Category: Buick

Buick LeSabre Hardtop For Sale

It’s finally time, I need to sell my old 1965 Buick LeSabre. It’s been a good car, I drove it for about 10 years. It belonged to an older gentleman, when he had to be moved to an assisted care facility his car was sold and I bought it. It had about 60K miles on it at the time.

 

The Good

The car now has about 130K miles on the original Buick 300 V8 engine with an AFB 4-Barrel Carburetor, a Dynaflow 300 automatic 2-speed transmission (Buick’s version of a Powerglide) with a switch-pitch torque converter. No A/C, drum brakes, original dash, seats, chrome, etc.. There are a few minor upgrades, HEI electronic ignition, radiator out of a 455 Oldsmobile, dual exhaust and Aluminum wheels. The carb has been jetted very lean and when it was running well I could get 20+ MPG on the highway.

Tires were new in the Spring of 2010 and only have about 2000 miles on them.

All the class is good and windows operate properly.

I have a friend who’s wife has a Mercedes Benz convertible and he used to complain that no one ever looked at their car, but heads would turn when driving mine.

 

The Bad

 
The car does have a few problems and is currently not in driveable condition. The front centerlink needs to be replaced, it is available from Rare Parts through most major auto parts stores. The transmission leaks, I have a filter kit for it that I never put in, I don’t know if a new pan gasket will fix it or not. The transmission worked OK when I parked it but it has been sitting for about a year. It also has not been started in the last year, it ran fine when I parked it but I would recommend some new gas and maybe some carb cleaner.

The car also has some rust, mostly in the trunk floor area and where the rear body mounts are located. Everything else is pretty much normal wear and tear for a care of it’s age. There are a couple small dents that were there when I bought it, but nothing too major.

 

1965 Buick Price

 
I want this car to go to a good home. I’m asking $900, but will consider reasonable offers and possible trades. Please, no lowball offers. This price is basically salvage price plus what I can get for the wheels and tires on Craiglist. If I want to crush it I will tow it to the salvage yard myself.

The car is sold AS/IS, no warranty, you must pick up in Greeley Colorado. Delivery within a 50 mile radius may be available for a reasonable fee.

Below are some pictures, both inside and out, as well as closeups of all the rust spots I can find. Most of these pictures were taken last winter, but nothing has changed since that time.

 

Contact Me About a 1965 Buick LeSabre

 
The LeSabre has been SOLD

Looks like it’s really the end of the road for my 1965 Buick LeSabre. I am in the process of purchasing a new car, a 1996 Honda Accord in Excellent condition.

I know, I know, sounds like I’m a sellout, but with $4/gallon gas coming this summer it just makes sense. So, if you are looking for a classic ride and want a slightly rusty LeSabre with 130K original miles on it that still needs a center link and a transmission pan gasket shoot me a message.

My 1965 Buick has a transmission that leaks. It’s leaked for years, but it seems to get worse all the time. I’m not sure where it’s leaking from, it can be difficult to tell, but I thought I would start with the pan. The pan gasket and rear seal are doable, the front seal is less fun.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I think it’s fair to let everyone know that I have a love/hate relationship with auto parts stores. My first job after I graduated High School was with the local (and now defunct) Big A Auto Parts in Loveland Colorado. I was a Will Call driver and worked the counter for a couple years before I decided to do something else with my life. My experience has resulted in a very low tolerance for parts men (and women). I often do business at the local Checker because I know a guy there, but they are carrying fewer and fewer parts for my old car. I have found that the Greeley NAPA store generally has better luck getting the parts I need to keep my classic Buick on the road.

Thinking I should take care of my transmission leak, I stopped at the local NAPA store last Saturday. My Buick has a two speed transmission which I always assumed was a powerglide. It’s not. The actual transmission in my car is a switch-pitch Super Turbine 300. This transmission was used in Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs from 1964-1969. It seems to be a good transmission, other than leaking it has always worked great, but it is obsolete. The woman at NAPA, who I admit did give it a good shot, couldn’t find a filter kit for it. She checked her numbers and they were no longer available.

The next stop was the Internet to see how discontinued these parts really were. I looked several places and couldn’t find anything. There were some discontinued parts available on eBay, but that was it. The whole idea was put on the back burner.

Today I had a thought. Perhaps Amazon would carry this part, maybe I should check. The Amazon automotive search interface is a little sub-par, so it took a while to find the right part. After entering the year, make and model of my Buick the parts were all just kind of listed there. Several transmission filters were listed, but they didn’t specify if they fit the TH400 or the ST300. One thing did stick out though, they listed a WIX filter for it. If you’ve never been the parts business you may not be familiar with WIX, but they are a filter company that used to carry many hard to find filters.

My next step was to visit the WIX site. I punched in the number of the filter kit Amazon listed for the Buick and confirmed that, yes, it was a TH400 filter. Fortunately the WIX site itself has a nice search tool and they listed the kit for a ST300. Returning to Amazon, I searched for that new part number, WIX 58880, and amazingly Amazon lists it as in stock.

The filter hasn’t been ordered yet, so it may not be as good as it sounds, but it looks like they have the right part and will send it to me. The moral of the story? Twofold I guess. First, if you work a parts counter out there, or own an auto parts store, be sure to check all your resources. The NAPA store should be able to get WIX filters, and it wasn’t like they were busy and didn’t have time to look it up. Second, if you are an owner of a classic vehicle, be sure to check everywhere for those hard to find parts. You never know where they will turn up.