It’s time to talk about my pride and joy. My 1986 Buick Grand National. For those of you asking yourself “what in the world is a Grand National?” I’m gonna give you the scoop. Buick decided to do something a little different to the Regals between 1984 and 1987. First off, all the Grand Nationals were black, and had two tone black and gray interior. The did make what they called a T Type Regal which was essentially the same car, but available in different colors. However, as years went by, the GN’s were the ones with a higher value. Now there were Grand Nationals previous to 1984, but the 84-87′s are the ones that really stand out. In 84 and 85, they had a 3.8 liter V6 with a turbo, and about 215 HP. But, in 86 and 87, they added an intercooler to the package, giving it 235 HP, and a lot more zip. In 1987, Buick took 547 Grand Nationals and put extra add-ons to it, including an upgraded turbo, fender flares, cooler instrument panel, and fender louvers. They called these 547 the GNX. If you look on eBay, occasionally there will be a GNX for sale, and do not be surprised if they get up around the $75,000 mark or more.

Anyways, back to my GN. I bought this car in 2000 at a local car dealer. It had 92,000 original miles on it, and when I asked the price, I was very surprised to hear they wanted $4500 for it. So, I took it for a spin…the body was a little rough, but it ran great. Interior was in excellent shape. When I got back, I made an offer of $3500, and the salesman said he had to check with his manager. After a little bit, out comes the salesman with his cocky, annoying manager. He says, “I’ve had so many people come in here asking about that @$%#*&% car. I don’t know what the big deal is about it. It’s just a #$%@ Regal. I said “Yeah, just a Regal. Will you take $3500 for it?” He told me the lowest he could go was $3800. “I’ll take it.”