$200K for a 1987 Buick GNX with 8.5 miles isn’t as crazy as it sounds

Right after I picked up my chin from the floor, the recent $200,000 sale of a like-new 1987 Buick GNX had me reaching for a calculator. The GNX in question shows just 8.5 miles on the odometer, meaning it drove an average of just over a quarter-mile per year. That’s 467.5 yards. Or 1402.5 feet. In other words, fewer than four feet per day. Think about that the next time you get out of bed and walk a few feet into bathroom.

Super-low miles doesn’t always mean a big premium, though. Still, even taking that into consideration, it’s not so shocking that someone plunked down $200K—four times the average value of a GNX in #1 (Concours) condition—to acquire the vintage, yet farm-fresh muscle car.

“Low mile, still-in-the-wrapper performance cars from the 1980s and ’90s have been surfacing for the past couple of years and continue to get enormous results,” says Andrew Newton, Hagerty valuation editor. “This isn’t the all-time record for a GNX, but it’s close. And you’d be hard-pressed to find one with fewer miles.”

The $200K GNX, which sold on Bring a Trailer, is #480 of 547 built. Its seats and door panels still wear the protective plastic covering it was delivered with. The highest paid for a Grand National Experimental edition is $220K for #547, which had 68 miles on the odometer when Mecum sold it at its 2017 Kissimmee auction.

All GNX models were painted black and feature a 276-horsepower, turbocharged 3.8-liter V-6 mated to a four-speed automatic transmission. The car was the product of a partnership with McLaren Performance Technologies/ASC. Buick endowed the GNX with upgrades to the powertrain and suspension, as well as 16-inch aluminum alloy wheels and Goodyear Eagle VR50 tires. The interior features two-tone black and grey cloth, along with unique instrumentation.

“Turbo Buicks in general did well at the Arizona auctions,” Newton says, “and this result further shows that the demand is definitely still there.”