Looking at this rust-free, 26,000-mile 1981 Buick LeSabre Limited Coupe is like opening a brochure from 1981 and checking out what could have been yours if you weren’t looking for a fancier Electra. It sits high, but that’s the way it was back then; it wasn’t cool to drop your car down to the ground as it is today. The seller has this time capsule posted here on craigslist in the great city of Jamestown, New York, and the seller is asking a very reasonable $11,500 or best offer. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Tony P. for the tip!
There aren’t many 1981 LeSabres in “Light Maple” (red) around, and you’re right if you thought this one looked familiar. Our own Bruce Johnson wrote about this exact car here on Barn Finds back in 2022. The seller was asking $19,500, and it was located in the Las Vegas, Nevada area at that time. The current owner mentions it’s rust-free and then says it was a Las Vegas car, so that clinches it. The seller refers to the color as “Autumn Maple Firemist”, but this 1981 Buick color chart brochure appears to show this color as Light Maple.
I don’t know if the fifth-generation LeSabre would win any design awards, but I love this era for every car maker. GM had some nice cars in the 1980s, despite the required bumpers that had been around almost a decade and hadn’t gotten any better or had any big ideas thrown at them to make them actually look good. We can fly to the moon, land, and fly back to the earth again, but in a decade, not one group of designers, engineers, and government officials got together to make bumpers that looked great and worked at least as well as the battering ram ones here? Disappointing. But as my former boss used to say at the architecture firm, “We’re not reinventing the wheel” every time I came up with a new idea for a strip mall or community center. It’s easier and more profitable to keep doing the same exact thing over and over again. Enough of that! Who brought that up anyway?! COME ON! Oh, wait, it was me. Never mind.
This car not only looks amazing on top, it appears to have been “coated” with something underneath, which no doubt explains a lot of the rust-free claims. It truly looks like a new car for the most part, and the seller has provided a fantastic video here on YouTube showing over 15 minutes of this car, and it looks even nicer than it does in the photos. As expected, the interior looks perfect both front and rear, as does the trunk, complete with space-saver spare tire. Oddly, the 1981 LeSabre had the lowest production numbers, with only 19,771 coupes produced and 82,877 total produced in two-door, four-door, and station wagon body styles.
The engine is GM’s 4.1-liter, but this isn’t the infamous V8 version; it’s Buick’s 4.1-liter OHV V6, which had 125 horsepower and 205 lb-ft of torque when new. It’s backed by a Turbo-Hydramatic sending power to the rear wheels. As expected, it starts, stops, runs, and drives like a new car, according to the seller, and it sure looks like one. I think $11,500 or offer is a fair price for a 44-year-old LeSabre Limited Coupe in this condition. What are your thoughts?
This brings back memories. When my wife and I were dating 33 years ago I had an ’82 Electra ( with the factory rims which made it look so much better). It was the darker shade of burgundy than this one. We named it “Bufford” ( Bufford the Buick) We had a family friend with an ’81 Electra with this same 4.1 V6. It would not win you any drag races but they got over 200000 trouble free miles out of it. The dash looks so familiar on this. Not many clean ones out there left like this one.
I love the name Buford for their car! My grandmothers LeSabre Limited had the darker red (burgundy) interior in the same style seats as this one. Being an ‘83, the steering wheel was a different style (but I love when a steering wheel matches the interior color)! I’m definitely a child of my era. The V8 it had was great fun for those long road trips back, when I was on my own, driving across the state after taking my grandmother to my aunt & uncles to stay for the holidays. How I wasn’t ticketed (or arrested) was Gods grace. The roads then were toll roads and I had my bag of loose change in the passenger seat ready.
Another candidate for an intercooled ↩️ 3.8 Buick mill lol. 😲🙃 😎 👍 🏁
But just beautiful as is. What a lovely car. Look at those plush seats 💺 😍
Personally, I’d ditch the wire wheel covers and source a set of Buick Road wheels for this beauty! GLWTS!! :-)
When the GM B-Bodies ruled. This one is a beauty and love the fact it has the 4.1. A new home will be soon hoping whom ever buy’s it will care for it
The 4.1 V6 was Buick’s 252, an enlarged version of the 3.8 (231). Great engines, both of them! I’d like to see the odometer on this car, which the seller isn’t showing, just to make sure it hasn’t been fiddled with.
No wonder only 26,000 on the car with this terrible engine. Broken crankshafts, spun bearings, no oil pressure, no thanks. Even in perfect running condition, this car is a dog to drive. To be fair, Buick did later on correct the problems, but not in 1981
I worked in a GM dealership parts department from 1980 through 1995 and I well remember all the problems we had with the older Buick V6 engines. The life expectancy in those days was about 40,000 miles. At least Buick took note and eliminated those problems when they introduced the 3800. That was a much improved powerplant.
All I can say is that this Buick is CLEAN! To bad it does not have a v8.
Careful what you wish for! You need to specify a gasoline V8 or you might saddle yourself with the Olds Diesel V8.
I have such a heartfelt connection, and love of this generation of LeSabre, Electra, and Park Avenue. My grandfather had an ’82 Electra Limited with this same engine in it. My grandmother had an ’83 LeSabre Limited with the V8 in it and my parents had an ’80 Park Avenue with the Buick Rally wheels on it. I took my drives license test in the Park Avenue (yeah, including parallel parking) and, my gosh, it was a cool ride on the weekends with sometimes a date and other times with 6 or 7 of us piled into it. At the time I did not appreciate how much nicer these cars were than most of my friends parents cars but, looking back, I was fortunate to get to drive these 3 as often as I did. It was a couple years later that my dad started having me drive my grandmother across the state to go stay with my aunt for the holidays… those long road trips were some of my favorite (and my free) days of my life. They were definitely great on the long, open road!
I believe my mom had a ’81 Park Avenue 2 door black with turbine wheels and grey leather. I’ve looked for years for another like that car. Was your parents a 2 door–my dad says he doesn’t even remember owning the car so he’s no help! ha!
Your parents Park Avenue sounds gorgeous. I loved those turbine wheels! My parents Park Ave (and both of my grandparents LeSabre & Electra) were all 4 doors. They were so popular in our community at that time, but all were 4 doors. One friend had a Park Ave in the sand gray inside and out and it was stunning: the prettiest of them all, I thought. Another friend had one in all tan in and out.
I’m glad you shared with us! Thanks!
Here’s a beauty. Love the red(ish) color along with the plush interior and roll down windows. The big six isn’t a bad thing either.
1981 was a horrible year for all full size cars. Ironically, toward the end of 1982 when gas prices stabilized, the companies could not make enough of the full sizers.
On the YouTube video, precisely at the 7:56 mark, you can see the odometer. Weird lineup of the numbers. The condition speaks for itself, so…
The 4.1L V6 came standard with automatic overdrive. This car has it. Just change the rear gear and get more pep. This option may be most cost effective for more oomph.
I defer to Stan with this one. Standard 2:56? Switch to 3:23 or 3:42?
With overdrive it already has lower gearing for take off in first gear. To get more oomph, put in a V-8
The documentation i have from the era said 3.23’s were standard
Robert has it covered Class_room. For the record my source for gears has gone into a Patreon space. I loved their free info for many years the automobile catalog.
Nice Buick. I particularly like the dark red puffy velour upholstery. Very 80’s, and completely different than today’s upholstery.
This beauty is from the days when the word luxury meant comfortable, not sporty. I would love this car if only it had a V8 instead of the V6.
The 1981 4.1L had a horrible appetite for head gaskets. The 1980 4.1 block was 35 pounds heavier than the 1981 block. Enough said.
Yup, that was my experience with that engine.
Beautiful car in beautiful condition. Too bad it’s not well optioned. Should have the Buick 350 4 bbl. V8, and power windows/locks/seat/trunk at the very least.
IIRC the last year Buick offered their 350 V8 was in 1980. The V8s available in the 1981 were the Olds 307 and the Olds 5.7L Diesel.
Rick, you are correct, sir, thanks for mentioning that!
The two V8s for ’81 were both from Oldsmobile, the 307 and 350 diesel that you mentioned. The 3.8-liter Buick V6 was the base engine, so two Buick V6s and two Oldsmobile V8s were used for the LeSabre in 1981. Thanks!
I’m 90% sure that luxury liner has an 8-track player; the radio dial is built into the swing-up tape door. 45-year-old technology – gotta love it! <3
Nice write-up, Scotty, and thanks to Tony P. and Mitchell G. for both offering this tip. I bought a ’78 LeSabre Custom with the 231 for $250 from a friend’s Dad who had let it sit a while despite replacing it. We called it the Blue Goose. The “before” 0-60 was an even 60 seconds. After some tune-up items including Accel Ignition it laid down a blistering 16 second trip to 60. It was my winter beater so I didn’t care, and I got about 17 MPG in mixed driving. I rented it to my boss for $200 a month two summers in a row, so it actually made money. I loved the module on top of the dash that had block letters for “CRUISE” in green, “BRIGHT” in blue etc. That and the dashboard felt like real luxury. I once put a six foot Christmas tree in the trunk diagonally and closed the lid. My high school buddy Tim worked at Firestone and got me used truck tires on the cheap from a customer who got new tires every Fall whether he needed them or not. Thanks for the memories!