Faster Than a Vette?
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 77
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From: Marion Iowa
Faster Than a Vette?
I am posting this thread on the C3 Forum because I own a C3, but maybe it should be posted on the C4 Forum.
I met a guy this weekend that is a local distributor for the ZDDP product. He is in to Buick Grand Nationals big time and owns several of them. What I learned from him about Grand Nationals is very interesting.
Buick produced them in the mid eighties(84 or 85-87). They were 6 cyl turbos. GNX model was built in the last year of production. Supposedly they were faster than the Vette and beat them regularly in the quarter mile. GM had to tell Buick that the Corvette was Americas' sportscar and Buick could no longer make the Grand National. That is why they had such a short production run.
I have not checked this story myself. I am only presenting what I was told. Please speak up if you have any info or knowledge on the subject.
I met a guy this weekend that is a local distributor for the ZDDP product. He is in to Buick Grand Nationals big time and owns several of them. What I learned from him about Grand Nationals is very interesting.
Buick produced them in the mid eighties(84 or 85-87). They were 6 cyl turbos. GNX model was built in the last year of production. Supposedly they were faster than the Vette and beat them regularly in the quarter mile. GM had to tell Buick that the Corvette was Americas' sportscar and Buick could no longer make the Grand National. That is why they had such a short production run.
I have not checked this story myself. I am only presenting what I was told. Please speak up if you have any info or knowledge on the subject.
Race Director
Joined: Apr 1999
Posts: 11,520
Likes: 13
From: CORVETTE 77 385 C.I. TEXAS
That is why they had such a short production run.
GM stopped building the RWD 78- mid size cars in 87 (despite these being some of the best cars ever built- relatively light weight, handling very good in some like Monte Carlo SS, even quiet, etc.) & went to FWD in 88. Monte Carlo SS continued in 88.
The GM mid size were Malibu, Monte Carlo, Cutlass, Regal, Grand Prix, Bonneville.
PS Chevy performance enthusiasts do not run sto*k- that's just a baseline!
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,831
Likes: 36
From: Cedar,BC
Short production run?Buick built turbo V6's from 1978 to 1988 if you call ten years short!It wasn't until 85 or so till they made decent power with the addition of EFI and an intercooler.The GNX was a low volume beast of its own,with a different engine spec(advertised at 300 horse but probably closer to 350!), and a unique 3 link rear suspension set up and is one of the rarest and likely most desirable GM products of the last thirty years.The turbo V6 was considered for the Corvette and did find its way into a few Trans Ams,its demise was the end of the A and G body RWD platform,possibly one of GM's greatest blunders as it slipped almost all of its product line into FWD mediocrity.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,114
From: Crossville TN
Too much expense on 'special' components for too few units sold. GM's interest in the mid-80's was to make as much profit as possible with as little investment as possible. They really didn't care about performance automobiles between 1975 and 1988. GM lost its way [as a company focused on developing the future in automotive transportation] in the 1970's. And [obviously] they still haven't returned to that "vision". How can a company that is run/managed by MBA's and financial bozos generate a vision based on the manufacture of a [mechanical] automobile? They know nothing about manufacturing/assembly; and they know nothing about the product!
Racer
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 333
Likes: 0
From: Portage Michigan
I am posting this thread on the C3 Forum because I own a C3, but maybe it should be posted on the C4 Forum.
I met a guy this weekend that is a local distributor for the ZDDP product. He is in to Buick Grand Nationals big time and owns several of them. What I learned from him about Grand Nationals is very interesting.
Buick produced them in the mid eighties(84 or 85-87). They were 6 cyl turbos. GNX model was built in the last year of production. Supposedly they were faster than the Vette and beat them regularly in the quarter mile. GM had to tell Buick that the Corvette was Americas' sportscar and Buick could no longer make the Grand National. That is why they had such a short production run.
I have not checked this story myself. I am only presenting what I was told. Please speak up if you have any info or knowledge on the subject.
I met a guy this weekend that is a local distributor for the ZDDP product. He is in to Buick Grand Nationals big time and owns several of them. What I learned from him about Grand Nationals is very interesting.
Buick produced them in the mid eighties(84 or 85-87). They were 6 cyl turbos. GNX model was built in the last year of production. Supposedly they were faster than the Vette and beat them regularly in the quarter mile. GM had to tell Buick that the Corvette was Americas' sportscar and Buick could no longer make the Grand National. That is why they had such a short production run.
I have not checked this story myself. I am only presenting what I was told. Please speak up if you have any info or knowledge on the subject.
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,877
Likes: 13
From: Doha
St. Jude Donor '08
In that clip you'll see one of the Car and Driver mag. editors mentioning how GM had a fear that the '87 GNX may affect the reputation of a Corvette as the #1 US sports car :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G6wtnmdZhE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G6wtnmdZhE
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 11,608
Likes: 778
From: Eustis ( Area 51 Bat Cave ) Fl
Mr 74
I have always heard the same things as you, where there's smoke there's fire,
I believe it was a very real fear to chevy, but then again the G'nat
in stock forum isn't gonna spank a ZR-1,
But no one much ran them stock, I knew a group of fellows with G'nat's and to be in their clique you had to run 11's or better in street trim, and this isn't hard,
I always wondered what would a person have if they dropped a G'nat engine into a vette....
I have always heard the same things as you, where there's smoke there's fire,
I believe it was a very real fear to chevy, but then again the G'nat
in stock forum isn't gonna spank a ZR-1,
But no one much ran them stock, I knew a group of fellows with G'nat's and to be in their clique you had to run 11's or better in street trim, and this isn't hard,
I always wondered what would a person have if they dropped a G'nat engine into a vette....
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,108
Likes: 0
From: Sebastian Florida
The 20th anv. Firebird (1989) had the same turboed v6 and was faster than the v8 Firebird thru the 1/4 mile. It was rated 250hp and 340 lb torque. I was a Firebird guy when I was younger and needed a car with a back seat.
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 1,635
Likes: 8
From: Enid Oklahoma
I am posting this thread on the C3 Forum because I own a C3, but maybe it should be posted on the C4 Forum.
I met a guy this weekend that is a local distributor for the ZDDP product. He is in to Buick Grand Nationals big time and owns several of them. What I learned from him about Grand Nationals is very interesting.
Buick produced them in the mid eighties(84 or 85-87). They were 6 cyl turbos. GNX model was built in the last year of production. Supposedly they were faster than the Vette and beat them regularly in the quarter mile. GM had to tell Buick that the Corvette was Americas' sportscar and Buick could no longer make the Grand National. That is why they had such a short production run.
I have not checked this story myself. I am only presenting what I was told. Please speak up if you have any info or knowledge on the subject.
I met a guy this weekend that is a local distributor for the ZDDP product. He is in to Buick Grand Nationals big time and owns several of them. What I learned from him about Grand Nationals is very interesting.
Buick produced them in the mid eighties(84 or 85-87). They were 6 cyl turbos. GNX model was built in the last year of production. Supposedly they were faster than the Vette and beat them regularly in the quarter mile. GM had to tell Buick that the Corvette was Americas' sportscar and Buick could no longer make the Grand National. That is why they had such a short production run.
I have not checked this story myself. I am only presenting what I was told. Please speak up if you have any info or knowledge on the subject.
Last edited by 81pilot; Oct 5, 2009 at 09:34 PM. Reason: spelling
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 1,635
Likes: 8
From: Enid Oklahoma
