Pontiac earned the reputation as GM's performance division, not just on the strength of the GTO and Firebird, but for most of their models. During the Golden Age of American Muscle, Pontiac's luxury full-size lineup was jammed with powerful rides like the Catalina and Grand Prix. Through most of the 1970s and 1980s, no brand was any parent company's performance division, as government emissions standards and consumer demands for fuel economy robbed all cars of their ferocious power.
The Grand Prix spent most of the '80s as a Buick Regal-esque grandpamobile, but in 1988 was completely restyled into something Pontiac hoped would attract younger buyers. The jury is still out on whether a base-model Grand Prix was actually cool or not, though there is no disputing that the four-door version was pretty lame. The two-door coupe, however, got a special turbo edition courtesy of ASC and McLaren that was decidedly badass. After nearly two decades of being completely blah, the Grand Prix was hot again, just in time to close out the '80s.
To give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from various manufacturers and other authoritative sources, including GM, J.D. Power, and Bring a Trailer.
Pontiac ASC/McLaren Grand Prix Turbo
As was already mentioned, Pontiac came out with a new design for the Grand Prix in 1988, with two and four-door configurations. From certain angles, the two-door coupe kind of looked like a more aerodynamic Fox Body Mustang, which isn't a bad thing, by the way. Regardless of trim level, they were all equipped with a 130-horsepower 2.8-liter V-6, which wasn't particularly energetic. The next year, Pontiac had the genius idea to make a Grand Prix with some oomph to go with its sportier new style, so they teamed up with the American Sunroof Company (ASC) and race engine builder Bruce McLaren. Pontiac sent some sixth-gen Grand Prix cars to ASC/McLaren, who worked wonders on the 1987 Buick GNX, and hoped for a similarly awesome ride.
ASC/McLaren Grand Prix Turbo Power and Performance
Engine
3.1-liter turbocharged V-6
Horsepower
205 HP
Torque
225 LB-FT
Transmission
Four-speed automatic
0-60 Time
7.0 seconds
Quarter-mile
15.4 seconds
Top Speed
144 MPH
ASC, as its name would imply, cut some sunroofs into the Grand Prix and flared out the fenders to accommodate the 16-inch gold mesh wheels, wrapped in 245-series BFGoodrich tires. McLaren got under the hood and ratcheted up a 3.1-liter Pontiac V-6 with a turbocharger and intercooler, which was good for 205 horsepower. While not completely mind-blowing, this was a marketed improvement over the base engine and helped the Grand Prix run with the Mustang GTs and Camaro IROC-Zs of the day. The special edition Grand Prix ASC/McLaren Turbo was produced for the 1989/1990 model years, and as far as we can tell, only came in bright red, which, again, isn't a bad thing.
3.1-Liter Pontiac Turbocharged V-6
The Modern Muscle Car Era set the bar really high with 500-horsepower Coyotes and 797-horsepower Hellcat Redeyes, so a ride with 200ish ponies doesn't seem too spectacular to us nowadays. The thing is, the 1980s were the tail end of the Dead Horsepower Era, so the Grand Prix's 3.1-liter Turbo V-6 was pretty kick-ass for the time. The 5.0-liter V-8 in the 1989 Mustang GT generated 225 horsepower, while the 5.7-liter V-8 of the same year Camaro IROC-Z was rated at 240 ponies. The Grand Prix Turbo was in the same game as these muscle icons, but did it with two fewer cylinders. The only real bummer about this otherwise exciting ride was that the ASC/McLaren Turbo only came with a four-speed automatic transmission, as a stick would have really made that sucker pop.
'80s Tech Extravaganza
We definitely take vehicle tech for granted these days, but back in the '80s, cars, for the most part, were no more advanced than they were a decade ago. The 1989/1990 Pontiac Grand Prix ASC/McLaren Turbo, on the other hand, seemed like something from a sci-fi flick to people. Loaded with all the available tech of the day, the Grand Prix had a rudimentary infotainment system with a screen display that had a trip computer, clock, calendar, and compass. All the interior controls looked like something from the Night Rider K.I.T.T. car, and it also had a heads-up display for driving vitals. The only way this wasn't a super-tech '80s ride was the lame AC Delco AM/FM cassette deck rather than a CD player, but the stereo was controlled by buttons on the steering wheel, so that was pretty far out back then.
1980s Turbo Mania Was In Full Swing
A lot of people probably don't realize, including those who were present and cognizant at the time, that the 1980s were an American automaker turbo frenzy. Ford kicked off the Fox Body Mustang with a turbo Cobra, hit mid-decade with the turbo SVO, and even turbo'd the Thunderbird. Dodge stole some valor from the Charger nameplate for the Omni, but had several turbo versions, including the Shelby GLH (Goes Like Hell), that ended up being a decent ride. Other K-Cars like the Dodge Lancer, Chrysler LeBaron, and Chrysler Laser were also turbocharged, shifting Mopar from V-8 dominance to forced-air induction compliance.
Coolest American Turbo Cars Of The 1980s 1980 Ford Mustang Cobra 1981 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am 1985 Ford Mustang SVO 1987 Buick GNX 1987 Shelby Charger GLH-S 1989 Chrysler TC by Maserati 1989 Pontiac 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am 1989 Pontiac ASC/McLaren Grand Prix Turbo
Buick, of course, had the Grand National as well as the T-Type cars like Regal, Riviera, LeSabre, and Century, all of which received turbo V-6 engines. Pontiac sent the second-gen Firebird Trans Am into retirement with a turbo Screaming Chicken for the 1980/1981 model years. The reason why most people forget how much turbocharging was going on with American rides in the '80s is that, for the most part, they weren't all that kick-ass. Generally rated between 150-200 horsepower, turbos seemed like poor replacements for the high-output V-8s that made muscle cars great. There were, however, two exceptions to this, which are coming up next.
1987 Buick GNX: The Baddest In The Land
By the 1980s, Buick was largely regarded as an old person's brand, so they wanted to recapture some of the youthful awesomeness of the early '70s GS 455, but went about it in an odd way. First, they came up with the turbo T-Type and then the Grand National, based on the somewhat fuddy-duddy Regal. Neither had impressive performance, which is why they failed to bring the young people back to the brand.
As it turns out, it wasn't so much the design of the car, but rather what was under the hood that kept the car from being a rager. In 1987, they sent the Grand National out in style with the GNX, which was souped up by ASC/McLaren with a 276-horsepower 3.6-liter turbo. In reality, the car was closer to 330 ponies as it was a solid 13-second ride, which was unheard of in the '80s.
1989 Pontiac Trans Am 20th Anniversary Edition: A True Rare Bird
To celebrate 20 years of the Trans Am in 1989, Pontiac chose an unconventional route. Rather than give the 20th Anniversary Edition a V-8, which had been the heartbeat of the Trans Am since its inception, Pontiac dropped a variant of the Buick GNX 3.6-liter turbo V-6 under the hood, creating the baddest ride of the entire 1980s.
The Trans Am 20th Anniversary Edition was actually a couple of ticks quicker in the quarter-mile than the GNX, and with that killer third-gen Firebird style, looked way cooler. This was the fastest ride of the '80s, and that didn't just mean dusting Mustangs and Camaros, but also European sports cars. For double the price, Ferraris, Porsches, and Lambos were laid to waste by an American muscle car icon.
The Hidden History Of The Grand Prix
Debuting in 1962, the Pontiac Grand Prix was built continuously for 46 years, making it one of the most successful GM nameplates of all time. Despite moving roughly 4.5 million units across eight generations, the Grand Prix is virtually forgotten. You never see Grand Prix cars on TV or in film, hear someone brag about their Grand Prix, or even spot one tooling down the avenue, and that's a shame because it has, at times, been a pretty cool ride. Starting as a land yacht personal luxury vehicle, it dabbled in muscle car mayhem, and was always a more affordable upscale ride than the Cadillac.
Pontiac Grand Prix Generations First-gen: 1962-1964 Second-gen: 1965-1968 Third-gen: 1969-1972 Fourth-gen: 1973-1977 Fifth-gen: 1978-1987 Sixth-gen: 1988-1996 Seventh-gen: 1997-2003 Eighth-gen: 2002-2008
Besides the ASC/McLaren Turbo, there was another hidden gem Grand Prix that didn't get enough attention. The 1969 Grand Prix was the car that cheated GM's big engine ban and was the most kick-ass Pontiac of that year. GM arbitrarily decided in 1963, just before muscle cars exploded, that none of its divisions were allowed to put engines with more than 400 cubic inches into intermediate models, of which all muscle cars were sized. In 1969, John DeLorean, who gave us the GTO, ordered a new design for the Grand Prix that saw its wheelbase shrink to 118 inches, which was just a few inches longer than the intermediate muscle cars. Technically still a full-size ride, the 1969 Grand Prix had access to the 390-horsepower High Output 428-cubic-inch V-8, giving it a major performance advantage over the GM intermediates.
Pontiac ASC/McLaren Grand Prix Collector Car
For reasons that make very little sense, GM and its divisions don't keep very detailed production records. To this day, nobody has any idea how many 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS 454 LS6 cars left the factory, and with the Pontiac Grand Prix ASC/McLaren Turbo, the numbers are just as obscure. The best estimates are that between 3,500 and 3,700 units were produced in 1989 and 1990. The '89 version is said to have been limited to around 750 cars, so it is the rarer of the two, but since there's no difference between model years, it's probably a moot point. It is, however, an extremely rare ride either way that also happens to be extremely affordable.
ASC/McLaren Grand Prix Prices And Values J.D. Power High Retail: $5,975 Edmunds Outstanding Dealer Retail: $5,831 Low Auction Price: $3,001 Average Auction Price: $10,394 High Auction Price: $22,000 BaT Best Deal: $5,900 BaT Highest Sale: $18,750
A 1987 Buick GNX turbo is a six-figure ride all the way, and a Trans Am 20th Anniversary Edition is creeping up there, but an ASC/McLaren turbo can be picked up for next to nothing. J.D. Power and Edmunds set the high retail value at under $6,000, but that may reflect the '89 Grand Prix as a whole and not necessarily the ASC/McLaren Turbo. The auction prices are a little higher, while still in the budget category, but those are for the entire sixth-gen and the top-selling 1992 Grand Prix SE Richard Petty Edition. Bring a Trailer has the goods with actual ASC/McLaren Turbo sales that start at just $5,900 and don't even crack $20,000. A 5,000-mile '89, which was not even the top-seller, went for just $15,500 on BaT in 2020, so this is the budget collector's dream car.