How old does a car have to be to make it a barn find? There’s no rule, although 30 years old would be a good start. Check.
Here we have a ‘barn find’ of a young classic car that is appreciating and now up for grabs on eBay – but there’s a catch – it's an auction. As a 1987 model year car, this would be one of the last Grand Nationals before the Regal line changed forever.
The 1987 Buick Grand National – A Good Car In Bad Shape
With a clean vehicle title, but definitely not a clean body, the Grand National here is the WE2 version with the 3.8-liter turbocharged engine which makes (if it still can) 245 hp and 355 lb-ft of torque, healthy numbers for a smaller coupe. It is sitting where it stopped years ago, in a barn with dust, mold, and rust trying and mostly succeeding to make the paintwork look shabby.
Parts of the front bumper are missing, the rear bumper too, and it is in general need of a cosmetic repair and clean-up.
Outside, the tires look healthy and pumped-up though while inside the vehicle everything looks in order even if in need of a wet cloth and a spray to spruce it up a little.
As the advert says, “It has been sitting for many years, and it's time to sell. We drained the gas, with fresh gas added to confirm that the motor still purrs. As you can imagine it will need a tune-up from sitting, but the engine did sound nice. I have included a YouTube video of the car starting and running.”
The Buick Grand National Barn Find Would Make A Good Do-Upper
With low advertised mileage of 75,000 miles, it wasn’t that tired when it parked up to sleep. Interestingly, eBay assures us in the information that the ‘Vehicle does NOT have an existing warranty.' While we don’t think it would, it’s good to see that confirmed for real.
The seller says, ‘This car is highly collectible and very hard to find with only one owner. You will find they are worth major money when restored,’ with these cars having a cult following only bettered by the superior and rarer GNX version.
With a quick internet search bringing up a reliable $50,000 to $70,000 price for good examples, the current $19,200 (with 21 bids) at this time makes this look like a car with potential, that someone is very likely to flip on the used market very soon.