Would you believe that after all those pushrod V6 engines powering GM vehicles for all those decades, only one remains available here? That’s right, the LV1 4.3 used in the Chevrolet Express/GMC Savana work vans, a descendant of the good old small-block-V8-derived Chevrolet V6, is the last pushrod V6 standing in the GM universe (not counting crate motors, of course). Back in the early 1990s, however, The General was just beginning to bolt overhead-cam V6s into new cars. The very first one was the 3.4-liter LQ1, which went under the hoods of high-end Oldsmobile Cutlass Supremes, Pontiac Grand Prix and Chevrolet Luminas starting with the 1991 model year. Here’s one of those groundbreaking DOHC V6 cars, found in a self-service car graveyard in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Rad Era was still in full swing by 1992, and so this car is covered with red-and-white badges and striping. It would have fit right in at Santa’s Workshop.
Pontiac was on board with the rad candy-cane-badging look as well.
GM really wanted to make its cars seem more European, even using a “Eurosport” trim level name on the thoroughly Detroit-style Chevy Celebrity. This engine (and the Quad 4 DOHC straight-four) made the case that General Motors really could build screaming DOHC mills. Of course, the “Twin Dual Cam” 3.4 was a member of the aging Chevrolet 60° pushrod V6 family and used a shaft replacing the in-block camshaft to drive the timing belt; a bit of a kludge but it worked.
This one was rated at 210 horsepower. By the middle of the 1990s, GM’s Opel division was building the 54° DOHC V6 (which had its debut in the Cadillac Catera and Saab 9000 on this side of the Atlantic).
Buyers of the coupe version of this car, the Lumina Z34, could get a rugged Getrag five-speed manual transmission if they so chose. The Lumina Euro 3.4 got a four-speed automatic as mandatory equipment.
The MSRP with the Euro 3.4 option package came to $17,685. That’s about $39,400 in 2023 dollars. The ordinary ’92 Lumina Euro came with a pushrod 3.1-liter V6 rated at 140 horsepower.
A car that really handles … and handles the groceries.
