with these ground effects.
Pontiac and Chevrolet both attempted to sell “Aero” versions of their Gran Prix and Monte Carlo. This Buick is cut from similar cloth.
Good engines, good technology, but completely out of style. GM looked desperate.
The Aero GP and Monte weren’t aimed at the Thunderbird, they were aimed at NASCAR — they were homologation specials, sold in limited numbers so the racers could run the aerodynamically cleaned-up silhouette. They looked awkward, but looks were not the point.
Gotcha.
Thanks for that data!
I bought a Grand National off Wright’s of Manassas showroom floor in early 1987.
Added some Kenne Bell and Kirban Performance pieces & Jim Leo Auto. Installed the posi rear for me.
This combination gave me one of the quickest cars around.