The 1987 Buick Grand National is a car that needs no introduction among enthusiasts. The GN's turbocharged and intercooled 3.8L V6 engine produced 245 horsepower, a figure that was extremely impressive at the time (and greater than that of the Corvette's 5.7L V8). Its "experimental" sibling the GNX pushed the limit even further, outrunning Ferraris and Porsches to become one of the world's fastest production cars. This year at the 2024 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, world-renowned custom builder Ringbrothers showed off their approach to building the ultimate Buick Grand National resto-mod.

The Buick Regal is a favorite for many classic car enthusiasts, and its Grand National variant became a legend as a result of its intimidating appearance and high-performance turbocharged V6 engine. Some purists would say the turbo V6 is the heart and soul of the GN, but what happens when one of these cars is built from the ground up to go toe-to-toe with modern supercars? That's a question the Hemmings crew set out to answer as they built a supercharged-V8-powered Grand National for Grammy-award-winning rapper Killer Mike.

Though we spend our five- and six-day work weeks catering to the needs of our honored customers who own and are working on, driving, showing, and enjoying American muscle machines, many Classic Industries employees are wrenching away, driving, and enjoying our own vintage vehicles in our free time. Some of us drive our old cars daily. 

What do you get when you squeeze two more cylinders, nearly double the displacement, and a second turbo into the engine bay of a 1987 Buick Grand National? In the case of Roadster Shop's custom '87 GN,  you get six and a half times the original power output. Yes, you read that right. The original 3.8L turbocharged V6 in this car produced 245hp, which made it very quick compared to most other cars of its era. The car seen here produces more than 6.5 times as much power with its 1,600hp 7.0L twin-turbo V8.

If you didn't attend or participate in the 73rd O'Reilly Auto Parts Grand National Roadster Show, you missed out big time! The GNRS is one of the oldest and most phenomenal classic car shows in the world. It's held in California, which is considered by many to be mecca for the automobile, at the Pomona Fairplex. There are two top prizes awarded at this prestigious event. The nation's top roadsters vying for the America's Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) prize were sublime. Non-roadster vehicles competing for the Al Slonaker Memorial Award were rolling, running works of art. All of the cars and trucks at the event would be held in high esteem in any car geeks garage, or the envy of any motorhead on the planet. 

Today, the Buick Regal Grand National (GN) and GNX hold a significant place in automotive history, but these high-performance variants didn't simply appear out of nowhere. In the early 1980s, Buick was working to promote the Regal through racing events, spreading awareness of the model through appearances on and around the track. This would eventually lead to the introduction of the Grand National in 1982, named after the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National Series. But before this happened, General Motors tested the waters with the limited-edition 1981 Regal Pace Car.

Bring a Trailer is a site we enjoy following, as a result of the many rare and interesting classic cars that show up there. One particular vehicle that caught our attention is this 1987 Buick GNX. With an almost-unbelievable 8.5 miles on the odometer, this GNX appears to be in perfect showroom condition inside and out. It was reportedly preserved in a climate-controlled room, and as a result it has survived in immaculate shape, down to the plastic covers on the seats, carpet, and gauge cluster.

In case you've missed the big news, Classic Industries recently announced eight all-new catalogs for Buick and Oldsmobile models, and we're excited to offer a wide array of classic car restoration parts for these models in the near future. Our catalogs will be coming soon for many of these vehicles, but the first one of these lines has already been released.

Since the company's inception in 1976, Classic Industries has always been forging ahead to provide much-needed restoration parts for classic cars and trucks. The Classic Industries product line started with carpets for the first-generation Camaro, but it certainly didn't stop there.

After becoming the industry leader in Camaro restoration parts, Classic Industries expanded into Firebird / Trans Am, Chevy II / Nova, Impala / Bel Air / Biscayne / Caprice, Chevy and GMC Trucks, 1955-57 "Tri-Five" Chevy, and most recently Mopar Dodge / Plymouth A, B, and E-body. The innovation and expansion still isn't stopping — in Spring 2017, Classic industries proudly announced a new line of catalogs for Buick and Oldsmobile models.

The Buick Grand National was an unconventional car, to say the least. Rather than sticking with the traditional American muscle car formula of squeezing a large-displacement V8 under the hood, GM engineers tried something different: a V6 with a turbocharger. This configuration was a major risk, since turbochargers were still in their infancy when Buick launched the first turbocharged Regal model in 1978. But, after working through a steep learning curve, the configuration produced some astonishing results.