Gnx #239

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by speeder

A friend had the Typhoon and I thought it was tight. I'm not anti-GM and I always give them credit when due for a cool design, but I always thought that the Buick GN and GNX were toilets. Sort of the automotive equivilant of the old Suzuki 500 2-strokes from the late '60s, super fast but still junk right out of the showroom.

I cringed when I looked at that GNX interior. I think GM interiors of the 1980s are basically the low point for automotive interior design and quality. I still vividly remember riding in a buddy's late-1980s Trans Am back in high school and catching a piece of dash trim as it popped loose and went airborne. It also had something like 160 HP from a 305, but I digress....

[Z-man]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Well, they were basically Buick Regals, although the GNX had some appropriate upgrades. There was an anniversary Trans-Am that had that motor as well that was very fast. I always thought a sleeper T-Type would be cool as a DD, but I don't think they sneak under the radar cheap.

IIRC, the Hurst-Olds was also a sister to the Regal. (It's predecessor was the Olds 442) I think its power was on-par with the Grand National, but not the GNX.

And yes - the Syclone was AWD. It's those types of crazy cars (Syclone, GNX, Hurst-Olds) that GM needs now to infuse the brand with some life...

-Z

[RANDY P]

strong as hell and tweakable for serious times.

1)- awful paint quality (checking)

2)- awful build quality, squeaks and rattles

3)- Powermaster brakes

4)- plastic and fiberglass pieces that fall off all the time..

Make mine an 87 Type-T in that blue or white with buckets and a console please....

rjp

[RANDY P]

It's not like a rare Ferrari- parts for the GN are cheap and common. It looks ratty but it's all there. Least the rare parts aren't pirated off of it. If it's clean titled it would be a good deal at $30 if nice ones are over $60 (haven't checked)

A GN geek could do something with it pretty easily, even for $30K. Doesn't look like it's THAT bad of shape. A day of pulling the bumpers and installing new parts (which are as common as oxygen) and it's just an old car with bad paint.

Steam clean, fix leaks, some interior work and paint...If I had the cash, I'd do it.

rjp

[GG Allin]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

It's not like a rare Ferrari- parts for the GN are cheap and common. It looks ratty but it's all there. Least the rare parts aren't pirated off of it. If it's clean titled it would be a good deal at $30 if nice ones are over $60 (haven't checked)

A GN geek could do something with it pretty easily, even for $30K. Doesn't look like it's THAT bad of shape. A day of pulling the bumpers and installing new parts (which are as common as oxygen) and it's just an old car with bad paint.

Steam clean, fix leaks, some interior work and paint...If I had the cash, I'd do it.

rjp

$30K is hard to justify when the one below can be had for $39K. That said, $39K is about the cheapest I've seen one for in a while.

Buick : Grand National GNX in Buick | eBay Motors

[strupgolf]

Back in the day, when new, the FBI bought 25 of them to use in some kind of way. I, d like to know where those 25 are today.

[Oh Haha]

I wonder if the beer can(s) some workers are rumored to have welded inside the body panels are still there.

A cousin of mine worked on the GN/GNX line here in Flint. My FIL worked at the plant but not on that line.

[TRE Cup]

These were the performance bomb to have back then. A friend could not afford the X, so he bought the GN, then with herb adams suspension and a couple other tweaks, bigger rims and tires, it handled surprisingly well.
I threw a set of yoko R tires on it and took it to a Ferrari Owners Club laguna seca event to play amongst the stallions. The transmission ratios sucked huge (big drop between gears), but with some good ol fashioned taxi wrangling that brick went like the wind around that track. There were not many red cars that could keep up with it !
Still you could feel how light the chassis/body was and we would see plenty of talk of how the back of the body would wrinkle without the right chassis bracing at the drags.
GM did some cool performance stuff here and there during those years. Callaway had a factory option code for a turbo vette right off the show room floor.

Syclone: Jay Leno was given one with a larger turbo, different rear end ratios, and some programming. Just left me in the dust chasing him thru the Sepulveda basin one night. Dang fast boxes !

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by Oh Haha

I wonder if the beer can(s) some workers are rumored to have welded inside the body panels are still there.

A cousin of mine worked on the GN/GNX line here in Flint. My FIL worked at the plant but not on that line.

Wrenches too

rjp