The RWD Grand Nationals and T-Types are among the most collectible examples of 80’s power, which culminated in the 1987 GNX. Gaining refinement each year, 1984 saw sequential fuel injection along with Buick entering the Indy Racing League the following year.Ī third of the field would be Buick-powered by ‘92, echoing the same sentiments of reliability their customers experienced on the street. Realizing the potential, they gave it a split-pin crank to balance the firing order and ‘78 saw the 3.8 Turbo introduced on the Regal. It proved so potent that Parnelli Jones raced it up Pike’s Peak the same year. The 1976 Indy Pace Car was the first V6 to do so, and it used a turbo to offer 306 horsepower. Buick was GM’s most fuel-efficient division, so it was time to celebrate. By the end of 1975 they had produced 78,349 examples of the 3.8. The original equipment was put back into the same spots it once lived in with the only update being a 97mm cylinder bore to match the pistons of the Buick and Olds V8. In a strange twist of fate, Jeep had held on to the tooling and its production line, so GM wrote a check and dispatched a fleet of trucks to Toledo. Jeep (now owned by AMC) had discontinued it after developing a new six in ‘72, so they had no interest in starting production again. After dropping it into a new ‘74 Apollo, they realized it could be a viable alternative to Chevrolet’s heavy straight-six or their weak inline-four. By 1973 they realized the days of big V8s were numbered, so a group of Buick engineers rebuilt a tired example after rummaging through local junkyards.
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