For the most part, the best American car designs are considered to be those of the late 1960s and early 1970s. However, even the '80s have a few shining jewels, such as the Buick Grand National.
Buick doesn't have the best track record, and right now, it's lineup is exclusively focused on underpowered crossovers. The old luxury barges aren't that cool either, but the Grand National did deliver in the design department and was also a performance powerhouse of its era.
The modern history of the Grand National starts in 1982 with a car that's supposed to celebrate the Winston Cup Grand National Series. Its V6 made 125 horsepower and 205 lb-ft (280 Nm), though they did offer a few turbo units.
Two model years later, we got a 3.8-liter turbocharged unit officially rated at 200 horsepower and 300 lb-ft (407 Nm) of torque. The best of the best came in 1987, when Buick launched the GNX. Its official power output was 276 hp, though it's believed the car was actually producing closer to 300 hp.
That might not sound like much, but you've got to remember the 1980s were all about fuel economy. We've recently shown you how a Fox Body SVO dynos at 170 hp and 250 lb-ft (340 lb-ft) at the wheels, though it was officially rated at 200 hp.
In any case, we want to talk more about the '87 Buick's design, as this is the focus of a rendering by wb.artist20. His modern takes on 'forgotten' classics are always entertaining, and in this case, we're reminded that a sedan used to be something completely different just a few decades ago.
His modern take on the Grand National tries to keep the squareness of the body or the headlights while adapting the proportions of the vehicle. It ends up looking a lot like the Cadillac ELR, a cool plug-in of which less than 3,000 units were made. If you'd like to see more of the 1987 Buick Grand National this rendering is based on, it's currently resting at Vanguard Motors (see video).
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News