While we all love a good barn find story, this is more of a stay-of-execution story, as the guys at Classic G-Body Garage and Pull-A-Part rescued this 1987 Buick Grand National from its date with the crusher. With the project dubbed the “Scrap National,” the goal is to restore the once-mighty Grand National to its former glory – or at least get it running well enough to drive around town.
Not a vehicle you generally run across in the junkyard, especially in the condition of this example, this particular Grand National inexplicably wound up at the Louisiana Pull-A-Part junkyard. Luckily, during the car’s intake process, someone recognized what it was and pulled it aside rather than just tossing it into the boneyard to be scavenged for parts.
After a quick exchange with the guys at Classic G-Body Garage, Pull-A-Part decided to throw a quick paint job on it and send it up to the Cleveland location to be featured at one of their shows. While the new paint isn’t the greatest, it does make the car a five-footer.
With 131,000 miles on the odometer, the Grand National didn’t run when it was received at Pull-A-Part. So a new set of spark plugs and a new fuel filter were swapped in, and that got the turbocharged 3.8-liter to come to life. While the engine’s current performance is far from the original 245 horsepower, it at least moves under its own power (barely), making getting it on and off the trailer easier.
The team at G-Body Garage plans on going over the car, front to back, inside and out, to see what it’s going to take to get the Scrap National back up and running (properly) and to resume its rightful place on the road. Even though it’s currently in rough shape, it has escaped death row, and now has a new lease on life.