No smog test here that would make a difference. Your state might vary...

I'd be surprised if a good friend of mine isn't bidding on this car. He and his dad have a nice collection w/ quite a few turbo Buicks.

Don't know if he still has it but knew a guy that bought a brand-new '78 Z28 w/ a 4spd. and put it in his basement with about 20 miles on it.



and it was a cluster.

And there were severe penalties in place. We had several nice vehicles traded in under C4C as well as some with brand-new tires, etc. Several techs asked the GM about swapping tires and/or wheels and one asked about buying one truck outright. GM said he would face a $25, 000 (IIRC) fine if one part was taken off a vehicle and no way could he sell one outright. Strange because salvage yards were the ones who picked them up after we ran them through the shop, added the slurry mixture they furnished after draining the oil, then running the engine until it locked up. Everything else on the car was fair game for the salvage yard to sell.

I always wanted a black one.....

Grand Nationals were THE car of the 80s. A lot of guys bought them and put them away as investments and I don't think Ive ever seen a GNX that had any miles on it. "Base" Grand Nationals seem to be either well-preserved low-mileage originals or were run hard, roached out and need a resto. Mine is one of the roached out ones that I brought back to life and is now one of my drivers.

Well then you're in luck...

I wish I was into pics then, but my one T type was black with all the std chrome, bumbers, ect... good contrast.

For 19-21k new they were awesome fun cars.

I was at the GSCA Nats in '87 and talked to 2 GM engineers working on the GNX project. They had test car 003, they said there were 7 total and all were to be crushed when they were done. They laughed like crazy when they said it. Car had 3100 miles on it and the back tires were bald.

and it was a cluster.

And there were severe penalties in place. We had several nice vehicles traded in under C4C as well as some with brand-new tires, etc. Several techs asked the GM about swapping tires and/or wheels and one asked about buying one truck outright. GM said he would face a $25, 000 (IIRC) fine if one part was taken off a vehicle and no way could he sell one outright. Strange because salvage yards were the ones who picked them up after we ran them through the shop, added the slurry mixture they furnished after draining the oil, then running the engine until it locked up. Everything else on the car was fair game for the salvage yard to sell. [/quote]


Yup, I bought a rust free Durango body only that went thru C4C. Got everything except the dash, because the VIN plate was riveted to the dash. The junk yard kept that. I had to repaint the dash from my old body to match the interior of the "new" body.

There is ( or at least used to be ) one in my neighbor-hood that last time I talked to the owner the car had close to 100K miles on it.
he told me he bought it to be a daily driver and could not afford to just let it sit and collect dust. Come to think of it, Ive not seen him his wife or the car in a couple years, so maybe he sold it or moved

I absolutely love mine! 12,000 miles and still smells new! Turns more heads nowadays than the super Bee. It’s surprising how they have maintained a significant amount of value. As long as it’s got Moderat miles on it it’ll pull some money. It seems that people aren’t really concerned with the production numbers on the cars just the condition.
I’d love to find a deal on a GNX.
KID

I've always liked the GNs. Owning one is on my "Buick" bucket list. Not sure how many on the bucket list will get purchased, it's fairly long.
A friend at work has a GN that he's put a lot of money into. I believe it is in the 700 HP range, but he pushed a head gasket and it has sat ever since. Then he kept buying more stuff to not work on. I'd like to see it finished, the car will likely fly.

I remember walking into Shelton Pontiac/Buick in Rochester, MI.
in 1987,they had a GNX on their showroom floor. IIRC the sticker price
was $29,995 with a $3 or $4K dealer premium markup on the window.

Went back sometime later after it sold, (didn't take long obviously)
sales guy told me, the new owner didn't want the GNX prepped at all,
and had the car picked up on a flat bed tow truck, so as not to
put any miles on his new prize.

I always laugh when I hear someone say "the GNX ruled the streets in the 1980s". It's funny because I don't recall ever seeing one on the road.

my one friend's mother bought one. she drove it winter and summer and still has it. she took it one time to quaker city [i think]. she was running it against my friend and his GTO. her first time at a strip. she didn't stop until she ran off the big end. didn't get bunged up too bad. she said she thought she had to go clear to the end of the pavement ! car was fixed, and she continued driving it. never went back to the track.

I've always wondered how the condition really is on the low mile time capsules. I know the interior, paint, and such are in excellent condition. But what about dry rot on the rubber items, fluids breaking down or going bad, and other things. I would guess if kept out of sunlight, the rubber may be fine, but fluids go bad after so many years don't they? Wouldn't parts that need lubricated go bad after a while?

Time capsules are not interesting, especially when they're one of several hundred that exist and they all look the same.

The GN is only the 1980s version of the 1976 Eldorado convertible.

Cars like this likely go to someone's "I never drive em" collection and they won't care if it's roadworthy or not. It will sit until they get bored with it, or can sell it for more $$$ than they paid for it.

The brakes scare me on those cars. I used to be an engineer at the company that made Raybestos/United brake parts, and we had some sort of agreement with Delco to manufacture the complex "Powermaster" brake master cylinder assemblies for the aftermarket and Delco. This agreement started in the 90s or maybe 2000. At some point before I left in 2005 the supplier for a switch used on these said they didn't want to supply the switches anymore due to low volume. And shortly after I left, the investment group who'd bought the company started shutting down the US plants and moving production to Chinese and other Asian sources.
They were only used on GNs, GNXs and some full size GM wagons, so they were low volume. Does anyone sell Powermasters any more, either rebuilt or new? Is there a retrofit available with a conventional master and vacuum booster?
I had a 90 Thunderbird back in the 90s with a similar design hyrdrobooster master design made by Teves. Great car but I'd be scared to own one today fearing that thing would go bad on me someday.
This is why I question if cars from recent decades will become long term collector cars. They have so many complex parts and computers it may be very difficult to keep them on the road years down into the future!

I agree on the new stuff being potentially difficult to keep going in the future. Way too much wiring and plastic parts that will degrade and need replaced as well. My parents have a Durango that is on computer #3 now. At some point the parts supply for those will dry up and to the junkyard they will go.