Episode 4 (1989): Buick Turbo 3.8 liter V6

Buick’s turbocharged 3.8 liter V6 should have ended when the Regal went front wheel drive in 1988, but this final episode of OldCarMemories.com’s series tracks its unexpected last stop: a 1989 Pontiac Trans Am. The engine used Pontiac heads instead of Buick’s own and reportedly paced the Indy 500 as a genuinely stock car, a first. Watch to see how a mid size sedan engine ended up the fastest thing on a GM showroom floor.

By 1988, Buick’s turbocharged 3.8 liter V6, the engine that made the Grand National and GNX legends, should have been finished. The Regal it powered was switching to front wheel drive, and there was no obvious home left for a rear wheel drive turbo six built specifically to send power to the back wheels. Then Pontiac made an unexpected call. OldCarMemories.com picks up the story in the fourth episode of a series tracking this engine year by year, and the destination it landed in for one final model year surprises even viewers who think they already know the whole Buick turbo story, since Pontiac’s own division had never gotten a serious shot at running this specific engine before.

A Four Episode Deep Dive Into One Engine

This video is Episode 4 in a series that has already covered the Buick turbo 3.8 across 1978 through 1983, then 1984 through 1985, then 1986 through 1987, treating a single V6 platform with the kind of year by year documentation usually reserved for a flagship model rather than a mid size sedan’s optional engine. That format lets longtime viewers track exactly how the engine evolved across a decade, from its early turbocharged form into the intercooled, fuel injected version that eventually powered the Grand National and GNX.

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Why the Regal Couldn’t Keep It

Buick’s decision to move the Regal to a front wheel drive platform for the 1988 model year effectively ended the line for the rear wheel drive turbo six as originally configured, since the engine’s power delivery and drivetrain layout were built around sending torque to the rear wheels. Rather than disappear entirely, the engine got one final assignment for the 1989 model year, finding a home in a platform that could still make proper use of what it had to offer.

A Surprising Final Home in the Trans Am

That final application turned out to be the 1989 Pontiac Trans Am 20th Anniversary Edition, commonly known as the Turbo Trans Am, marking the only time this specific Buick engineered turbo six ever appeared under a Pontiac hood. It was a notable cross brand move within General Motors, borrowing Buick’s most celebrated performance engine to headline a milestone anniversary edition for an entirely different division’s flagship muscle car.

Pontiac Heads Instead of Buick’s Own

One commenter with unusually deep knowledge of the build points out a detail that surprises even dedicated Buick turbo fans, the Turbo Trans Am’s engine used Pontiac cylinder heads rather than Buick’s own, a combination that pushed real output closer to 301 horsepower despite the factory advertised rating sitting lower. That kind of internal General Motors parts sharing across brand lines rarely makes it into official literature, which is exactly why firsthand knowledge from owners and enthusiasts in the comments carries so much weight.

The First Stock Car to Pace the Indy 500

According to a commenter who lays out the history in detail, the 1989 Turbo Trans Am became the first genuinely stock production car to pace the Indianapolis 500 without any special performance modifications, a departure from decades of specially prepared, one off pace cars built specifically for the honor. That achievement alone gives this final application of the Buick turbo six a historical footnote well beyond its limited production numbers.

A Limited, Carefully Documented Production Run

Total production for the 1989 Turbo Trans Am landed around 1,555 units, split across cloth interior, cloth hardtop, and leather T-top configurations, with only 150 of the rarer cloth interior cars selected for official Indy 500 pace car festival duty. One commenter, identifying themselves as an owner of one of those festival cars, lays out the production breakdown in detail, the kind of granular documentation that turns a YouTube comment section into a genuine research resource for future owners and historians alike, filling in gaps that even official GM literature from the period tends to skip over entirely.

A Sleeper That Beat the ZR-1 in Showroom Speed

Multiple commenters make the same claim: in 1989, the Turbo Trans Am was the fastest car sitting on any GM showroom floor, with only the following year’s Corvette ZR-1 finally dethroning it. For a car built around an engine originally designed for a mid size Buick sedan, ending its production run as the quickest thing General Motors sold new is a remarkable final chapter for a six cylinder platform that started out as a fuel crisis era compromise.

Why This Engine Still Gets Its Own Documentary Series

Few single engine options from the 1980s have earned the kind of dedicated, multi episode retrospective that OldCarMemories.com has built around the Buick turbo 3.8, but the reasoning becomes clear watching this final chapter unfold: an engine that started as a modest turbocharged option ended up defining an entire era of GM performance, powering everything from the fearsome GNX to a genuine Indy 500 pace car in its very last year of production, a run few other engines from the era can match. Buick built this engine for a fuel crisis, and it ended its life setting a pace record at Indianapolis under a different brand’s badge entirely, which is not the kind of story that fits neatly into a single video, let alone a single sentence in a dealer brochure. That is exactly why a series like this one exists, walking through each generation of the engine year by year rather than trying to summarize a decade of engineering changes in one sitting. Viewers who arrive expecting a quick recap usually end up staying for the entire four episode run once they realize how much history is actually packed into this one V6. Few optional V6 engines from the 1980s can say the same. Most got dropped from the lineup and forgotten within a couple of model years, no pace car appearance, no second act, no fourth episode of anyone’s retrospective. This one earned all four. There is a reason this series keeps finding new viewers years after the first episode went up. Not bad for a fuel crisis compromise.

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