If you haven't already visited Craig's 1987 Grand National within the Manitoba Pontiac Association's web site, please go there now.  Read Craig's notes (below) about this unbelievable car.

I bought the car for a reduced sum as it was not in the best shape, although it was all original.   Driven for 2 years but not without some problems, the ignition coil pack shorted out causing the engine to only run on 4 cylinders which resulted in a few backfires.
This in turn caused the Mass Air Flow sensor to fail, a couple of very expensive items.   Then in 1997 after making better money I decided to get the car re-painted; this very quickly turned into a full body restoration.

For the next 2 years the car was in the body shop getting stripped down to bare metal.  There was a little more rust than was originally estimated, so all the rust was repaired and two brand new factory GM doors were installed.  Finally, in July of 1999, the car was done and it looked brand new!

Now it was time to make the rest of the car look like the outside, so countless hours and days were spent cleaning and detailing the interior and engine compartment to make everything look as good as possible.

I then drove the car as a Sunday cruiser for the next few years with very little problems but I decided it could use even more power.  I did a few minor modifications to improve the performance of the engine but not altering the looks of the car.  And I purposely didn’t change anything that couldn’t be put back to stock easily.  There is no chrome under the hood and nothing has been changed in the interior … the car even still has the original stereo.

The factory-installed Goodyear Eagle GT tires are still mounted on the original wheels but they don’t see the road anymore as I don’t want anything to happen to them.   The car therefore rides on a set of GNX reproduction wheels with BF Goodrich Comp T/A’s on them, P245/50R16 on the front and P255/50R16 on the rear.

 Modifications include:

	Testa computer chip		Billet adjustable fuel pressure regulator
	Tomco 30psi fuel injectors		GNX back seat brace kit
	Front frame braces		16” aluminum wheels
	Walbro 307 high volume fuel pump w/hotwire kit

The Grand National started as a high performance option on the Buick Regal.  This option included the all black paint job and 15” chrome steel wheels with P215/65R15 Goodyear Eagle GT tires.  The cars also received a Grand National specific interior with 2-tone seats and the Buick “6” logo embroidered in the front head rests.  The cars were also equipped with a full center console and floor shifter.

The dash is one area where Buick could have done better.  The stock Regal instrument cluster is used with the addition of a digital bar graph tachometer and turbo boost gauges.

The Grand National (or WE2 option) included as standard equipment the potent turbocharged 3.8L V6 engine that produced 245 hp and 355 lb/ft of torque at only 2000 rpm, and maintained the power up right up to the 5200 rpm red line.  The cars were also given a 4-speed automatic overdrive transmission to maximize the performance with the 3.42 gears.
The option list on a Grand National was actually quite long, as the only standard option on the car was air conditioning.  Options included tilt steering column, cruise control, power windows and locks, power trunk, a variety of stereo systems and believe it or not even a limited slip differential is an option on this car.  Naturally there was a variety of other options to your personal liking.