Buick GNX's

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quote:

Originally posted by addyguy:
a 1965 Impala with a massively built 454 in it...
...He sells his Impala to buy one, and in his words, finds out they are a 'gutless piece of junk', and curses the day he sold his Impala for it, because he couldn't get it back.

I never understood why he sold the Impala in the first place....it was a much nicer car!


of course a massively built 454 is gonna be quicker than a stock GNX, at least i would hope.

the GNX is pretty sweet, and its nice that the GNX is out there so other G-Bodies can have access to the vast aftermarket that followed the GNX, like my Monte SS.
 
quote:

Originally posted by wavinwayne:
On a related note: About 12 years ago, I was out with some of my buddies one evening watching some very illegal street drag racing. I saw a highly modified & very fast early 90's Corvette get completely smoked by, of all things, a little Chevy Syclone pickup truck, in near stock condition. To this day, I have not seen a faster street-legal vehicle. That Syclone was crazy fast. It had a Turbo-charged 4.3L.

Oh yeah, a way underrated 280hp/360ft-lbs in an all wheel drive truck. I believe Motor Trend said a Syclone would out-accelerate a Ferrari 348!
 
quote:

Originally posted by addyguy:
When they first came out in 1987 they were a really, really fast car, and even by todays standards, they are still fast.

The thing that is neat about them is the aftermarket that has grown up around them and the turbo 3.8 V-6 - they can now get one of these to put out over 1,000 hp fairly easily!


Not to mention that they are still streetable at those power levels. Everyone always
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MKIV Supras, but thses things make just as much power when built (for much less $$), and are just as fast (if not faster), and they are made right here in the good ol' USA!!!
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The only area the TOYotas beat them in is handling/turning, and if the Supras are in equivalent <9 second trim, maybe not even there!!!!
 
quote:

Originally posted by wavinwayne:
On a related note: About 12 years ago, I was out with some of my buddies one evening watching some very illegal street drag racing. I saw a highly modified & very fast early 90's Corvette get completely smoked by, of all things, a little Chevy Syclone pickup truck, in near stock condition. To this day, I have not seen a faster street-legal vehicle. That Syclone was crazy fast. It had a Turbo-charged 4.3L.

And lets not forget the GMC Typhoon "SUV" with the same turbo-charged 4.3L engine.

 -
 
The Cyclone and Typhoon were one of the best ideas GM had, way ahead of their time when you consider modern vehicles like the Porshe Caymen Turbo or the Jeep Cherokee SRT-8 that lay claim to being 'perfomance SUVs'. Too bad they didn't last at all.....
 
quote:

Originally posted by addyguy:
The Cyclone and Typhoon were one of the best ideas GM had, way ahead of their time when you consider modern vehicles like the Porshe Caymen Turbo or the Jeep Cherokee SRT-8 that lay claim to being 'perfomance SUVs'. Too bad they didn't last at all.....

well the cherokee SRT-8 has a 0 to 60 time of under 5 sec wet or dry. so to me that makes it a preformance SUV. more like a BEAST of a SUV.


would love to have a GNX buick. maybe one day I can get one as a project car.
 
quote:

Originally posted by addyguy:
When they first came out in 1987 they were a really, really fast car, and even by todays standards, they are still fast.

The GNX was a beast. 87 was the last year for the Grand National. Banks worked one over and the result was a GNX. They actually put out enough power to get to 60 in 4.8sec. Stock! I would still love one of these.
 
The GN and GNX brought on a performance resurgence after the dark days (for Detroit at least) from the mid '70's to the mid '80's. I heard a modified one idling in a parking lot once--it smelled like race fuel and changed my mind about how healthy a V-6 can be. The drag racing crowd has been running turbo Buicks in the nines and tens for quite awhile.

I found the video below either in the photo section or browsing from a link posted there. It's hard to tell at the end, but a Buick either keeps up with or beats a motorcycle.

http://videos.streetfire.net/Player.aspx?fileid=EF511E30-2BCF-42BD-8AAD-D076307CC74A&t=top&p=4
 
I see these once in a while here in the DC Metro area but have never seen one "gun it" until last Saturday when a 92 Accord tried to race one.

I have never seen a car take off like that on the streets and spin the tires at 40-50 mph like nothing
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.

These puppy's are sinister looking!

 -
 
When they first came out in 1987 they were a really, really fast car, and even by todays standards, they are still fast.

The thing that is neat about them is the aftermarket that has grown up around them and the turbo 3.8 V-6 - they can now get one of these to put out over 1,000 hp fairly easily!

The one story I remember about these cars is back when they first came out, there was a teacher at my school who had a 1965 Impala with a massively built 454 in it, and it was fast. It was black with tinted windows, it looked mean, and went like stink.

Anyway, out comes the black-on-black GNX, and he decides he is going to 'modernize', and get the performance and look of his monster with a newer, more efficient vehicle. He sells his Impala to buy one, and in his words, finds out they are a 'gutless piece of junk', and curses the day he sold his Impala for it, because he couldn't get it back.

I never understood why he sold the Impala in the first place....it was a much nicer car!
 
I believe they had a higher top speed than that year's Corvette.
Kudos to GM for making the GNX.
Jeers to GM for not having made the freaking 'Vette faster that year.
 
The GNX was definitely a nice piece of work. I personally knew two guys that had one. AFAIK, the one is still being driven; The other was involved in a light pole "incident", & was completely totalled.

On a related note: About 12 years ago, I was out with some of my buddies one evening watching some very illegal street drag racing. I saw a highly modified & very fast early 90's Corvette get completely smoked by, of all things, a little Chevy Syclone pickup truck, in near stock condition. To this day, I have not seen a faster street-legal vehicle. That Syclone was crazy fast. It had a Turbo-charged 4.3L.
 
Occasionally, Buick makes a simply wonderful street engine.

Before the GN/GNX, they had Stage 1 and 2 packages in the very early '70s that were real sleepers among the big block musclecar set. Very potent.
 
I beleive that Pontiac had installed this engine in the '89 Trans Am. At the time(from articles that I read), it was the fastest TA ever produced from the factory from 0-60 & 1/4 mile. IIRC, it was installed in the Indy 500 Pace Car,(White) which was also the 20th Anniversery for the T/A.
 
I loved the Grand Nationals (from a foreign car, not available here perspective)...better than the supra/nissan show.
 
Don't forget the GNX's twin brother, the Regal T-type. Awesome cars. I did race a GNX once at NE Dragway with my 1983 4-door Malibu (which I still have). I did beat him(no, it doesn't have the 229V6 anymore...hehe) but for a 6 popper, that thing was very impressive to watch and earned my respect. I remember magazines always pairing off the GNX's against the Mustangs too. 6=8.

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I miss the days of seeing only rear-drive cars at the dealer lot. Where the heck did time go?
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The first time I drove at a drag strip was in a modded GNX. Was a low-10 second car with a real driver in it.

I'd never been in a car with a huge turbo before. Without brake torquing it (was my first run!), I was totally unprepared for a car that would launch fairly hard, then completely obliterate the tires when the boost hit at about 30mph.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Zaedock:
Don't forget the GNX's twin brother, the Regal T-type. Awesome cars. I did race a GNX once at NE Dragway with my 1983 4-door Malibu (which I still have). I did beat him(no, it doesn't have the 229V6 anymore...hehe) but for a 6 popper, that thing was very impressive to watch and earned my respect. I remember magazines always pairing off the GNX's against the Mustangs too. 6=8.

Let me guess. You have a Merlin/World big block with a big 'ol Demon carb sitting on top in that thing?
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quote:

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I miss the days of seeing only rear-drive cars at the dealer lot. Where the heck did time go?
dunno.gif



It is sad, ain't it? There is some hope on the horizon though, in the form of the new Challenger and Camaro (if they ever really produce them).
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