This 1980s Turbo Coupe was Built By McLaren and Pontiac 

GM literally lost its soul when they axed Pontiac.

Green Hawk, this was a great review of the Grand Prix. The 2.8 was a V6, not a four-cylinder.

What a crazy, magical era. I really miss all those amazing 2-door coupes from so many manufacturers. ASC was also responsible for manufacturing the C4 Corvette's convertible top.

1:44 The 2.8 is a v6

You do a great job, well done! Two things: 1) The 2.8L was a 6 cyl, not 4, and 2) GM didnt send Gorbachev the GP, it was the (I believe) Long Island Pontiac dealers.

I really enjoy mid to late 80s designs. The lines are just beautiful and simple. Clean, but tasteful

Excellent!!! Love these cars! I played in a hard rock band with a dude who had one of these. I was a teen so it was mid to late 90s so it wasn’t all that old at the time. I remember getting in it and the steering wheel had like 200 buttons on it. Back in the day, more buttons ya had, the cooler your car was. Seems right opposite now. If ya have buttons now, you drive a Mirage.

I still own my 89 turbo. It's a fun car to drive. I only have 59k miles on mine. Everything is original still

Great video! I kinda lusted after this when I was 15/16 back in 1989 and 1990 but always felt it was a wannabe next to the Thunderbird SC. The Ford was rwd vs fwd, offered a manual and a boatload more torque. It also looked much better IMO. The Pontiac on the other hand offered the HUD and other electronic gizmos and way too many buttons. The seats were quite comfortable in both. One thing you missed, though, was the Buick 3.8 liter turbo in the limited run 1989 T/A GTA. It was more powerful than the Chevy 5.7 V8. You can look up Car and Driver's article on it. Keep the fantastic videos coming!

2:00 those seats look so comfy!

I remember the “wider is better” ad campaign Pontiac ran back then. The turbo GP is definitely wide. Crazy how the rear lifts on hard braking though. It is common to see FWD race cars carry the rear tire through a corner.

Very underrated era of cars. One of My favorite GM cars of the early late 80’s early 90’s has to be the Chevrolet Beretta GTZ. Looks made up for the lack of power.

I've owned 3 TGP'S and they are so much fun. Most I've gotten out of stock everything was 277hp before the trans decided to leave the chat. Pretty impressive for a 33yr old car

I’ve wanted one of these since I was a kid

For me; Pontiac, especially the 3rd generation Firebird Trans-Am V8 T-Top was a really beautiful and unforgettable car. And i don’t care about that electric toys some people call them cars of the future, The real carguys in the world needs brand new non-turbo V8 Pontiacs again.

I swear this channel is a hidden gem, you will be a big channel one day brother!

My favorite of the GP Era, remember seeing a Gold McLaren GP at the Imperial Palace Auto Museum in Vegas. had several dents on it too.

Specifically the 1989 turbo is very good looking ! Those fender cladding looked incredibly nice !

Fantastic! I enjoyed the video and the information. I liked the footage and your effort in putting this video together. I noted your work on the information as well. Exellent. I smiled all the way through the video. Pontiac Excitement indeed! The Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme offered a heads up display as well as the Bonneville SSE. My Toronado has the VIC you shared in the video. High tech indeed. Great job!

Fantastic video as always, love these cars!

Very detailed informative piece with wholesome information and backstory to this quite interesting vehicle,

Good piece! Thanks for the content.

Glad you mentioned the seats. I rode in a '91 GTP, and they were remarkably comfortable. They felt like a well crafted chair, I recall.

Grand Prix was car of the year in 88. The thunderbird SC was car of the year in 89.

Great job as always! Seeing that quick reference to the lumina z34 brought back memories. Haven’t seen one on the road in decades

Thanks for posting. If I knew of this car I forgot.

Always loved the way these looked . ❤

Great video ! Love your channel 👌👍👍👍

Gotta love that gated drums on that “rock” Pontiac commercial lol. Love the optional manual transmission and of course the McLaren modification. The plastic cladding is too much

I had a 1988 GTA Trans Am with the 5.7 liter. It had those gold snowflake wheels. Yes, they were a pain to keep clean!

outstanding content my brother!!

I had the 2.8 6 cyl. In my 89 Grand Prix. I loved that car. Put 327,284 miles when I traded it in. Still got a Grand off my trade in. Mine was med. garnet red, Aero II mag wheels, the Mustang hood scoop l fitted to it really looked good on it.

A friend got one for graduation in 1989 and I always thought it was a really cool car. He ended up putting a stereo that he competed with.

Excellent video. Good job.

Great vid man

I don’t think it’s the Same McLaren that makes Hypercars - I think it’s the one associated with American Sunroof Company that makes turbos and other components.

Loved the way they looked!!!

I had 2 of these. There was an engineer named Jeff M that sold a kit for these, which was an improved downpipe (stock one cracked) and a tune for the ECU. I don't know the hp numbers but he got more out of it. Most importantly today, the Powermaster 3 brake booster is now unobtainable. A conversion is required to drive these cars if that brakes, which it always does.

My mother had a friend who had one of these. I thought it was cool because the interior was so "hi-tech" with the digital display and stuff. She also had that thing in the shop constantly as I remember always being late to practice because my mother had to drop her friend off from work.

I had one of these motors stuffed into an 88 cavalier z24, 5spd & cranked up the boost to 14psi.. was insane

Very informative video! I have a 1989 that I've owned since 2007. Many things I have read or watched on these cars has been filled with misinformation. You definitely did your research here and it shows. I 5 speed swapped my car a number of years ago. The Getrag 282 that was available in the non turbo 2.8 5 speed cars is pretty much a direct swap. I also got rid of the problematic PM3 all electronic ABS system and replaced it with standard non ABS vacuum brakes. The car is a LOT more fun to drive with a manual transmission. Interior colors were tan and gray. Gray is more rare and black exterior is more rare. A black 1989 car with gray cloth is the rarest combination. The CD player was only available in 90. There were also a few interior changes between 89 and 90. Different buttons for the headlights and wipers, different information center, slightly different seat pattern and the Performance Sound button was dropped for 90. They also made ~1000 4 door versions in 1990 called the TSTE. Available in maroon and white. VERY few of those still exist today. All cars came without a spoiler. But, many have been added to them over the years. The turbo is a Garrett T25, but other turbos can be swapped on. The 3.1 can take a fair amount of power, assuming it's mated to a Getrag 282/284. The automatic can't hold up to much more than factory horsepower and boost for to long. There was a decent amount of aftermarket parts available back in the day. However, they are tough to find now. I do know a guy who will still tune the MEMCAL. I had it done when I did the swap. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask! They are fun and quirky cars and VERY "of the time". They can take a bit to keep running though as the turbo setup complicated what was otherwise a very simple and reliable drivetrain. Turbo specific parts are also extremely difficult to find anymore.

I had a 89... omg one of my favorite cars. Remember spirited driving mine with 2 Ferrari 328's outside Philly on the turnpike..

This and the Fox body are amazing designs. Timeless.

Imagine living through those times, the 80’s were something else, the 90’s were great!!! 911 sucked but we bounced back, Oboma happened and at first it seemed like a good thing, then we saw.

Had a 91 that was identical to thumbnail in appearance except silver instead of gold wheels. Did not have the turbo unit. N/A 3.4 No mods. It ran strong. I got a bunch of compliments on the looks. Comfy seats. HUD. Pontiacs had LOTS of buttons.

10:50 the raw truth about the car and i agree

One of my neighbors has one of these. Its never moved in the past 20 years. Still red with gold rims. Just sits in an open garage.. covered in dust and partially surrounded by boxes.

This car was the definition of late 1980s

Well done

Awwwwwsome Episode 😎👍🏽👍🏽

Im glad somebody corrected that mention of 2.8 four cylinder it was clearly a v6 the well known 60° v6 which later was enlarged to 3.1 and 3.4 liter and eventually 3.5

The Ponyiac Grand Prix! My Favorite car of all time!

Fascinating. As a Brit, these have gone under my radar completely. Good looking car. Not so sure about the QC though when the buttons are pushed on that binnacle at 08:15. You can see why the Germans started making inroads into this market around this time. I wonder how many of these are still on the road. Hopefully plenty, but it's an unloved period so who knows?

the 3.1 is such a good engine, they've put them in a ton of vehicles and man can they take a beating.

I never knew Pontiac sent a Grand Prix to the USSR! Great vid Hawk! You definatwly addressed why these were not around long. GMs 3.4 one upped it without the need for turbos...The SHO was quicker too.

You nailed it when you said "slipped thru the cracks"...honest to goodness!!! GM's marketing was a disaster in those days!!! Talk about nailing your own coffin shut!! GM was a bunch of fat cats that let the minions run the show and BOOM, all of a sudden, GM once again behind the 8 ball, kind of like today's version of GM. (insert sad face here)

That's crazy for some reason I had my head that they always use the 3.8 L in these cars. They certainly should have as that is a bulletproof engine.

I drive a 95 grand prix daily, while not a mclaren its still a great car, Love this generation of GP.

The Grand Prix Turbo was the first GM car to have an HUD. I owned one back in 1997 black.

Yes, the buttons were outrageous then. There was a particular change during that time (features?), and they loaded that car. Now, features/buttons are concealed in submenus, so there are many buttons, now, too.

Josh and Sam made me want one

Had a 91 Grand Prix se and I wanted to swap in the turbo from 90 so bad but they were had to find in decent shape. The stock wheels most didn’t realize were made by Enki so while they were a pain to clean I could say I had enki wheels 😂 my 91 Grand Prix se had all of these same body upgrades and it’s headlights were inset and made the front look way better. If it had turbo engine it would of been the best of both worlds then. Oh and that pass through panel worked like a huge port making the trunk a big subwoofer enclosure making my subwoofers hit so much harder. I cracked my front window during winter time on accident.

I think it's a beautiful car I enjoyed mine I had a wide body it wasn't a turbo but I erased a turbo in my RX7 Turbo 2 and 1990 from Missouri to Minnesota and we did it in 3 and 1/2 hours through Des Moines and I was doing 175 and it was keeping up with me it might have been a John player special

Mentioning the front wheel drive gran prix without talking about the completely bad ass Supercharged 3.8 GTP should be a felony.

I can’t help but really like this car. So good to see buttons over touch screens too. Going into endless menus within car systems to do the most basic of things seems like regression to me, not progress. It’s illogical to do something that takes longer than pressing a button or turning a knob. As you can tell I’m triggered by touch screen / no button options.

Any car guy in the 90s will remember these 3.1s as having a lot more bark than bite. They sounded so sweet with that characteristic burble but they were total dogs. I used to own the black one with the gold wheels, it was a real head turner and yes the wheels were a b*tch to clean.

I was a teenager when this car came out so I was watching cars pretty heavily and I don't remember this one. Iroc-z, trans Am, of course 5.0 mustangs. Even the typhoon and cyclone we knew of. Turbo ta? yes ,Kid in high School had one. Turbo Grand Prix? Nope never heard of it till now.😅

I had one of those, 94 maybe. SFI 3.1 and that thing had independent rear suspension, with spindles and tie rods in the back. Thought those all had a cheap axle with coils and shocks.

pointing out that it is NOT the Mclaren we know as in the european brand and racing team, but a wholly different american company that also did several other vehicles in the US... so it's...not rly that interesting when you realize that in the end it's nothing special

I paused at 1:06 to go eat and of course, theres my car! I had an 82 GP ...with a Ford engine LOL. I only recently found out abotu the Pontiac McLaren cars, and saw one on FB Marketplace, but dear Lord was it rough. Pontiac really had a bad depreciation problem, as well as lets say a police high speed pursuit image problem (those Grand Ams...they were the Altimas of their day LOL) I still love Pontiac, and cant wait for them to come back!

@2:10 the Gran Prix was MotorTrend Car of the year in 1988. The 1989 Car of the year was the Ford Thunderbird SuperCoupe.

The common color of this generation was white, and the body style was initially drab. The magazine _High Performance Pontiac_ described them as "looking like a used bar of soap" - which did sum it up quite well.

It was not an engine power making problem that limited the car to 220hp. It was the automatic transmission limits.

I would like to see one of these videos on the Buick Riatta. That was a sweet car back in the day.,

I feel like the last time I even saw one of these was in Saints Row where it was used a gang car for the Vice Kings.

I tell people about this car all the time and they think I'm joking lol

I wonder what happened to the car sent to Gorby. I had a 1991 Grand Prix LE. I bought it from the scrap yard for 650$ . Did some repairs and sold it for 1500$ it was awesome!

A video about the Acura Vigor would be cool

Its weird but sometimes I think about this car.

I thought the late 80's turbo pontiacs were some of the coolest looking cars made...ever!

Correction. The 2.8L was a six cylinder, not a four. It was later enlarged to the 3.1L.

I wish i could get pics of one

Mid 80s through the 90s, as someone already said here, was the peak of car design IMO.

The Corvette halo car kills everything.. Pontiac could have done so more. A wide trac awd gp supercharged or turbo with 4.3 out of the cyclone . Would of been 😈😈😈

Would have liked an all wheel drive system with this. Also a twin cam NOT run by belts. The 3.4 was a cbain running two belts. Why didn't they just do entirely chains? Cheaper I guess, urgh.

1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Vehicles "Mirrored" All Those Vehicles. (I Tried to Keep TheOne I Was to "Inherit".😒)

1:31 The Sunbird GT gets upgraded with 14" GoodYear Eagle tires!! I laugh at people who need to wrap their heads around the fact that 13" tires were Standard equipment on compact cars in the 80's and WELL into the 90's. Hell, I think my 1987 Chevy Celebrity EuroSport midsize sedan had 14" tires standard!!! That was a Big Deal!!!😎😅🤣Anyway Green Hawk, that body cladding or what I call bodyside molding at 7:33 is what we talked about like a month ago. And I don't care what anyone says. The "W" body platform was one of the GREATEST Inventions of Mankind EVER!!!!! I had a woman coworker who was a proud owner of a Grand Prix. I recall them being popular with the ladies as well. At least in ChicagoLand. My bff from High School's parents had a Lumina. My college schoolmate had a Cutlass Supreme, which got rear-ended and poor car totaled. ALL of them were just Unforgettably AWESOME Cars!!!!!😎😎😁😁 I Do Not understand how Pontiac was on Top Of The Automotive World in the 90's, (ok maybe it Was behind Red-Hot Chrysler). I know they couldn't build the Grand Am's fast enough 'cuz they were ALL!!! OVER the ChicagoLand/NorthWest Indiana region. Another of my coworkers bought one!! And just over a decade later, they were through. I think the Final Generation and radically downsized GTO did NOT help at All!!!!!

While unfortunately they weren’t gold; I had black mesh wheels on my Fiero, and let’s just say quadruple the spokes, quadruple the time 😂

its so crazy pontiac used to be on top and less than 20years later it no longer exists

What about the AMG Honda civic?

1995 Oldsmobile Royale LSS

Those cars were str8 P.O.S FROM THE FACTORY!!!!

People say that we have a lot of cool cars now, because power levels are at all time highs. No, the coolest cars have been on the roads for decades now. Yes, modern cars are safer and more eco friendly and blah, blah, blah. But today's cars are not breaking any new grounds in any exciting ways. By the end of the 1980s, the U.S. auto makers were starting to find their groove again. The original Ford Taurus was ground breaking and the SHO took the car to a whole new level. The Grand Prix getting a turbo 3.1 liter V6 that put the V8 Trans Am on notice, we got some truly cool, under-the-radar stuff that gets scoffed at now because the cars do not shout to the world what they are capable of. I hate modern performance packaged cars, because you get a bunch of boy racer crap tacked on to scream to the world you have the best version of a vehicle. I want the return of sleeper performance vehicles.

One just sold on Bring a Trailer a few months ago. I believe it went for around $20k. I had no idea this existed! I had a Olds Cutlass Supreme International Edition which was similar. SUch a badass looking car, but man that steering wheel was awful.

@1:45 they came with a 2.8 liter 6 cylinder, not 4 cylinder. Love the videos, just wanted to correct that.

All based off a Buick V-6 if I may add!!!!!!!

Pontiac's were cool back in those days don't know what happened.

Why not use the engine in the Turbo Trans Am?

The problem with performance model FWDs was torque steer.

Dont forget the sunbird gt turbo