Photo: Barrett-Jackson
Some people collect cars for their rich history, which they get to experience and be a part of while driving them. Others collect cars only for the driving experience. Others do it because they can afford it, and they want the best and newest that money can buy.
An even smaller segment of the collector market is that of collectors who buy time capsules only for the sake of ownership. These are the cars that are still brand new even decades later, with hardly any mileage recorded on the odo, and some not even out of their plastic wrapping.
Like this record-breaking 1987 Buick GNX, also known as the Las Vegas GNX.
It sold on June 19, at the Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas event, for the incredible amount of $275,000, buyer fee included. This makes it twice a record holder: it is the lowest-mileage example known to exist and the most expensive one as well. It’s the same GNX that became the world’s most expensive in 2019, when it sold at auction for $200,000, only to outdone by the one that fetched $205,000 in May 2021.
With just 8.9 miles (14.3 km) showing on the clock (the listing mentions an 8.7 mileage / 14 km), this GNX was sold new to Ralph’s Buick in Mena, Arkansas. Though not driven, it did travel a bit, moving to the display area of a Texas business after many years, and then into controlled storage. It was never driven and never registered, and it’s still wrapped in factory plastics.
The Buick GNX, or the Grand National Experiment, developed with ASC McLaren as a 547-unit series, is a rare car even without the somewhat dubious distinction of low mileage. The turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 engine officially rated at 276 hp that actually produced some 300 hp made it one of the quickest cars back in the day, and its limited production also helped drive up its appeal.
For some people, getting one such rare muscle car still brand new is, apparently, worth a fortune. And that makes it not worth driving.
Like this record-breaking 1987 Buick GNX, also known as the Las Vegas GNX.
It sold on June 19, at the Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas event, for the incredible amount of $275,000, buyer fee included. This makes it twice a record holder: it is the lowest-mileage example known to exist and the most expensive one as well. It’s the same GNX that became the world’s most expensive in 2019, when it sold at auction for $200,000, only to outdone by the one that fetched $205,000 in May 2021.
With just 8.9 miles (14.3 km) showing on the clock (the listing mentions an 8.7 mileage / 14 km), this GNX was sold new to Ralph’s Buick in Mena, Arkansas. Though not driven, it did travel a bit, moving to the display area of a Texas business after many years, and then into controlled storage. It was never driven and never registered, and it’s still wrapped in factory plastics.
The Buick GNX, or the Grand National Experiment, developed with ASC McLaren as a 547-unit series, is a rare car even without the somewhat dubious distinction of low mileage. The turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 engine officially rated at 276 hp that actually produced some 300 hp made it one of the quickest cars back in the day, and its limited production also helped drive up its appeal.
For some people, getting one such rare muscle car still brand new is, apparently, worth a fortune. And that makes it not worth driving.
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