Fast & Furious 4: Buick Grand National

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Heists are, by their nature, illegal. So what could be a better car for a heist than a sinister black Buick Grand National GNX? And that's just what Dominic Torreto (Vin Diesel) drives at the beginning of Fast & Furious as he robs a land train full of high-octane fuel. No one in the picture car department remembers exactly how the GNX won its role, except that it seemed such a natural choice that no one gave it a second thought.

Considering the intense stunts performed during the filming of this opening sequence, it's probably not surprising that a lot of Buick Grand Nationals (but no actual GNXs) were sacrificed in its creation. In fact, the picture car department created seven of them, all based on real GNs or T-Types. Four would wind up scrapped.

The most unusual of the seven GNs built was one with the body mounted backward on the frame so it could be driven at speed while appearing to be going backward. To get the engine tucked under the trunk lid, however, the turbocharger and its plumbing had to be removed. Most of the other GNs retained their original turbo V6s, though a couple had Chevy crate V8s installed.

It's amazing it took this long for someone to give the Grand National the starring role it deserved.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Fast
• Furious
• 4:
• Buick
• Grand
• National
• General
• Motors
• car
• auto
• motor
• Universal
• movie
• Vin
• Diesel
• Edmunds
• Inside
• Line

[The97lincolnlsc]

i was hoping to see a no grand nationals were hurt on the making of this film



[chriserz94]

@The97lincolnlsc hopefully they used like regals that look like gnx's

[NEWCOMB76]

It is like fine wine, i had one and i luved it!!!!!!!!

[Naturalhit]

GN is like fine wine. It gets better as it gets older.

[whirlybird1999]

@The97lincolnlsc I agree, there are only so many of these out there that destroying these seems to amount as a sin.

[SRTST51]

@Grandnational2011 Unfortunately they were non turbo 4.1 liter V6's that made a staggering 125 HP. They were basically a graphics kit to commemorate Buicks' success in Nascar the previous season.

[MYkillingFETISH]

@TheMoebad it was a auto tranns. he was using the 1,2,D to build up power. its kinda like a manual with no clutch sorta.

[atsilawaya]

@The97lincolnlsc lmao I was hoping the exact samething...I cringed when I seen it slap into the side of that semi ugh...

[TheMoebad]

what kind of shifter was tht?

[xdavstratx]

i hoped they just used buick regals that were blacked out with 350s instead of using real ones

[peasinacan]

MERCED

[ChrisHenniker]

When are we going to see a chopped '32 Ford 3 Window in these films?