1970 Buick GSX
At the height of the muscle car wars, torque was king and no competitor could dethrone the 510 lb.-ft. (678 Nm) of twist generated by the GSX’s available 455 Stage I V-8 engine. In a 1970 road test, Motor Trend went from from 0 to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds and covered the quarter-mile in 13.4 seconds. The GSX’s combination of raw power and Buick’s signature luxury prompted many to describe the car as a “velvet hammer.”
Buick’s longest car, the 1975 Buick Electra sedan, measured 233.7 inches from bumper to bumper.
1976 Buick Century Indianapolis 500 Pace Car
Buick’s turbocharging legacy was established with this purposeful pace car. Engineers leveraged the recently revived, more-efficient 3.8L (231 cubic inches) V-6 engine that was supplanting larger V-8 engines in many production models. They filled it with 22 pounds of turbo-fed boost – resulting in 306 horsepower from the compact powerhouse – and reset expectations for Buick performance.