Roadside Attractions – 1984 Buick LeSabre

Marcal Eilenstein

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Comments

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There is a small gravel lot alongside the main road I take to work every day; there are often one or two cars sitting there for sale. Usually, they’re nothing special, but when I saw this great white beast posing for traffic this morning, I knew I was bound to stop and get some pictures. Driving home from work tonight, I did just that. Take a look.

According to the For Sale sign:

1984  Buick LeSabre

76,000 miles

New battery & tires

$2,000 OBO

3

The interior, well, it’s got one. It’s honestly in good to very good condition, especially considering its age. I took a hard look at the seats and couldn’t find any rips or tears. The soft foam and velour seats tended to wear out very quickly, as did the padded dash on most cars from this period. However, everything looked to be in working order and complete.

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Excuse the fat finger in the shot. The worst part of the car appears to be the trim, some of which is missing, and the exterior plastic, which is cracked and old. You can see in the lead photo that there’s some plastic missing from under the grille, as well. Expired tags from Colorado are a little concerning, but as long as the seller has a good title or bill of sale, I don’t think WSDOT will care.

I stopped to get some pictures of this car not because it’s necessarily collectible or desirable (yet), but because these old barges are becoming a rare sight on the roads these days. I had a childhood friend whose mother drove a blue one for a while, and it was already old even back then.

Over to you: would you snap up this luxo-barge for a measly $2,000, or would you let it ride?

 

[Photos Copyright 2013 Hooniverse/Marcal Eilenstein]

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Marcal Eilenstein

Marcal Eilenstein

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13 responses to “Roadside Attractions – 1984 Buick LeSabre”

  1. jonathan Avatar
    jonathan

    My grandfather had the same exact car except with a vinyl top. I remember the day he bought it new and brought it over our house. I was four years old, he let me stand in the driveway and play with power windows and locks, it was the first car I've ever seen with those features.

    Reply
  2. Impalamino Avatar
    Impalamino

    I'm kind of a B-Body freak. If it is as advertised…I'd try to talk the owner down to $1500. Bonus: this car doesn't exhibit the ass-sag that these cars get over time.
    I have a long-time dream of picking up an early 80s B-body coupe (preferably a Buick or Olds), painting it black, stuffing in a 502 BBC, but keeping it fairly Brougham-y, with the exception of widened stock rear wheels for appropriate meats.

    Reply
    1. MVEilenstein Avatar
      MVEilenstein

      My guess is the seller would take that offer. It's fairly low miles, but you just know it belonged to an old lady who can't drive it anymore, and they just want it gone.

      Reply
    2. C³-Cool Cadillac Cat Avatar
      C³-Cool Cadillac Cat

      I have the same dream, though of a 1995-1996 D-body Cadillac, stock-looking, but with a Lingenfelter-tweaked 572.
      This ain't your old man's Cadillac…

      Reply
  3. Mr. Smee Avatar
    Mr. Smee

    These B-bodies were awesome in their day, a vast improvement over their predecessors. I drove a 1978 Caprice with F-41 suspension and was shocked at how good it was. Crate engine, poly-bushings, good shocks and you can drive this for 15 years with no regrets.

    Reply
  4. njhoon Avatar
    njhoon

    I'm with Impalemino. But I'm cheap so I would go for 1250 and drop an LS when the current anchor starts to go south south and improve the suspension. I had a 79 Old 88, I love these cars and want another one to do my own Buford project.

    Reply
  5. Arco777 Avatar
    Arco777

    I would pass. Nothing I could be proud of or get excited to drive. Here in Arkansas it would sell in a minute, and be fitted with rented 26" wheels and a poorly done candy paint job. The first major mechanical failure that couldn't be solved by a crate 350 would send it to Pick-N-Pull.

    Reply
  6. C³-Cool Cadillac Cat Avatar
    C³-Cool Cadillac Cat

    My father had an '84 coupe one of these, burgundy over burgundy, and I found, save for cigarette burns, the GM 'cancerous' velour is damned near indestructible.
    This likely has the Olds 307, which is a decent motor, for mid-malaise. These are rolling living rooms, or bordellos, depending on interior colour (my wife refers to it, accurately, as whorehouse red) and are great road-trip machines.
    $2K is a bit steep, and I'd rather have a 2-door Park Avenue, but it's within haggling distance to reality.
    Remarkably, the transmission in my father's 1984 lasted, untouched, until 185K miles. The clutches flat wore out. The trans guy said it was like a cigarette which hadn't been touched since it was lit, and had three inches of ash on the end…intact, but don't even look at it hard.
    For some reason, and I've never figured out why, but the '77-'82 Olds Delta 88s seemed to be pretty much indestructible. They may have had the 350, but I still see them around, occasionally.
    They were all light green, light blue, with the occasional white one. The greens and blues had paint which, when exposed to sunlight, immediately oxidized and turned to powder, 'least here in Texas.
    That's it! This is a west Texas car. For going a few hundred miles at a time on dead-straight roads.
    edit: I'd put money on those wheel covers making a racket when going between 3-30 MPH.
    Worst. Design. Ever.

    Reply
    1. Red Delta Avatar
      Red Delta

      <img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/2576_144171115231_8192485_n.jpg"&gt;
      I had a lovely two tone brown example. I added the perfomance tinted windows and the Calvin pissing on Ford decal. It was the late 90's and I was 18. I miss that car.

      Reply
  7. HTWHLS Avatar
    HTWHLS

    I'd have snapped it up already if it was within 200 miles of Atlanta. I had a '82 2-door and I loved it. Battle-wagon strong, comfortable as hell. I like big cars (please notify me of a '67-67 coupe or Sedan Deville, folks).
    No rump-dump? buy it!

    Reply
    1. joseph tate Avatar
      joseph tate

      [youtube ASzZDVwLq1k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASzZDVwLq1k youtube]
      heres your deville… 71

      Reply
  8. Alff Avatar
    Alff

    Another thumbs up here, reminds me of mom's triple black '77 Caprice from way back when.

    Reply
  9. steve Avatar
    steve

    is this car still for sale?

    Reply