Monday 17th December 1973

One of the more successful developments caused by reactions to the OPEC crisis was unveiled when a Buick Apollo with a reworked 1960’s Fireball V-6 engine was driven by Chief Engineer Phillip C. Bowser from Flint, to the General Motors’ (GM) building in Detroit, Michigan where President Edward N. Cole drove it to the former Kaiser-Jeep Corporation plant in Toledo, Ohop. GM had sold the old tooling to Kaiser Jeep in 1965 where it was renamed the Dauntless 255 for installation in CJ-5 Jeeps. When AMC purchased Kaiser Jeep in 1970, the engine was again retired. By 1974, Buick had bought back the tooling from AMC as a hedge against delays in the planned Wankel engines, and the V-6 was soon appearing in Buicks, and by 1978, a turbocharged version was in Regals and LeSabres. This motor went on the power the storied Grand National and GNX Buicks. Production ended in August 2008. The venerable Buick Fireball / 3800 V6 survived in various forms for 47 years, often outliving newer engines originally intended to replace it.