1987 Buick GNX

This car, Lot S155, sold for $105,300, including buyer’s premium, at Mecum’s Chicago auction on October 11, 2014.

Back in 1990, I got a rare ride in a 1970 Chevelle SS 454 LS6 coupe. It was a beautiful, original car owned by a collector, and that big 454 V8 with 450 gross horses under the hood produced pedal-to-the-floor burnouts I’ll never forget. So what did the owner of the baddest-ever factory Chevelle have for a daily driver? A 1987 Buick GNX. “I just have the need for speed,” he told me. The ’87 GNX is that kind of car — modern enough to drive every day, yet an old-school muscle machine ready to satisfy any speed freak’s cravings.

A new era of performance

1971 was the end of the road for most of America’s true muscle machines. That slowly began to change in the early ’80s, as technology started to catch up with government regulations. One of the first of this new generation of performance was the Buick Regal Grand National — a surprisingly hot car that launched in 1982.

Although rather out of character for Buick, the Grand National celebrated back-to-back Manufacturers Championships in NASCAR in 1981 and 1982. As Motor Trend reported in a December 1983 road test: “Buick started with NASCAR back in the beach racing days before the high-banked ovals, using cars that were ventilated by portholes, armed with sweepspears, powered by 322-cubic-inch Nailheads, and driven by Fireball, Buck, Buddy, and the boys. They went like hell…. The Regal Grand National is their heir, as sure as Kyle followed Richard and Richard followed Lee.” That’s the Petty clan, for you Yankees.

Mid-size with a bad attitude

Dressed in charcoal gray and silver, the Grand National may have been your typical mid-size rear-drive sedan, but under the hood of about 35 of 215 GNs built was an engine Buick engineers had been working on for some time, a turbocharged 231-ci V6. Buick first began offering the Turbo V6 option in 1976 (the ’76 Buick Regal Indianapolis 500 Pace Car used one), with the goal of getting old-time muscle out of a modern powerplant. They were on the right track: By ’82 the V6 delivered 175 hp at 4,000 rpm and 275 lb-ft of torque at 2,600 rpm, wrapped in a car that weighed about 3,400 pounds.

After a one-year hiatus, the Grand National returned with a turbo V6 standard, now producing 200 hp. Though quarter-mile times were still around 16 seconds, the GN was the fastest 4-passenger sedan in America. Now dressed in monochrome black, “The Dark Side” and “Darth Buick” were terms of endearment often applied to these cars.

With the 1986 GN, Buick added an intercooler, upping the turbo V6’s ante to 245 hp. Zero-to-60 times were now under six seconds, and the quarter mile went by in 13.8 seconds. Not only was that faster than the Corvette that year, but the GN was now as fast as many cars from the ’60s. The popularity of this “working man’s supercar” grew too, with 7,896 Turbo Regals sold. Once word got out that 1987 would be the last year for the rear-drive Regal, Buick was flooded with orders for 27,590 Turbos. Buick also saved the best for last, a limited run of special GNX models.

Cranking up the Grand National

The GNX was too specialized to build on an assembly line, so Buick sent 547 Grand Nationals — one for each dealer — to McLaren Performance Technologies/ASC for assembly. The McLaren-built Turbo V6 lurking under the GNX hood bristled with the high tech needed to produce galactic power: a special Garrett T-3 turbocharger with a quick-spooling ceramic impeller, a larger intercooler with a ceramic/aluminum-coated air-flow duct, and a special GNX-only management chip in the Engine Control Module (ECU). Low-restriction dual exhaust was added, and the Turbo Hydramatic 200-4R transmission was modified with a custom torque converter and fluid cooler. Buick rated this engine at 276 hp at 4,400 rpm, but in truth it probably produced over 300 hp.

The GNX experience didn’t stop at raw horsepower. Buick’s Chief Engineer on the project, Dave Sharpe, told author Gary Witzenburg, “We had to do much more than just put a bunch more power into it, which would have been a disaster.” ASC stiffened the chassis and suspension, added a “ladder bar” to the rear axle, and installed 245/50VR16 front and 255/50VR16 rear tires — very large for 1987 — on special alloy wheels. ASC also added fender flares, front fender vents to reduce underhood heat, and trimmed the interior with Stewart-Warner gauges and special Lear front seats.

The price of admission was a shocking $29,290 (a regular GN started at $16,617), but you got the fastest piece of Detroit iron in America. How fast? When Popular Mechanics tested the GNX for their March 1987 issue, they paired it with the exotic Callaway Corvette Twin Turbo, since no factory-built vehicle was in the GNX’s league. Super Stock & Drag Illustrated reinforced that, as a mysteriously slow GNX still outran a Mustang GT, a Firebird GTA, and a Camaro IROC Z in that magazine’s March ’88 issue. Top speed was “just” 124 mph, regulated electronically because of the tire rating and front-end lift worries, but nothing was faster getting there, including contemporary Ferrari and Lamborghini supercars. Wicked, mean, and supremely powerful, Car and Driver proclaimed: “Lord Vader, your car is ready.”

Stored away

With such a limited build and such a sinister reputation, the GNX was an instant collectible.

If you missed out on buying a new GNX in ’87, you actually still have your chance, since some were bought new and stored away by speculators. A handful with 100 miles or less show up at auction every year, such as this 45-mile GNX.

We’ve seen these cars sell for as much as $115,000, so this one was right near top dollar. And why not? With fantastic unused condition, enough power to rule a galaxy far, far away, and enough comfort and style to make the task enjoyable, the GNX is a unique part of muscle car lore. And this one was well sold.

(Introductory description courtesy of Mecum Auctions.