Buick Grand National

MilesnMiles · Post by **MilesnMiles** » Mon May 24, 10 9:36 pm

Well, thanks for Ivor for setting this up. Struck me that there are many muscle cars alongside Mopars that we have an interest in.
After selling my Dart and not being able to afford a '64 chevy Nova which is one of my fave cars, I was lucy enough to be able to purchase Allkillers Buick Grand National that was put up for speculative sale last year.
I jumped at the chance and paid a deposit last year, waited three months whilst Allkiller fixed the brakes which became a real problem. Steve fixed it all to his credit and paid the bills and i took ownership last year.
For those who dont know (or maybe care!) about modern muscle, they really are special!
Coming from the factory with an intercooled, turbocharged 3.8 V6 that put out a factory rated 245hp with 360lbs of torque. Dyno read outs put them at 300hp and 0-60 close to 5 seconds.

MilesnMiles · Post by **MilesnMiles** » Mon May 24, 10 9:43 pm

Need to resize pics as I cant post.
Anyway, i've built on the tune that Allkiller set up. It came with uprated fuel system, new motor with cam and head work catless exhaust and 2.5" system, K & N induction etc.I've fitted a new programmable chip, adjustable boost controller, air bag suspension, frame braces and quite a lot more. They have an aftermarket of tuning/restoration parts that is similar to any of our more traditional muscle cars.
The car droves like a modern car and yet when you stomp on it, the boost acceleration is something else

The car is a lot faster than my Dodge and frankly, its amazing what these litle V6s can do!
More later if anyone is interested!

MilesnMiles · Post by **MilesnMiles** » Mon May 24, 10 9:46 pm

http://www.buickturboregal.com/images/1 ... tional.jpg

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Mon May 24, 10 10:24 pm

Cool licence plate!

I've always had a soft spot for these cars - was quite tempted to buy your car from Steve.

MilesnMiles · Post by **MilesnMiles** » Mon May 24, 10 10:27 pm

Adam, one of the appeals is how it drives like a modern car, but has a real killer touch when you crank the boost up. Best car i've driven without exception.

MilesnMiles · Post by **MilesnMiles** » Wed May 26, 10 3:01 pm

couplapics here

MilesnMiles · Post by **MilesnMiles** » Wed May 26, 10 3:02 pm

n' here

mad machs · Post by **mad machs** » Wed May 26, 10 6:28 pm

MilesnMiles wrote: Best car i've driven without exception.

That's probably because I haven't let you drive the Mach1

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Wed May 26, 10 7:16 pm

They are alright, I suppose ...

MilesnMiles · Post by **MilesnMiles** » Wed May 26, 10 7:40 pm

Whooof, phssst

hear the 'horse sneeze', fear the whistle

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Wed May 26, 10 9:14 pm

sounds like quantlet has been thrown down there ...or was it just the pasty

MilesnMiles · Post by **MilesnMiles** » Wed May 26, 10 10:40 pm

Me and Mike have a deal, mine is faster, his will go further.
dont think he's turned a serious spanner on that Mustang for a long while. Luckily for me, his car's reliability means he has more time to fix Mopars and General Motors products

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Wed May 26, 10 10:55 pm

and there was me thinking he was spending all his time eating pastys and drinking cider

mad machs · Post by **mad machs** » Thu May 27, 10 2:57 pm

muzzydave wrote:and there was me thinking he was spending all his time eating pastys and drinking cider

Well, 80% of the time that is

Must say I haven't done much to the Mach1 in ages, usual deal, lack of time & money, but it still goes & I may actually get time to drive it this weekend.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Thu May 27, 10 6:42 pm

I like them.

Good points:-

Big enough to carry five folk.

Big enough boot to carry everything you need for a racing weekend.

Good looking and square shouldered.

Areodynamically sound (ask Richard Petty, his fastest NASCAR racecar was a Buick).

Fast enough, at least when I had mine, to give fits to most V8's, and all in air conned, Concert Sound II spendour, with no noise bar a whistle and nothing over 5000rpm needed.

Economical enough for those of us who don't live within 220 miles of a dragstrip, and a pleasure to drive on a motorway with the cruise on, unless you find your self in the drone-zone (2100 to 2300 rpm) and then it can get wearing.

Handle with that usual GM A-Body, then, as is the GN, G-Body authority:- push a little, roll a little, take a suspension set, then motor on through.

Bad points:-

Em .... brakes, if you have the Powermaster still.

Cheap as chips, literally, no pun intended, to crack 12's and mid 12's. $400 and you have a 12 second car and most of that would be for tyres. One or two things get fragile when you hit mid 11's, though.

The power antenna has a habit of failing, hopefully in the up position.

Roundabouts(exit from) - hit the accelerator, downshift, revs, boost, sideways, backwards ...

Sum up:-

Nothing, not even Linda's Honda or, when she part owned it, Dave's Challenger, or my 440 Plymouth, pulls like a turbo Buick when it hits second gear.

Bang, chirp, whoosh.

I'd buy another. Wait a minute, I did.

Good luck, if you go, at the weekend, Miles. Tune up slowly. Start fat and lean down with boost, crank up the meth.

As the T-shirt says.