Mopar guys and Turbo Buicks

[69 OUR/TEA]

I've noticed from this site over the years there have been numerous members who own a T-Type,GN,or GNX,and even the 20th Ann Trans Am pace car(turbo buick ).
My 2 cars that I had to have were,an 87 GN,and a 3x9 Charger R/T. Got the GN in 92,so have been into those a long time.Must have been a dozen or more friends at one time that had them,some had sold,some still have.Myself,still have mine,last year got the itch for one of the 20th TTA's,as the collectability of them is there,1,555 made.
I like low mile orig cars,so set out for one and found a mint orig 15k mile car.Fast forward to but a few weeks ago,turns out our good friend here,johntpr is on the lookout for a Turbo T,I sent him a link to a car here in Ct that I sen last summer,awesome car !!!!!!,and told him to come up and I'd be glad to go with him to inspect.John came up,we checked out the car,now he proudly owns own(he'll chime in with pics and details).Then,I see a familiar name on the turbobuick website from DCC,autodynamics(Pete),and get talking with him,he in turn owns a GN,which was in the process of being sold to get himself into a GNX,which he did,and also will chime in with his pics and details.
Congrats again John and Pete !!!!!
So that's 2 DCC members in a week to buy Turbo Regals,wrong!!! Then I see something that I could not resist buying,as I saw these GN's on the dealer lots in high school and obviously could not afford,and always wished I was of the age to have bought one new,well,sorta now could.Less than 2 miles from where John got his 87 Turbo T,10 miles from my house,was an 87 GN,the exact twin to my orig one,with an incredible 1,400 miles on it!!!I should never have went to see it,I knew what was gonna happen,once the cover came off,I could not believe what I was looking at!!!Truly a time capsule,and as I used to write off the comment about cars like these still smelling new,IT DOES !!!!!The owner told me it has always had the windows up to never lose that smell.
Complete documents,binder full of papertrail,etc.First(orig)owner sold in 03 with 644 miles,second owner in 07 with 941,myself now at 1,426.
So John and Pete will reply about theirs,and any other DCC members,share yours to.

[69 OUR/TEA]

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[69 OUR/TEA]

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[69 OUR/TEA]

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[69 OUR/TEA]

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[areibel]

NICE!
I almost bought a T Type Regal back in 86 or 87, but didn't want to give up my pickup at the time.  WIsh I would have!
A friend has a GNX that rarely sees the road, but what a car!

[69 OUR/TEA]

NICE!
I almost bought a T Type Regal back in 86 or 87, but didn't want to give up my pickup at the time.  WIsh I would have!
A friend has a GNX that rarely sees the road, but what a car!

That is where my bucket list car is,a GNX.

[RJS]

Yeah Paul!!!
I saw the pictures of John's T-Type and love it.
Now this one and love it, lets all go buy one!!!!!!  Hope you'll use it a bit more and not let it just sit.

[69 OUR/TEA]

I find it more common that Mopar guys are into Turbo Buicks than Buick guys into Mopars !!!!!

[projectanimal]

Beautiful Car!!!  Congrats on adding it to your collection.  There is a nice one that drives around my town in Simsbury CT.   

[64dartgt]

Nah...but maybe I will turbocharge the 340 in my 73 Charger!   

[Cooter]

Yep, Turbo's have come down to where even us Mopar guys can turbo our junk.

[69 OUR/TEA]

Beautiful Car!!!  Congrats on adding it to your collection.  There is a nice one that drives around my town in Simsbury CT.   

Don't know if it is still there,but there is a GNX bought new from Parsons Buick in Plainville that is supposed to reside in Simsbury.

[johntpr]

Paul,

It's all your fault.  Or maybe it waas the OE Gold headaches.  Anyway thanks for all your help in locating and inspecting this car.

[johntpr]

It's a 1987 Buick Turbo T with 8,000 miles. All original.

[Ram07]

My ex had one of those....was her and her 1st exs car, but she got it.  Her first ex got rear ended on the 401 at some point....car was fixed....given to my ex bride....then she rear ended someone else....looking in the rearview mirror cuz her nose was sunburned or something....anywhhos...car was totaled after that hit....was a cool car tho.

[SRT-440]

Nice Buicks!

I have a '70 RR and a 1985 Buick Grand National...the GN is prancing around as a '87 tho..swapped the grille and it's got the '87 Intercooled V6...mine is highly modded..but still has a stock bottomend..has ran a best of 10.90 in the quarter. I'll post pics later. 

[areibel]

I find it more common that Mopar guys are into Turbo Buicks than Buick guys into Mopars !!!!!

Yeah, The guy with the GNX likes Mopars.  But with a GNX, A '70 GSX and a Stage 2 Skylark vert (plus an old Rivvy as a daily driver) I don't see him switching sides soon!

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Paul you are certifiable! 

Whats with CT & no one driving these turbo cars up there?

Congrats to you guys on the purchases!

[bakerhillpins]

Great lookin cars guys.    One of the few 80s cars I would ever consider owning.

[SRT-440]

Mine with my RR and Dart.

[chargerboy69]

For the "Mopar or no car" crowd.  It is stuff like this you are missing out on. And what did Dodge have out during this time, the junk Daytona. 

Nice GN's everyone.  I had a 86 T-Type several years back, very nice car.

I have bid on a few of GN's over the last couple years on E-Bay.  More or less just trying to get one cheep, but nothing yet.  The wife might actually freak if I won one.

[autodynamics]

Mopars are in my blood however this has been in my veins also for a long time
Until this past week

My garage is complete

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Other than badging, wheels etc what makes the GN have the X factor?

Nice ride (and plate)Pete

EDIT---  pretty good write up in this ad.....but YIKES on the price with only 851 miles on it...65k with 2 days left in the auction
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Buick-Grand-National-GNX-Buick-GNX-851-Miles-1-of-547-Blue-Chip-Register-392-Selling-at-No-Reserve-/171006616475?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item27d0c9e39b#ht_2156wt_1165

The GNX

When Buick added an "X" to a model designa-tion, one could assume that it meant something special. Recall the 1970 GSX which was an appear-ance modification of the Gran Sport. In the case of that "X" machine, the changes were strictly on the outside, but that wouldn't be the case with the GNX. There was one similarity, though, between the two machines, that being the bigger "X" in the three-letter emblem.

For many, the GNX is the most desirable some-what modern performance car in the country. It took the second-best performance car in the 1987 Grand National and made it a giant step better. With all its positives, there is one large negative from a collector's point of view. There were only 547 produced, which makes the GNX very rare and very expensive. It has been reported, for example, that GNX models have reached the six-figure values in 1990s sales. Experts advise any lucky GNX owner to keep his car as they are predicted to continually escalate through the years.

The refinement that the GNX received in so many different areas is truly amazing. A speed shop couldn't have done a better job. Acquiring a 31hp increase over the standard Grand National engine was a significant accomplishment. Consid-er, of course, that most factory announcements of horsepower are quite conservative by nature, so the actual figure is probably much closer to the 400 or greater figure.

The GNX was not a complete factory creation as aftermarket modifications were accomplished by McLaren Engines and ASC Inc. But even though there was this influence, it's generally agreed that Buick engineer Dave Sharpe was the guiding influ-ence behind the GNX. He wanted the Regal line to end with a bang. With the GNX, he succeeded in a big way!

Everywhere you looked on the GNX, there were modifications that had been made with perfor-mance in mind. But you really had to look close o the outside to see that this was a different breed of Grand National. Huge care was taken by the company during the assembly process with inspections taking place at each build station.

There were just a pair of GNX emblems on the sheet metal, the locations being on the grille and rear deck. But also, each wheel hub carried the fa-mous trio of letters. A nice touch was the fact that each GNX carried its production number on a plaque mounted on the glove compartment door.

For the brute that beat under the hood, there was considerable instrumentation to read. This included the expected oil pressure gauge, water temperature gauge, and an 8000rpm tach. The speedometer pegged at 140mph, which wasn't really that much out of line for this hauler. But remember, this was a tur-bocharged engine, so the boost was also record-ed on the dash for driver viewing.

The fender wells on the GNX didn't appear that much different, but they were constructed out of a special composite space-age material. Each of the front fenders carried functional fender louvers located high on the front quarters. With the heat generated by the powerplant, the extra cooling ca-pability was definitely needed. Weight reduction was a design goal, and to that end, aluminum components and reinforcements were used as much as possible.

The heart of the GNX powerplant was the advanced turbocharger, a unit that completely re-placed the stock unit.

Special attention in the new Garrett T-3 turbo was paid to the turbine shaft seals which reduced drag oh the shaft. There was also emphasis on the turbine wheel which was accomplished by its ceramic construction. A so-called contamination trap was also in place to prevent foreign particles from getting near the turbine wheel and creating turbocharger wear. But what really caught your eye when the GNX hood was raised was the unique turbocharger cov-er which sported GNX graphics. Along with its dra-matic looks, the cover also served as a heat shield.

Another GNX-specific item was the special intercooler, which had a far more significant capabil-ity than the stock unit. Connecting the intercooler with the throttle body is an important pipe that carries a special heat-resistant line. With its horsepower rating of 276, it's kind of surprising that the engine's torque wasn't greater than 360lb-ft, which it demonstrated at 3000rprn. Another particular about this interesting Buick mill is the low compression ratio of only 8.0:1, but it was pretty typical for a turbocharged engine. Its maximum boost topped out at 15:1

With the monster power from under the hood, it would have been a sin to not have a suspension system and powertrain to support it in the manner it deserved. The GNX engineers considered all the possibilities and came up with a system that made this top Grand National a hauler of the first order.

It sounds like a Winston Cup setup with a rear pan hard bar to absorb rear axle loads. There's also a ladder bar used with the stock control arms, which are actually attached to the rear axle cover. There were also a 32mm front stabilizer bar and a 19mm rear unit. Boy, they sure don't build cars like this anymore! Maintenance was considered with special rubber bushings used between all suspension parts. The bushings were such that they could be ser-viced easily should any wear occur.

The standard transmission for the GNX was a reprogrammed Turbo Hydra-matic 200-4R four speed hooked to a custom torque converter. Transmission cooling was an area for consideration, something that you wouldn't normally think about on a street car. The GNX would really be stretching it to call it a street car.

Located directly in the middle of the grille was an auxiliary transmission cooler located just in front of the air conditioner condenser and just be-hind the grille. With a series of hoses, it was hooked up with the regular radiator.

A final statement of its performance: 111mph and 12.6 sec in the quarter bone stock.

[69 OUR/TEA]

Alittle off on the 1/4 times,a stock GNX usually would run around 13.40's-13.50's @103-104mph,while reg GN's were high 13's-14.0 @99mph.