In the mid-to-late 1980s, Buick somehow persuaded hundreds of people to purchase — and then never drive — its most expensive model. Could you imagine anyone going down to the Buick dealer and buying a new Enclave Avenir today, then storing it in the garage undriven until 2054?
It seems like every time a Grand National comes up for sale, it has less than 2,000 miles on the odometer. It’s a wild phenomenon that I’ll never understand.
Anyway, back in 1987 when I was but a bouncing baby boy, a couple in Columbus, Ohio, purchased a Buick Regal Grand National. They shoved it into their pole barn and apparently never looked at it again until 2020, when it was sold to a guy from the Big Apple. During those resting years, the car’s tires lost air pressure and the family dog jumped on the door and fender nonstop for what looks to have been a decade. It wasn’t started, it wasn’t cleaned, it wasn’t even looked at. Why on earth?
Thankfully, in steps this story’s superhero protagonist, Larry Kosilla of AMMO NYC. The car has been rescued from a lifetime of sitting under a film of dust getting attacked by a dog. The new owner seems to be only a temporary savior for the car, buying it to clean up, get sorted and then sell to someone who will appreciate it. And you know what? That’s a commendable role for this person to play. Without the space and time to give the GN the attention it needs, at least the car has been rescued and will be on its way to a forever home.
As with every AMMO NYC detailing video, Kosilla does a tremendous job of returning this car to its former glory. There is something so incredibly soothing about the process of watching someone else clean a car. I wonder why I never have the patience to do such a task myself. I’ve always been perfectly happy to let my cars get dirty and grimy and road-worn. Which is exactly what I’d do with this Grand National if it were mine. Drive it until it falls apart, rebuild it, and then drive it again.
As the incomparable Dr. Alan Grant once said, “T. rex doesn’t want to be fed, he wants to hunt.” And the same is true of an apex predator like the Buick Grand National. This turbocharged V6 monster doesn’t want to sit around for decades with 56 miles on the odometer — it wants to spool it up and roast some tires. Now for heaven’s sake, let it!