Buick Aficionados Unearth a Pair of Brand New ’87 Grand Nationals!

[MyBlackBeasts]

http://www.gm-efi.com/features/buick-aficionados-unearth-a-pair-of-brand-new-86-grand-nationals/

[Turbov6Bryan]

Loved the story

Funny thing is when he says they are 87s and NOT 86s, like that really matters

86 they made 5512 and in 87 it was over 20,000 of them,... other than the grille, the door pull straps, digital climate control for 86 and a few other minor items that make the difference between the 86-87 there's no performance difference or resale difference

I do own a 86 hardtop GN and 4 other 87 turbo regals :)
Consecutive vin would be neat, wonder if the original purchaser was a dealer?

Thanks for bringing that story here!

[Gerry24]

That was a nice article... WHAT A FIND!!! Thanks for sharing :beer:

[1Marauder]

Wow!

That is a story!

[MOTOWN]

Great article! Four of the biggest money pits I ever owned , and loved every minute!

[1Marauder]

Loved the story

Funny thing is when he says they are 87s and NOT 86s, like that really matters

86 they made 5512 and in 87 it was over 20,000 of them,... other than the grille, the door pull straps, digital climate control for 86 and a few other minor items that make the difference between the 86-87 there's no performance difference or resale difference

I do own a 86 hardtop GN and 4 other 87 turbo regals :)
Consecutive vin would be neat, wonder if the original purchaser was a dealer?

Thanks for bringing that story here!


Wow, that is a regal handful!

[Mr. Man]

Cool story. Makes you wonder about all those other cars hiding away in barns and elsewhere waiting to be re-discovered.

[Ambitious1]

Awesome story and pics! Love the GNs!

[justbob]

Cool find but the story sucked.. I want to read about the history not the now!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Drewstang]

I'm friends with William Availa on FB, he was posting the events as they happened. It was an awesome find, but now I've been tagged or had the story posted to my wall about 25 times lol.

[Joe Walsh]

Loved the story

Funny thing is when he says they are 87s and NOT 86s, like that really matters

86 they made 5512 and in 87 it was over 20,000 of them,... other than the grille, the door pull straps, digital climate control for 86 and a few other minor items that make the difference between the 86-87 there's no performance difference or resale difference

I do own a 86 hardtop GN and 4 other 87 turbo regals :)
Consecutive vin would be neat, wonder if the original purchaser was a dealer?

Thanks for bringing that story here!

Yep!

Very cool story!

My college buddy, John bought a (much rarer) '86 GN wayyyy back in late 1985.
Back then everybody thought that it was a souped up black Monte Carlo SS....lol
Until it smoked them with a 'hair dryer' V6!
Then at the next traffic light they would ask; "WTF is that!!?"....:dunno:

I had my '85 Mustang 5.0/5 speed and could hole shot John through 2nd gear.....
BUT.......
Once I hit 3rd, he would walk by me like I had just dropped anchor.....:depress:

That was before he started modding the GN!

I remember riding shotgun after Kenny Duttweiler had worked his magic on John's GN....Good Gawd did that thing move!
My job was to watch the pyrometer gauge to make sure that John didn't melt any exhaust valves....:eek:
That GN would annihilate anything on the road back then.

[Turbov6Bryan]

About late 95 I bought my first 86 t type. Silver with grey leather 45/45....

My mom had a 85 silver Grand Prix at the time too, so I just bought my t type and needed to pick dad up at the airport

I pull up curbside and toot the horn, pops does a double take, notices the hood bulge,... and says.... Is this a turbo v6??? The car ride home, a few drives in the rain and he was hooked

That following year I sold my 3 10th anniversary 79 trans ams, a turbo laser, a "what I thought was fast" 355 v8 s10, a 70 1/2 blue on blue trans am ram air III 4 speed, and bought a 8k 89 turbo trans am a 39k 89 TTA,and a few more 86-87 turbo regals. Back then you could get a deal on a NICE turbo regal for 5 grand, maybe 7 for a very clean 70k car. Damn I was head over heels on them, I've had like 20 of them.... cars are my drug, I just love getting smoking deals on them :)
Nothing better than strapping one to a dyno and putting down more torque than a newer diesel truck

Fun cars :)

[Guittard22]

Cool story so
What you think paid 100-150k on them ?

[Drewstang]

I'd bet over $100k easy.

[Joe Walsh]

I'd bet around 125 large for the pair of GNs.

[RF Overlord]

The '87 GN was the last good car Buick ever made and one of my all-time favourites.

[Mr. Man]

The '87 GN was the last good car Buick ever made and one of my all-time favourites.Buick has had a couple of great concepts recently, but no one over there in GM land has the balls to build them.
Here's the Avista from a couple years ago.

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/160110213937-2016-naias-buick-avista-780x439.jpg

[RF Overlord]

I've often wondered why car companies build fantastic "concepts", allegedly to prove what they CAN do, but then never actually do it. Why bother, then? I would have bought the Ford 49 in a heartbeat.

[Mr. Man]

Me too Baub. There are hints of the Avista in the Avenir concept the alleged flagship Buick wanted to build. Now they are making the Avenir into a wheels and sticker option for a few of their models like Denali is for GMC. How do you take a name for a flagship car concept to a wheels and sticker package? :shake:

I was diggin' on the Ford Interceptor from a while back. Had my mullah in hand ready to go, but Ford pussed out.:(
http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Images/upload/5685/images/fordinterceptordr_6_560.jpg

[Joe Walsh]

Buick has had a couple of great concepts recently, but no one over there in GM land has the balls to build them.
Here's the Avista from a couple years ago.

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/160110213937-2016-naias-buick-avista-780x439.jpg

That's a sweet looking DPB car!

Looks like they blended a new Impala and a new Fusion together into a 2 door coupe.

[guspech750]

I've often wondered why car companies build fantastic "concepts", allegedly to prove what they CAN do, but then never actually do it. Why bother, then? I would have bought the Ford 49 in a heartbeat.


This is so true and so freaking frustrating. I wish automakers would design and build concept cars that can actually be built. Not concept cars that can not be mass produced. That is so pointless.



And yes. Turbo Buicks were the last great Buicks built. But the supercharged 3800 Buicks of the 90's could easily be modded with turbo's and much more.


Sent from The White House on taxpayers dimes.

[Mr. Man]

This is so true and so freaking frustrating. I wish automakers would design and build concept cars that can actually be built. Not concept cars that can not be mass produced. That is so pointless.



And yes. Turbo Buick's were the last great Buick's built. But the supercharged 3800 Buick's of the 90's could easily be modded with turbo's and much more.


Sent from The White House on taxpayers dimes.My mother-in-law had a S/C 3.8l Ultra. It wasn't very quick.

[RF Overlord]

My mother-in-law had a S/C 3.8l Ultra. It wasn't very quick.Probably for the same reason the Saab Viggen (which I almost bought) wasn't fast. They had to limit power in first gear because the transaxle couldn't take it. That was with a turbo...a car like the Ultra with an Eaton blower would have lunched the wrong-wheel drive if not limited.

[Joe Walsh]

Probably for the same reason the Saab Viggen (which I almost bought) wasn't fast. They had to limit power in first gear because the transaxle couldn't take it. That was with a turbo...a car like the Ultra with an Eaton blower would have lunched the wrong-wheel drive if not limited.

Getting off topic now....but, Boy did GM ever kill SAAB.
Nothing like putting 'SAAB' badges on a GM SUV and trying to pass it off as a real SAAB!.....:shake:

[Blackened300a]

Loved the story

Funny thing is when he says they are 87s and NOT 86s, like that really matters

86 they made 5512 and in 87 it was over 20,000 of them,... other than the grille, the door pull straps, digital climate control for 86 and a few other minor items that make the difference between the 86-87 there's no performance difference or resale difference

I do own a 86 hardtop GN and 4 other 87 turbo regals :)
Consecutive vin would be neat, wonder if the original purchaser was a dealer?

Thanks for bringing that story here!

I just am not a fan of the 86 grill, if you are going to go all black, then go all black. That strip of chrome looked out of place on the car. That's why I only wanted a 87. Nothing against the 86, but 87 has it for me with the grill.


Great article! Four of the biggest money pits I ever owned , and loved every minute!

Yeah I learned that also the hard way.


I'm friends with William Availa on FB, he was posting the events as they happened. It was an awesome find, but now I've been tagged or had the story posted to my wall about 25 times lol.

Mine too. Every page I followed posted that article.


The '87 GN was the last good car Buick ever made and one of my all-time favourites.

Mine too, ever since I was a kid and my next door neighbors friend came by with his brand new GN, I couldn't stop staring at it, then he did a massive burnout before he left and it became my favorite car of all time (second to the Marauder ;))
So much so that I finally found one and purchased it last June.

The car was purchased brand new from a guy in PA, He had the car up until he passed away in 2014, then his daughter inherited the car. She has 2 brothers that are not car guys and pretty much forced her to sell it to give the money to their mother. The car was garage kept since new and had a repaint in 2011 due to the old GM paint flecking. They replaced the headliner and rebuilt the transmission then the old man got sick and the car sat for years in the garage until they put it up for sale.
When I got it, the cooling fans didn't work, reverse lights didn't work, horn didn't work, and the engine would bog over 5psi of boost. I got the car home and started going through everything to repair it. I replaced the ignition wires, plugs, coil, module, got the fans, lights and horn working,
and it still had the bog at 5spi. I pulled the fuel filter and found a ton of rust in it, I replaced it and it ran better but still bogged. I picked up a new fuel pump with hotwire kit and when I dropped the tank, I saw a ton of rust inside the tank from the car sitting that even the fuel pump sock was coated in dirt and rust that I'm surprised it even ran at all.
I replaced the tank with a new baffled tank, and I replaced the old eastern performance chip with a turbo tweak chip and 42lb injectors. Now the car boosts up to 15psi and breaks traction on a roll. I ended up replacing a laundry list of parts for this car and upgraded somethings along the way since it was pretty much all original.

These cars are a absolute blast to drive and I'm so happy to finally own one after all these years.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d12/blackened300a/Grand%20national/9E3466D7-F16A-406F-8AC5-A7182BE4577A_zpstqjdh6sn.jpght tp://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d12/blackened300a/MISC%20Car%20pics/2DB5F60D-3839-4DF4-8576-0175EAF68A25_zpsxnrvgj5b.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d12/blackened300a/MISC%20Car%20pics/0B2C1B59-5D68-48A0-8678-2CCA1393D63E_zpsrrluv3wo.jpg

[Joe Walsh]

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d12/blackened300a/MISC%20Car%20pics/0B2C1B59-5D68-48A0-8678-2CCA1393D63E_zpsrrluv3wo.jpg

Paul,
I envy you....that is a pair of twin sinister, badazz black beauties!

[Gerry24]

I just am not a fan of the 86 grill, if you are going to go all black, then go all black. That strip of chrome looked out of place on the car. That's why I only wanted a 87. Nothing against the 86, but 87 has it for me with the grill.



Yeah I learned that also the hard way.



Mine too. Every page I followed posted that article.



Mine too, ever since I was a kid and my next door neighbors friend came by with his brand new GN, I couldn't stop staring at it, then he did a massive burnout before he left and it became my favorite car of all time (second to the Marauder ;))
So much so that I finally found one and purchased it last June.

The car was purchased brand new from a guy in PA, He had the car up until he passed away in 2014, then his daughter inherited the car. She has 2 brothers that are not car guys and pretty much forced her to sell it to give the money to their mother. The car was garage kept since new and had a repaint in 2011 due to the old GM paint flecking. They replaced the headliner and rebuilt the transmission then the old man got sick and the car sat for years in the garage until they put it up for sale.
When I got it, the cooling fans didn't work, reverse lights didn't work, horn didn't work, and the engine would bog over 5psi of boost. I got the car home and started going through everything to repair it. I replaced the ignition wires, plugs, coil, module, got the fans, lights and horn working,
and it still had the bog at 5spi. I pulled the fuel filter and found a ton of rust in it, I replaced it and it ran better but still bogged. I picked up a new fuel pump with hotwire kit and when I dropped the tank, I saw a ton of rust inside the tank from the car sitting that even the fuel pump sock was coated in dirt and rust that I'm surprised it even ran at all.
I replaced the tank with a new baffled tank, and I replaced the old eastern performance chip with a turbo tweak chip and 42lb injectors. Now the car boosts up to 15psi and breaks traction on a roll. I ended up replacing a laundry list of parts for this car and upgraded somethings along the way since it was pretty much all original.

These cars are a absolute blast to drive and I'm so happy to finally own one after all these years.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d12/blackened300a/Grand%20national/9E3466D7-F16A-406F-8AC5-A7182BE4577A_zpstqjdh6sn.jpght tp://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d12/blackened300a/MISC%20Car%20pics/2DB5F60D-3839-4DF4-8576-0175EAF68A25_zpsxnrvgj5b.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d12/blackened300a/MISC%20Car%20pics/0B2C1B59-5D68-48A0-8678-2CCA1393D63E_zpsrrluv3wo.jpg


That is really nice, old classic and new classic :2thumbs:

[Drewstang]

When I start restoring my 86, the grille is going on the wall and the 87 is going in its place. I'm going to make it badgeless also.

[RF Overlord]

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d12/blackened300a/MISC%20Car%20pics/0B2C1B59-5D68-48A0-8678-2CCA1393D63E_zpsrrluv3wo.jpg

"Lord Vader, your cars are ready."