I know its not the most exotic or most expensive vehicle, but you have to admit that these are bad ***. They yield some serious performance figures too .... plus you can load up the entire family for a sunday afternoon drive.
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"The GNX is an ax-wielding barbarian laying waste to everything in it's path" "Rockets to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds and squirts through the quarter-mile in 13.5 seconds at 102 mph"
(Tony Assenza) Car & Driver, May 1987: Buick GNX
The car covers a quarter mile from standing in 13.5 seconds, doing 102 mph when it hits the quarter mile mark. The maximum horsepower produced by the GNX is 276 horsepower at 4,400 rpm (very much under-rated because they didnt want to make the Corvette look bad). The maximum torque of the car is 360 ft-lb at 3,000 rpm. The top speed of the GNX is 124 mph, due to the engine being electronically limited.
The GNX was designed to be the "Grand National to end all Grand Nationals". Outwardly the GNX resembles the Grand National but the modifications performed on these cars made them one of the fastest, best handling and most sought after cars Buick had ever built. It was developed by the then Advanced Concepts & Marketing Vehicles manager, Mike Doble. The car was to be converted by ASC/McLaren. McLaren had been involved with the original Buick/McLaren V-6 racer used at Indy and the 24 valve V-6 Wildcat concept car. McLaren had also developed some early prototypes of the Intercooled Grand National. The basic concept was to build the car to be a full second quicker than the Grand National and improve it's handling. Although plans called for Engine blueprinting, head porting, special bearings, shot-peened rods, and a high-rpm valve train, testing of stock Grand National engines showed that the GNX goal could be met without opening the engine. There were 547 GNXs built and all were 2 door coupes and optioned the same, there were no additions or deletions. To quote the Owners manual "The GNX is a special Grand National with certain modifications to accentuate it's already outstanding performance." Basically the body and drivetrain remained common with the turbocharged Regal Grand National with a few exceptions.
