Buick Gran Sport

Buick GS 455

The Buick Gran Sport is a muscle car from the American car brand Buick , which belongs to the General Motors group.

Trivia

As with Oldsmobile the 442 , with Buick the GS or the Gran Sport is a so-called high-performance option package that gives the vehicle its new name based on a Skylark . The GS package was also available for the Buick Riviera and Wildcat models and essentially consisted of stiffer springs and stabilizers as well as stronger shock absorbers.

Gran Sport 400

In 1965 , Buick built the first Gran Sport based on the mid-range Skylark car. Back then you could order a Skylark with a V8 . In the Gran Sport, however, the most powerful Buick V8 was installed. This had a displacement of 6.6 l (401 in³) and, according to the manufacturer, produced 242 kW (325 hp) and 603 Nm (445 ft.lbf). Buick sold over 15,000 Gran Sports in the first year and as many in the second year. This is how Buick held its own in the muscle car competition. 1967 built Buick Gran Sport 400 with a newly developed 400 cui engine, this carried now 253 kW (340 hp) at 5,000 min ^-1 and had a torque of 597 Nm (440 lb-ft) at 3,200 min ^-1 . In 1969 Buick donated the GS400 a new bonnet with ram-air air intakes, these should increase the power by up to 8% and the torque by 6%. At the same time, the first Buick GS400 with the Stage 1 option rolled off the assembly line. This was a limited edition of less than 1500 cars, the engine output increased to 257 kW (345 hp) with this option and the maximum torque increased to 597 Nm (440 ft.lbf). The 1/4 mile was driven in 14.4 seconds. Buick offered even more performance with the rare Stage 2 option. Officially, the Stage 2 modified engine developed 268 kW (360 hp), which was an understatement. Some customers measured over 368 kW on their Stage 2 Buicks. Buick itself advertised in a brochure with the label "360 hp, quarter mile in 12.5 seconds".

Gran Sport 340/350

1967 Buick built a sister model, the Gransport 340 with a 5.6-liter engine (340 in³) with a compression ratio of 10.25: 1 with which he 193 kW (260 hp) at 4200 min ^-1 and 495 Nm (365 ft.lbf) at 2800 min ^-1 guaranteed. 3,692 pieces left the Buick factory. In the following year, the 5.7-liter (350 in³) engine was installed and remained in place until 1975.

A small model, the Gran Sport 231 , was produced in 1975.

GS455

The Gran Sport 400 was replaced by the even more powerful Gran Sport 455 in 1970 . Its 7.5 l (455 in³) engine produced an output of 260 kW (350 hp) at 4600 min ⁻¹ and a torque of 691 Nm (510 ft.lbf) at 2800 min ⁻¹ . The GS455 accelerated from 0 to 100 km / h in 6.5 seconds. With the Stage 1 performance option, the car was one second faster to 100 km / h.

In 1972 the Buick GS 455 Stage 1 received the title Competition car of the year from Hot-Rod Magazine .

The performance was given as "only" 270 bhp.

The Gran Sport 400 covered the quarter mile in just 14.23 seconds.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} John Gunnell: Standard Guide to American Muscle Cars . Ed .: KP-Books. 4th edition. KP-Books, 2005, ISBN 0-87349-988-3 , pp. 400 (English).