1987 Buick GNX and Little-Known Fact

1987 Buick GNX

Long after the big block V-8-powered muscle cars of the 1960s and 1970s went, Buick brought back some of that magic in the 1980s. The Buick GNX, based on the Grand National (which is itself a hot-rod version of the Regal coupe), was equipped with a potent, turbocharged V-6. The GNX package brought the Grand National's horsepower from 245 up to 276. Car and Driver tested one in 1987 and recorded a 0-to-60-mph time of just 4.6 seconds, making it one of the quickest cars on the market. Buick made only 547 of these black beasts. Many were squirreled away into storage as investments.

Little-Known Fact: Buick had quite a few of these engines left over when it stopped production of the GNX—so Pontiac picked up the turbo V-6s and put them in the 1989 20th Anniversary Trans Am. It was conservatively rated at just 250 hp, but true GM enthusiasts knew the potential that lay under the hood of that Trans Am.