deezdad
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2005
Crest Buick?1987 in a local dealership.. Marked up $10k.. Sold locally and sat outside a barn for YEARS !!
When did you first spot one?
- Thread starter TurboRegal84
- Start date
deezdad
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2005
Labor day 2005..drove my daughter and neice up to the new York state fair in Syracuse to see Hillary duff, drove home thru the night, slept a few hours, got my basket case motor into my Sonoma, drove 12 hours thru the nite to meet up w/ R.C. at his place of business in NC. , pulled in and it was a sight for my red burnin soar eyes to see his driver gnx...kinda woke my ass up and was neat to follow him to his shop...meeting him was really cool too
The day I bought mine, #451.
A friend of mine had a new '87 GN back in high school, so in 2008 I went in search of an '87 GN for myself to add to my collection and bring back some of those old high school memories. To be honest, I was naive about the GNX and only remembered stories my high school buddy had told me back in '87 about a "Super" Grand National. As I started to look for a GN for myself, I ran across a few GNX's for sale as well all the info about the cars which sparked my interest, although they were still out of the price range I was willing to spend.
Eventually I found an '87 GN I was interested in located in Las Vegas. I'm in Southern CA so Vegas isn't too far and I figured I could drive up and back in a day AND drive the GN home if I decided to buy it, my brother and I took the road trip. When the guy opened the garage to show us the Grand National there was a GNX parked next to it. I asked if he wanted to sell the GNX and he said one of them had to go, but he would prefer to sell the GN not the GNX. He let me drive them both and afterwards we BS'ed for a couple hours talking price on each of the cars. I was starting to wonder if I would be happy leaving without the GNX and I made a few lowball offers trying to close the gap in price between the two cars. The negotiation wasn't going well for me and at this point I had totally lost interest in the GN and was focused on buying the GNX or heading back to CA without either car. About then his wife came home. As she walked up the driveway he said something like "can you believe these guys want to give me $xxx for the GNX", she replied "sell it". Less than 5 minutes later he was filling out the appropriate paperwork.
That was my first in person sighting of the "Super" Grand National I had heard about in my high school days, and it could not have ended better.
Phoneguy
Cometic HG stress tester
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2002
Late summer of 1987, I was a mechanic for a Goodyear tire dealer. Guy comes in wanting a new set of Gatorbacks and a front end alignment. I had only seen a GN a couple of times on the road, never in person and didn't even know about the GNX. The manager comes out to the shop to hang the work order on the wall, I was standing there to take it out of his hand even though I was working on another car. The manager says to me to make sure the right wheels were on the front and back because they were offset differently front to rear. I said really? OK.We always road tested vehicles after an alignment . After I was done with the alignment I told the manager he needed to go for a ride with me...he asked if there was a problem. I said no problem but you are gonna want to ride in this thing. I took the on ramp to the freeway at almost full throttle and was at 100 mph before I knew it. My manager freaked. " What the hell is this thing? " When I told him it was a V6 he could not believe it and made me pop the hood when we got back to the shop...LOL. We talked about that car for months after wards. I actually got to drive a GNX before I ever even got to see a GN in person !!
Bryan
. After I was done with the alignment I told the manager he needed to go for a ride with me...he asked if there was a problem. I said no problem but you are gonna want to ride in this thing. I took the on ramp to the freeway at almost full throttle and was at 100 mph before I knew it. My manager freaked. " What the hell is this thing? " When I told him it was a V6 he could not believe it and made me pop the hood when we got back to the shop...LOL. We talked about that car for months after wards. I actually got to drive a GNX before I ever even got to see a GN in person !!Bryan
Paul St Hilaire
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2012
My neighbor bought one brand new in 87, i was lucky enough to have gone for a ride, i was 20 at the time. I went by his house a few years ago... the good news is he still has the car as of today and think it only has around 13k on it, the bad news is he has not takin very good care of it sad sad sad...Well here i am 25 years later and my neighbor where i live now has one i have driven this one to!!!! Awsome!!! Thats my GNX story!
Paul St Hilaire
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2012
Its been sitting in and outside that barn for 25 years!! and still has it today....1987 in a local dealership.. Marked up $10k.. Sold locally and sat outside a barn for YEARS !!
From what I remember he had a blk Mustang to. one of them was usually outside,
Paul St Hilaire
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2012
It was red..The story goes like this, he had a 83 mustang GT he bought new, he then traded it in for the GNX in 87, he had sellers remorse and bought the Gt back from the dealer a week later!!! Yes he still has both cars.
Chi-towner
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2003
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.
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.
turbo chris1970
Engine bay
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2011
the first time for me was when i went to a friends house and we cut through the garage when we went inside the house and there it was and i opened the door and sat down in amazement and awe of the gauges. the thing is its around the corner from my house here in philly and i went to kirban's open house today and it was there as well its funny how things happen like that
Well were I come from they had those cars all day..they would use them music video all the time but the cars belong to guys in the neighborhood they dogged them but we loved it's just Oakland,CA lifestyle these were brand new Gn gnxs.video was called dark roads and the rapper name was Seagram you can see on YouTube don't know how to link it to the post but I'm sure someone knows how to do that so all guys can see how Oakland was in the 90 s hope somebody puts it up for you guys....of not go to YouTube and watch it...and this was when I first seen a few Gnx
Curless Auto
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2013
I know I am digging up a tombstone of a post but does anyone know if this car would happen to be for sale?
You do realize this thread is about when you saw any GNX, not a specific one, right?
Curless Auto
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2013
You do realize this thread is about when you saw any GNX, not a specific one, right?
Yes I do, however I would love to find this exact car and on the off chance anyone on here still knows where it is I brought it up.
kidsixpack
Active Member
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2010
I worked at a little job shop n Wyandotte Mi in 87. I used to see Hienz Prechtor driving one daily for the entire summer. We had the same schedule although I was riding my bike......I think that was the first that I saw in person.
KID
KID
