Return of the grand national ?
 

When I first saw the headline I figured FWD POS, but no.

Now that I read the details it sounds too good to be true for a GM product.

Its a shame it looks just like the GTO but at least its not grotesque.

So you take the slow selling GTO, cannibalize another famous GM name, mark up the price 15k, and expect it to sell!? GM brand engineering at it's worst. If the GTO won't sell with 400HP at 30k, WTF do they think this one's going to do? Another car with good intentions and poor execution, a la GTO and SSR.

$40K for an American V6? Pass...

One of the most impressive street cars I have ever ridden in was an original Grand National a buddy owns. He is a very serious drag racer and set out with one goal in mind: a nine second time slip. He managed to achieve that goal. I would have never thought it possible with such a "little" motor, but this thing does it and still get over 20mpg on the freeway and is a comfortable daily driver.

Yep... The GTO is really lacklustre. A guy in my building has one. It looks OK, but that's just it. It's only 'OK'. It looks like every other freaking Pontiac.

Beginning sometime in the 80s Pontiacs started looking like rejects from a low budget independent science fiction flick. Sure it's probably fast for a couple years but by the time you're making the 48th payment the car is a rolling junk heap ready for Ensenada.

I think it is sad when they try to revive a classic. It's like watching a sports figure that has stayed in the game too long. You almost feel sorry for it. Other than the namesake, nothing is like before.

I've had my '86 GN about 6 years now. It is a very fun car. Easy 13's in street trim with the AC running. High 11's at the track with 117 octane race fuel and 25 psi boost.



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1115360111.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1115360137.jpg

Terry, NIIIIICE!! Tell us about that shifter set-up, looks like the proverbial "two-pecker billygoat"..... :D

You'd think from the failure of the GTO they'd realize that a car won't sell on the virtue of the old name that they ripped off from the past. It's a shame, cars like Terry's are bad ass, slapping the name on a re-badged GTO is just an embarassment. Who's the idiot at GM that thinks this brand engineering crap works? They have what, four versions of the Trailblazer, each just has a different badge on the front? They've done it for years, and their market share is declining, yet they don't stop. Each car should be a DIFFERENT product, just look at a succesful company, like Toyota. You can share parts, but at least make them different cars. Ford does the same stupidity with Mercury, but at least they didn't try to make a Mustang out of a Miata. And finally, what talk of disgracing old namesakes would be complete without the mention of the new FOUR DOOR Dodge Charger?:mad:

That is a shifter out of a 86 olds 442 his/hers setup. Not factory as far as I know.

My friend in college had one and its was very quick. I recall spanking a last gen. turbo supra at a stop light. Then on the way home he wanted to race someone top speed. So we met a guy with a Tauras SHO. We were even up to about 120 then the little SHO left up like we were sitting still. The GN had NO top end speed.

Body roll machine. We he took a turn its was like sitting in the center of a see-saw.

I agree leave it a classic, or at the very least do a better job making something that looked like the original, not another platform car with different badging. I was talking with a British customer the other day that marvels over the fact that car companies put out 2 or 3 of the same car with different names and everyone pretends they are different cars.

Horsepower: 450 bhp @ 5200 rpm

Oh crap!!!

Curb Weight: 3698 lbs

Never Mind.....

Asside from Ford hitting a home run with the new retro Mustang, which is not any kind of "revival" anyway, has any car company actually succeeded at this? I can't think of one. The new Dodge "Charger" is anything but. The return to the original T-Bird concept failed miserably. The water-cooled "911" is... oh, never mind.

Bring back the Dodge Dart.

haha Denis, that shifter does draw some stares. TerryBPP was close, it was actually a factory option in the Hurst Olds (Cutlass) of the early '80s. A spinoff of the full race Lenco shifters called the Hurst Lightning Rods. You simply grab one lever for each gear down the strip. For street driving you simply ignore the two knobs on the right. The Lightning Rods were not available for the GN or GNX in any year, but I thought they looked cool and they do provide protection for a missed shift.

Console and A pillar guage pods were not factory either. It did have a factory tach but it was a linear light bar that was rediculously inaccurate. So I stuck a Autometer on the column. Larger injectors, turbo, fuel pump, and exhaust with a 3.5 in downpipe turn this grocery getter into a pretty mean street machine. Definitely not made for cornering. ;)

hmmmm.... tried to upload a jpg of Car and Driver specs and says to make it 100k which will make the text too small to read. Might try again later.

Yep. IIRC, they had them in the Hurst/Olds sleepers.

Rare & wild looking!

-Z.

I have great respect for the GN.

I thought "How fast can a Buick Regal with a V-6 be?" until I went for a ride in one.

Wow.

Looks like a winner on paper. Too bad GM can't seem to read the headlines -

The issue with the GTO isn't the #'s, it's the styling...This car will follow suit.

rjp

I say GM should bring back the Syclone pickup truck. :)

-Z.

I agree, Z. The Syclone and/or Typhoon would have been a better choice.

Ahhh yesss. A Hurst lighning rod shifter. I had one in a 84 Hurst Olds. People couldn't figure out if it was the shifter, or if I had a back-hoe in the trunk!


(edit for calling the lightning rods a dual gate) DOH!