David Spade got into cars after playing the titular character in the 2001 comedy “Joe Dirt,” in which he drove a beat-up Dodge Charger Daytona.
Well, it was a 1969 Charger that was customized to look like a Daytona, but the bug still bit him. When the 2015 sequel came out, he went and spent a record $900,000 on an authentic 1969 Charger Daytona Hemi, which was the all-time record price at the time.
He’s bought and sold many more American muscle cars over the years and is putting one of them up for auction at the Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach event coming up April 16-18.
It’s a 1987 Buick Grand National that he’s owned for more than a decade. Spade and the car appeared on an episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage” a few years ago. Spade told Leno he bought it after seeing fellow actor Sean Penn driving one.
The car was a little scratched up at the time, but has since been refinished in the original Code 19U Black paint. It’s also had the interior with refurbished dash trim and upholstery.
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The engine is stock with a rebuilt radiator and the only custom touches are aftermarket boost and knock gauges mounted on the driver’s side A-pillar and a set of Buick GNX-style wheels.
Barrett-Jackson doesn’t offer a pre-auction estimate on the car, but Classic.com says the average sale price for a Grand National is $50,000, while top models can break $100,000. However, the all-time record stands at $550,000 for the very last one that was built.
That’s still a long way off what GNXs go for. The limited edition higher performance version of the Grand National has continued to be a strong-seller, with a 1,200-mile example recently going for $243,096 on Bring a Trailer.
Daytona values have gone through the roof in recent years, however, with one sold for a record $3.3 million a Mecum Auctions event in 2024.
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