What GNX is this ?

[stage1gn]

Bought this magazine from the news stand back in the day ,always remembered this X is/was dif from the production ones.Not having the badges on it ,gauges look different , dif rear cover ,dif up pipe.
Is this the prototype X?
Also , some questions that some of you X gurus and maybe Xray can answer.
1. Could swear I read somewhere that the GNX's , when arriving as Grand Nationals were to have the heads removed to be ported/polished as part of the conversion ?And also thought I read somewhere that the first 100 or so DID , but then the rest did'nt ?
2. Did the X's get their paint wetsanded/buffed to be alittle nicer than a reg Grand National finish ?

Thanks guys , Paul.

 

[BILL HAINES]

THE CARS WERE NOT REPAINTED,HOWEVER THE FEW I HAVE WORKED ON,AND SEEN UNDER GARAGE LIGHTS SHOWED SOME AREAS WERE "SPOTTED"IN. I DO REMEMBER A VERY LOW MILEAGE (UNDER 50) HAVING THE TOPS OF THE QUARTERS SPOTTED IN NEAR BOTH QUARTER WINDOWS.. NOT SURE IF THEY WERE SANDED AND BUFFED,POSSIBLY

 

[CzyKats44]

...
2. Did the X's get their paint wetsanded/buffed to be alittle nicer than a reg Grand National finish ?

Paul,

I've seen GNX #001 at a few events (as I'm sure most on this forum have), and the paint didn't stand out compared to some show GNs/GNXs with less than 1500 miles that looked like black glass. I've heard the paint from the factory wasn't the best to begin with. I wouldn't turn it away if GM gave it to me though

Greg

 

[we4Mateo]

It's said that they did pull gn's with the nicest paint to be sent over for gnx conversion but not sure on any additional prepping. Probably needed a good buff as I'm sure a few scratches happened as they went down the line.

 

[MeanBuicks]

Not true. A GNX was a GNX-to-be from the very beginning as the Fisher Body tag riveted to the firewall was stamped 'GNX' plus, all GNXs were identically optioned as built on the Pontiac Assembly line. Nobody went around selecting cars as they were being built or after they were built.

Concerning the original question, there were a number of prototype GNXs built some of which were pictured in the factory GNX supplemental book. (Think about that. If every GNX was to get the book, how would they have produced the book before any GNXs were built? ) Most of the prototypes had a date with the crusher.

 

[X Ray]

Bought this magazine from the news stand back in the day ,always remembered this X is/was dif from the production ones.Not having the badges on it ,gauges look different , dif rear cover ,dif up pipe.
Is this the prototype X?
Also , some questions that some of you X gurus and maybe Xray can answer.
1. Could swear I read somewhere that the GNX's , when arriving as Grand Nationals were to have the heads removed to be ported/polished as part of the conversion ?And also thought I read somewhere that the first 100 or so DID , but then the rest did'nt ?
2. Did the X's get their paint wetsanded/buffed to be alittle nicer than a reg Grand National finish ?

Thanks guys , Paul.

1 The head were not remove and reworked on any GNX for production....it was done a prototype but did not go any farther than that.
2 Rubbed out at the end of the line......

 

[we4Mateo]

Not true. A GNX was a GNX-to-be from the very beginning as the Fisher Body tag riveted to the firewall was stamped 'GNX' plus, all GNXs were identically optioned as built on the Pontiac Assembly line. Nobody went around selecting cars as they were being built or after they were built.

Concerning the original question, there were a number of prototype GNXs built some of which were pictured in the factory GNX supplemental book. (Think about that. If every GNX was to get the book, how would they have produced the book before any GNXs were built? ) Most of the prototypes had a date with the crusher.

Sorry, I meant they pulled the nicest bodies, not gn's. And thanks xray for the pics of the buffing.

 

[stage1gn]

I love historic pics like that !!!!!Why is/did it need to be buffed ?

 

[X Ray]

I love historic pics like that !!!!!Why is/did it need to be buffed ?

The plant was closing and the paint quality was deteriorating....needed the cars to look better than we received them.....
Thanks on the picture....but I wish I took more pictures.....

 

[megawatt]

from the pictures in the article (no GNX badges, prototype rear diff cover , turbo cover & up pipe ect) and reading the GNX Book by Martyn Schorr, this looks to be GNX prototype #2 . The article on page 64 lists it as an 87 1/2 but the GNX prototype #2 VIN is a "G" which was an 86 developed for testing and later went on for validation trips through the west.

specifically on page 35 of the GNX book , GNX prototype #2 did a 0-60 5.38 sec and as picture the 1/4 in 13.47 @ 104.38
(The picture shows 104.28 and book reports .38 guessing it was a typo missed in the editing)
after the official runs it also ran a 13.43 @ 105.5mph and stated "Shortly after a magazine road tester ran consistent 13.30's with the same car at the same track"

In this article MuscleCars May 87 pg 42 has a picture of them running it at the track and captioned " Preproduction GNX was a low low 13 second runner.

A couple of pictures as reference and the full article. Hopefully someone can verify this.