1987 Buick grand national, was this the best performance car America offered in the 80s?

[@stuartb9323]

Simple minds...alive and kicking!

[@What.its.like.]

You got it man congratulations I thought it went well with the joke it was almost goodbye stranger.. there’s a whole backstory to it which eventually I will have to let you guys in on

[@stuartb9323]

@@What.its.like. awesome 👌 Please don't leave us hanging🪂

[@glennso47]

@@stuartb9323 unfortunately a lot of those simple minds are in Washington DC and several state capitals.

[@jacegoble2349]

I have one I'm restoring right now. Nice job on the demo.

[@What.its.like.]

That’s awesome I always wanted to drive this car but I didn’t get a chance to I did drive a it was either an 88 or an 89 turbo Trans Am that car was pretty cool but I didn’t do a video on it.. I got to drive a lot of cars over the summer time that I didn’t do videos for =)

[@jacegoble2349]

@@What.its.like. I test drove a demo in Martinsville Indiana in 1987 when I was 20.

[@stuartb9323]

It was actually "Race on Sunday , Sell on Monday " 🙂 Cool video

[@What.its.like.]

That’s what was said =)

[@stuartb9323]

@@What.its.like. You were close, go back and checkout what you said 😃

[@stuartb9323]

@@What.its.like. You said "Race on Sunday, Buy on Monday"

[@What.its.like.]

Oh ok I got the wording off but I meant the same thing =D

[@stuartb9323]

@What it’s like I really enjoy your videos Jay! I always look forward to " name that tune" as well 👍

[@irineoluna84]

My dream weekend car if I had one.

[@What.its.like.]

I wanted to drive this car didn’t get a chance to.. I did get to drive a turbo formula Trans Am 1989 it was in Indianapolis pace car edition. I didn’t do a video for it we got it at the dealership and sold it the next day. I took it down to get pictures done of it posted a picture of some guy came and bought it the next day never got a chance to do a video or anything. =)

[@leightonfarms4962]

Excellent!

[@What.its.like.]

Thank you this one is like getting a brand new one

[@leightonfarms4962]

@@What.its.like. right?!!

[@jdgreen214]

My son always falls asleep in the back seat because they are so comfortable.

[@What.its.like.]

Those seats were so nice

[@Radiowild]

Faster than an 87 Corvette! Nuff said!

[@What.its.like.]

Yeah this was quicker than just about anything I’m amazed it didn’t sell any better 30,000 grand nationals made in a 5 year duration isn’t that good but the money that these cars are bringing now is incredible GNX you can’t touch one for under six figures if it’s in good shape

[@DanielLopez-me9mh]

I always like the turbo regals from 1978 to 1987 my dream car was always the Buick Gnx those turbo regals are worth a ton of money today

[@What.its.like.]

I wish I could tell myself 10 years ago to buy one I can’t believe how much this car is worth now.. Same thing with 70s Mopar products even if it has a 340 in it it’s worth a ton of money

[@montymatilda]

Glad you were able to do a Grand National. The most intriguing car of the '80s. I had the chance to drive one back in the day and was totally shocked at how fast it was. Quiet to. It was like the feeling you get in a jet liner on take-off, in the quiet part of the plane. Planted firmly in my seat. What a thrill it was to get to drive it. I was allowed to drive it fairly hard too. Great memory. Thanks Jay.

[@What.its.like.]

=) glad you digged this episode thank you so much fir sharing your insight and memories of this car with us

[@Romon-n7c]

Buick/McLaren Wowza !

[@jdgreen214]

Missed the 70s buick GS and GNX.

[@michaelwallbrown3726]

being a Mopar guy since 1967 i can say that these were badass for the time

[@What.its.like.]

Totally agree these were so different than anything else out there

[@markw208]

Exceptional condition, but what really stands out is the immaculate dash and instrument cluster

[@What.its.like.]

This car is absolutely perfect even the hood insulator underneath the hood is still intact and looks perfect.. that’s one of the first things to go, I wish I could’ve drove it I did have the privilege of driving to move it but I never driven it on the road it was a super cool car what gets me is somebody bought it in 1987 and legit we only drove it less than 100 miles a year (88 miles a year) that’s crazy to me

[@johnbryant5086]

No power windows or premium sound system thats gotta be kinda rare

[@christopherkraft1327]

Hey Jay, back in the eighties one of my coworkers bought a new 87 Grand National & he was so proud of that car!!! The T Tops are really cool, especially when they're off. The only downside is that they usually leaked!!! Thanks for sharing this exciting video!!! 👍👍🌲

[@What.its.like.]

Thank you so much for sharing that story.. it snowed and wasn’t able to drive this one on the road which was a bummer

[@gene978]

Hey Jay, I remember these like yesterday. I worked with a woman in her late 70’s. Anna was a waitress at the restaurant I managed and she drove this car. She had no idea it was a special car. She went to the dealer asking for a Buick Regal and wanted a black one. This is what they sold her. She said the dealer never spoke of it being a sports car just a Regal. LOL. Once she found out how special the car was she felt like a teenager again. She babied it.

[@What.its.like.]

Awesome story thank you so much fir sharing that awesome memory =)

[@shadowgwm]

I had a 87 GNX. It was loaded. Black was the only color you could get and it was tough looking. A lot of people thought it was just a loaded regal. They had no clue what a beast this car was. I always heard how the t-tops leaked, but I never had any problems. I always kept the seals soft and conditioned. I could run with a Corvette and beat it no problem. It was an awesome car. I wish I still had it. It drove so nice. And you could be going 100 + easily. I got pulled over and would have gotten a big money, big points too had I not have known the police officer. He wrote the ticket 61 in a 55 zone. I loved that car, but I had to get rid of it. I can’t remember why now, but I sure wish it was sitting in my carport.

[@What.its.like.]

That’s what I loved about that car is it looks just like a regular regal there’s only one bag of the says otherwise.. and it would hang with cars three times the price it was a force to be reckoned with thank you so much for sharing your experience with your car on here =)

[@jdgreen214]

@@What.its.like. You know what's funny? It still strikes fear in people today. Most pull up and won't even try it. Mine has 500hp but the guy down the street from me has one on slicks with about 650 and hellcats fear this man.

[@markblanchard1333]

GNX Doesn't have T-Tops

[@ScottAdams-p5q]

GNX was nevvvver produced with Factory TTops.. never

[@g.stephens263]

Just as an aside (from the previous owner of both a Regal 97 GS, and an 87 Century T-Type), that if you ever owned a 'Porsha' that's how you would pronounce it (phonetically). Anyway, Buick seemed to always have a predilection toward making luxury performance cars. My 87 T-Type had the first gen 3.8L V6 (nearly all Century's had the 3.1), and my Regal GS was powered by the 3.8 L II with a small roots type supercharger. That might be an interesting car to profile for you. Good video, I've been a Buick owner since the mid 70's.

[@What.its.like.]

Thank you so much I’ll have to look for one =)

[@aaronwilliams6989]

Super awesome car. But that 85 mph speedometer is WAY out of place in a car like that. 👍

[@What.its.like.]

Totally agree

[@jdgreen214]

That brake system is the power master. It will fail on you without notice. I was driving after I had all the work done and I'm driving brake light. Replaced with vacuum brakes. 1k. The car is also missing some body bushings from the factory. Adding them will stiffen the the car up. So many little things to make it better. Bigger injectors, hotwire fuel pump kit to get more fuel. Scan master to monitor all the engine output.

[@What.its.like.]

Great information thank you so much for sharing that =)

[@automatedelectronics6062]

These were real rocket ships! Although they weren't black in color, and had a wide range of colors, these cars were widely used by the FBI and the Secret Service. As far as horsepower ratings was concerned, like many high performance cars of the era, horsepower figures were understated for insurance reasons. Although the Buick 3.8 turbo V6 was probably the most powerful engine that GM had at the time, it was definitely underrated and wasn't allowed to overshadow the Corvette. Definitely, it could outrun the Corvette of the era on everything but handling and top speed. These were fun cars to drive and could definitely get a driver in trouble. But, afterall, these were GM cars built on a midsize platform dating back to 1978. That made these great cars for acceleration but handling, um, no. They had some drawbacks, mechanically, brakes and the normally BOC TH200-R4 automatic. Introduced in 1981 on low-powered cars, it took until 1985 for GM to get most of the bugs worked out. At his time I worked at a Cadillac dealership, in the transmission repair line and these transmissions were 90% of the work I did, with 4 of us in this line and we always had cars waiting for us to get to them. Most cars didn't make it 20K miles before the transmission failed, and it was usually the same single part which would commonly fail. Working later in an independent garage, there were a few of these cars I worked on. They were reliable and fun to drive. The most frequent repairs were normal servicing and brake jobs. Most of my customers' cars had power windows and door locks. These were Buicks afterall. With these final GN's and GNX's, people realized what they had, took car of the cars or put them away. Back before the Imperial Palace, which had a car collection, closed for good, they had one of these GN's with about 100 miles on the ODO and I seem to remember a price tag of $30K.

[@What.its.like.]

It’s crazy what these cars are going for now.. Thank you so much fir all the added information

[@richardwarren7492]

The GNX could hit 60 mph from a standstill in 4.7 seconds, according to Car and Driver. To put that in perspective, this was faster than the Corvettes, Ferraris, Porsches, and even the Lamborghini Countach. For a brief period, the fastest production in the world was the Buick GNX. 1986, NHTSA began requiring all new cars to have a third brake light. Urban legend - Legend has it that in 1973, a San Francisco cab driver was rear-ended for the twelfth time. In frustration, the cabbie hard-wired a truck light to his rear brake lights and placed it in his back window, effectively inventing the third brake light. Story goes, he’s never been rear-ended since.

[@What.its.like.]

Yeah the GNX is different than the regular gran national.. it’s hard to believe Buick made this car in the 80s something so far out of nowhere the plan was to drive this car but things changed and didn’t get the chance to

[@davidmckibbin4440]

it was the fastest car you could buy in the usa.

[@jdgreen214]

On the right there is a bulb missing that would light up when they were experimenting with water alcohol injection. The did away with it something about crash safety. If the would have used that on the 87 it would have hands down been the fastest car in the world.

[@What.its.like.]

It was fast and I wish I was around born in 89 just before I was born.. I honestly never knew of this car until top gear did a cheap car challenge it was the USA version

[@jdgreen214]

Have a 87 with 500hp with bolt-ons. Not cheap to get it that way 20k but it still halls ass. Can compete with everything except the fastest cars like gt500 or hellcats. Scats and gt350 don't stand a chance. The secret to these cars is the tourqe comes on low rpm and pulls strong all the way through.

[@UNCFIPP]

They moved the high beam switch from the floor to the blinker lever in 77, on the B bodies when GM first started downsizing. Then on the A/G body(this car) in 78, when those cars downsized.. My brothers 77 Malibu had the foot pedal, by the brakes. my 78 malibu wagon had the blinker pull lever. With Flash to pass.. Also, i believe 85-86 was when the rear mount stop light started

[@What.its.like.]

Thank you so much fir that information we had a 1989 ford compline van that had the high beam switch on the floor still.. but owned a mercury grand marquis and a Lincoln town car both late 80s and Beamer switch wasn’t on the floor

[@stevesmith6236]

Showing how the door lock button works? Really? Unusual to see a GN with the optional T-Tops but it's equipted with crank windows.

[@What.its.like.]

This channel is for people that want to get into these cars that have no idea what they’re looking at so sometimes you have to point stuff out because some cars nowadays don’t have door locks up there..

[@stevesmith6236]

Here's my hand for reference.🤥

[@What.its.like.]

Perspective/perception is key

[@johnbryant5086]

Thats for engine coolant not turbo fluid

[@What.its.like.]

Thank you for that correction, I drove a Pontiac tran am pace car edition and that container was for the turbo fluid. That’s where it was on that car. Thank you for that correction

[@johnbryant5086]

@@What.its.like. I own two 87 grandnationals and a 89 turbo transam

[@rbremby74]

🤔 Turbo fluid? smh. How about radiator fluid reservoir . Man, Check his papers! 👀

[@What.its.like.]

I didn’t review a 1989 Pontiac Trans Am turbo the owner I didn’t get to drive one though the owner told me that that container was for the turbo fluid in that car so I assumed that it was the same in this one

[@ScottAdams-p5q]

Turbo fluid 😅… looks like the radiator reservoir to me

[@What.its.like.]

Glad you were paying attention do that from time to time to see how far people made it Thank you for that correction

[@linwoodccole9765]

Let me school u the reason the gn was short lived chevy disiin went crying to gm brass because both gn n gnx was faster than the corvette and the callaway corvette the sales didn't have nothing to do with that chevy and the gm brass was trying to push for no car from gm to be faster than the corvette. In 1989 the 20th anniversary trans am used the same motor from buick gn but with pontiacs inner motor tweaking and made a bigger turbo it was faster than the better and the buick gn

[@What.its.like.]

Thank you so much for adding all of that information I wanted to say that nothing could ever be better than a Corvette in the same is true now there was cars in the 50s that was faster than a Corvette but they never got press because MotorTrend was in bed with Chevy from day one.. it’s still the same way nothing can be better than Chevy.. or nothing can be better than the Corvette which is produced by Chevy =)

[@linwoodccole9765]

@@What.its.like. back in the sixties pontiac was faster than the corvette that's what started the 1963 corporate ban on racing because pontiac lemans and the catalina sd was kicking corvettes ass on the track and the streets with there civilian pontiacs

[@linwoodccole9765]

Even in the 70s the trans am was faster than the corvette so when buick started to make the gn hot in 86 and 87 to be faster than the corvette chevy cried .

[@What.its.like.]

In the 50s fastest car by 1957 was a amc rambler rebel and studebaker golden hawk they would walk all over the vette.. those cars never got the press they deserved to get

[@davidmckibbin4440]

@@What.its.like.

[@glennso47]

Beeuuuiiick->🤮🥴

[@S58PSHIFTING]

roseanne barr really, you ruined the entire video just by mentioning that name....

[@What.its.like.]

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