Is the grand national a muscle car

[SS/GN]

Nope its just a little V6 from the polution /no horsepower era that makes muscle cars run and hide

Kevin

 

[whitehot84]

It sure got the Corvette contingents attention.

 

[Ttype6]

The GN was the first "Modern Musclecar".

Yes,it's the first modern muscle car. Modern or older,it's a muscle car. It's also the last muscle car to date because all other cars with muscle were and still are pony or super cars.
But what about the modern Charger,G8,and GTO.
OK, back on topic,This is by far one of the most unique,fastest accelerating,cleanest burning,most comfortable,most economical,quietest, best cornering,and best stopping Muscle Cars of all time. It's the best all around Muscle Car ever produced in the whole wide world
It's a Muscle Car.

 

[Ttype6]

Nope its just a little V6 from the polution /no horsepower era that makes muscle cars run and hide

Kevin

I like this. This car shows us just how many turds used to be referred to as muscle cars. The better question is can we still call them muscle cars. The turbo Buick re-defined the term Muscle Car,so it's the one sure car that fits the description. Many of the other ( so called ) muscle cars need to be re-evaluated to see if they fit the description. They are the ones whose status is unsure,not the Buick.

 

[HUMBLE-U2]

bobbybuick got it write in post #8 a gn is not a musclecar. IMO it was the first Supercar! GOT A NICE RING TO IT.

 

[Adam Connell]

The GNX was the quickest factory American produced automobile until the Dodge Viper was released in 1993... So in other words, hell yeah it's a muscle car and I'd be glad to prove my point! There's not a single other "muscle car" that can make that claim... It's all steel, and under only 14.7lbs of boost, we're moving more air than hardly any other stock BBC or BBF.

 

[Ttype6]

The GNX was the quickest factory American produced automobile

I think it owns the title of the quickest accelerating production sedan ever made in America.

 

[Ttype6]

IMO it was the first Super car!

Yah,the first Superstar Super Car.

 

[2QUICK2B6]

muscle car definition is a big 2 door car with big cubic inches first was the GTO. I dont consider the GN to be a muscle car but ive put acouple bus lenghts on a crate engine 502 70 chevelle
The 70 chevelle SS looked awsome red with ss black stripes the owner asked me a lot of questions after the race. I told him I just drove in the gate just like u but i have a/c an electric windows.....
My 2 dream cars I want to add to my collection are a 70 SS big block chevelle an a syclone dont think it will ever happen though

 

[HelloBozos]

...Answer's Yes...
Fastest American production car for 86-87'
Only compition back then was a Turbo 944 Porsche
The V6 turbo was so fast..You'd get classed with Big Blocks back in the day.....
Chevy had to make the ZR1 corvette to try an match it
A GN is a Nascar body with an Indy car motor
A Grand National is stealth,That's why not everyone know's what there capiable of
For insurance an warrenty from the Factory there down a min. of least 100hp
(loose the Cat,Turn boost up,change chip,etc,etc)

Enjoy!

 

[DOUGGN]

Originally the term "Muscle Car" referred the "GTO" type cars which were intermediate sized sedan/hardtop/convertible type cars whose drive train was derived from the full size models (in the GTO's case a Bonneville or Grand Prix). This "hot rodder's trick" produced an exciting ride and caused every manufacturer to copy. The camaros, mustangs, challengers were not originally called or considered muscle cars but were "pony cars" - caused by the mustang. Ironically the Mustang and GTO came out the same year - but were very different types of cars. Eventually over time the groups merged together and for a long time the term muscle car term implied a performance oriented American made car. Judging by automotive press I would tend to think that the general population now thinks of all the American cars - past and present - (2 door) - intermediate, full size, Pony cars, Corvettes, Impala SS/Mercury Mauraders from the 1990's etc as muscle cars. I personally consider the GN to be more comparable to the intermediate A body cars of the 60's than the G bodies - the hood and deck lid are not so exaggerated. The G body platform - which turbo cars are based - used to be the body style of big cars like the Grand Prix and Monte Carlo but then shrank down in size. By the late 70's the "G" body was the new "A" body. Olds must have thought like that as well as they named their version after the A body (cutlass 442). John Delorean actually created that long hood/short deck of the 69 Grand Prix through the merger of 2 frame specs to create the "G" body style.

In short - YES - I believe, and the uninformed general public would also perceive, that the Buick turbo cars are fitting of the Muscle Car name.

 

[UNGN]

The GN is easy to mod and get into the 12's but...if you take a 63-64 Max Wedge car from the factory. Remove the secondary weights from both carbs...fool with the timing...lock out the distributor weights...and add the Super Stock springs...and throw away the factory exhaust...you had a low 11, high 10 second car without doing anything to the motor. They came so de-tuned from the factory it wasnt even funny. Imagine if they had half the tire technology we have today?!?!?!

Gallina has run just a fast as an Max Wedge in NHRA stock trim as ANY max wedge has ever nun in NHRA Stock trim. That isn't Stock.

If someone who tells you they ran a "10 second 1/4 mile" in a Max Wedge in stock trim "without doing anything to the motor" they are lying to you.

Max Wedges weren't running "low 11 second 1/4 miles" in 1964 and high 11's/low 12's back then would win a national event. The Stock Max Wedge national Record was in the high 11's into the 1970's. In the 1974, the "National Record for a Super Stock '64 max Wedge was 10.82@127. It doesn't sound THAT easy to get high 10's.

Also, Super Stock Cars aren't really cars. Our SS AMX ran low 11's "from the factory", as delivered. So what? It's not a car you can legally drive anywhere. Apples and Oranges.

 

[coach]

Okay, guys and gals, I read all the replies up to now and I just had to jump in. I went to high school in the late 50's
and early 60's, so I was there when the Pontiac guys slipped the big v-8 into the Tempest and called it a GTO, and were given credit for starting the muscle car era. There were other cars in the 50's, like the supercharged Studebaker
Hawks, that could also have qualified. Interestingly, I watched a brand-new 64 Tri-power 4-speed 389 GTO, right
off the showroom floor, run mid-15's at the dragstrip. A classic musclecar, right? Would our GN's outrun it? Probably. So to me, like the dictionary said about high performance vehicles, the Turbo Regals definitely qualify
as musclecars. I think that most of the cars guys from my era aren't stuck on the bit about a muscle car having
to be a big-block to qualify for the title, either. Personally, a 69 Z-28 with the high-revving 302 is still a musclecar.
But then that's just my opinion....

See here, as a BIG muscle car guy for most of my entire life. I have never liked the GTO as the trend setter for the so called Muscle car movement. It was 335hp out of a 389ci engine. There were many ahead of it that would kick its ass in the 1/4 mile. If you were into cars back in the day, you should have mentioned this. The term Muscle Car was first printed by Popular Mechanics magazine after there article on the 64 GTO. So in my opinion, its not as much about the car as the writer of the article who gave it the term. Back in those days...before kids were addicted to TV...the internet...video games...almost every young man read Popular Mechanics to see the cars, the space program, the military machines and anything else cool, that interested them. The term Muscle Car grew and a generation of young men adhered the term to the GTO. The phrase was used well before that. I always prefered the term A/FX...which were the REAL CARS. Factory killers dressed up to look like daily drivers. If your going to throw the GNX into the mix, be real careful. Now its in with the Z-11's, the Lightweight HEMI cars, and the SOHC 427 Ford Thunderbolts. Now you have a REAL playing field.
Point is...the older cars were shear balls out grunt and guts. Fuel economy, comfort, and other options were frowned upon. Hell, my Max and my Super Stocker are radio delete and my 09 was radio and heater delete. It didnt even have a cigerette lighter next to the ash tray.

The Grand Nationals...( the Turbo Buicks) are bye far and away the best engineered car ever built for horsepower, fuel economy, comfort and killer ass looks. Call it what ever you want.

 

[blackdeathtrap]

i my opinion the gn dos deserve the tittle muscle car
but i think its even more deserving of the tittle ledgen because no matter what classic car guys are into ei ford mopar chev when the here grand national they get quite nervous

 

[hesermon]

Trans ams never came with with a big block. No Pontiac had a big block except in Canada. The pontiac 455 block was the same size as the 350. It always drives me crazy when people say they have big block pontiacs

Off the topic, but since it was brought up, you are half correct, no Pontiac had a big block. They did not come with a "small block" either, they came with the only sized block Pontiac made, which is larger externally than a Chevy "small block".

On the topic: terms like "Muscle car" and "hot rod" seem to evolve over the years. If you had asked my dad (who would be in his 90's now) in 1987 if a current model year production was a muscle car he would have laughed and walked away. But as we get further and further away from the "muscle car" hay-day of the 60's and very early 70's, cars like ours are being re-defined. Another 30- 40 years, the Mopar SRTs, current Mustangs, Camaros, etc. owners will be having this same discussion.

 

[HelloBozos]

The 86-87' Buick GN was also a Aniversery car for the Last of the Rear Wheel Drive cars from Buick, less the PowerWagon...lol

 

[FastB]

When I said "almost unbeatable" I wasn't referring to NHRA or NASCAR (even tho the Gbody did great in both)...I was refering to street rep. I've got a Dodge Dart with a 440 and a '70 Road Runner with a high compression 383...both cars are fast with tons of lowend torque...but my GN with a stock motor and upgrading turbo beat them every time plus handles better.
My point is, stock or modded street "muscle cars" aren't much competition for a TR with boltons...I've beat 442's, big block Darts, 6.0 GTO, 396 Chevelle, and even a slightly modded 409...so I'm fine with whatever label ppl want to put on the TR.

I doubt I'll ever run across a super stock HEMI Dart at a track or stop light...until then my money is on the GN everytime.

 

[HouTX87]

I also have an '81 Z28 it was my first car and I've had it for 15 years but I would hesitate to call it a muscle car (in stock form) ... But if someone told me my '87 GN was not a muscle car I'd be pissed! lol

 

[HouTX87]

I like what my dad said about these cars. He said they were like a bleep on the radar screen in the mid '80's between the muscle cars of the '60's-'70's and the modern muscle in showrooms today. I believe the gas crisis back then was buick's reason for engineering the turbo v6.

 

[Ttype6]

I believe the gas crisis back then was buick's reason for engineering the turbo v6.

What gas crisis.