A rather intriguing and well-built pickup truck sporting a Buick GNX exterior cropped up on sale at Cars & Bids last week to attract a cool $85,000, but the seller declined the offer all the same. One has to wonder: what did it cost to make?
The donor vehicle that started the project was a G-Body Chevrolet El Camino from the mid-1980s. The tuner who worked on the project crafted the entire exterior from a blank slate, making sure it looked “GNX-style” but apparently not using any actual GNX panels. The chassis ended up with a four-link rear suspension setup and modern Aldan coilovers at all four wheels. Drilled/slotted discs made it into the brakes, and new 18-inch wheels were put into the arches. Once again, while billed as “GNX-style”, they don’t come from Buick.
For the engine, the tuner’s choice fell on a Buick Motorsports V6 turbocharged to deliver 477 PS (470 hp / 351 kW) alongside 581 Nm (429 lb-ft) of torque. The original GNX muscle car only had 280 PS (276 hp / 206 kW) per the manufacturer’s own measurements, although we hear that it was actually good for 304 PS (300 hp / 224 kW) or so.
The monochrome interior is every bit as tasteful as the bodywork, and seems to mostly use textile and synthetic suede for the fit-and-finish. Based on the photos, the quality of the conversion is just about top-notch – tasteful and with great attention to detail.
It remains unknown how much the creator of this remarkable one-off light truck ended up spending on it, but $85,000 being below reserve is, frankly, impressive.
