Brand New, Never Sold, 1987 Buick GNX - Jay Leno’s Garage

I mean the thing that makes you unique is it's a brand-new car [Applause] episode of Jay Leno's Garage the car were featuring today 1987 Buick GNX that X is important because this was the final edition of this car 1987 it was the most powerful Edition I think the only made 547 of these and this one has the rare distinction of being brand new by being brand new I mean never sold as in it still has the window sticker this is sat in the window of Buick dealership since 1987 let's find the story behind the bread we only have bread come on in I know it's a legacy dealership your dad that was a Buick guy you run the shop now it was a boulevard Buick yeah over Buick that's 1961 and where are you signal hell that we're in Signal Hill actually in Long Beach okay we were a Jag dealer - you got a lot of beautiful curves Thanks well right now we're featuring this one you see we're doing the Jag we'll talk about the Jag but this one is unique because first of all these were pretty rare one of the few muscle cars of the of the 80s this being the most powerful version and the most amazing part is it's never been sold that so how did you come to acquire this back in 87 well we were allocated one car and originally it was 500 was gonna be the build right they started hitting the East Coast first and they some of them went for some big money right right and right off the bat see so new back thirty years ago this car was twenty-nine thousand what is that some twenty nine thousand and change which seems like a bargain now yeah but that probably would it would be the equivalent of maybe fifty or sixty thousand dollars now maybe yeah something like that because your figure a Volkswagen or something like that was probably in this seventeen or eighteen thousand dollars or so okay so okay alright so you get the allocation what happened we couldn't sell it why to tell you the truth we we actually put you have a dealer mock-up yeah did you have the auto Floor Mats 1000 of course we were open that we had get maybe 50 or 60 we thought that was reasonable compared to some of the stories we heard right we took out an ad in the LA Times right and Arthur Anderson you could turn in a sealed bid to Arthur Anderson alright we ran that for two or three weeks didn't get one bid you get one bit no it was in The Times you know why do you think that was because this was a very desirable car I mean this was one of the fastest I mean I think Royce was president well yes he was president of General Motors at the time when he and I know he wanted to make get Buick out of the although your father's car is the older build one it was the same type of deal it wasn't your parents Buick this was something new something this was their goal was to be faster than the Corvette yeah Ferrari at the time isn't that correct that's true they they had they said one of the engineers back in Detroit had a bumper sticker made with the v6 logo and it's a Buick we break for Corvettes Wow very being so let's talk about that it's a 3.8 liter v6 which is pretty unusual pretty much the same engine that was in the cyclone I think yes okay so 3.8 liter it's making I think was closer to 290 horse but a lot of torque mm-hmm and I remember seeing the videos of these things doing burnouts and power sliding and doing a quarter-mile about twelve six twelve seven something like that which again not huge today but thirty years ago yeah there was a it was a big deal of course had the Grand National they turbocharged the Grand National sold a lot of those but this was something special they were the X this is the Grand National experiment right wanted to take the last 500 right go out with a bang right right they ended up building 547 as you mentioned I think a lot of GM executives wanted them once they got not building something they all got sold except for this one know what I mean did did initially people come in and offer you sticker and a whole no no we're gonna wait and see what happens we had we had a guy come in and offer us invoice you know I like the old days and then we had another guy come in offer a sticker but he didn't have the credit oh okay so didn't have the money we were so depressed at that point I said we were keeping it my father the Jag dealer when I was probably 12 13 he came to the dinner Taylor said I just got the last two XK es I'm ever gonna get if I was smart I put him up on blocks and keep him and then always stuck with me never did he took a deal I thought in a couple of weeks and they were gone and then I was a young kid working in the dealership in the service department and a guy drove in and one chocolate-brown just beautiful and it was worth a lot of money and I said we're just gonna hang on to this so you were thinking I should put this up on blocks back in the day yeah well you should have done that with yeah that was too young okay okay I wasn't calling the shots so okay it's it's the end of 87 it's still not so getting a little desperate 88 89 I mean it's amazing that would be on this cuz I saw this I went by the dealership one that what a nice yeah a few years ago and I saw it on the show and it took up floor space for 33 years 34 years well don't talk to my partner about that because he's always everyday when you're gonna get rid of this so we can put a car we can actually sell on the shoulder so what was your big seller there was at the justice standard regal Oh back then the regal was a bread-and-butter car you know they came out with the line of T types right somebody a Buick was always trying to keep in touch with the racing community right so they came out with the t types they blacked out everything they wanted it to look more European right and it was just their attempt to always try to be sporty okay so so now is actually for sale is that correct I think we're ready to let it go was your last offer was it that guy back in 87 no not the last real offer we've we had recently a group out of Canada that took a hard look at it yeah once they figured out how they were gonna get stung with the exchange okay all right but other than that the amazing thing is it's a brand new that can be very many brand new 1987 anything cars around no we don't think so we know one went recently that only they touted it only had eight eight or twelve miles and you know we I actually had this in some car shows it has 184 miles on it today pretty much all put on by me okay because I was the only one who would drive it right then it was too scared to drive it up here today yeah get it on the freeway now it's a car I know I know supposed to be just it's just metal did you get some looks on it to people kind of getting the thumbs up I tell you the the having this on the showroom it's been right outside of my office for years and we get more people that love it look at it take pictures of it I'm sure you're aware of the shine the aura the cars have on people okay yeah all right that was just it I just kept one okay well let's open up under the hood and show people what we got here you got it are those the original tires yes it was a big deal to put bigger tires on the back right and that came from the factory that way yeah well it's all part of this package you signed the window sticker right they sent it out to ASC McLaren all right put a different rear end in it different Hurst shifter they put a bigger turbo charger on it and then put an intercooler on and that was back in the days when people were just we were a Saab dealer we knew a lot about turbocharged them but and we want to explain this is not McLaren Ed's gonna think of McLaren an f1 or the p1 McLaren this is that American company called McLaren correct was it American sunroof that what it was yeah ASC was American so yeah okay okay so they had a oh I forgot who running that company they had a deal and did this thing with GM they did a lot of the modifications for channel well it's all brand new under here nothing's been touched you know people always talking about original holds clips in original and this is about as original as you can get and it's not five or ten years old original it's what thirty years old it has a new battery okay new boy yeah you've gotta get a new battery I don't think the air conditionings going right now because all of the old r12 had left out of it okay and they just have to recharge in the air yeah I don't know if we want to change that or not okay keep it original it's just fat I mean it seems like this is something a collector would go nuts for well we sure hope so yeah we've kept it long enough and I think it's time to finally let it get out there I did have one guy call me once and he said I want you to know that this car I'm gonna have it from my personal car I'm gonna drive it I said well I really don't care what you do with it but he couldn't wait to get it out on the road and make it his car and it's a little dangerous to drive and what happened to him oh never her back never heard back again okay well it is fast I don't know how fast it is compared to some modern cars like the Hellcat and the new Shelby Mustang but it certainly holds its own and of course being a v6 was unique back in the day I mean America was not known for me even today you know I got my Ford GT p l v6 what's that well at one mama that should be good enough and that kind of quelled all the rumors and this one certainly blew off its share of Corvettes and Porsches and stuff back in the day there was a bulletproof block yeah they used on a lot of curves a lot of years so yeah we're really proud of that very cool all right let's see and it's got like an interior which is kind of you don't really see it anymore then kind of a tease the two-tone well that's I used to call it Mouse for but I guess it's not house fur but that two-toned velour type deal yeah wasn't leather if you were a good dealer and wanted to make some money you take a regular Grand National you'd send it out and get leather put it right but no this was all original a lot of dealers did that huh sure okay all right and obvious an automatic I assume it's the fourth speed not the four-speed transmission yeah that was three speed was long gone by that time power windows tilt power windows tilt cassette player and power driver seat and powers driver seat too bad you can't get cassettes anymore you know my age 87 was not that long ago but it's no but it is a long time ago and they were all black weren't they yes yeah especially the exit well yeah all the GN exes were black the real Grand National is also all black right so a lot of people say they have one or had one or drove one to Grand National but the odds are it wasn't a giant X right because it's easy to fake one up it's a matter of buying the bed because the interior everything else yeah the same pretty much just put the two different size wheels on it yeah I mean it's a it's a Buick Regal I mean Buick was still still pretty big but God also Abby was still around Pontiac yeah who would've ever thought I know the way it did yeah well we probably should take it forever can we run it it's a brand new absolutely that's right up here you'll be my first test drive a long time okay well let's see yeah I feel like with this car must go I mean I feel like we're selling this car but this is the last brand-new GNX out there I mean there are other cars might have even fewer mileage but they can't be brand new from the dealer they probably were bought with somebody some collector who saved it so this would make you the very first owner I and I believe were the only ones I have not heard of another dealer that still has the car and I assume the warranty is no longer the fact the warranty General Motors wrote me a lovely letter a lovely letter said by the way we know you haven't sold this car yet but the warranty is yeah kaput okay all right well let me come around here cuz I can I Drive it absolutely let's give it a shot it takes a special kind of man to handle up you er that's the kind of ad they would have back [Music] suddenly it's 1987 hey I think magnums are I mean the thing that makes unique is it's a brand new car [Applause] juggle I can't think of any other muscle cars from the 80s no and it was definitely when fad was it a yeah low point you mentioned Lloyd Royce was running GM back then we'll mark Royce right it's not he was just at the store do all right he was given my dad is 50 year dealer award oh is that right yeah you saw them with us yep oh that's great how old you 90 Wow that we might have to call him if I tell him we're selling this cuz he always says well that's my car I said but no I I'm the one who decided to keep it so he opened the dealership but what 61 1961 he bought in with Charlie Campbell okay and that's the Seabiscuit descendant Charlie Campbell married one of the Tuttle girls okay I didn't know that yeah even we go way way back that inching so the the president of General Motors stops by the dealership to give you the 50 year reward them yeah so he saw the car he said now when you let that go make sure you call me well you know it's great now I love that GM is being run by engineers his we mark Roy's the real car guy he's not a you know a bean-counter guy he's not a marketing guy he's an engineer you know he's always taking cars out to the track yeah it's really pretty cool absolutely we couldn't be happier with that yeah yeah he really knows his stuff especially with Corvette he was at the garage with me with the hoenn came by for the Camaro the CEO oh yeah and that thing was fantastic and it's all em you know how this thing drives like a brand-new car who woulda guessed it's not like a rolled back the odometer oh no I used to work in a dealership on either the kid and we called those odometer recalibration ah yeah yeah it's not obnoxiously loud it's got a nice ruffle to it seats are comfortable no warm breasts other if they didn't want you to laugh so how much more expensive with this than the grand national it was an $11,000 option why have all this Kia next up that's a third the VAT price of the car yeah I was 17 I think it says in the Wow sticker a loaded Grand National they put another 10 David Dunbar Buick made his money he invented porcelain for bathtubs and for sinks and all the force went on [Applause] you watch the car business so let's go back in the show room after the yeah I like to be able to keep it oh yeah this thing is still being broken in yeah I was even doing a burnout sadistic it's a brand new car but it runs very nicely I mean if you're a collector and you're looking for a GNX you can't get better than this it's it's never been sold so whoever buys that next the original owner correct well Brad thank you very much people into the man go to that website right yes thank you dude appreciate it I just thought people might get a kick out of it you get to see what a car was like the day I rolled off the factory floor no modifications nothing different all you did was change your Earl and keep it up so Fran thank you my friend good luck [Music]

Channel: Jay Leno's Garage

Views: 2,523,259

Keywords: Buick GNX, McLaren, ASC, turbo, GM, Boulevard Buick, Signal Hill, Grand National, experimental, muscle car, Brad Willingham, Jay Leno, Jay Leno's Garage, car reviews, compares cars, classic cars, vintage cars, sports cars, super cars, cars, car gear, McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, Camaro Z28, jay leno garage, jay lenos garage, car collection, cnbc, episode, motorcycle, ford, corvette, tour, dodge, lexus

Id: ecw1jTYGwII

Length: 18min 27sec (1107 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 03 2019