The brand known as De Agostini, from Italy, has produced several different diecast vehicles of “American Cars” in 1:43 scale.
All hand painted, made from metal and injection-molded plastic.
The 1987 Buick Grand National is one of them, amongst a few others we saw (1979 Trans Am, 1969 GTO, 1970 Z/28, 1972 Buick Riviera).
Apparently De Agostini sells magazine subscriptions about these “American Cars”, which include 1 of these die cast cars with every issue!
They state there are 80 issues planned!
The first issues had replicas of 1960s-1970s stock car race cars (69 Mustang, 72 Gran Torino, 70 Superbird, etc.).
These smaller 1:43 scale collectibles are popular overseas, but not created often here in the States, where we prefer sizes such as 1:18, 1:24 and the 1:64 (hot wheels) type versions.
There’s only been 2 different Buick GN’s previously made in the 1:43 scale:
Greenlight Fast and Furious, and the one from Auto World (which came in black or white colored versions).
The De Agostini Buick GN car looks to be a brand new casting, judging by the wheels that aren’t on any of the other vehicles created in this scale.
The details look pretty accurate, interior is good, hood emblems & fender decals.
It comes in a plastic hard display case, with a placard at the bottom of the stand, stating this automobile is a “Buick Grand National (1987).”
This is all attached to a carded backing.
Notice the “you are leaving New Mexico” sign in the photo background!
These 2 photos are the only ones available of the 1987 Buick Grand National (for now, perhaps others will be shown later).
The car shown below is being sold on ebay (buy it now for $37 + $18 shipping [March 2021]).
So about $55 total to own this in your collection.
(not too bad considering that was about the price of the Autoworld version when they came out)
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UPDATE:
This 1:43 scale model is produced under the Altaya name, made by Planeta Deagostini, which is located in Spain. They are present in several overseas Countries including France, Portugal, Belgium, amongst others.
A few more photos of the 1987 Buick Grand National they created are below.
(Notice the Oklahoma license plate! But the New Mexico photo used as the backdrop for the display case!?)
(we saw this one for sale on ebay, from France, for about U.S. $21 + $27 shipping, so the price for this model car really hasn’t changed much, as of April 2022)
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This is what the creator has to say about these (their promo ad for these items):
DeAGOSTINI American Car Collection Vol. 62 (62= THIS is the Buick Grand National)
Good old American cars you’ve always dreamed of are gathered here!
Diecast Miniature Collection
The bi-weekly “American Car Collection” is a collection of 80 realistic 1/43 scale die-cast miniatures of American cars from the 1960s and 1970s.
Each issue comes with a special display case with background and specs, allowing you to display and collect them.
80 Muscle Cars in all!
The collection features a total of 80 types of American cars from the 1960s and 1970s, focusing on the popular high-performance American cars known as Muscle Cars.
1/43 scale die-cast models with realistic coloring, emblems and details faithfully reproduced from the original models.
The emblems and details are faithfully reproduced from the original models. (Some parts are made of plastic.)
In addition to the introduction of the models included in the magazine, the magazine is packed with fascinating contents such as development stories that look back on the history of American cars, and USA News that looks back on American society in the 1960s and 1970s.
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This is the cover of the magazine they make, along with a page from the table of contents:
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UPDATE (Nov 2025)! Shown below is a version that was recently sold in Japan (slightly different packaging than the above, but basically the same car inside).
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