Emerging from a family of plain G-body vehicles, the Buick Grand National made its debut back in 1984. Coated in slick black paint and equipped with a fuel-injected, turbocharged engine, it was a force to be reckoned with. The GN powertrain boasted 200 hp (150 kW) at 4400 rpm and 300 lb/ft of torque at 2400 rpm, performance that was unmatched in its time. When reflecting back on the early years of this beloved Buick, fans refer to it in such terms as the "complete black sheep of the family", "the mold-breaker", and "the kid wearing the black leather jacket at the high school graduation."¹

In a tribute to the class-breaking vehicle, New York producer Andrew Filippone Jr. has been working on a film entitled, Black Air: The Buick Grand National Documentary. Filippone has released teaser clips for Black Air, however the full-length version will debut summer of 2012. Dubbed something between "a history lesson and a memorial"², the anticipated film is a standard 60-minutes long and is sure to elicit a fair amount of nostalgia from loyal Grand National fans.

One Buick owner writes on the film's Facebook page, "Thank you for doing a documentary on the Buick GN. I have owned my 86 Buick G/N with 7,900 original miles for 13 years...wouldn't sell [it] for any amount."² That level of loyalty is exactly what Filippone has tapped into with the film.

When asked why he chose the "black sheep" Buick model, the filmmaker said, "I wanted to do a doc about class and the stratifications of classes. Something about one's station in life. For some reason, I thought of the first Grand National I saw when I was 16."¹

The last year of the Grand National was 1987 but Buick has continued to produce models such as the Buick Regal and Buick Enclave which are available to test drive at Transwest Buick GMC Isuzu.  Feel free to contact us to schedule a time that works for you. You'll find us conveniently located at 7911 E. 69th Avenue Henderson, Colorado.

 

Sources:

¹ http://www.autoweek.com/article/20111003/CARNEWS/111009974
² http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Air-The-Buick-Grand-National-Documentary/199753063411653?sk=info