I'm glad that "GNX-Jerry" mentioned the 1987 Chicago Auto Show featuring the GNX. I had completely forgotten about that!! Let me tell ya what I remember about that auto show....
In 1987 the Buick display featured two black turbo cars: a GNX that was on a rotating turntable and a regular Grand National parked within the Buick group. It was funny to me that one could barely get near the GNX since so many people were clamoring around it. I eventually found a good spot and stayed there and took a barrage of pictures of the car. I don't remember alot about that car except that the rearend was different. Whereas the stock GNX had a cast rearend with the letters "GNX" on it, the show car had a flat, almost shiney rearend with no lettering. The display also had no models or people talking about the car on the display. It just slowly went around on its own. Nobody knew the exact price of them either. The options also weren't confirmed at that time either.
The Grand National had a THRONG of people around it, over it and in it. You just could not get near the car. The only subtle differences that I noted were that the grille was different (from the '86 - which I had at this time) and the car had a digital dash. Very few Buicks had the digital dash. I believe that both Auto Shows also had T-Types on display.
The reason that its significant was because at the 1986 Auto Show, the Grand National was pretty much treated like a STEPCHILD. There it sat ALL ALONE, with no crowd around it and NO HYPE at all. I mean the car really looked like it needed a friend. The salespeople were not even pushing the new Grand National. This was probably right as the Motor Trend article had come out so the car was barely impressive to the public. In fact, at that time, Buick was offering REBATES ON THE GRAND NATIONAL. I got one when I bought my car.
It was lost in a sea of other Buick models. This partially explains why there were so few '86 models built. Only the next year would the car be treated different. This is also noteworthy since the Chicago Auto Show is the largest one in North America and usually the one in which many prototypes and new models are featured. In fact, the GSX was first viewed at the Chicago Auto Show. The Chicago market has also been historically the largest and in many cases the busiest market for Detroit.
In fact, when one bought an '86 GN, most dealerships didn't have one on display so one had to buy the car blindly. There were also very few on the streets of Chicago at the time. Ironically, Buick had an ad which stated that one could get a nice test drive in a Grand National, but again, NOBODY had a Grand National on their showroom floor. But at least the dealerships had plenty of brochures so one could at least see what the car looked like. I wound up ordering my car in April of '86 and it came in June.
Many people were VERY WARY of the Buick V6. The engine had a reputation for being JUNK. In fact my mother had a '78 Regal with the new (at that time) smaller body. And true to its GM nature, that car STAYED in the shop. The new turbo models were also JUNK. In fact, GM did little to change the interior on the car from its inception in 1978 until its demise in 1987. I had visited a few service areas of dealerships to talk with mechanics about the new turbo V6 motor because of its poor reputation. They gave the new engine a thumbs up and it was that vote of confidence that made me finally decide to invest in a turbo Regal.
Again, the cars were very nice looking but the build quality was very poor too. They constantly blew the connection between the intercooler pipe and the turbo. And when that happened, the car literally fell on its face and made a loud "duck like sound". It was VERY EMBARRASING. I finally fixed mine by using a truck radiator hose. In fact, I still have that hose on my current GNX.