If you’re a normal person, you’ll regard GNX – the surprise album dropped by Kendrick Lamar in November 2024 – as a victory lap in a year when one of the most important musicians of a generation was more culturally relevant and prominent than ever. If you’re like us, you’ll probably have regarded it as that too, but also noticed its extremely cool album cover, featuring Kendrick leaning on a 1987 Buick GNX.
What exactly is so special about this boxy coupe that lends its name to the album, appears on its cover and in much of its promo material, and crops up multiple times in its lyrics? Well, it’s a particularly unusual and revered car from a very particular period in the history of the muscle car, and it’s also a very personal vehicle for Kendrick.
Let’s deal with the first part of that explanation first. In 1973, various complex political factors led to the first oil crisis, which significantly restricted supply of crude oil to much of the world. One of the many results of this was that American V8 engines, some of which had been happily churning out north of 400bhp at the turn of the decade, suddenly found themselves absolutely strangled by various emissions controls.
Things weren’t much better for the traditional American V8 by the end of the decade, which is why General Motors brand Buick, looking to produce a faster version of its V6-powered Regal coupe, turned to something still comparatively rare, especially in American cars: turbocharging.
The first of these blown 3.8-litre V6 Regals arrived in 1978, making up to 165bhp – meagre by today’s standards, but almost unheard of for a six-cylinder American engine in the late ’70s. More powerful, performance-oriented versions like the Grand National and T-Type arrived throughout the early 1980s, but the car’s peak came in 1987.
That was the year the limited-run GNX – Grand National Experimental – arrived. This high-performance version packed a new turbocharger, beefier intercooler, high-flow exhausts and a specially developed rear differential. Power and torque were rated – possibly conservatively – at 276bhp and 360lb ft.
Buick GNX – front
For reference, in 1987, a 4.9-litre V8 Ford Mustang was making 225bhp, and even the most powerful 5.7-litre V8 Chevrolet Camaro could only muster the same. The Dodge Charger, meanwhile… was a front-wheel drive four-cylinder hatchback.
The GNX would hit 60mph in under five seconds, and supposedly, it would run a quarter-mile faster than a Ferrari F40. Top speed was limited to 124mph to protect the structural integrity of what was still, at its core, a very normal Buick with roots in the 1970s. The other big drawback was that it was only available with a slushy four-speed automatic gearbox.
Buick GNX – side
Nevertheless, it quickly became a legend, helped on by only being available in black-on-black, a fact that, along with its boxy body, led to more than a few comparisons with a certain Star Wars villain. Just 547 were made, all for the 1987 model year, and costing $29,900 new – around $83,000, or approximately £65,750, in 2024.
Still, these days, really nice GNXs will sell for upwards of $150,000, and prices might well hold firm now that K.Dot has made the car a cultural phenomenon. Why the GNX? In March this year, Lamar revealed on his second Instagram account, @jojoruski, that he’d purchased a GNX of his own, and it’s a car with a deep personal significance for him.
He revealed in an interview with Complex back in 2012 that when he was born in 1987, his parents brought him home from hospital in an ’87 Buick Regal. Acquiring a GNX, the ultimate version of the 1987 Regal, is a sort of full-circle moment that’s arrived for Lamar when he’s arguably at the very top of his game as a musician.
So that, in short, is why this very boxy, very 1980s interpretation of a muscle car is at the centre of Kendrick’s new album.
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