We have seen a lot of low mileage Grand Nationals, but could this be lowest one still in existence? After featuring a string of GNs with double digits on their odometers, Barn Finds reader Michael F couldn’t hold back any longer. So, he sent in some photos of his 26 mile Grand National barn find. That’s right, this Buick has only covered 26 miles since new!
Here’s the story in Michael’s own words:
My story is similar to the previous ones. A very close friend of mine bought two of these new. He put one into storage and drove the other for over 110,000 miles before selling it. After about five years of asking him to sell me the unused car, he reluctantly gave in. All services have been done regularly along with the precautions to preserve the gas tank as well. I have all hubcaps, never installed and still in the box. There are also hundreds of magazines and booklets along with artwork he purchased at the time of purchase. Multiple limited edition Peach State Muscle Car limited edition die-cast cars. Pretty amazing what he accumulated over the years and none of it has been opened. This car brings back many memories for me. Glad to hear people still enjoy these types of stories after reading some of the comments on the previously featured cars. Thank you for listening!
No, thank you for sharing it with us Michael! How have you resisted the temptation to drive this thing though? It’d be fun, but I’m sure it would hurt to watch that trip meter move up. As you can see in the photos, the window sticker and this barcode are still in place. It’s a little dusty, but I’m sure everything would look like new after a good cleaning.
No cleaning needed in here though! The factory installed plastic is still in place and has surely kept everything in like-new condition. I’d be tempted to pull that all off just to see what a new GN interior looks like. Well, at least you could sit in there and not get anything dirty while you’re pretending to drive!
And pretending is all that you’re going to do because that odometer is showing only 26 miles and not an inch more. Take note of the bright yellow 55 on the speedometer. Yay right, I can’t drive 55! Especially in a turbocharged Grand National. The sliding tachometer and turbo boost gauges are pretty sweet too.
Some people thought these were going to be the last of the muscle cars. Others just thought they were awesome. Either way, a lot of these cars were stashed away as retirement investments. Sure, the nest egg would be nice to have, but it would be really hard to not drive one of these turbocharged beasts if it were in your garage.
So, there you have it. Our reigning low-mile GN champion has 26 miles on the clock! Do any of you have one that can beat it?
Here’s a few other low-mileage GNs we have featured in the past:
https://barnfinds.com/brand-new-1987-buick-grand-nationals-found/
Very nice but is anyone going to drive it? As nice as this car is every mile you put on it will depreciate the value immensely! This car should be placed in a museum.
I’d drive the wheels off of it. I just wouldn’t worry about the cash value over the value of my fun. It would only be on nice sunny days but it would be driven often.
OK; alot of untouched low-mileage GN’s shown here, incl. this current barnfind. But this is NOT the lowest in mileage; there was one that (I think?) crossed Barrett-Jackson’s floor with NINE MILES on the odo!! It’s on the internet somewhere; I read about it. BUT…seriously, people….does it really matter? Would this one with 26 miles bring a bigger price than say, one with 56? It’s getting STUPID.
Reminds me of the scene in Something About Mary:
Hitchhiker: You heard of this thing, the 8-Minute Abs?
Ted: Yeah, sure, 8-Minute Abs. Yeah, the exercise video.
Hitchhiker: Yeah, this is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to this: 7… Minute… Abs.
Ted: Right. Yes. OK, all right. I see where you’re going.
Hitchhiker: Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sittin’ there, there’s 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?
Ted: I would go for the 7.
I have one with minus miles on it. I drove it in reverse off the forecourt on to a trailer when new.
lol!
I’ve seen Pauls car and can say it’s the nicest 99,999.9 mile example I’ve ever seen.
That didn’t work out so well on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off!
Fair point on the Ferris! What a film though ..
I have one with so few miles on it that it hasn’t been built yet. I love it because it doesn’t take up a lot of room in the garage as is super easy to detail for the car shows..
You have one that hasn’t been built yet? I guess that beats my GN that is all in NOS parts waiting to be assembled by ex-Buick employees that have been cryogenically frozen for the time when they will be thawed out to put the car together at a future date.
I heard rumors of a guy that in 1987, picked up a GN directly at the end of the assembly line so that the tires would never touch the pavement outside of company property. The inside was sealed and argon gas was pumped in to maintain stability of the interior pieces. A car cover was put over it on day one and a special hermetically sealed shipping container was used to protect the car. Only the owner can confirm that there is a GN inside. No others are allowed to gaze upon it.
Might bring a staggering 5 figure sum someday…..
lol!!!!!!!
No wonder you don’t see any at cars & coffee, they are all stored away in garages. That’s a crying shame. The guy I knew who bought one brand new only drove it on weekends but he drove it like he drove his stock car super hard.
The ones that were driven kept getting stolen. I had a friend with one, it was stolen 4 times before he gave up on the car. It was taken twice from in front of his house, once at his wife’s work and another time at a mall parking lot. He said many of his friends with them had theirs stolen too.
Steve R
Even more amazing, it was stolen four time by the same guy. I read about it on The Google.
Interesting. Now that cars like these and others are fetching big money, it makes perfect sense. They can easily be stolen by popping the ignition. I would still drive it though and just avoid malls and movie theaters.
Sounds like the thieves put more miles on that G.N. than your friend did lol.
They were pretty popular to steal back then apparently. The Regal in general. I had a nice T-Type that was stolen once and then my buddies GN was stolen. I put kill switches that I fabricate myself in my classics.
So there are lots of these low mileage paperweights around it seems. If it was mine i would unhook the speedo and burn a few sets of tires. Why have something you can’t use?
There are several with under 10 I knew of one under 5
In the late 1980’s I was working at the GM Milford Proving Ground. Part of my job involved getting test cars to run computer software programs on. The GM test cars were parked in a storage lot off of Hyne Road (called Hyne Pad inside the GM property). Among all of the current and future model cars we found a row of all black Buick GN’s. These were several years old and that was strange that they were hidden in with all of the newer stuff. Turns out the engineers were “saving” these cars for whatever “fun” engineers have with test cars. The cars were probably destined to be crushed and that might be why they were parked out of sight near the back row over at Hyne Pad. We also found a lone 1975 Corvette convertible also “hidden” among the newer vehicles.
Ugh how does this car get its legs properly stretched. So seals aren’t pissing everywhere? Disconnect the speedo. Like really, that tranny drive shaft would just tear when dropped into gear. N
Screw museum..If this would be mine I would drive it like I stole it. Nothing like a brand new GN in 2018.
A lot of these are popping up recently. What about the GNX”s!
Any car you can actually drive, is better than this one.
I’m not impressed with the low mileage anymore, the first couple were cool, but now this is just ridiculous. There so many of these things if I had bought one I would have overpaid. The usefulness of an expensive paperweight, too many examples not enough museaums to sell them too. If I hit the lottery, I would buy this and drive the tires off, this is an abomination.
Not another one. Just kill me now.
This car is only as fast as the trailer it’s being hauled on
It would have been worth more if they hadn’t reset the trip-meter
Its still just a buick. My friend had one got to drive it i was not impressed.
Back when these were being produced they were very impressive unless you lacked a pulse.
I’m impressed that’s why I own one.
I think the original owner would have been better off putting the money in the bank. 31 years of interest would be a better bet.
After sitting up as long as this car I would expect some major maintenance in the near future if it was to be put into service.
Seems like there aren’t any grand nationals with more than a few thousand miles on them. big deal. no one drove any of them. so now the market is flooded with low mileage non maintained cars that need everything from sitting and no one dares drive. i’d rather have a reasonable miles car that was well maintained and on the road! what good is a car if you can’t or dont’ dare drive it?
Agree with many of the comments, the only reason to buy one and never drive it would be to make a fortune one day, but I feel they threw their money away, many other investments would have paid much more. Just storage on the vehicle in a decent climate controlled facility end up thousands spent to let it sit.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, my “future” Brother-In-Law is getting a car cover for Christmas. It pains me everytime I see his GN. SMH.
Cars are meant to be driven, not ogled like an idol. If it were mine, I would like to show it, drive it rain or shine, but not on roads that have snow or salt. Perhaps an interstate long distance trip every year. Not only are these cars fast, but they are also quite luxurious and comfortable.
Just got a snail mail from Museum Assciation.
They have to many and are not interested.
Buy it and drive it.
So the tach isn’t a slider but a row of LEDs that light up with increasing RPMs… They’re pretty cool to watch.
WoW, guys these cars have a scary and mean history. When they were first released GM bragged on the “snap” but 112 mph restriction to sell them to the “younger” generation and sold a bunch. Then people started dying in /from them and they became investments. In the summer of ’87 a very close 18 y.o. friend of mine drove his through a stretched limousine that illegally turned in front of him and he killed the Bride, Groom and Best Man on impact while seriously injuring the Maid of Honor in front of the entire wedding reception of 300+ family.Because of the car he was railroaded and sent to prison for 5 years even though no alcohol or such was involved, we just left work, they say he was drag racing, just look at the car! Buy them and drive them, not an investment! Google Limo wreck on Lido Blvd at The Sands for details, sorry Vinny.
Back when these cars were new I bought 2 GNX’s I am sure if you know what a gn is you have also heard of the GNX. They only made 547 of them and they were GN’s on steroids. I bought # 110 and # 313. 110 still has only 5 miles on it and has never been driven. I also bought 313 new from the dealer and it had 220 demo miles on it. I decided to drive 313 and put a total of 47 K miles on it in the last 30 years. In 2005 I Bought # 33 which was a VERY special GNX since it was owned by the owner of ASC which is the company that turned the GN’s into GNX’s. I recently sold # 313 for a sum north of $100K to a well known Buick racer, The other two cars have been professionally appraised for well into 6 figures and they are not driven. They are not stored in a barn. They are stored in my shop where I specialize in restoring and repairing GN’s and GNX’s