8 Of The Greatest Buick Muscle Cars You Never Knew About

There was a time when Buick was a muscle car powerhouse, long before it was neutered and sold rebadged Opels like the Buick Encore. The brand now is a shadow of its former self, a former self that was influential in the automotive industry and particularly the muscle car game.

Unlike other carmakers, Buick - owned by General Motors (GM) - is considered a legendary automotive company dating back over 100 years.

Although Buick muscle cars are no longer being manufactured, their contributions to the car industry will be forever celebrated by many car enthusiasts around the globe, and the GM Heritage Collection sports a number of influential Buick models. So we decided to pick 10 of the most iconic from yesteryear so we can remember Buick the way it once was.

The Buick Skylark Gran Sport was the first Buick muscle car introduced by the car maker. Released in 1965, GS became known for its powerful V8 engine, upgraded suspension, and other performance enhancements. At its heart, the Skylar GS's 401 cubic 'nailhead' V8 punched out 325 horsepower and 445 lb-ft of torque at just 2,800 rpm, making it quite the performer for the era and making it a firm contender during the 1960s-era horsepower wars.

Its interior was considered upmarket for the era, which, combined with the powertrain, led to the automaker's slogan, "Going fast with class." The Gran Sport was effectively a package option for buyers of the Skylark hardtop, coupe, and convertible, and it's believed that only around 2,000 were ordered with the GS package, making it quite the rarity. While values are increasing, though, they can still be purchased for around $20-25k.

In 1970, Buick replaced the 400ci motor in the GS400 - an evolution of the Skylark GS - with a 455ci motor, resulting in one of the fastest, most powerful classic Buick cars of the era. The 7.5-liter V8 produced 350 hp and 510 lb-ft and had a claimed 0-60 time of under six seconds, but dyno testing suggested its horsepower ratings were conservative, and a Buick engine development engineer of the time claimed it was actually at least 376 hp. In testing, it managed a quarter-mile time of 13.38 seconds at 105.5 mph.

That was the Stage 1 car, but a limited number of Stage 2 cars were built, too. Considered a dealer-installed package, it featured a hotter cam, headers, intake manifold, high-compression forged pistons, hollow pushrods and more, along with a few unique body elements like a special hood with a scoop. Sadly, emissions legislation curtailed the Stage 2's run, and few remain in existence to this day.

A far cry from the Buick Regal GS that was discontinued at the end of MY2020, the 1982 Buick Regal Grand National was a potent muscle car named after the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National Series, which Buick had won for two years on the trot in '81 and '82. It was a case of winning on Sunday to sell on Monday, and Buick wanted to recapture the spark of the Skylark GS.

Instead of being a factory option, the GN package was retrofitted by Cars and Concepts of Brighton, Michigan, with early cars finished in a silver-gray firemist paint and red pinstriping. A 252 ci naturally-aspirated V6 did duty under the hood with 125 hp and 205 lb-ft, but at least 35 from the 1982 model year had a turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 with 175 hp and 275 lb-ft. Later models (from 1984 as the GM went on hiatus for 1983) were finished in black and got the turbo motor as standard, dialed up to 200 hp and 300 lb-ft. There was continual evolution, and eventually, the 1987 Grand National put out 245 hp and 355 lb-ft.

For its final year, Buick offered the Grand National in special GNX form, which stood for Grand National Experimental. Co-developed with McLaren Performance Technologies, only 547 were built, with McLaren returning them with a claimed 276 hp and 360 lb-ft, which was really closer to 300 hp and 420 lb-ft. It was the "Grand National to end all Grand Nationals" and came to define Buick performance for generations. It had an upgraded turbo with a ceramic impeller, a special exhaust, and a Hydramatic 200-4R transmission with a custom torque converter.

It was styled to look the part with an all-black exterior, front fender vents, 16-inch black mesh-style wheels, and an emblem delete kit. Inside, Stewart-Warner analog gauges and a serial number dash plaque were some of the unique upgrades.

It was a monster, and it could outdrag a Ferrari F40 and Porsche 930, clocking a 12.7-second quarter mile and hitting 60 mph in 4.6 seconds.

To this day, the GNX is considered one of Buick's finest moments and a true collector car that sells for supercar money.

The 1963 Buick Riviera is considered the most beautiful muscle car among Buicks and was considered a 'personal luxury car' more than a muscle car. Designed by Bill Mitchell, the same man who penned the Oldsmobile Toronado and Mako Shark Corvette, its angular styling was allegedly inspired by a custom-bodied Rolls-Royce that Mitchell spotted while on vacation in London.

But at the end of the first generation's production run, a Gran Sport variant was introduced for 1965, sporting the Super Wildcat V8 with 360 hp from its 7.0-liter displacement with two Carter 625 CM carburetors. It had an aggressive 3.42 axle ratio and a 2.25-inch exhaust setup. Vertically arranged headlights were a strong identifier of the Gran Sport, with clamshell doors to hide them.

These are rapidly gaining collector status, with current examples selling for $30k or more.

In 1973, the Century nameplate was revived for a third generation, replacing the Skylark, and, in the process, inheriting the Gran Sport performance package option. Available on any of the available engines with the Century, so long as you ordered the Hardtop Colonnade Coupe, the cream of the crop was the Stage I 455 ci cranking out 270 hp and 390 lb-ft, its outputs curtailed by emissions regulations of the era. In this guise, you could only have it with the Turbo-Hydramatic 400 three-speed transmission.

It was an iconic design for the era but wasn't the most iconic performance car from Buick. Still, it's resisted insane price increases and is now an easy entry point into classic Buick muscle and alternative '70s-era hot rods.

The second-generation Buick Wildcat arrived in 1965, but in 1966, a one-year-only option called the Gran Sport Performance Group package was made available. You could spec it on one of two engines (single- and dual-carb 425ci V8s) with 340 hp and 360 hp, respectively. The latter was known as the Super Wildcat as a callback to the first generation Super Wildcat, and they were equipped with heavy-duty suspension and a dual exhaust, along with rear quarter panel GS badges and a posi-traction differential. Only 22 Super Wildcats were built, out of 1,244 Wildcat Gran Sports for the year.

Later model-year Wildcats may have received more power, but on rarity alone, the Super Wildcat is a special muscle car in its own right.

This one never actually went to production, but it was based on the production-spec Riviera. Designed by Bill Mitchell, it arrived at the 1972 Detroit Auto Show sporting a sleek roofline and redesigned quarter windows. It was more of a technological display than anything else, with high-level warning lights acting as secondary turn signals, six halogen headlights, four-wheel anti-lock brakes, and Max Trac, an early version of what would eventually become modern traction control.

Under the hood, the Silver Arrow III sported a 455ci V8 from the Riviera, meaning 370 hp and over 500 lb-ft, so it had the power to match the stylish Buick muscle car looks. Sadly, it never materialized in production form, meaning one of the best Buick muscle cars never really existed in the public eye.