Does anyone know if the '65 LeSabre that came with the 300 V8 (what ever the small V-8 was) had the battery on the passenger side? Like everyone else, my '65 Wildcat has some rust under the battery tray. I noticed my car has mounts for a battery tray on the passenger side, too. I'm thinking that was for the Lesabre smaller V8 setup. That leads me to think that I might be able to find a '65 Lesabre that might have a drivers side fender well that isn't eaten up by battery acid since the battery is opposite where the Wildcat's is. Thanks Rick
Should work Rick, That is exacly what I did for my 66 Wildcat. I found a front clip from a LeSabre. I had the core support repaired and have the inner fenders sandblasted, ready for paint. The battery tray itself is actually different on the 66's. I don't know about the 65's. I found a decent tray on Ebay that came with the original hold-down hardware, as mine was MIA. On the 66's, the brackets that mount the inner fenders to the firewall are longer for the Wildcat. I assume that it is the same type set-up for the 65 Wildcat. Good luck with your search. The one I found was from a relatively rust-free Texas car.
my 65's have the tray on the driver side of the car, not the passager side? starters on the drivers side as well i know the 300's had the starters on the passager sides Greg
Greg: My Wildcat battery is on the driver's side too. I was trying to find a driver's side fender well that would not have battery acid damage. I would assume almost every fender well that has a battery tray near it would have damage. I was trying to determine if the Lesabre small V8 had the battery on the passenger side which would leave the drivers side undamaged and ready to be transplanted into my car. :Brow: Rick
Let me try this again..... OK, I may have been misleading in my original post. The 66 Wildcat has the battery tray on the drivers side and the LeSabre has it on the passenger side. My original (Wildcat) radiator core support and battery tray were pretty much eaten away, especially under the battery tray. The inner fender looked like swiss cheese, as well, under the battery tray. I was lucky enough to find a 66 LeSabre front clip, originally from a Texas car, on Ebay, yet it was moved to about 50 miles south of me (south of St. Louis). I bought it for $50! I brought the inner fenders, which looked brand new but faded, and the core support home and had them sandblasted. The core support had some rust on the passenger side, under where the battery tray was mounted for the LaSabre, but nothing like that on my original. I had it repaired, primed and painted semi-gloss black. The innder fenders are exactly the same on the 66 Wildcat and LeSabre. The only difference is the brackets at the rear of the inner fenders that attach to the firewall, with the Wildcat's being longer to make up for the difference in the length of the frames. So, I would guess (and it is only a guess) that the 65 Wildcat and LeSabre are similar to the 66's, in that they share inner fenders and core supports. The LeSabre parts would probably be easier to locate since (I think) more were produced. I also think that Buick produced more cars in 1965 than in any other year, so the chances of finding what you need should increase. You could check with a local Buick dealer to see if any of them still keep a copy of the 1965 Master Parts manual. This would tell for certain if the parts are shared between the two models. A dealership in Alton, IL had one a couple of years back. The counterman let me look thru it a couple of times before I found one for 1966 on Ebay. Good Luck in your search. The parts are out there, it's just finding them. But that, to me, is part of the fun!
