1987 Buick Grand National (File) (Buick)
The Buick Grand National is one of the most storied muscle cars in history, and two in particular have a great tale.
The Regal-based coupe was one of the quickest American cars of the 1980s. Its turbocharged 3.8-liter V8 let it run with the best V8 sports cars of the day, and earned the short-lived model a group of fanatical followers.
One of them, William Avila, recently came across a Facebook posting from someone in Oklahoma trying to sell a pair of 1986 Grand Nationals for $200,000.
As recounted on GM-EFI.com, Avila and his Grand National-loving friend, Shawn Matthews, had to go check out the cars, even though the asking price seemed too high.
They were amazed at what they found.
Sitting behind a garage door among piles of leaves were two very dusty, but completely original 1987 Grand Nationals that hadn’t been driven in years. One had just 592 miles on the odometer, the other 807.
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The lower mileage car looked like it hadn’t even had its door cracked in years, and was nearly pristine inside, complete with a new car smell. The other was dirty and appeared to have been visited by a cat with a full bladder at some point, but was otherwise sound.
Better still, the cars had sequential VINs, which means they’ve been side by side since they came out of the factory and were delivered to the owner, who’s had them ever since.
As great as they were, neither was ready to drop two hundred grand on them and left empty-handed, but with the cars stuck in their heads.
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The negotiations continued, and about a month later the Matthews finally agreed on an undisclosed price and the cars had a new home.
They now refer to the cars as “The Twins” and are going to clean them up and get them into perfect running shape.
Matthews doesn’t expect to ever put them up for sale again, or even separate them, but he does plan to bring them to car shows two tell this new chapter in Grand National’s story.