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Buick Featured in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Was Not, in Fact, a GNX
Super Bowl LIX has come to a close, with the Philadelphia Eagles notching a commanding 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, who were hoping to rewrite history as the first team to nab three consecutive Lombardi trophies.
However, as car fans, there was something else that may have dominated the conversation at your party. Hip-hop legend Kendrick Lamar was the headline act for this year’s halftime show, and as the lights came up on the stage at center field, some of the first shots featured Lamar crouched on the hood of a black-on-black Buick that looked very much like a GNX, one of the most sought-after post-’60s muscle cars ever.
If your first thought was righteous indignation about the well-being of that car, take a deep breath; this was not, in fact, one of the 547 real GNXs. But the artist’s ties to the story of this car run deep, and are worth celebrating.
In November 2024, Kendrick Lamar released his sixth studio album, titled GNX. Throughout the album, he makes references to the Buick muscle car. His love for these cars is evident. He also happens to own a real GNX, number 191 out of 547. Needless to say, he’s way too precious about the lore of these cars to hack one up for a 10-minute concert.
As occasional Hagerty contributor Bozi Tatarevic pointed out in a thread on X, formerly Twitter, the car was a real Buick Grand National, modified for the show to look as close as possible to a real GNX.
The car that Kendrick Lamar used on stage last night at the Super Bowl half time show is a real Buick Grand National.
Let's dig into some of the details and see where it came from and how it was modified. pic.twitter.com/Ry5U8qM6Hf
— Bozi Tatarevic (@BoziTatarevic) February 10, 2025
(For more information on how the event crew modified said Grand National for the Super Bowl halftime show, click here.)
For the final year of the second-generation Regal, 1987, Buick’s chief engineer, Dave Sharp, approached tuner ASC/McLaren about building the ultimate Grand National. McLaren agreed and the resulting machine, dubbed the GNX (Grand National Experimental) was an absolute doozy. It featured a blueprinted version of the 3.8-liter V-6 engine with sequential fuel injection and an intercooled Garrett turbo governed by a new chip. Output was rated at 276 hp, but many in the day agreed that the engine really produced somewhere around 300 hp.
The resulting car could scamper from 0–60 mph in 5.5 seconds, ripping off quarter miles deep in the 13-second range, which made just about everything else on the road sit down and be humble.
Understandably, these are some seriously collectible cars. According to the Hagerty Valuation Tools, a #1 Concours-condition GNX is worth $257,000 as of this writing. Perhaps a newfound appreciation for these cars among hip-hop fans will move that needle even higher in the coming years. Either way, rest easy; no real GNXs were harmed in the making of this epic halftime show.
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Whew I am glad someone set that straight. LOL!
I kind of knew it was not real when I saw more people get of it than I saw at the Ringling Bro show.
Also even a rapper will not stand on the hood of a real car.
To convert one looks wise is not all that hard a buddy did his and unless you looked under it you could be fooled.
What I find funny is back then we thought this a super car but today I had a 4 cylinder that was just as fast.
Still it is a good looking car.
Haha my wife asked me what kind of car it was, and I said “it’s obviously a clown car, look at all the people popping out of it”
My wife (car nut just like me) yelled “it’s a clown car just like my old car”. She was an original owner of a Buick Grand National so she saw it for what it really was.
Still, they had to use a real GN? Why not just grab an 81 regal and mock it up to GN spec? When I saw him on the hood, my heart sank.
Right? Only gnx matter? Hagerty sucks.
How is that your takeaway from this very simple article meant to educate people searching the internet to find out what kind of car that is?
What did they do with the stage car after the show?
They might use it as a stage prop for his next tour. That’s what I heard
That’s funny, because the very first post I saw about it being a GNX, my thought was, “How do they no that it’s not a Grand National?” 🙂
How do they *know*. Missed that auto-correct mistake. (Where’s the edit button again?)
Spare a thought for that poor Grand National — what is it, chopped liver?
Seriously wtf? Glad I dropped Hagerty and switched to grundy.
You are so glad you switched to Grundy because… Hagerty wrote a story about a vintage car being highlighted in pop culture? Other outlets got the car wrong. Your hate seems misplaced.
Let him go, Randy – too far over the edge to save!
What did the Twitter story say?
Too bad a Buick had to be part of he worst Super Bowl halftime show ever.
But that made the Buick the star!
No kidding. The worst by far.
Must not watch many Super Bowls. Or perhaps forgot that the Black Eyed Peas was crippled by tech issues in 2011 and sounded awful.
The one this year was STILL WORSE by far!
Car was nice. Rest of the show sucked. Social media overwhelmingly rated it as one of the worst half time show ever. Sure the guy is talented and actually a nice guy. But wrong show for the venue.
With all due respect to Mr. Lamar, I’m not that old or that un-hip, but I’ve never heard of him.
However, I do remember the when Buick made cars so I guess that rather dates me.
Err… I’m 49 and know he’s one of the biggest stars in the world. My parents both in their 70s know who he is. You ARE crazy unhip.
I would not worry as I suspect it really was just a Regal or a GN that was not worth restoring into more than a prop for a concert. I expect when ever this guy tours the car will be on stage like Sammy Hagar used to have a Red Trans Am on stage for his shows in the 80’s. Less all the people that got out of this one.
Had me fooled !
That is how Mr.Lamar makes his millions.
GNx? Game Not eXciting? I skipped the game this year, two teams I had no concern about winning.
I’ve never seen a Super Bowl game.
The only good part of the whole SB was seeing the buick…Kendric who, never heard of him before the game
Yea, very much a who cares? To tell the truth I couldn’t choke down another NFL/Fox Super Bowl dog and pony show. Is there going to be a football game in here somewhere? The movie version of ‘ To Kill a Mockingbird’ was on TCM. Watched that instead even though I’ve seen it at least a dozen times. But I did finally look up what car Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) drives. Always wondered that. It’s 28 Chevy National Tourer. Don’t worry, he doesn’t jump on the hood.
Good taste, there.
No GN or GNX game with chrome windshield surround.
No GN or GNX came with chrome window trim (rear quarter windows).
GNX never had “Turbo6” logos on the front fenders. Only GN’s
Neither had chrome trim around the door windows.
This wasn’t even a Grand National…just a plain jane Regal that got dressed up for the party.