By the time the 1978-vintage RWD Buick Regal reached the end of the line in 1987, the turbocharged Regal Grand National had become a serious muscle car — arguably the last of its tire-smoking breed, and one of the most formidable, a Corvette-eating monster in sinister black. Car and Driver tried a 1986 Grand National and its even more muscular 1987 GNX sibling and found them spectacularly quick, at least in a straight line.
The Buick Regal started life as part of the 1973 Century A-body line, the fanciest of Buick’s Colonnade intermediates. Redesigned and downsized for 1978, it became a distinct model line, with notchback styling rather than the ugly and unpopular fastback shape of the downsized Century. The 1978 Regal Sport Coupe introduced the first turbocharged version of the Buick 3.8-liter V-6, although most buyers still preferred V-8 power.
Had things gone according to plan, the RWD G-body Regal would have disappeared by about 1985, replaced by a somewhat smaller FWD N-body model, and the most fearsome of turbo Buicks might never have seen the light of day except on the racetrack. However, the G-body cars were still selling well, so they survived alongside the N-body cars, while their eventual FWD replacements, the expensive new GM10 cars, had a very troubled gestation. (William Stopford has summarized the FWD platform chaos here.) The upshot was that the RWD Regal and its Pontiac Grand Prix cousin would survive through 1987, the closely related Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme into 1988.
Buick had kept working on the turbo V-6, both for the track and for production models. By 1984, the 3.8-liter turbocharged V-6 still didn’t have an intercooler, but it had gained multi-port fuel injection with mass airflow metering, yielding an even 200 net horsepower and 300 lb-ft of torque. Linked to a THM200-4R overdrive automatic, this gave the turbocharged Regal T Type and Grand National respectable performance. Car and Driver publisher David E. Davis Jr. thought the latest turbo V-6 was “a great engine in search of a great car,” but the magazine’s 1985 Grand National test car was faster than a V-8 Monte Carlo SS or Oldsmobile 4-4-2, running 0 to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds and the quarter mile in 15.7 seconds at 87 mph.
A word here about Buick in the mid-’80s: Under general manager Lloyd Reuss and his successor Donald Hackworth, Buick was trying very, very hard to throw off the old stereotypes about middle-aged bankers in Roadmasters and Electras to create a more youthful image for the division. Buick’s competition efforts in this period are really worthy of their own post, and for a while, there were sporty T Type versions of just about everything in the production lineup, from the J-body Skyhawk to the big Electra. Not all were turbocharged, and the turbo engines were not hot sellers — in fact, Buick sold only about 6,200 turbocharged cars for 1985, most of them in the Regal line — but there was such a thing as bragging rights.
For 1986, Buick assistant chief engineer for powertrain Don Runkle gave his staff a provocative goal: make the turbo V-6 more powerful than the 5.7-liter V-8 in the Chevrolet Corvette. So, the latest turbocharged LC2 3.8-liter V-6 gained an air-to-air intercooler, a rearrangement of the turbo plumbing, a revised turbocharger, and a low-restriction catalytic converter. In the 1986 Regal T Type and Grand National, this was officially good for 235 hp, exactly 5 hp more than a 1986 Corvette. Officially.
One more point I should explain, because it can be confusing: Through 1986, the Grand National was actually an option package for the Regal T Type (which was a separate model through 1986). The T Type included the turbo engine, the required 4-speed automatic, and the stiffer Gran Touring suspension. If you didn’t order the Grand National package, it was available in various exterior colors besides black.
The $635 Grand National package added 15-inch styled wheels, Goodyear Eagle performance tires, spoilers, a 3.42 performance axle ratio, an LED tachometer, and bucket seats (which were otherwise a $195 option on the T Type). (For 1987, Buick would shuffle things around, reducing the T Type to an option package and greatly increasing the price of the Grand National package while adding most of the equipment that had been standard on the previous year’s T Type; except on the order form, it amounted to about the same thing.) Although the rare 1982 Grand National had been charcoal gray and silver, from 1984 on, the Grand National was available only in black, with blackout exterior trim.
In any event, the 235 hp rated output of the 1986 T Type and Grand National was duly impressive for a U.S.-market car in 1986, and it rankled Chevrolet in a collegial kind of way. Buick claimed the intercooled 1986 Grand National could do 0 to 60 mph in a brisk 6.9 seconds, which was 0.6 seconds quicker than Car and Driver recorded for the 1985 car, and a plausible figure for an increase of 35 hp and 30 lb-ft of torque. However, when Car and Driver got their hands on a 1986 Grand National, THIS happened:
Editor Rich Ceppos wrote:
Okay, no more beating around the bush. The hulking black Grand National pictured here will scream from 0 to 60 mph faster than any other car made in America. Is 4.9 seconds fast enough? It is if you want something quicker than a Lamborghini Countach (5.1 seconds), a Chevrolet Corvette (5.7 seconds), a Porsche 928S (5.7 seconds), a 944 Turbo (6.0 seconds), and the hottest Mustang or Camaro. The GN even outsprints two of Ferrari’s blue bloods—the Testarossa (5.0 seconds) and the GTO (5.1 seconds)—both of which we tested in European specification.
As a matter of fact, there is only one production-line automobile for sale in the U.S. that will beat the flash from Flint in the 0-to-60 dash: the $50,000 Porsche 911 Turbo, which accomplishes the feat in only 4.6 seconds.
The Grand National also inflicts cruel and unusual punishment on asphalt in the quarter-mile, its 13.9-second ET spotting it a tick ahead of most of the hot cars sold in America.
Technical editor Csaba Csere, who drove the Grand National for these tests, was initially skeptical of the results he recorded on his first acceleration run, but he made several successive runs that were just as quick. A blocky 3,500 lb intermediate running the quarter mile in 13.9 seconds at 98 mph was the sort of performance Detroit hadn’t seen in close to 15 years by this point.
Out of curiosity, I looked up the C/D tests of of the U.S.-spec Lamborghini Countach 5000 QV (in this same April 1986 issue) and Ferrari Testarossa (September 1986), and noted that while the Grand National would have outrun either up to about 70 mph, both the Italians would pull away beyond that, crossing the quarter-mile line first with significantly higher trap speeds (107 mph for the Ferrari, 111 mph for the Lamborghini). Nevertheless, a $17,000 Buick able to stand ANY comparison with pricey Italian exotics was headline news.
Moreover, through the quarter mile, this Grand National would have been in a dead heat with the Dodge Charger 500 Car Life tested back in April 1969, with the 426 Hemi and TorqueFlite. The two-ton Charger crossed the line in a nearly identical 13.92 seconds, but the Grand National would have beaten it to 60 mph by close to a second. How about a carefully optioned 1965 Pontiac GTO with Tri-Power, close-ratio 4-speed, and 4.11 axle? Even with drag tires, no air cleaners, lots of extra spark advance, and exhaust pipes detached from the manifold, the best Royal Pontiac’s Dick Jesse could do with the well-tuned ’65 GTO was 0 to 60 in 5.4 seconds and the quarter mile in 14.06 seconds (at 102.14 mph). This Buick was faster, with street tires and exhaust pipes in place.
How in the world do you get a 3,500 lb Buick with 235 hp from 0 to 60 mph in less than 5 seconds? Er, well, you don’t, and Car and Driver quickly figured that out. When pressed, Buick admitted that the 1986 LC2 turbo engine was deliberately underrated by “ten to fifteen horsepower,” and the C/D performance tests were run on a very cold January day, which was worth an estimated 15 hp more. (Car and Driver corrected its acceleration figures for temperature and barometric pressure, but cold weather improves the effectiveness of an air-to-air intercooler.) However, Csere estimated that achieving the performance they’d recorded with the Grand National test car required an actual output of about 290 hp at the flywheel. “So where did the 25 extra horses come from?” Ceppos mused. “Write us if you know.”
The bigger question was whether the Grand National normal people could buy was this fast. I’m skeptical, frankly — one of the neat things about turbochargers, especially on computer-controlled engines, is that it’s very easy to add more boost by changing the wastegate settings, and if it’s done by factory engineers, it would be very difficult to detect such a ringer.
Ceppos continued:
Mathematics aside, what’s important about this Regal is the kick you get from having such a deep well of power at your disposal; the way the world gets yanked backward when the boost boils over; the way the rear tires lay down long, beautiful streaks of black when you tromp the throttle.
Although C/D didn’t see fit to mention it, the LC2 turbo engine suffered a not-inconsiderable amount of turbo lag; there was no avoiding that with a single turbocharger making up to 14 psi boost (and possibly more, on this particular car). With the stock 215/65R15 tires, laying a patch was not at all difficult, although Csere said later that he found the Grand National surprisingly easy to launch.
Ceppos compared the styling of the Grand National to actor Burt Reynolds: “big and broad-shouldered and macho in a self-conscious sort of way.” Like Reynolds, the G-body cars were basically ’70s phenomena, facelifts and cosmetic tweaks notwithstanding, and they were getting somewhat long in the tooth by this time.
The Grand National package turned that datedness into a badge of defiance. A 1984 Buick TV ad (above) commissioned blues-rock musician George Thorogood to adapt his radio hit “Bad to the Bone” as a Grand National theme song.
The Regal chassis had not been very sophisticated even by the standards of 1978, and it was antediluvian by the late ’80s, stiffer suspension or no. Its disc/drum brakes were none too large, and while its 70 to 0 stopping distances weren’t terrible, Csere recorded heavy fade.
However, the editors were inclined to be generous about its road manners:
In traffic, the Grand National purrs and burbles, and it’s as docile as any grocery getter. The Turbo Hydra-matic four-speed automatic is always ready with the right gear. It’s only during top-speed maneuvers that you uncover the drivetrain’s one flaw: an electronic governor shuts the engine down at 124 mph, about 10 mph before the GN would otherwise reach its speed limit. The limiter is on duty because the hottest American-made car lacks high-speed V-rated rubber. Except for this built-in handicap, the Grand National is good to the last drop.
There are other nice things to say about life with Grand National. This time around, there’s actually some poetry in the chassis. The steering is crisp, the lane discipline good, and the ride well balanced. The most serious of car guys will find nothing to sneer at here.
Car and Driver recorded 0.80 g on the skidpad, which was a very solid figure for 1986 (though considerably shy of Buick’s claimed 0.84 g), but this was still basically a straight-line car. The editors’ counterparts at AutoWeek had less charitably compared the handling of the Grand National to “two bear cubs fighting in a sack,” and said they had considerable difficulty keeping the car in a straight line under power.
Car and Driver didn’t have much to say about the interior of the Grand National, which was ’70s blocky.
The 85 mph speedometer and odd LED tachometer hardly seemed appropriate for such a high-performance car, although Csere said later that the “Turbo Boost” lights were very useful for staging the car for acceleration runs.
When these tests appeared, the end of the G-body line was rapidly approaching, and the word had come down from on high that Buick needed to return to its traditional doctors-and-bankers role. However, there was enough affection for the RWD turbo cars that Buick decided to give them a big sendoff. The result was the 1987 Buick GNX, a special edition Grand National executed by ASC and McLaren.
Although Buick built 20,740 Regals with the Grand National package for the extended 1987 model year, just 547 of those were converted to GNX specifications. Each had a numbered plaque on the dashboard.
The GNX had some chassis modifications, including a new frame crossmember, a torque arm and a Panhard rod to keep the rear axle under control, a further stiffened suspension, and fatter 16-inch V-rated Goodyear Eagle Razorback tires.
There were louvers on the front fenders, plastic fender flares, and cross-lace aluminum rather than styled steels wheels.
Inside, Buick found the money for a new instrument panel with round analog gauges (which the Grand National could really have used years before this).
The really important changes were under the hood. The 3.8-liter V-6 got ported and polished heads, a new engine control chip, a bigger turbo with up to 16 psi boost, and an insulated intercooler outlet to help keep the charge cool. The THM200-4R transmission also got a transmission oil cooler to help cope with the extra power.
When Car and Driver and the other magazines got to drive the GNX prototype in January 1987, Buick hadn’t yet made up their minds about how they were going to rate the hotter engine. Most of the magazines said 300 hp, which was the program target, with estimated torque outputs ranging from 380 to 420 lb-ft.
Buick eventually settled on official figures of 276 hp and 360 lb-ft. This was a polite fiction, at least so far as the prototype was concerned. The GNX prototype was exactly 25 lb heavier than the 1986 car C/D had previously tested, but it was even quicker: 0 to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds, the quarter mile in 13.5 seconds at 102 mph. Adding 4 mph to the trap speed of a car C/D had previously estimated at 290 hp required more than just a 10 hp increase.
Editor Tony Assenza called the GNX “an ax-wielding barbarian,” warning, “If you’re looking for precision and sophistication in a car, don’t even consider the Buick GNX.” On the other hand, if you wanted to recalibrate the egos of Corvette and Porsche owners, the GNX was just the thing. The $106,000 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Slant Nose C/D tested later in the year (September 1987) would have been neck-and-neck with the Buick until just past the 100 mph mark. The only new Corvette of this era that was remotely in the same league was the Callaway Twin-Turbo Corvette, which cost roughly twice as much as the GNX.
Prices for the GNX hadn’t been announced when these preview tests were conducted, but the MSRP ended up being $29,290: $17,865 for the fully loaded Regal base car plus $10,995 for the GNX option and a $430 destination charge. Naturally, the dealers who got these cars (which were allocated based on sales performance) asked — and got — substantial markups above sticker.
One glaring omission from the list of GNX upgrades was the brakes, which were the same undersized disc/drum brakes found on the standard Regal. However, while the bigger tires didn’t do anything for maximum grip on the skidpad, they did shave 11 feet off the 70 to 0 stopping distances. The brakes were more than adequate for a hard stop at the end of the strip, but they emphasized the one-dimensional focus of these cars.
Assenza liked the seats and the new instrument cluster, but said that driving the GNX prototype made clear that refinement was not part of the design brief:
In the real world, when the road deviates from straight ahead or its surface becomes rougher than a pool table, the GNX rattles and bounces like bolts in a blender. Clearly, the engine and the chassis are in separate leagues. What we have here is a great powerhouse of a motor looking for a nice place to live.
I can hear the GNX fans in the audience sputtering, “WHO CARES?!” If you wanted refinement, buying a $17,000 car on an 10-year-old platform with an $11,000 engine was just silly — and anyway, it WAS a hell of an engine.
Assenza remarked that when the RWD Grand National and GNX were gone, which they soon would be …
We’ll do a little mourning ourselves—not so much for the car as for the engine that powers it. If we were Buick, we’d set the hyperactive V-6 on a stand and build a car of comparable talents around it. This is one orphan that cries out for adoption.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be. The 3.8-liter turbo engine would make one final appearance in the limited-edition 1989 Pontiac Firebird 20th Anniversary Trans Am, but only 1,555 of those were built before the curtain came down for good.
Production of the RWD G-body Regal ended on December 11, 1987; the last car off the line was a Grand National. There wouldn’t be a successor — Buick chief engineer Dave Sharp had told Car and Driver that summer than such cars “are outside of our new image.”
The FWD GM10 Regal had arrived by the time, to underwhelming response. It seemed like a rental car, with only average performance from its 2.8-liter Chevrolet V-6 (C/D got 0 to 60 in 10.9 seconds), and its delayed introduction made its styling and big-coupe configuration seem dated even at launch. With the Grand National not even in the ground at that point, the car magazines expressed dismay with the new Regal’s lack of verve, but Sharpe countered, “What we’ve been doing the last seven or eight years, with the T Types and Grand Nationals, just hasn’t had much impact on the world out there.”
Sharpe wasn’t entirely wrong: Buick’s various T Type cars had never sold especially well, and for all their ferocious performance, the Grand National and GNX had always been cars without a future. They were a glorious last stand, a tire-smoking nostalgic salute to an era of intermediate muscle cars that had already been mostly over by the time the 1978 Regal went on sale a decade before.
Related Reading
CC Capsule: 1985 Buick Regal T-Type – Quite The DusT-Type (by Tatra87)
Curbside Classic: 1986 Buick Regal Limited – Rhapsody in Black (by Jason Shafer)
COAL: 1987 Buick Regal Grand National – Rock and Roll All Night, Broken Every Day (by LT Dan)
My stepuncle had a Grand National. To a kid, it was night and day from my parents 1982 Regal.
Total aside but wasn’t the GM20 iniitally supposed to replace these oldies and how’d that go from those to the GM10s…
Yes, the N-body cars were supposed to replace the A-special/G-body, originally — I garbled that a bit. Let me amend that paragraph.
To me these cars look better in retrospect than they did at the time. My opinion then seems to align with the magazines. The styling and chassis looked dated but the engine was unexpected. Today the styling can be lumped with the 1970s notchback GM cars and it seems attractive.
I think the crucial point is that cars that looked more modern at the time also became dated (not necessarily badly, just dated), which sort of prompts a reassessment.
Last month, I saw a Grand National on the road for the first time in years. I’ve always found the stealthy performance coupe idea to be very appealing, and I like this picture because the GN was next to an M3 on the highway, and the M3 is the same sort of idea.
Even at 40 years old, I still find these Grand Nationals to be exciting cars. I’d rather have one than a Countach.
You really had to drive one of these to get it .
Good looking, yes .
Comfy inside yes .
That’s not what sold these nifty cars .
GM began using water based (!) paint at this time and that meant plenty of five year old cars had peeling paint but low mileage and were used car poison until you put a decent quality Acrylic Enamel respray on them then they sold *instantly*, usually within 24 hours of listing here in Los Angeles .
Not *quite* my cuppa tea but a better Buick to be sure =8-) .
-Nate
I wonder about how well the THM200-4R tranny held up in these cars ? .
I love those old tech lockup torque converter slush boxes but have been told the THM200-4R liked neither horsepower nor being romped .
-Nate
Mine is holding together with 160k on it. Granted it leaks like the Exxon Valdez but the fluid isn’t burnt and it shifts smoothly as long as its full.
Traditionally the 2004R is a weak spot on the GNs but they have their benefits like it bolts directly to a Buick/Olds/Pontiac without a bellhousing adapter and its not controlled by a computer, plus any competent shop can build one. At least they could back in the 80s and 90s, their supply is drying up and many GM guys have switched to 700R4s or 4L60s.
The juxtaposition of the GNX followed by the beige GM10 is like going from Burt Reynolds to Ben Stein. Course with the passage of time and base model attrition it’s easy to forget the regular g-body Regals weren’t much better. Although they did make a “GS” GM10 Regal… which is bout on the level of Ford sticking ST badges on the soccer mom Edges and Explorers after they killed off the Fiesta/Focus STs that gave that badge its credibility… that version is the really tragic shadow of these 80s Turbo Regals.
Grand Nationals and GNXs were just common enough to earn real street cred and just rare enough to seem a little exotic. It’s one thing when a magazine says a certain car is fast it’s another to witness it at the stoplights to verify whether the mags got a ringer, and it seems like the 86-87s really were that quick. Very cool cars, I’ve always wanted one but they’ve gotten too expensive as bonafide collectors.
The thing I noticed looking through auction listings is that it seems to be very common for Grand Nationals to have aftermarket performance mods (particularly aftermarket turbos, or at least boost controllers), although the GNX tends to be preserved like a collectible action figure still in its original package.
There’s a guy that lives a few blocks from me who has a 87 Grand National with T tops and it’s clearly been a bit of a hot rod for him as it’s sprouted 17” reproductions of the stock style wheels in front and bead lock versions with drag radials in the back, as well as GNX vent ports in the fenders(which I find a little odd). I can understand the GNX preservation mentality, they’re SO rare and have a good handful of probably irreplaceable unique bits they’re mostly treated like people treat modern day Dodge Demons and the like. Grand Nationals are uncommon, but not uncommon enough to be treated as precious, kind of like 5.0 Fox Mustangs; stock and untouched is worth a premium, but tasteful modifications don’t necessarily ding the value that much
In the contemporary market of 1987, these were old grannymobiles with outrageous performance and prices. When GM got hit by the Aerobird/Cougar and Taurus/Sable in the market, it didn’t respond right away. Instead, they goosed their older models.
I see the GN like I do the Studebaker Lark 2R, the AMC Rambler Rouge, and the 2003 Mercury Marauder – performance in outdated packaging in hopes of finding sales.
We should catalog these cars – there seems to be quiet a few. Early ’90s Dodge Spirit R/T is another.
The shuffling-around of the models and options in the final 1987 model year wasn’t just a formal technicality that affected only the order form. Rather it, for the only time in its history, allowed buyers to order *any* 1987 Regal with the powerful intercooled turbo V6, not just T-Types or Grand Nationals. The only stipulation for ordering the turbo mill was also ordering the T package which included larger tires and wheels (the latter the same size but different design than on the GN), a bump on the hood to clear the blower, suspension upgrades, and a few other items. But for this year only you could get the performance goodies and the lightweight WE4 package on a base Regal in any exterior and interior color you like, with 60/40 bench seats or buckets. You could even get the Broughamed-out Regal Limited with the T package and turbo V6. I gave some thought in 1987 of doing exactly that – mine would be burgundy exterior with burgundy velour loose-cushion bench seats and column shift. Opera lights, yes! I was on the fence regarding the optional full or half vinyl roof – it fit the image but I didn’t like how they trapped water and disintegrated with age. The whole point of course was to have a car that looked like something my grandparents would drive, yet could shut down Countachs. That would have been fun. Unfortunately I decided it was too impractical – I was used to a smaller car with four doors and high fuel economy – and I didn’t like the automatic trans being mandatory. It was also a bit pricey for me at the time (I recall MSRP being around $17K). I’d never have thought it would be worth several times that in the future. Only a few hundred base Regals and Regal Limiteds were built with the T package and turbo V6.
It’s so typical GM, discontinue a car just as it’s becoming really good and finding its audience. They could have easily kept it in production for another year at least. It didn’t suit Buick’s “new image”? Buick’s new image was the same as Buick’s old image; I lived through it. Somehow Toyota offers docile Avalons and Crowns under the same brand as the boisterous Supra and 86 without damaging the essence of their brand image; why can’t Buick do this too?
Buick reported that it built 25,411 turbocharged Regals for 1987, and 20,740 of those had the Grand National package, so there were a few more T package cars than that. I don’t think most of those were Limited models with vinyl tops, though.
Wikipedia reports 1,035 ’87 Turbo Regal Limiteds produced, though doesn’t offer a citation for that figure and may be inaccurate. I recall Wiki itself a few years back citing figures for both the base Regal turbo and Regal Limited turbo being about 300 each. It currently states the Limited was the second least sold amongst ’87 turbo Regals after the GNX, which would assumedly make the base Turbo third least sold. I’ve seen varying figures for the exact numbers though.
I’ve never fully understood why GM allowed Buick to “get away with” building a car that was faster and more powerful than a Corvette. I bet the folks on the Corvette team were more than a little bent about it.
Honestly I think that’s the bygone charm of it, this was the last gasp of divisional mischief before the corporation reigned their brands into the same program to become the lifeless zombie GM exists today.
The way it should work is when Buick makes a car faster than the Corvette, team Corvette builds a better Vette. Not daddy GM step in and say ”hey you stop that right now!”
I read all the reviews of the Grand National and the GNX. Although really cool cars, they were so rare I have never seen one. I have seen loads of standard Regals with 305s under the hood, but never a turbo.
I wonder why GM allowed Buick to become GM’s fastest car. I think that should have been the Corvette.
Had a Buick dealer as a customer at that time. The sales manager had a GNX as his demonstrator. He would take it to the drag strip on Saturday nights. Quite impressive!
Everything said above about the straight line performance and lack of handling on curves was absolutely correct. I knew of two local guys who had bought earlier Grand Nationals and ended up wrecking them on twisty-turny roads.
Sadly today’s Buick has no image at all.