**The Buick Grand National: A Muscle Car That Broke the Mold**
It's fast, it's black and just like my dad, it only stuck around for three years. It's one of my favorite cars; it's the Buick Grand National.
Buick has kind of been the General Motors family's weird uncle or cousin for years. In fact, today's Buick marketing strategy is based on people not even knowing what a Buick looks like. That's not a Buick - that's what I told him.
There is one fabled Buick that broke the mold. It redefined the muscle car and proved to America that there's a replacement for displacement. Started as a publicity stunt in branding only, then became a legitimate history-making collector's car. Made in limited quantities, has a ravenous fan base and for a brief window in the 80s... The race went off the line and beat a Corvette.
And my favorite part? You can get it any color you want - as long as it's black. Make it black - this is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the Buick Grand National.
Historically, when thinking about performance Americans prioritize muscle. On the outside, you could have a sweet 'Stang dude. But if she only had a V6, you'd have nightmares about people popping the hood. I don't know what's underneath the hood, and I don't give a shit. I'm insatiable.
In the early 80s, Buick was shamelessly rolling out underpowered V6 street cars. Which is really weird because in 1981 and 1982, they won the NASCAR Grand National series back-to-back. Knowing that what wins on Sunday sells on Monday, Buick tried a quick rebranding of their Regal.
They sent 215 charcoal gray units to Cars and Conceptsof Brighton, Michigan. There they retrofitted the Regals with the Grand National package. It was a rush job - like they woke up, checked their calendar and said, "Special car project due today? Oh crap, I need to read the book."
The guys at C and C worked on this Buick. They fitted it with bigger turbos, bigger intercoolers, a new ECU, better suspension components, and bigger exhaust. It was louder, faster, and 100 times more badass.
They took a really cool car and handed it over to Bruce McLaren and made it even (bleep) better. On paper, Buick alleged that the GNX would produce 276 horsepower and substantial 360 pound feet of torque. But as the car started track testing...
Pretty much everyone agrees that Buick kept this a secret because it would have tarnished the image of GM darling, the Corvette.
Darth Vader doesn't brag; he just does things with his hand, and then you start choking.
WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- It's fast, it's blackand just like my dad it onlystuck around for three years.It's one of my favorite cars,it's the Buick Grand National.(engine racing)For years Buick has kind of beenthe General Motors family'sweird uncle or cousin.In fact, today's Buickentire marketing strategyis based on people not even knowingwhat a Buick looks like.- That's not a Buick.- That's what I told him.- There is one fabledBuick that broke the mold.It redefined the muscle car,and proved to America that there isa replacement for displacement.It started as a publicitystunt in branding only,then became a legitimatehistory-making collectors car.It was made in limited quantities,has a ravenous fan baseand for a brief window in the 80s...- The race went off the lineand beat a Corvette.- And my favorite part, youcan get it any color you want,as long it's black.- Make it black.- This is everything you need to knowto get up to speed onthe Buick Grand National.(video game music)Historically, whenthinking about performanceAmerican's prioritize muscle.On the outside you could have a(Southern accent) sweet 'Stang dude.But if she only had a V6,you'd have nightmares aboutpeople popping the hood.- I don't know what's underneath the hood,and I don't give a shit.I'm insatiable.- In the early 80s, Buickwas shamelessly rolling outunderpowered V6 street cars,which is really weirdbecause in 1981 and 1982they won the NASCAR GrandNational series back to back.Knowing that what wins onSunday, sells on Monday,Buick tried a quickrebranding of their Regal,and they sent 215 charcoal gray unitsto Cars and Conceptsof Brighton, Michigan.There they retrofitted the Regals withthe Grand National package.It was a rush job.It's like they woke up, checkedtheir calendar and said,special car project due today?Oh crap, I need to read the book.The guys at C and C did their best.They added light silver firemist paint to each side,red pin stripes andbillboard shadow letteringproclaiming Buick.All the trim was blackedout with black vinyl tape,and a front air dam andrear spoiler were installed.True to Buick form this 82 Grand Nationalcame with a naturally aspirated V6 enginethat made a whopping 125 horsepower.Yahu!Yes, 1982 Buick fans they did make 35of these with aturbo-charged 3.8 liter V6,that bumped it up to a 175 horsepower.As much as a 90s GTI,but the car weighed in at 3,500 pounds.But we said everythingyou need to know so,I told you about it.- Gee, that's nice thanks.- The Grand National treated1983 like the off-season.Buick gave it a break soit could return faster,stronger and with aclearly defined mission.In 1984, things started to get exciting.The Grand National camecharging back with new uniform,all black like the Raiders baby,and a new powerhouse.The turbo-charged 3.8liter became standardand was refined withsequential fuel injectionand distributor-lesscomputer controlled ignition.To make room for this new technology,hoods on the Grand National were definedby the iconic powerbulge, or me in a Speedo.(laughs)I swear I didn't make that up,it's actually called a powerbulge, it's in the brochure.And this technologysqueezed 200 horsepowerout of a little V6.Big deal James, you cry,my 2010 Honda is a V6and it makes 200 horsepower all day.Friends, you gotta remember,that the Grand Nationalwas doing this at a timewhen new emissions regulationswere handcuffing manufacturersand choking horsepower.The Grand National made200 horsepower with a V6,when the same year Corvetteonly made five horsepower more.On the track, a Buick wasmaking the quarter milein 15.9 seconds, just shortof the Corvette's 15.2.Two thousand GrandNationals were made in 1984and they sold out quick.Buick started to realizethat people actuallyliked badass cars, weird.In 1985, the Grand Nationalchanged little under the hood.Outside they ditched thechrome because badass.Again, compared to itscontemporaries it was holding its ownand the boys at Buick couldlet the previous year'sperformance and its sick black paint jobbuy them some time while they figured outthe next step for their new poster child.By the next year, Buickhad it almost perfected.The 86 Grand National'sengine now produced235 horsepower and 330pound feet of torque.But how?Technology my man.The new Grand Nationals were outfittedwith air to air intercoolersand a more refinedsequential port fuel injection system.This Buick was now making the quarter milein under 14 seconds, and rocketingfrom zero to 60 in under five.A Buick was now the fastestAmerican production car.It was dominating the 86Corvette, Camaro, Mustang,Firebird, and it wasdoing it with a V6 engine.Buick announced that 1987would be the final yearof production for theirbadass Darth Vader vehicles.And as a send off, GM createdthe least appreciated,greatest car of all time,the 1987 Buick GrandNational Experimental.547 of these Grand National's were chosento become monsters.Buick send 547 Grand Nationalswith a special GNX interiortrim package to McLaren.Yeah, dude that McLaren.Where they would become the Grand Nationalto end all Grand Nationals.At McLaren, they werefitted with bigger turbos,bigger intercoolers, a new ECU,better suspensioncomponents, bigger exhaust.It was louder, faster and100 times more badass.They took a really coolcar, they handed it overto Bruce McLaren, and hemade it even (bleep) better!- Jesus Christ.- The only thing that theydid to it that was kinda lame,was they kept it from doing wheelies.They had to keep it from doing wheelies!On paper, Buick allegedthat the GNX would produce276 horsepower and a very substantial360 pound feet of torque,but as the car startedtrack testing, the GNXfinished the quarter milein 12.7 seconds at 113.1 miles on hour.That is .3 seconds fasterthen the Ferrari F40.Almost a second faster then a Porsche 930,and it went from zeroto 60 in 4.6 seconds.The only car that was faster then itwas the Lamborghini Countach.In the (bleep) world.Pretty much everyone agreesthat Buick kept this a secretbecause it would have tarnished the imageof GM darling, the Corvette.That's (bleep) so sweet.I mean not only is this guylike the most powerful guyin the universe, he's humble tooand he cares about hisfriend the Corvette.Darth Vader doesn't brag, he just doesthis with his hand, andthen you start choking.(dramatic music)I think I like the GNX even more now.Not only is it super powerful,but it cares about his friends.Just like Michael ClarkeDuncan in "Green Mile."I'll leave you with this,you may have noticed thatwe're in something of alast hurrah of American muscle right now.Mustangs, Hellcats, Lemans, Camaros,one upping each other year after year.We haven't heard anything from Buick.Well here's a bit of excitementfor the rabid fans of the Grand National,less then three years agoGM renewed the trademarkson the names, Grand National and GNX.Is the Grand National coming back?I don't know.- You sandbagging son of a bitch.- But I honestly don't think it needs too.After years of gettingshit on as a third-tierquality family car, Buickquietly and triumphantlydrove the GNX to the pinnacleof untouchable performanceand ruthless bravado only toclap their hands together,wave goodbye and retire the champion.Let the kids fight over scraps.The GNX means Buick hasnothing left to proof.That's everything you need to knowto get up to speed onthe Buick Grand National.Please subscribe and comment below.What do you think themost underrated car is?What did we miss in this?What other cars do youwant to see us cover?What kind of Buick did your Grandma drive?Yeah.
