Buick Grand National Was a True Corvette-Killer in a Very Dark Era
Buick Grand National shouldn’t have existed, and yet, it emerged as one of the performance icons of the modern era.
Any automotive enthusiast worth their salt knows all about the Buick Grand National – a truly amazing performance machine that was also perhaps the ultimate sleeper of our time. From a brand known for providing comfy and boring transportation for the older folks of the world, the Buick Grand National was a total riot to drive, thanks to its turbocharged V6 powerplant, and responded so well to modifications that it’s still dominating drag strips across the nation to this day. And that’s precisely why YouTuber 337 Street recently explored this very cool footnote in automotive history in depth via the video below.
Back in its day, the Grand National would hang with virtually anything it faced on the drag strip, from a Corvette to a Ferrari F40. It was a truly stunning creation, the kind of vehicle that makes you wonder how some eager designer or engineer got approval to build it from profit-hungry brass and bean counters. But the Buick Grand National was also born during the energy crisis, ironically enough. Precisely the reason why it has a turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 under hood in a world where V8s once dominated the performance scene.
In its base form, the humble naturally-aspirated 3.8 put out a whopping 105 horsepower when it originally debuted. It wasn’t designed to serve as the basis for performance vehicles, but it wound up doing exactly that in a number of forms. Meanwhile, the Buick Regal got smaller and lighter in 1978, and also introduced the turbo 3.8 with a modest output of 165 horsepower and 265 pound-feet of torque. But it wasn’t until 1982 when the Grand National came along and reset everyone’s expectations for the model.
Or, rather, 1984, which is when the black-only GN arrived, pumping out 200 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque – just five fewer horsepower than the new C4 Corvette. Output would later jump to 235 horsepower and 330 pound-feet, before the Grand National peaked with the GNX in 1987 that cranked out 300 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque – truly stunning figures for that era that enabled it to run a 12.7-second quarter-mile and beat pretty much everything that existed at the time.
Today, the Grand National is a true legend in the automotive world, a car that quite literally shouldn’t have existed or been capable of doing what it does, and yet, it does exist and is still quick even by today’s standards. In fact, you’re bound to see one or two at virtually any drag strip across the U.S. even today, a true testament to its amazing capability.
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