At this very moment, Buick is cooler than it has been in decades, so let’s all take a moment and really drink this in. This is all thanks to the Super Bowl LIX halftime show, featuring hip-hop superb-star Kendric Lamar and a stunning, gleaming black, handsome Buick GNX. Since hopefully the GNX will be reaching many, many more eyeballs and brains than one has in decades, let’s just take a moment to talk about this car.
What makes the GNX interesting, at least to me, is the fact that this iconic car was based on something pretty pedestrian and boring at the time, the (second-gen) Buick Regal, which was the coupé version of the Buick Century. These were pretty much everywhere in the ’80s, and I don’t recall anyone being particularly excited by normal Regals back in the ’80s.
But the GNX was no normal Regal.
Just for reference, this was a “normal” Regal, and this was how it was marketed:
Good thinking, sensible shoes, 16 shades of beige; not exactly an imposing black turbocharged beast.
We wrote about the GNX and its re-discovered fame thanks to Kendric Lamar back when Lamar’s album, named for the GNX, was released.
So, why is the GNX such a big deal? The name comes from the Buick Grand National, which was a Regal with a turbocharger bolted to its 3.8-liter V6. Starting as a paint-and-stickers trim package in 1982 and then becoming more “real” in 1984 with the addition of the turbocharger and sequential fuel injection giving a very respectable 200 hp.
Then, in 1987, the Grand National Experimental – the GNX – hit the scene. This time, Buick did a lot more to the car, as our own Thomas described back in November:
“So, what makes the GNX so important? Well, it started with the Regal Grand National, a midsize coupe rocking a turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 and often known for a popular black monochrome look. Model year 1987 was the end of the line for the rear-wheel-drive Regal, so Buick built 547 black Grand Nationals with the interior trim package and sent them to ASC McLaren for some special tweaks. We’re talking about a special T3 Garrett turbocharger with a ceramic impeller, a sizeable intercooler, a high-flow exhaust system, a reworked 200-4R automatic transmission with a new torque converter and valve body, a panhard bar to keep the rear end located, 245-section front and 255-section rear tires on mesh wheels, and some big flares to cover the new rubber. Pushing 16 psi of boost, the GNX was officially good for 276 horsepower and 360 lb.-ft. of torque, and unofficially good for a whole lot more.”
So, yeah, the GNX was something special, and was all the more special because of its lineage to the car your Aunt Cassie may have been driving for years.
Tonight is likely the most attention a Buick Regal has had in a sporting event since 1981, when a Regal was the Indy 500 Pace Car. Now, of course, it’s cooler, thanks to being immortalized in song:
As long as we’re talking about Kendric Lamar, I may as well link to his pretty incredible Drake diss-track song, which has that bitingly clever line about trying to “strike a chord and it’s probably A minor.” Ouch.
Anyway, mazel tov to the Buick GNX, getting some renewed appreciation after all these years! It’s a genuinely cool car with real presence that still holds up today.
Oh, and for more information about Lamar’s own GNX (number 191 of 547) and more GNX info, our pal and NASCAR pit crew champ Bozi Tatarevic has a great thread about it:
Kendrick Lamar owns an authentic 1987 Buick GNX.
GNX stands for Grand National Experimental and only 547 were built. Kendrick owns number 191.
He is deeply ingrained in Grand National lore and has even mentioned internal GM build codes for the GNX in the past. pic.twitter.com/wNhQ7Ejg1x
— Bozi Tatarevic (@BoziTatarevic) February 10, 2025
I never rode in a GNX, but a close friend had 2 souped up Grand Nationals over years and it’s still the most visceral driving experience in my life. I assume his upgrades got him a little past original GNX performance, and combined with the sketchiness of the chassis, the wolf in sheep’s clothing look and surprisingly plush interior, it still rules for me 15 years and many boring Tesla accelerations later. Closest to that was a friend’s 69 Charger that literally twisted its body when leaning on the throttle, but the Grand National was the perfect package.
There goes the chance of ever owning a clean regal. Even T-types go for $40k now
Boomers on their way to sell their black T-Type for 6 figures on BaT 🙂
But I thought the halftime was nice, a lot better than the Chiefs offense even. Those G body Buicks are handsome cars.
If this doesn’t revive Buick’s image and makes them build some rad super coupes again, idk what will.
This was a fantastic intersection of two worlds for me. My son is super into Kendrick, not in to cars. I’m super into cars, don’t care much one way or the other about Kendrick. This was an awesome moment of our two worlds crossing paths and giving us a great conversation we were still having this morning.
except you had to listen to the “music” while doing that.
Honestly it’s fine, he’s clearly a smart kid and knows how to write, my son and I have talked about his lyrics and they’re really impressive. It’s not for me, and I’m ok with that. I’m old enough to know that I’m past the marketing date for a half time show. A bunch of people I work with are carrying on like it was a personal attack that they didn’t have ‘good’ music, then proceeded to name acts that havent been relevant musically in at least a decade. If that’s what you’re listening to (and I am, I have shit from many decades ago in the car that I listen to), then you just have to accept that you’re not the target audience any more. I may not necessary understand what the big deal is with Kendrick, but he’s not making music for me, he’s making it for a younger generation. Dude just won an arm full of awards, he clearly matters to someone
I’m totally fine with it because it provided me another avenue to connect with my son, and that gave us not just one great experience, but the opportunity for more. We’re pretty different people, and this was a nice bridge between our interests.
This is perfectly stated. I never thought my generation would be so weird about younger people’s music after our parents hated on ours so much. My generations best music is the reason for the parental warning stickers.
Guy has cool moment with his son – internet commenter takes a shit on him.
It’s no worries man, guy was more shitting on the music, not me. I didn’t take offense, I don’t think any was meant for me or my son
Thanks for sharing this! I was watching with my coworker who kind of knows cars but doesn’t know Kendrick Lamar or current pop music at all. He was like “hey is that a Monte Carlo?” so we talked about the music and the GNX bit. Didn’t connect it to the autopian at all in the moment but makes total sense that this crowd would would love it!
A story like yours should have been the nfls “can’t we all get along?” ad instead of Brady and snoop dogg!
Found Ben “rap isn’t real music” Shapiro’s account.
Ben did a rap song I believe. It was political of course, but it would seem odd that he would say that and then put out a rap song.
A political commentator being a hypocrite to suit their agenda?? Well now I don’t know how to feel anymore!
“Fake GNX” was my first thought as he stood on the hood. This car is all nostalgia, and not much else. I drove a genuine GNX once. Nice acceleration between stop lights, with fun turbo sounds and boost kick. Otherwise it was pure 80s/GM shite. The irony is how many turbo 6 engines are now in modern cars.
well yeah that one was modified to be a clown car lol. but kdot is a gnx guy at heart
They were pretty well loved at the time. in fact GM had a real dilemma when they put a GNXish motor in the Turbo TA. that Bird would outrun most of the corvettes of the time. GM’s Vette reputation was in trouble so they axed those. I personally would have preferred they threw a turbo on a TPI 350 so that long runner design could be forced to breath above 4,000 RPM. but instead they tried the LT5 and then eventually lost interest. and when boosted sixes returned, they were in FWD boats and used a Blower instead.
Honestly, all RS things made by GM after the GNX left, should have been turbo 6’s to kind of cover both the rumbly V8 crowd and the Hi-Po, better balanced canyon carving crowd.
These cars were nice but I believe the biggest issue with them is parts….because not much were produced….
I know that the car community adores these cars… but I want to share another opinion.
My friend bought one, and had it done up, fresh suspension, new turbo, etc. Got a ride in it…. and I was thoroughly underwhelmed. The chassis still felt like a grandma car, it didn’t feel stiff, it just felt cheap. The seats were horrible; pretty much zero lateral support. And then there’s the performance. It’s not even that fast – on stock tires most of them did the 1/4 in the 14s; for reference that’s about the same as a new Toyota Camry, and people aren’t worshipping that.
It’s my opinion that the only reason people praise these things was that domestic manufacturers had been churning out utter garbage for quite a while, and this car was slightly better than the rest of the competition.
But if I have a choice I’m choosing an 88 Honda every single time, even a base civic hatch is more fun to drive.
The Honda will get better fuel economy than this brick…as much as I like Grand Nationals…
I’m a Honda person and this is a bad take, sorry. A 14 second 1/4 mile was insane for the time, and really no manufacturer had any idea what “lateral support” even meant. The domestics had been making garbage for a long time prior to this, but it doesn’t change the fact that the GNX was extremely impressive for the time. And it also looked amazing.
I owned two 1988 Honda products: a CRX (to be fair, the HF model, not the SI) and an Integra. The idea of lateral support in the seats of those cars is hilarious.
You sure you’re a honda guy?
The 3rd gen prelude literally had adjustable bolsters via a knob on the side of the seat, so you could support your back without any sliding around.
My 90 Civic Si had decent seats too. If we’re opening it up to 90s hondas, a lot of them had great seats, way better than the grandma couch in the Buick.
I didn’t say I was a Honda guy, just that I owned those two cars. Neither of which offered any lateral support.
Like with any vintage car, you have to judge it in its original context. And it was magnificent in that context. And it’s still a great looking, fun car. Anyone who’d rather have the new Camry has no pulse.
Your friend must have had a regular grand national, which was common as there were over 20,000 produced. There were only 547 gnx’s made. It would also do 0-60 in 4.7 and the quarter in 13.5. In 1987 it was the fastest thing by miles.
13.5 in absolutely optimal conditions, with great tires. Look it up, most owners report their stock cars are in the low 14s with stock tires.
And one magazine did a 12.7. So we’ll call an average of mid 13’s.
But even so, in 87 it was still quicker than most ferrari’s, porsches, and would absolutely demolish a c4 corvette.
12.7, bone stock????
I will die on this hill. It had a decent engine…. everything else about it was garbage. Suspension, brakes, interior, seats, etc.
Yes, I believe it was c&d that reported the 12.7. They were known for overstating performance though. You can google it. Yes, I have no problem admitting that there was a lot about the car sucked. It was a G body after all. You can only do so much with it. But you’re comparing it to modern cars. If you do that literally every car from the 80’s pales in comparison. What you have to do is look at it as a four seater BUICK that could out run not only a corvette of the day but also a testerossa, coutach, and a turbo 911. A BUICK.
Also, it’s one thing to do a 4.7 0-60 safely cocooned in a modern product tight tolerances and quality assurance…
vs. 4.7 in whatever 1980’s Detroit’s finest could cobble together on a Monday, a few hours after stumbling out of Schlotzky’s Tavern.
I understand hyperbole just as well as the next person but saying here that a 2025 Camry is doing 1/4 in 14 secs is not looking good. That’s a 0-60 in under 5secs equivalent so no. And for 1987, that’s insane for a car you drove off the dealership floor. It kicked Corvette’s ass for reference, a 200-lb lighter car that wasn’t shaped like a brick and made for speed, not aunties.
I guess if we lived in 1987 I’d be super impressed. I don’t though.
A modern Odyssey could kick the shit out of most muscle cars from back in the day and still transport your whole family, luggage, and a kayak. But what’s your point? Things progress, especially when technology is involved.
Appreciate the older things for what they were during their time. Grading everything based on today’s metrics is foolishness and means you’ll never get to enjoy anything that isn’t current.
Weird lede photo – Where’s the rest of the car?
Clearly his production team used an old Regal bodyshell that had been painted black and had the bottom cut out – as you can see by the platform that’s beneath the body.
And no – I didn’t watch.
It was used like a clown car, dancers were coming up through the stage and coming out of the door and the “trunk”
What’s even weirder is that the lede photo changed – Now the trunk is there!
I think they added it with photoshop, we may need an investigation
I say we send in Elon and his twinks for a thorough accounting….
I came here to say you guys are gonna do a piece about that Buick, right? And you already had. Nice work! I had forgotten that they did the GNX. Buddy of mine in high school had a grand national. That thing was sick. Now the real question: was that an actual GNX or a regal painted up to look like one as a TV prop?
That’s my question. Considering it was just a shell that the dancers climbed out of, clown car style, I’d hate to think it was an actual GNX when more pedestrian Regals are still a dime a dozen.
Thankfully they did not molest a real GNX, even though Kendrick does own one IRL https://jalopnik.com/superbowl-halftime-buick-gnx-wasnt-real-so-calm-down-n-1851759249
I’ve had my wagon come second place in car shows behind Buick GNXs quite a few times in the 80s/90s categories… Pretty much confirms that’s not gonna change anytime soon LOL
Now, the value of GNX has rocketed to the end of the galaxy…
“I don’t recall anyone being particularly excited by normal Regals back in the ’80s”
By the early/mid 90s all the G body cars were pretty popular with us dumb kids fresh out of high school. GN and GNX were reserved for the posters on our bedroom walls.
Our budgets were limited. A mid 80s Regal with Cragars, tufted velour interiors and a swapped in smog era 350 with “camel hump” heads and the biggest cam Super Shops had on the shelf got us a pretty decent runner.
I was an 80s teen and I still think these are a good-looking car along with its Olds cousin, the Cutlass. Many in our HS parking lot, probably a hand-me down, but still almost new cars….unlike the rest of us plebs w/ 60s/70s junk (but better than walking/bus).
In the ‘old’ days, if you wanted a fast car, you didn’t buy it, you modified it yourself to be fast.
GM tried to cancel these cars and give us the cutlass cierra instead. Buyers had other ideas.
They were pretty good for the day, and they definitely look sharp
My 80’s hand-me-down was my Mom’s 1978 Olds Cutlass Salon 260 V8/THM200 in camel tan with a camel tan vinyl interior. At least it was a 2-door with the Olds styled steel wheels. What a total sled! After driving that for a little bit over a year, I had saved enough to buy my very own, very rusty (and very used) Fiat 124 Spider in the fall of 1986. It was not a wise choice, but it was a ton more fun than the road cholesterol Cutlass
I graduated in 1987 and A- and G-body cars were *everywhere.* My first car was a ’77 Regal, handed-down family car. A lot of us middle class kids were in that situation, and those coupes were popular with our baby boomer parents who still thought 4-door cars were a stigma and not cool. (We didn’t have a sedan until I was a senior in high school). The Grand National and GNX came out when I was in high school, but even then the G-body was kind of a dated 70’s car still being sold in the late 80’s.
Purists will revile this idea: but Buick needs to come out with a GNX trim package on the Envista ASAP. Put in a slightly better engine, black & gray cloth seats, that retro orange/red turbo logo, and some other flair/bling and it would sell great. Affordable enough to appeal to the young’s who get the pop culture reference, and appeal to the nostalgia of the old’s (as well as their diminishing retirement assets, if any).
I feel like he is 4 years late to the GNX, run the jewels heavily featured one in a previous album/videos/promotions. I know nothing of the modern hip hop world and only know run the jewels because they opened for rage against the machine. Is he known for copying the ideas of other artists?
https://youtu.be/Sff7Kc77QAY
Nah man, I think it’s RTJ who are always far ahead.
Oh man, Jason! You’ve just unleashed the “sports ball” hounds, lol.
Also, In the same vein, I just don’t get this guy. Like, he doesn’t even have a cool voice. I don’t care if the song stinks, but I can listen to Dre, Snoop, Em, Ice-T, Cube, Xhibit or whomever because their voice is fun.
This guy? He just sounds like a bratty baby to me. It’s all good, and I’m glad he is making money, but….fuck this guy, lol.
Also, I will add that unless the black commentariat wants to say their take on it that opposes my view, I’ll say my part as a Detroit kid.
This Lamar fool casually tossing around N-Bombs as slang, because he “didn’t say the ‘r'” is about as believable as a prison rat. He embraces the racism, and should not be celebrated. As I posted before, good for him for finding his hustle, but man, is it a shifty way to make money.
Also, if I’m not mistaken, he’s mad at a Canadian who is also rich and somehow we are supposed to care about something? lol.
No, thanks.
It’s one thing for a black recording artist to casually toss around n-bombs in a hip hop song. I have some feelings about that, but it’s a free country with a First Amendment.
It is quite another to invite a white concertgoer up on stage with you, hand them a microphone and encourage them to perform the song with you, then stop the entire show and call them out for repeating the racial slur THAT YOU PUT THERE, THAT BOTH OF YOU ALREADY KNEW WAS IN THE LYRICS BEFORE YOU INVITED THEM UP IN FIRST PLACE.
Asshole.
https://www.pnj.com/story/news/local/2018/05/22/kendrick-lamar-stops-white-hangout-fest-fan-using-n-word-stage/633920002/
My dude, two of your examples were in a group called NWA. And the other two, are directly related to NWA. Which didn’t stand for neighbors with attitude. The word is common slang in the black community of Los Angeles pre the rise of rap music. Did rap music probably spread the usage, sure. But that happened long before Kendrick was even in the womb. Arguably, Kendrick’s usage since “To Pimp a Butterfly”, has been an ironic reflection of societies need to attempt to tokenism him into a character since he’s increased fame. And a purposefully hostile usage plays into this.
I would have never known about NWA until now. Nobody in Detroit had ever found out about them. Thanks!
“Arguably, Kendrick’s usage since “To Pimp a Butterfly”, has been an ironic reflection of societies need to attempt to tokenism him into a character since he’s increased fame. And a purposefully hostile usage plays into this.”
Putting that degree to good use, I see. lol.
”Straight out of Compton, Crazy Mother F***** named Ice Cube – In a gang called N**** with Attitude” is the first line off their first album. They didn’t hid it. And that album is easily the single biggest foundational piece to West Coast Rap.
I will say, Kendrick’s entire thing is to be provocative and confrontational to systematic racism and injustice. And him being accused of racism. Is exactly the point of the performance as of piece of art. Kendrick has a very familiar art direction. If anything it was toned down last night. But, anyone even somewhat familiar with Kendrick knew he would try to take the comfort of Super Bowl and inject a very direct message. And clearly it has worked, because we’re talking about it. If anything, if the NFL didn’t want a performative art piece purposely challenging to the public, they shouldn’t have hired maybe the best guy at doing exactly that.
Also, the Chiefs didn’t exactly give us a whole lot to talk about.
You might want to consider stopping right about now.
If you did know, then your point is illogical. You are literally saying, I hate when people use this word. Here are my favorite people from the genre who are most responsible for popularizing the word I hate.
No. No. That’s not even close to what I am saying.
What YOU are seemingly attempting to defend is some VH1/200 level community college class on the history of Rap. Which you should be kinda embarrassed about.
Everyone and their mother knows who the fuck NWA was. You aren’t preaching some profound knowledge. lol.
The whole point of all of this, is that when NWA, PE, Big Daddy Kane and all the rest were speaking their “art”, they were telling straight facts.
What these kids are doing today in the “Pop” realm of music, is whoring out their identities for money. I have no problem with that, nor would a Chuck D, for instance. But Chuck D would also agree (I know him, btw, so I am not just saying some bullshit), that what these kids are doing today is a bit hokey. It also waters down what the whole point of it all was, which was explaining dualities.
All these new musicians, their fans, and the media empire that tent poles them, are just fueling the farce of it all. Gladly being “black” for the entertainment’s sake of the “black”. It’s shameful for not only the artists, but for those folks that, monetarily or otherwise, support it.
If you are such a scholar on such issues, you’d know this by now and would agree with me.
Clearly, that’s not the case. Maybe you need less emotional support.
So, your point is that Kendrick Lamar does not have enough “cred” to say the n-word? Because he just did an entire performance on what is acceptable culture in America. Which you seem to disagree with. Which might be the point of why the entire point exist.
Also the guy is black, and he is gladly celebrating and sharing his view and cultural of being the person he is. Like I’m still not sure what your point is?
You might be the whitest person in history.
I could be. I’d at least be a front runner in that competition. I’m just a dude in rural New England. And all my friends are boogie cabinet makers with strong opinions about various woods.
But, when I was doing the whole armed forces thing, then getting that degree from Wayne State (The Detroit one, not the Nebraska one). I learned that black people actually are a very diverse group of people. There’s millions of them actually. And often, much like white people. Have very different experiences. With numerous different regional, economic, religious and social variations. And holding a person to the expectations how a black person should exist, and what black art is to the expectations of a person from 90’s suburban Detroit believes it to be. And also, policing the language of said art, would be absurd. Instead, I try to listen to said artist, and try to understand the artist view point. I believe it’s called tolerance and empathy.
Also, Chuck D has been very vocal about his love for Kendrick. Like the dude is literally twitting a crown at Kendrick. Maybe you and your good Chuck could do play thru sometime.
[Removed] – ED
Yeah dude, I’ve had first hand experience with the logical conclusion of violence. And as thrilling as getting pined by the hot end of discarded Soviet small arms while six Rip-its deep, and on 72 hours of no sleep. Cause you’re crashing by the shitter and all the dudes in the new Company you’re rolling with keep breaking down in the damned thing all night long. You tend to come to the conclusion, that you don’t feel particularly masculine or fulfilled, and maybe there is an easier way to live life.
But please, dream of a life of being tough or whatever. There is no country for old men, as poem goes. It’s a losing war. So, maybe I’m soft. I can live with that. Because being hard didn’t get me anywhere I feel like doing twice.
I sure do sympathize with your military experience, it’s no picnic, for sure. I know this.
It still doesn’t excuse your words as thinking you are some sort of expert on anything. Imagine thinking no one knew about NWA and you were the one to shine that bright light unto the world. I know you can imagine it, because you did it, lol.
News flash, pal. Everyone already knew.
As a former Detroiter who came up in the early 90’s…yeah, we knew very well who NWA was.
Somebody gets it, lol. Kids these days…
Black commentariat here.
Stop talking.
Bet.
Thank you. I was an early, semi-closeted white fan of hip hop from the late 80s until the early 2000s when I got busy with career and life and listening to new music took a back seat to everything else.
Jumping back into it now after a 10-15 year break, it’s all the same repetitive stuff from almost everyone. Quasi-trap beats on everything, limited rhyme creativity, and the language is worse than ever — and for the wrong reasons. The funny thing is this is a lot of the same type of comments my parents’ generation had about hip hop in general, but the key difference is that I have a real frame of reference (I’m not comparing Dre to Lawrence Welk!).
To be clear, I’m not saying it’s all bad, but the most popular stuff is pretty terrible, both in structure and message.
Oh, I wasn’t closeted about anything. There were no closets in Pontiac, those were for fancy people. ha. I mean, now there are golf courses and the like, because of land value, but not back then.
We treasured big cardboard boxes because they were stages waiting to be made on a somewhat slated hill of a front yard on a dirt road. My whole world for a time was living among and with the kids of the factory worker. It was better than Christmas on the day you got to go to work and see/hear/smell actual work getting done!
You consistently have the worst opinions on this entire website.
You sure about that? Either way, I’ll take it as a compliment that you decided to interject yourself into a micro-thread that no one asked you for your input on.
You do you, playa.
I have never seen someone on this site use so many words while not having a single legitimate statement held within them.
Dude won a Pulitzer Prize for one of his songs, he must be doing something right.
Because Columbia (notoriously known as the most aggressively anti-American and pro-hate with their anti-Semitism, ironically) University decided to give him a ribbon? Sure, I guess.
Here we go.
We aren’t going anywhere, Nick.
No, that’s not a great discussion for a car site
For anyone wondering, I did some internet sleuthing and figured out the car used was a Grand National. This Wired article says they did cut a GNX up and says the car was purchased from a dealer in Riverside. I found a Bring a Trailer listing for a Grand National in Riverside that I noticed looked identical. Looked up the dealer online, Effortless Motors, and found their Instagram profile where they confirm it was the Grand National they sold that ended up in the show. Sucks it wasn’t just a base Regal, but glad it wasn’t an actual GNX at least.
I saw the GNX and went, that’s gotta be fake. They could have doctored up a junker Regal, but guess was cheaper to start with GN.
They’ll weld the floor back in and relist on BAT.
To be fair, they all look identical anyway. Besides a few early outliers, they were all black.
They do for sure stock. This one’s slightly larger aftermarket wheels (like the one in the performance) were what I noticed, along with the location. Otherwise? I couldn’t tell it from another Grand National or GNX. 😀
I adore the engine that went into the GNX. The rest of the car, not so much…
It’s an overweight, inefficient thing. I’ve read that engine can be tuned to over 600 horsepower and remain reliable as a daily on stock internals.
It deserves to power an Oldsmobile Aerotech, GM Ultralite, GM Precept, or GM EV1, any of which converted to RWD. Tuned for 600+ horses with a manual transmission.
Imagine a car that can rip off upper 10 second 1/4 miles, and get 50+ mpg highway when driven conservatively.
Now imagine that it’s 1987, and that you are damned lucky that GM let you build the damn thing in the first place.
General gonna General.
OK, so drop one into a third-gen F-body, hey the Firebird why not? Oh, GM did that, and it was the fastest Pontiac in history until the Holden abomination came along.
Or drop one in an H-body Monza/Starfire/Skyhawk whatever, without even modifying the motor mounts.
The 3rd gen F-body was more aerodynamically efficient than and lighter than a GNX by a wide margin, accounting for its performance advantages over the GNX using the same engine, but the 3rd gen F-body still has twice the road loading of the proposals I initially made.
Imagine what could have been without all that extra mass and wind resistance to slow the car down…
I would rather not. It makes me sad and angry.
Thinking they put a sacrificial hood on there to prevent dents from standing on it. But who knows. Either way dudes got taste. GNX
I don’t think it was a real car, or wasn’t a real GN. Either a full stage prop, or a plain Regal dressed up.
He wouldn’t wreck a perfectly good $80,000 car just to show off, would he?
Agreed, I’m pretty sure it was a stage prop, especially since pretty much the whole 30-40 backup dancers came out of the driver’s door. Unless they came up the back and went through the passenger door (which would look weird to the “back” side of the stadium), they came up from underneath the shell/plinth the “car” was sitting on. Note it’s not sitting on its wheels.
Should have read father, never mind…
Good call. Seen some of the stories today and other camera shots show how they tried to mask the bottom side to hide the obvious place the dancers were coming from. Nice trickery!
I don’t think that’s all that much money when you have a 8 figures worth of cash to get the job done.
My concern was for the loss of a storied piece of American automotive history. Big money doesn’t make it right.
I don’t think this was a real GNX. The featured Buick had a false bottom to allow for roughly 14 hip hop dancers to get out of the car ala Big Apple Circus. So I’m guessing a prop Regal in GNX cosplay. I hope…
Wired had an article with the team that helped design the halftime show. Apparently it was a real one they gutted.
https://www.wired.com/story/true-story-behind-kendrick-lamar-super-bowl-halftime-show/
Of course right after posting this I see from Bozi’s social media it was a Grand National made to look like GNX before his team bought it. It was this one.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1987-buick-grand-national-226/
Yeah, I read that Wired article this morning and rightly clutched some pearls over the assertion that they gutted an actual GNX, but there has been enough online sleuthery following to deduce that while the production team *thought* they were buying a GNX, they just bought a Grand National clone.
I also doesn’t surprise me that a bunch of non-car people trying to find the cheapest “GNX” out there didn’t really get the memo of what a GNX was, or if they did someone probably told them that they couldn’t be spending $100k+ on a stage prop.
Like a grandma at a GameStop who bought their grandchild Garfield Kart instead of Mario Kart. But that might be unfair to the Grand National.
Too bad the GNX was featured during halftime, I’d turned the channel well before then.
Same here. I always change the channel during the halftime “extravaganzas”, then tune back in to watch a football game. I’m glad he likes the GNX, though.
So what game did you tune in to? Typical Super Bowl: all hype, no game. All hat, no cattle.
The most exciting thing I watched this weekend was the England-France match in the Six Nations rugby tournament. Replays on Peacock in the USA.
GNX and Monte Carlo SS had some pretty nice lines that still hold up today, which was pretty rare for that era in the mainstream domestic US.
You took time away from that highly engaging game to write this article?
The quest for content waits for no man.
I would have found it difficult to turn away from that nasty Eagles defense repeatedly making Mahomes run for his life.
The second I saw the GNX I knew there would be an article here. Love that car. I wonder how much of the one on stage was actually real car.
It was a real car! Wired magazine has an article that says it was not only a real car, but an ACTUAL GNX- but it looks more like this was the car – https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1987-buick-grand-national-226/
And yes, they gutted it, and yes it’s no longer drivable, which if it was an actual GNX would have obviously been pretty insane to do.
But it’s not. The car on TV had a sunroof which no GNXs did, and is missing the GNX flares.
I was wondering if that was a real GNX or a facsimile.
Thank you for this article. My mom texted me a few mins ago asking what car that was in the halftime show but since I don’t catch the ludicrous displays I had no idea, until you posted this. Now she knows 😉