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Last week: 1987 Buick GNX. THIS week(even cooler): 1970 Buick Gran Sport GSX!

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The Buick Grand National models of the 80s wouldn't have existed, if their wasn't a predecessor model that inspired their creation. That predecessor was the Buick Gran Sport of the mid 60s - 70s. {Note: no 'd' in "Gran" Sport}. Lol

The Gran Sport model(GS) started out as a set of performance options available on a few different Buick models of the 60s, much like Chevrolet' s Super Sport(SS) option packages. But later, the Gran Sport became a top level performance package available only on the mid sized Skylark.

Similarly, the 1987 GNX being the penultimate version of the Grand National, the GSX was the top-o-the-line version of the Gran Sport series. It came in specific colors set for each model year, and it included front and rear spoilers, stripes, badging etc.

This particular gem, comes with the extra heavy duty Muncie M22 4-speed manual, a posi rear, and the tip-top engine option, which was the 455 Stage 1. That engine produced more torque than any other automotive production engine for a very long time. 455 equipped Gran Sports were known to often outperform even the Plymouth Hemi Cuda, which created an ongoing, 1/2 century rivalry between the 2 camps!

 
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beautiful car.

when i was in high school, a buddy of mine got a 1977 Cutlass Supreme that someone had put a 455 in. the car was in rough shape, but the engine was good, and that thing could move. he blew the engine in about a month and a half, and i sort of wished that i had bought the car instead.
 
The GS was introduced in mid 1964.

The A body intermediates had been redesigned for that year, and were significantly larger than their predecessors. Gone too, were advanced features like the aluminum V-8, turbocharging, independent rear suspensions.

The Buick started the year with a 300 cubic inch V-8 that got 230 HP. I had this in a yellow convertible with bucket seats and a Muncie rock crusher. That was a really cool car!

It wasn’t really very well built, It rattled, there were plenty of body gaps, and the rear fenders rusted out (which doomed it).

In mid year, the V-8 was enlarged to 340 cu in, and offered exclusively in a newly badged option package called Gran Sport (GS)
 
Helix said:
beautiful car.

when i was in high school, a buddy of mine got a 1977 Cutlass Supreme that someone had put a 455 in. the car was in rough shape, but the engine was good, and that thing could move. he blew the engine in about a month and a half, and i sort of wished that i had bought the car instead.
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Back then, each GM division designed and produced its own engines. So, aside from the Cadillac 472 cubic inch(7.8L), Chevy had the 454, while Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick ALL had a 455. But despite being of the same displacement size, these were 3 different engines. It wasn't til about the late 70s that GM Corp finally decided to design and utilize consistent "corporate engines" that would be used across most or all GM divisions. There were 'slight exceptions', but only minor deviations.
 
Basically it was a Buick 442. They really looked good in red over white. I believe it also had a 4.11, like a 442. All those big block A bodies were fast!
 
Chomsky said:
Basically it was a Buick 442. They really looked good in red over white. I believe it also had a 4.11, like a 442. All those big block A bodies were fast!
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They were completely different engines.

The Olds engine was a bored and stroked enlargement of the original Rocket V-8 from 1949,

The Buick nail head debuted on Roadmasters and Supers in 1953. The Special got a straight eight for one more year.
 
TomFitz said:
They were completely different engines.

The Olds engine was a bored and stroked enlargement of the original Rocket V-8 from 1949,

The Buick nail head debuted on Roadmasters and Supers in 1953. The Special got a straight eight for one more year.
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He was saying it was Buick's ANSWER to the 4-4-2.
I've heard people make the comparison before, and the same kind of people will say that a Buick Electra 225 is a Buick answer to a Cadillac.
I actually think the 225 was better looking than the 64 caddies.

18680573463.jpg
 
TomFitz said:
They were completely different engines.

The Olds engine was a bored and stroked enlargement of the original Rocket V-8 from 1949,

The Buick nail head debuted on Roadmasters and Supers in 1953. The Special got a straight eight for one more year.
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Yes. I was referring to the GS being an A body that was not the ubiquitous Chevelle or Goat. Chevies were marketed as the ever-day working-mans cars, and Ponchos were slotted similarly but a slight level up and more sporting. Buick & Olds were marketed as the more upscale & luxury divisions, with Buick additionally marketed to the more mature crowd.

Consequently Chevies & Ponchos, but more so Chevies, were ubiquitous & common. Buick & Olds were less common, especially among the young guys that often bought the high-performance A bodies. Many of the teen & twenty-something young guys would ordinarily not consider a Buick or an Olds, but some did cross-over to buy GS' & 442s. GS & 442 were the exceptions to young guys usually buying Chevy & Poncho. Therefore my comment.

But you are absolutely right about their having different engines. All four of them!
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
He was saying it was Buick's ANSWER to the 4-4-2.
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Exactly. And I'm differentiating between the Buick-Olds & Chevy-Pontiac general demographics. I go into more detail in post #8 above, if interested. Actually, I'd like your opinion of my recollections in that post!

I've heard people make the comparison before, and the same kind of people will say that a Buick Electra 225 is a Buick answer to a Cadillac.
I actually think the 225 was better looking than the 64 caddies.

18680573463.jpg
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Let's not forget the Olds 98's! I loved Oldsmobiles!
 
Chomsky said:
Yes. I was referring to the GS being an A body that was not the ubiquitous Chevelle or Goat. Chevies were marketed as the ever-day working-mans cars, and Ponchos were slotted similarly but a slight level up and more sporting. Buick & Olds were marketed as the more upscale & luxury divisions, with Buick additionally marketed to the more mature crowd.

Consequently Chevies & Ponchos, but more so Chevies, were ubiquitous & common. Buick & Olds were less common, especially among the young guys that often bought the high-performance A bodies. Many of the teen & twenty-something young guys would ordinarily not consider a Buick or an Olds, but some did cross-over to buy GS' & 442s. GS & 442 were the exceptions to young guys usually buying Chevy & Poncho. Therefore my comment.

But you are absolutely right about their having different engines. All four of them!
Click to expand...

Remember the dustup that happened when people discovered the change to a generic General Motors engine across the lineup?
I was actually pretty sad about that because the different divisions really did make different engines up to that point.

Ehhh, what the Hell, I've always been a Chrysler fan anyway...MoPar or NoCar!
There ain't nothing quite like an elephant motor.

Chrysler-426-Hemi-elephant-motor-876x535.jpg

 
Chomsky said:
Exactly. And I'm differentiating between the Buick-Olds & Chevy-Pontiac general demographics. I go into more detail in post #8 above, if interested. Actually, I'd like your opinion of my recollections in that post!

Let's not forget the Olds 98's! I loved Oldsmobiles!
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Yeah but there was just something prettier about the Buicks.
By the way, in Russia most have never even heard of these cars and when they see it written in English, they say "BWISK" because that is how
"B-U-I-C-K" works out in Russian.
I mention this because one of my Russian bosses had me in a quandry for almost two weeks, asking me about Bwisk car, is it a good car, and I had no earthly idea what he was talking about.

Finally we walk past one in the parking lot and he points and says "BWISK".
I damn near collapsed on the ground laughing.

"Is wrong? Is BOO-ISK?"

:lamo
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
Remember the dustup that happened when people discovered the change to a generic General Motors engine across the lineup?
I was actually pretty sad about that because the different divisions really did make different engines up to that point.

Ehhh, what the Hell, I've always been a Chrysler fan anyway...MoPar or NoCar!
There ain't nothing quite like an elephant motor.

View attachment 67268033

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I new a lot of people with Darts for some reason. That old Slant-Six would run forever! 318's were very smooth, reliable, and economical. And those 340's screamed. Literally screamed.

Besides Hemis, I was not a fan of 383s or 440s. I saw a lot of 440's blow-up, but maybe that was something about the guys that bought them.

But I really liked the 340s. Great little engine.
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
Yeah but there was just something prettier about the Buicks.
By the way, in Russia most have never even heard of these cars and when they see it written in English, they say "BWISK" because that is how
"B-U-I-C-K" works out in Russian.
I mention this because one of my Russian bosses had me in a quandry for almost two weeks, asking me about Bwisk car, is it a good car, and I had no earthly idea what he was talking about.

Finally we walk past one in the parking lot and he points and says "BWISK".
I damn near collapsed on the ground laughing.

"Is wrong? Is BOO-ISK?"

:lamo
Click to expand...
They were great cars. Those chrome fake front fender exhaust portal trim pieces kicked ass. But they were just too associated with elderly men, for me & my crowd.

But you know, if we're going to talk Electras & 98's, we gotta' talk Chrysler Imperials!

I mean, look at these things! (older gen, or not)


66987038-770-0@2X.jpg



c765d05d1f64df735a8141f417c8e26e.jpg
 
Chomsky said:
I new a lot of people with Darts for some reason. That old Slant-Six would run forever! 318's were very smooth, reliable, and economical. And those 340's screamed. Literally screamed.

Besides Hemis, I was not a fan of 383s or 440s. I saw a lot of 440's blow-up, but maybe that was something about the guys that bought them.

But I really liked the 340s. Great little engine.
Click to expand...

I had a 1965 New Yorker with a 383, and I've owned a Dodge Ramcharger, which was their answer to the early K5 Blazer, which had the 440.
Honest to God, one of the reasons I am such a MoPar fan is because I can't recall anybody ever blowing up any Chrysler engines except at the drag strip.

A friend of mine owned a tube framed AF hot rod 1962 Ford Falcon with the fiberglass body and it had an 8-71 supercharged 440 with dual quads feeding the blower. It stayed together the whole time he ran it, for almost two years.
 
Chomsky said:
They were great cars. Those chrome fake front fender exhaust portal trim pieces kicked ass. But they were just too associated with elderly men, for me & my crowd.

But you know, if we're going to talk Electras & 98's, we gotta' talk Chrysler Imperials!

I mean, look at these things! (older gen, or not)


66987038-770-0@2X.jpg



View attachment 67268035
Click to expand...

Yeah by 1964 Buick was just paying homage to it with the squared off trim pieces.
I do love the older Imperials but it's THIS year below that gets me where I live.

Imperial1965.jpg

Oh yeah, the 413, let's not forget that engine, especially if we're talking about the 413 Wedge.
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
I had a 1965 New Yorker with a 383, and I've owned a Dodge Ramcharger, which was their answer to the early K5 Blazer, which had the 440.
Honest to God, one of the reasons I am such a MoPar fan is because I can't recall anybody ever blowing up any Chrysler engines except at the drag strip.

A friend of mine owned a tube framed AF hot rod 1962 Ford Falcon with the fiberglass body and it had an 8-71 supercharged 440 with dual quads feeding the blower. It stayed together the whole time he ran it, for almost two years.
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I used to drive a g/f's parents' 383 Newport, and theirs seemed reliable - but I never raced it. But for some reasons guys I knew were blowing-up 440's!

We did a lot of street racing. Serious street racing. In factory districts on weekend nights, with streets blocked off and 1/4 miles marked-off. 50, 80, or more cars on a hot summer Sat night. The more serious guys doing 200 dollar runs, when 200 bucks was serious coin. Other guys doing 50 dollar runs. And others guys running for fun and bragging rights.

The really hard-core Mopar guys had highly modified 440's with sticks and often slicks. Hemis weren't as popular to build because they were far rarer and way more expensive. So it was "run what ya' brung". Being the biggest displacement, 440's ruled the (Mopar) day at these races, and yeah they sometimes blew-up. But as a collective group of loosely associated street racers, we did blow-up and break a fair amount of stuff in general. To say nothing of wrapping a few cars around poles & fire-hydrants.
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
Yeah by 1964 Buick was just paying homage to it with the squared off trim pieces.
I do love the older Imperials but it's THIS year below that gets me where I live.

View attachment 67268038

Oh yeah, the 413, let's not forget that engine, especially if we're talking about the 413 Wedge.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I can see the New Yorker resemblance, with the New Yorker being the car that I most often saw on the streets.
 
Chomsky said:
Interesting. I can see the New Yorker resemblance, with the New Yorker being the car that I most often saw on the streets.
Click to expand...

Part of Virgil Exner's "Forward Look" for Chrysler for a few years.
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
Part of Virgil Exner's "Forward Look" for Chrysler for a few years.
Click to expand...
FYI - Speaking of engines though, my favorite was the Chevy 427. 1/4" shorter stroke than the 454, which allowed it to rev higher and live longer. With an L88 solid lifter cam, it was a pretty potent street set-up. With a roller cam, it could run like holy hell anywhere.
 
Chomsky said:
FYI - Speaking of engines though, my favorite was the Chevy 427. 1/4" shorter stroke than the 454, which allowed it to rev higher and live longer. With an L88 solid lifter cam, it was a pretty potent street set-up. With a roller cam, it could run like holy hell anywhere.
Click to expand...

For me the all-time most bang for the GM buck of that era was the 409...my opinion only.
No question about it, the 427's were incredible though.
The Fords that absolutely blew my mind were the FE engines, like the 427 SOHC series.
And by the way, that was actually a type of HEMI head, albeit markedly different from the Chrysler design.
All HAIL the MIGHTY CAMMER.

 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
For me the all-time most bang for the GM buck of that era was the 409...my opinion only.
No question about it, the 427's were incredible though.
The Fords that absolutely blew my mind were the FE engines, like the 427 SOHC series.
And by the way, that was actually a type of HEMI head, albeit markedly different from the Chrysler design.
All HAIL the MIGHTY CAMMER.

Click to expand...
Damn. You're bringing up gear-head stuff I hadn't thought about in a long time. Thanks for the convo!

What a great era to be a kid! I was turning wrenches at 10. Involved in rebuilding engines at 14. I used to know all the Chevy bore & strokes and cam specs by memory. Yep, I knew the lift & duration numbers of my favorite OEM cams! I loved the Duntov 30-30 in a small block, and an L88 in a big block. Crazy as it sounds, but the cam was the mechanical brain of your engine and was the defining characteristic of it. After that was bore & stroke. After that, was the build itself. And the real power, the real black magic, was in the heads. And then the tuning. Then finally optimizing it in a car with the car as an integrated package.

Then when I hit my early thirties, I just drifted away into other things. I got tired of greasy hands & split knuckles. But I did spend the time to pass a love of wrenching & racing on to my son. It might be the best father & son thing I did. It was a bonding experience like no other, and it taught my boy a lot of critical skills to use in life. Patience, being one. Restraint, being another.
 
Chomsky said:
Then when I hit my early thirties, I just drifted away into other things. I got tired of greasy hands & split knuckles. But I did spend the time to pass a love of wrenching & racing on to my son. It might be the best father & son thing I did. It was a bonding experience like no other, and it taught my boy a lot of critical skills to use in life. Patience, being one. Restraint, being another.
Click to expand...

The one thing I miss most is being able to create working machinery that outdoes what the manufacturer intended.
My son and I have standup comedians as a bonding experience.

The same drifting away happened to me and playing keyboards, piano and organ.
Once that old band broke up, I realized I did not have the stomach to deal with massive egos and personality conflicts in a professional band.
Actually, I would if it didn't wind up in so many stupid splits...the hassle would be worth it.
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
The one thing I miss most is being able to create working machinery that outdoes what the manufacturer intended.
My son and I have standup comedians as a bonding experience.

The same drifting away happened to me and playing keyboards, piano and organ.
Once that old band broke up, I realized I did not have the stomach to deal with massive egos and personality conflicts in a professional band.
Actually, I would if it didn't wind up in so many stupid splits...the hassle would be worth it.
Click to expand...
I had my run through the garage band and corner bar band scene myself. Mostly jams, open mics, and a few "free-drinks and a piece of the door" things. Late teens through early twenties. A lifestyle that could kill though - and sometimes did.
 
Chomsky said:
I new a lot of people with Darts for some reason. That old Slant-Six would run forever! 318's were very smooth, reliable, and economical. And those 340's screamed. Literally screamed.

Besides Hemis, I was not a fan of 383s or 440s. I saw a lot of 440's blow-up, but maybe that was something about the guys that bought them.

But I really liked the 340s. Great little engine.
Click to expand...

At the very end of our 10th grade school year in 1984, my classmate, friend and co-worker at our first ever job, was given a '74 Dart with a 225 slant 6, at the same time my father "hooked me up" with his 78 AMC Pacer, with a monthly payment agreement. That POS spent almost the whole summer in the shop, so I gave it back to him, and paid $400 for a 74 Mustang II, then took out a loan on a used 78 Cobra II with a 302 & 4spd about 6 months later.

We lived in a mostly rural area, with only maybe 160 kids in our graduating class, but in a period of roughly 3 years from 84-87, I knew at least 6 people who owned 68-72 Chevelles, and at least 7 who owned 69-74 Novas!

Even in the late 80s, 1968-74 Novas were EVERYWHERE! They were still probably one of the top 2-3 models of cars I'd see on the road at that time. As a Ford guy, I was sick to death of Novas! But these days I like them, because you don't see many, and I'm less of an automotive brand partisan than I used to be. By the mid 90s, i was sick to death of Fox body Mustangs! Still am...
 
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