Remembering the awesomeness of the Grand National…
Buick made waves in the performance automotive community with the Grand National for a lot of crazy reasons. Sometimes you'll see the Grand National fixed up for the drag strip while other times they are featured as show cars. Either way, it's understandable how the cars soon became iconic across the nation upon their initial release. This particular car guy found himself a model which has been neglected for the better part of the last 20 years. It might not look too bad but make no mistake, this car is in really rough shape and the new owner has some serious questions. The first one is, of course, will it make it home?
The history behind the automobile is one that you certainly might not expect from such a quick and performance based vehicle. For most of its life, the most driving the car has done was the typical grocery getting and daily driver stuff. In fact, it was driven by an older lady for a very long time with the current title having been filed in 1992. This is all really surprising when you consider the fact that the engine came from the factory with a turbocharger and tons of other fun options.
For instance, the G80 distinction shows that the Grand National came with a Posi Trac rear end, which was optional for the 1986 model but became standard in 1987. On top of that, the 3.8-liter V6 engine used that forced induction to the fullest extent cranking out enough power for a whopping quarter mile time of 13.2-14.7 depending on the driver. Its 4.4 second 0-60 time made it one of the fastest cars in the world in its prime and now it's just a matter of getting it back to working order. Luckily, as always, everybody’s favorite car guy made it work and got that engine pumping once again, this might even be the start to the road of restoration.
