garybuick, please update us on your 1971 LeSabre Custom 4-door hardtop

I agree, although my 73 looks nice with it. I will pull the door panel and see if there are filled holes where the moldings were. Its possible there were none. that would be great. I do have the rocker molding which is made of stainless steel unlike my 73 which is made of aluminum. I have vinyl top trim for a 73 centurion that i have been saving but I think its different for 4 door so Ill keep that until someone needs it. I dont even have the LeSabre scripts or Buick scripts for the car. All filled in by the previous owner.

I bought the car because I like four door hardtops and its a 71 which is a nice year, I like the grill, the tail lights , the bumpers, the dash, everything really. I like the car. Suppossedly only 60K original miles. Engine is all stock 350 4bbl and has A/C that works. Nice. I never see Buicks around here at any car shows. I rarely even see impalas.

 

Gary, you could even skip the vinyl roof, or, perhaps better still, go with one of the contrasting color painted roofs. I have seen a number of early-1970's LeSabres that lack vinyl roofs, but have contrasting painted roofs instead.

The LeSabre scripts would be easily located. The Buick nameplate appeared on the grille on the front of the car, but you would need to seek the Buick block lettering for the deck lid.

 

ok upon further investigation, it does appear to have filled holes in the places that you indicated. So it did come with body side moldings. The must have ground the studs off and filled with bondo, hopefully they did that surgically and not just faced it and filled it. All doors look nice and straight except the RH front door which im eager to take back to bare metal which is what Im going to do to this whole car. I did so to a 66 belair long ago and was faced with horrible truths, I faced it and fixed it properly with new metal where applicable and proper metal conditioner, epoxy primer, surfacer, hammer and dolly work and finally minmal filler, then paint. It looked gorgeous. Only I knew where the flaws were.

 

If anyone has a picture of a 4 door hardtop in arctic white with brown vinyl top I would like to see what that looks like. I have googled for a while now and have not found anything maybe you have a buick photo repository on your computers.

 

Gary, here's something close -- the '71 Centurion 4-door hardtop straight out of the 1971 Buick brochure. The top on this one is black, but you can get an idea.



And the LeSabre Custom coupe in the same color scheme:

 

1971 LeSabre Custom that appears to be Rosewood with Sandalwood or white vinyl roof:

 

Here's one that's close, unfortunately a 2 door though,





It's not an altogether bad combination, in fact, it's rather attractive and suits the car. White is a difficult colour to carry off, if a car looks good in white, it usually is in good proportions and has great lines.

 

Here's another one, with wild-a$$ wheels:




Not quite my idea of fun, but....the colours aren't bad.

 

I dont know guys. Im not crazy about those colors. I originally bought it to make a nice cruiser out of because it had already been molested, yet was overall very solid with original engine and alleged low miles. I thought about dark green with black and chrome interior. Minimal chrome exterior, just bumpers, grill and window trim. Big tires on steelies with econo caps. Nice rumble. Clean and straight. ice cold A/C. a nice cruiser/daily driver. I dont think Im going to try to turn back the clock on this one. And the louvers... oh the louvers, that just makes it all the more cool and I need all the help I can get.

 

Really? Cool...It just came up on Google, it's from an old dealer for sale ad.


Gary, ultimately it's your car, and you do what makes you happy. If you want to customize it, your right; - if you want to "turn back the clock", also your right.

I'm a purist in the sense that if it's going to be restored, it's going to be as close to stock as possible, but that's just me. It's true, those cars aren't worth a whole lot right now, but 20 years ago big boats from the sixties weren't very desirable either, and now they are. My advice would be only to customize it to the point where it can easily be undone, there may come a point when cars of that era come into demand, particularly since they're crushing them by the thousands now. Watching some of the fights the guys here on the board have to go through to undo custom or bad work I'd suggest keeping it simple, drive it it, preserve it, maybe paint it a different colour, but don't do anything really radical to it. I mean, if it's rusted to the point of being a basket case, well, then it doesn't matter, do what ever. But just remember that whenever you take a car off the mainstream and customize it, you are doing it to your taste and yours alone, not everyone will share your enthusiasm or understand why you did what you did.

As I said, don't shoot the messenger, it's just my opinion, take it for what it's worth. I tend to think the white and brown look absolutely smashing, and the wildest I'd go with the wheels is a nice set of Buick road wheels. There also aren't a lot of exterior colours that do well with Sandalwood on the interior. (White, yellow, brown and light green are pretty much it) I used to see a lot of flat-blacked-out things in the wrecker with the ubiquitous Sandalwood or avocado green and I'd know exactly what they were, the effect came off as cheesy and half baked, and not "cool". If you change the exterior colour you'd be better off to find either a white or a black interior.

 

To Germany? I hope they left those wheels in the US.
I want to see the face of the first cop stopping him.
No way you can legally drive them around here.

 

What is illegal about the wheels in Germany?

 

isnt there some way you can take the car in someplace and have them certify the car and get the paperwork in order before it gets sent to Germany? I mean its not a bad idea if you think of all the unsafe vehicles on the road here in the USA? on the other hand, once decisions are left to beaurocrats subjectivity its game over for freedom. watcha gonna do.

 

Erik isabsolutely right. And personally I think the rules are sometimes too strict.
The rims on this poor Buick are in my view unsafe and ridiculous anyway. I would prefer original steel or rallies.
Btw Are the rules less strict in Holland?

 

enough of politics, lets gets back to the topic and talk about my ultra rare 71 LeSabre with ultra rare louvers. There may have only been a matter of hundreds made. I wonder how many still exist? I may have the only one left in existence! I cant decide if I should restore it to original or make a muscle car daily driver cruiser. Its well within my ability to do either considering that the car is basically solid and rust free other than a few small areas. then again, who knows what horrors wait for me under the previous owners bodywork?

 

Another thing to consider is that the deck lid and hood are in mint undamaged condition. no dents, can be sanded smooth to bright shiny metal. I wonder how much these parts are worth?