Market Watch: Time-Capsule 1987 Buick Grand National

Did you want a Buick Grand National back in 1987, but just couldn’t swing it at the time? Here’s your chance to rewrite your own history with this pristine, as-new example.

 

It’s been said that car collectors are the ultimate representation of Toy Train Syndrome. Denied the things they desired in their youth, they spend their middle age—and a good part of their fortunes—correcting the injustice. If your personal Rosebud is the hottest of the ’80s American muscle cars, the turbocharged, intercooled Buick Grand National, the people at Legendary Motorcars in Halton Hills, Ontario have a deal for you. They’ve got a Grand National in spotless, virtually as-new condition with only 1,309 miles showing on the clock.

According to Legendary, this Grand National was produced on November 5, 1987 in Pontiac, Michigan, and was delivered to London Motor Products in London, Ontario. The car has traveled only 1,309 miles since then, and all the new car documents, including the bill of sale and warranty papers, are included, above. The black exterior paint is all completely original and unblemished, as is everything else, the retailer says.  The Buick “presents today in showroom new condition having been driven sparingly and stored in a climate-controlled environment since new,” Legendary reports.

 

The standard Grand National interior, above, in gray cloth and vinyl with black accents and color embroidery on the headrests, is “as new with no signs of wear,” says Legendary .The Delco AM/FM radio.cassette deck is original and the audio bay in the instrument panel is original and uncut.  It’s exactly what you would expect to find if you took delivery on a new Grand National in 1987.

Many Grand Nationals were hot-rodded, of course, but this one is unmolested under the hood (below). Buick began offering the V6 in turbocharged form in 1977, and stepped up its game considerably in 1984 with the introduction of electronic fuel injection. But the big leap in performance came in 1986 with the addition of a charge air cooler, and for 1987 the GN boasted 245 hp and 355 lb-ft of torque—even more than the Corvette that year. The Grand National was discontinued at the end of the 1987 model year, but for the next decade or so, the black Buicks continued to be among the hottest American production cars on the road.

 

According to Hagerty Insurance, our go-to resource for vehicles of this ilk, prices range from $19,800 for an ’87 GN in #4 (“fair”) condition to $42,000 for an example in #2 (“excellent”) shape, while a #1 condition or concours-level car, in perfectly restored, show-field condition, should be worth $65,000. As part of its December promotion, Legendary is offering this time-capsule Grand National at $54,500. We’re not Grand National pricing experts, but that looks like a pretty fair deal to us.  –Photos courtesy of Legendary Motorcars. 

 

2 thoughts on “Market Watch: Time-Capsule 1987 Buick Grand National

  1. I was working in a Buick dealer at the time and these were quite a phenomenon. Like a cult almost.

  2. Remember sitting in one on the showroom waiting on the finance manager to figure on a small Buick {Skylark?} we were looking at. Even it was out of our price range like the GN was. Ended up buying a Pontiac Sunbird. Basically the same car as the Buick we were looking at , but $2000 cheaper, a lot of money back in 87.

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