The owner of this Buick is in a rather interesting situation, one that has become more common as people start to see the value of all original low mileage survivors. They bought the car out of a barn with plans of modifying it to go faster and to repaint it, but after talking to some GN enthusiasts, they realized it would be a shame to repaint it. And now that they see the value in originality and the car’s low mileage status, they feel bad just driving it. So they have decided to part ways with it and have listed it here on eBay. It’s located in Lancaster, Ohio and has a current bid of $19k.
After seeing just how much Buick Grand Nationals can fetch these days, I went out and did some research to see why they are so sought after. I’ve heard people refer to these cars as the last muscle cars and when you see how much power people can squeeze out of the turbocharged V6, it’s easy to understand the comparison. The GNX is the one to have if you want all out performance from the factory, with 300 horsepower, 420 foot-pounds of torque and a 12.7 second quarter mile time. Of course, they built less than 550 of those, so the regular GN is cheaper, easier to find and can be upgraded to similar performance levels.
The GN and all of its GM relatives are based on the G-body platform, which is an evolution of the body on frame A-body design. While many of the other cars on the road in ’87 were front wheel drive unibody designs, the Grand National was still rocking a body on frame design with power going to the rear wheels. And if that isn’t muscle car enough for you, you should look at the kind of options GM was still offering for these cars. For those that wanted more performance, but didn’t want to step up to a GNX, there was the WE4 lightweight option. And for those that wanted the looks of classy looks of a landau topped Regal but the performance of the GN, there was the LC2 Turbo option.
With just 15k miles on the clock, this Grand National looks to be in great shape. The seller notes that the paint has some checking and blemishes, but they do paint and body work for a living, so they might be a little more critical of cosmetics than most. Cleaned up and serviced, this will be one nice little machine. But there is still that question of what to do with it. Do you drive it or keep it tucked away safely in your garage? Thoughts?
I dunno, Josh, maybe I’m not a True Car Guy. To me, if it can’t be driven because of “collector value,” I don’t want any part of it. The lure of low mileage to me is that it means (probably) less wear on the components I plan to put back to work.
Hand me, say, a GNX or a GN like this one, and the first thing I’ll want to do is take it out for a run. A hard run. And keep doing it.
The “too nice to drive” syndrome is one of the things that soured me on the exotic car game. People who own million-dollar Ferraris are reluctant to risk breakage, stone chips, fender-benders and so on. Their cars rack up a lot of miles in enclosed haulers.
And that’s a real shame. For a number of years, I was lucky enough to get to drive some of the cars that are today restricted to “show” duty. Believe me when I say most were much more fun out on the open road under their own power.
I agree with you Ray. I drive my cars because that’s what they are built to do, but I can see how it would be hard to drive a low mileage car knowing each mile reduces the value. Personally, I’d rather see the owner drive the car and just take really good care of it, replacing parts as they wear out. The parts that typically wear out are going to go bad with age, regardless of whether you drive it or not. So they might as well use them. In this case, I’m glad they are selling it rather than modify it. There are plenty of GNs out there that have already been customized, so I’d hope to see survivors like this driven but kept original.
When I bought my barn find” 86 Grand National it had 32k on it and a blown turbo oil seal. The owner thought it was a head gasket from all the smoke so he parked it. Well, I bought it cheap, did some mods and when I sold it (dumb) it had 76k on it. That I dont regret.
Speedo cables / speed sensor wires sometimes do come loose.
Same here. Maybe not a daily driver, but a weekend cruiser at the very least.
Drive it and love doing it!
Geez…all these G bodys w min. miles lately breaks my heart…friggin buy it drive it like it was meant to be driven lifes short cant take it with you…run it…
Not really any different with a Concours level restored car- any rock chip or ding strikes fear into the heart of the owner. Not for me.
So I wonder if the owner of the Porsche 356 with the fake patina from last week worries about paint chips and dings? Heaven forbid if his fake patina were sullied by a real one!
They are made to be driven !!!
i’d drive it – hard. esp if it were yours!
Cars were made to be driven . I wound be easy on it but it would be on the road every day or most days I now have a Buick Roadmaster 96 and a 03 Mustang convertible I flip back and forth with they both get road time the Stanford dose get more
Cool back in the day ,my wife’s new Toyota mini van has about 20 more horse power 296
cant recall the name But I saw a story about a Dealer that has a GNX on his Showroom floor that has never been sold Absolutely mint , He has turned down $250 large for it . . .
That’s the kind of car that should stay untouched. There is a tiny percentage of vehicles that are as-new, those few should be left that way. Drive the rest!
I know of one also and its a for sure dealer is collector of buicks and has nearly 60 gorgeous some very rare autos a 5 generation business and believe might now be the oldest buick dealership in the country Ihad an 87 GN bought in 89 from original owner who built rods and traded every two years for the newest super car production thing going. I could eat off the anything in this car it was so clean and I did drive it not continually but we used it and then cam midlife crisis and its one of those things I unloaded as a not need and could shoot myself I don’t have the car but still have the wife….. wonder sometimes did I get rid of the right thing?? Enough said
As soon as it comes off the dealer lot, it becomes a used car. Drive it as such.
this kind of deal reminds me of the commemorative Colts and Winchesters, fancy gold finish on the frames, some kind of medallion or engraving or both, nice wood, and if you ever shoot it, or use it for its intended purpose, the value goes down fifty percent. I found them hard to sell, with the exception of people who collected the original unshot examples and of course which had to be in the original box. Don’t want them. however, if you have one that has minor use and abuse, they sell pretty good for the same reason voiced here.
Always taken aback by bashers of people who keep pristine examples of valuable cars. If we all drive them like we stole them there would be no collector cars. I own several one owner muscle cars, some I bought new, and I will enjoy them any damn way I want, even if its sitting in my garage. My money, my choice! My only pet peeve is car shows/cruise ins that want to charge me, for people to enjoy my cars. No go for me.
If I want something that just sits there and does nothing but look pretty I’ll buy a statue or marry a trophy wife.
I wouldn’t want a car I couldn’t drive. I say buy it, drive it, and enjoy it.
I wouldn’t buy a car I couldn’t drive. For me, the enjoyment is in doing with the car what was intended. If I want a static display, I’ll buy or build a model.
Maybe I’m missing something here, but I don’t see the dilemma here. If you can afford it, buy an ultra-low mile example like this, put a few thousand miles on it. If you love it, keep it. If not, sell it on. A few thousand miles isn’t going to put a big dent in the value, and the wear parts that you’ll inevitably have to replace will probably add some value in most perspective buyers’ minds anyway.
I would modify it the way I wanted it, keep the original parts on the shelf so if wanted it could be put back to stock but that’s just me
It always pays to buy the best car you can afford and drive it. Life is too short to not enjoy what the car was intended to do.
I grew up in Lancaster during the late 80’s and spent a lot of time at the local Buick dealer, Kitsmiller Buick. Tried to get my mother to get a Grand National, but being 16 at the time, she got a regular Regal instead. That may be the one I wanted her to get.
When I was 17 I had a 83 Buick regal T-TYPE. Got it for $500. I drove it to school for about 1 year then sold it for a 67 impala. Kind of wish I would of kept it. Did not know they would be so popular now. I have not see one sense. When I talk about it people always think I am saying t-top. No one here knows what that car is.
83’s aren’t worth as much if anything at all. The engine configuration took place in 86-87. 87 is the best one and most sought after to have.
You are probably right but I still remember the 4 barrel carburetor way over to the driver side. . I thought it looked cool and boy would it smoke the tires. I felt like it had alot of power for a v6.
cars degrade when sitting. It’s probably easier on the car to be driven a few hundred miles each month than to sit and rot.
I was a real car guy in the 1980s and remember them clearly. Our local Ontario auitotrader had probably a dozen for sale of them every week for sale. I preferred the Monte SS myself. Pretty rare for crank windows as most of the ones I saw were power.
I don’t know why you would order power door locks and crank windows?
Will this oddity make it more valuable in the future?
Cars perform much better when regularly driven. This is a perfect car to care for and drive. It’s not to rare to drive or too valuable not to. Sounds perfect to me. Wish I had an extra garage spot and 20K. TR
If it is not a museum piece, drive it. My ’54 Corvette had about 80,000 and fiberglass was crazed, and Wonderbar radio was gone, drove it daily, ’60 Jag XK150 S, most exciting car I ever had, had over 70,000 drove it daily, current ’93 Cadillac Allante has 130,000 drive it daily after the salt is off the roads. None of them were or are museum pieces, love driving the Caddy, top down, fast, goes around corners like a Karman Ghia or a Corvair with the anti sway bars, that is to say, not a Porsche, but a great drive.
Drive it like you stolled it!!
Bought my ’87 GN new with 1 mile on it. It has a hair over 14K on it now. I drive it less than 500 miles per season in Upstate NY. I enjoy those 500 miles, and then put it away for the winter. I only drive it to car shows and show n shines. It gets alot more respect now than in the first 10 years. Changed many bolt on items, but saved all the original stuff. Still has the original Eagle GT radials.
Had a new 85 ,got sick when they came out with the new 86 with the intercooler