FBI and the Buick Grand National
- Thread starter Malo83
- Start date
Interesting story.. thanks for the link!
Looks more like a MIB car 
Do I believe the Fed .GOV had some T type and/or GN Buicks, sure. Do I believe they were incredibly modified from normal ones, Nope. Could they have an a DSO or specific RPO to change features sure, I kind of doubt they had a special calibration factory. I would almost bet if they did have special calibrations they were "loaned" for development purposes and were to be returned and destroyed. Courier Dispatch had Corsicas and a few Berettas like that before there was such a thing and a Beretta and Corsica. It was a real pain to fix one of them because none of if was RPO at the time. I remember they had weights in the floor to simulate passengers... I guess it was the equivalent of testing in Taxi Service...
What you have to remember is that in this era they literally had chips, i may even still had a prom pulling tool, frequently a drivability TSB would generate a special "PROM" you'd order it and put it in, you literally had to make sure you got all the legs of the chip in the socket. pull the ECU, take the little door off and change the prom. Later they had "CalPacks" which was just a big prom in a plastic case with some releases on each end. I changed them with regularity, but always for some specific problem.
We once had a guy who did part time in Germany, he would buy a car over here and take it there, the year before he had bought a Super Coupe and discovered upon arriving in Germany it was speed limited. (at least thats what he told the sales dept) He wanted a Park Avenue Ultra but he wanted to know if it was speed limited. So we set up a TAC case and set about trying to find out. I had already figured out from the huge computer with the screeching modem that there was in fact an export prom. You know what - no one on the service or sales side at Buick would tell us anything at all about that changes the export prom had or if it was a speed limited in the US one. Buick was harder than the others to deal with on most things though. I even tried calling a couple of my friends at GMTC and they came up empty too.
At both of the dealers I worked at we had both GSP and Local LE accounts they all had standard proms except for the ones that had hypertechs... there were enough of those that I have to believe there was at least a don't ask don't tell policy at GSP and the PD. At the time GSP and most of the Local PD were running Caprices. GSP had some Trans Ams and some Mustangs, but not a lot of each.
Later I had a retired FHP Mustang and the programming was stock. in fact everything except the well documented severe service options and the bad black paint where the tan had been was box stock LX Notch 5.0. I also had a Retired Box Crown Vic SSP, also stock except for the SSP options.
What you have to remember is that in this era they literally had chips, i may even still had a prom pulling tool, frequently a drivability TSB would generate a special "PROM" you'd order it and put it in, you literally had to make sure you got all the legs of the chip in the socket. pull the ECU, take the little door off and change the prom. Later they had "CalPacks" which was just a big prom in a plastic case with some releases on each end. I changed them with regularity, but always for some specific problem.
We once had a guy who did part time in Germany, he would buy a car over here and take it there, the year before he had bought a Super Coupe and discovered upon arriving in Germany it was speed limited. (at least thats what he told the sales dept) He wanted a Park Avenue Ultra but he wanted to know if it was speed limited. So we set up a TAC case and set about trying to find out. I had already figured out from the huge computer with the screeching modem that there was in fact an export prom. You know what - no one on the service or sales side at Buick would tell us anything at all about that changes the export prom had or if it was a speed limited in the US one. Buick was harder than the others to deal with on most things though. I even tried calling a couple of my friends at GMTC and they came up empty too.
At both of the dealers I worked at we had both GSP and Local LE accounts they all had standard proms except for the ones that had hypertechs... there were enough of those that I have to believe there was at least a don't ask don't tell policy at GSP and the PD. At the time GSP and most of the Local PD were running Caprices. GSP had some Trans Ams and some Mustangs, but not a lot of each.
Later I had a retired FHP Mustang and the programming was stock. in fact everything except the well documented severe service options and the bad black paint where the tan had been was box stock LX Notch 5.0. I also had a Retired Box Crown Vic SSP, also stock except for the SSP options.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Thanks 4 posting. I love all things Hemmings + any stories like this one.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
There is one other Buick I lust over even more than the Buick GNs. The 1970s Buick GSX. In all my 65years, many years of them an automotive love affair, I have only seen ONE 1970 Buick GSX on a highway. This is about what it looked like as it passed me by:
believe I saw one, downtown Seattle, 1987 or so. It barreled down a steep Seattle hill, then just about vaulted an intersection, it was a green light, the thing kinda of bottomed out at the base of the hill, at the pedestrian crossing, then it hit boost and just floated over the intersection & hit the now closed Seattle Viaduct (gone for four+ years now,) to get to I-5, in a serious hurry. Never saw anything do that before or since. >>WHOOSH had to be a complete maniac, or a cop, to operate like that. Perfect timing on the throttle too.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
wouldn't you love to see an "instant replay" of that in slow motion!? I know I would.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
ME TOO. But, they were totally out of my stratosphere on price. If I recall when they were around / selling at Dealers, I was putting two sons thru private school plus paying for the wife to go back to college for her second career! Funds were quite limited. I was lucky in those days to be able to pay for a house + hang onto all of our vehicles.... the 1972 Chevelle Malibu, 1972 Cutlass Supreme, my 1982 GMC truck and our 1986 Chevy Monte Carlo SS. The insurance man really loved me in those days. One son was drving too.
I know the GN would be worth more, but i wish i had bought the dark blue T-Type.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Oh yeah. Those T-Types are no slouches either. Luxury / Sport stlye if you ask me. I have seen some in amazing condion for sale over the last few years and it would be just as neat to own one of those. A lot less worry taking it out on the highway for sure. Some cars get to the point its too costly / dangerous to enjoy them.
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If you're an important enough customer, GM will definitely make you a special package, it's just usually more mundane than an FBI turbo Buick. I see RPO codes for things like "Enterprise - daily rental" and stuff like that. It would be funny to put Z71 style RPO code decals on an ex-rental.
I don't really have any problem with what you wrote other than (as an electrical engineer) they're called "pins". From that era it would have likely been a removable ceramic dual-inline package fitting into a socket.
EPROMs at this time were typically made with a quartz erase window where it can be erased by exposing to UV. An hour in a UV eraser was usually enough. Most programmed EPROMs would have the window covered. I've seen some PROMs that came in plastic packages without a window. They were basically the same but could only be programmed once (at least without cutting open the package).
Not sure how it was done later on. I see this one (Ford) from the late 90s that still uses a windowed EPROM, but it's soldered to the board.
Newer ones will use maybe NOR flash although I'm not sure how they're reprogrammed if they need it.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
I recall with G.M.C. that they even put some turbo engines in some small cui Pontiacs at the end of the muscle car era and going into the de-tuned
smog era low cui / horsepower years. So that was the turbo Pontiac Trans Ams + the turbo V6 Buick GN and GNXs. I do not recall ever hearing of the G.M.C. brands of Chevy or Oldsmobile selling any turbo vehicles. Seems possible the Olds Toranado could have slipped a few thru with a COPO order? Not aware of any factory Chevrolet turbo cars at all.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Oh yeah. I read a story in a magazine some years back about how a customer got the CEO of G.M.C. to agree that he could be on the line and purchase the very last BUICK GNX to come off the assembly line. I was never able to find out what exactly the man ended up paying for that car. But I just recently found the story on the internet - he is now in line to get a paycheck for it somewhere north of $500,000 for the car he has protected and kept in brand new condition. Less than 50 original miles on the Buick to this day. Wow.
Last-ever Buick Grand National heads to Barrett-Jackson auction - Autoblog
This 1987 Buick Grand National was the last to roll off the assembly line. Now, with just 33 miles on the odometer, it's up for auction at Barrett-Jackson.
www.autoblog.com
GM PROM Chips | Blue Streak Electronics
Programmable Read Only Memory chips that were used on pre-OBDII (pre 1996) GM Engine and Powertrain Controllers Contained all the operating software...
bsecorp.com
The gen three is what we called a cal pack. I really don't remember gen 2. Technically they probably were e-proms but since no one in the field could e them there was no need to call them that.
To chip that era Ford you used a piggyback chip typically - it would plug into he ECU, some times the ECU had a cover and sometimes they had to be modified. I don't know how the dealers did it on fords, maybe they had the capability to program, but we did not when i was at GM.
Yep GMC did the Typhoon and Syclone but those were modified post factory - trivia thats the first time i ever saw an Extang cover. I can't recall who did them, ASC i think.
Then there was the turbo Grand Prix that begot the appearance package (B4U I think) those were done by ASC-McLaren and it wasn't appreciably faster than a non turbo one...
bringatrailer.com
The Pace Car Trans Ams were GN wrapped in a F-Body
Chevrolet sold Sprint Turbos and I think there was a Spectrum Turbo too but I would not swear to it...
/stories/2018/08/458431.jpg)
Then there was the turbo Grand Prix that begot the appearance package (B4U I think) those were done by ASC-McLaren and it wasn't appreciably faster than a non turbo one...
No Reserve: 1990 Pontiac ASC-McLaren Turbo Grand Prix
Bid for the chance to own a No Reserve: 1990 Pontiac ASC-McLaren Turbo Grand Prix at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #7,203.
bringatrailer.com
The Pace Car Trans Ams were GN wrapped in a F-Body
Chevrolet sold Sprint Turbos and I think there was a Spectrum Turbo too but I would not swear to it...
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