Grand National

The original owner bought two Grand Nationals and let them sit untouched for decades.

As Buick currently claws and scratches its way back into relevance to compete against luxury brands like Lexus and Acura, it's hard to believe that not too long ago, the brand had a car that was mentioned in the same breath as Corvette, Lamborghini and Ferrari. That car? None other than the

Buick GN and GNX, Ford Fiesta ST and Ecoboost 1.0, GM looks for economy from new tire tech, PopSci Best of What's new 2012

Inside Line reports Buick is planning to bring back some of the more storied names from the company's past, including the Grand National, GNX and the T-Type. Those cars rose to prominence in the 1970s and '80s to become performance legends of their day.

Black Air, the documentary on the Buick Grand National, is set for release on December 11 of this year. On August 4, however, the first 20 minutes of the film will be screened at the at the national meet of the Buick Performance Group in Hebron, Ohio.

SPEED's Brad Fanshaw joins us, Bentley EXP 9 F Concept, Chevrolet Volt production idle, SLP Grand National and GNX Regals

1987 Buick Grand National vs. 2011 Buick Regal Turbo – Click above to watch video after the jump

1979 Lotus Esprit with Buick GNX turbo V6 – Click above for high-res image gallery

The car you see here is not a GNX. Hell, it's not even a Buick. You'd be forgiven if you thought it was, though, and it does sport a turbocharger underhood. David Morad was so enamored with the 6.6L LB7 Duramax diesel in his truck that he wanted to put it into something lighter and more fun. He decided to build a Grand National around the engine, and started buying up whatever applicable Buick body parts he could find -- right down to legit GNX dash plates. Next, he bought an '

Here's another example of liking the individual hardware pieces, but being repulsed by the idea of the ultimate combination. RX7s are cool. Grand Nationals are cool. But a vehicular mash-up of a 1993 RX-7 powered by a Buick GN's V6 seems a little weird. Weird to think that it even gets past regulatory agencies, as it's an older, totally alien engine in a newer car, which might make it interesting to register in a state with California emissions. The swap is well done, though, even if we'd questi

Click image for 55-pic photo gallery