Driver Project: 1960 Buick LeSabre Convertible

You can’t see under the skin of this wild 1960 Buick LeSabre Convertible, but it represents a couple “lasts” for General Motors’ oldest brand: It’s the last Buick with a torque-tube driveline and the last Buick with accelerator-pedal starting. Of course, those facets don’t make this droptop any more valuable, but if you’re interested in the evolution of American automotive technology, they might be a nice thing to tell your friends when you bring home this “Chalet Blue” Buick. Barn Finder Curvette sends it to us by way of craigslist in Troutdale, Oregon, where it’s listed as a running and driving project with a $22,500 asking price.

Setting aside the Buick’s extroverted styling, its main selling point may be its interior. Those tri-tone vinyl seats and door panels. The brushed dashboard trim. The ribbon speedometer. The wraparound windshield. It’s not perfect inside but it indeed might be largely original. The seller points out that the car has been sitting a long time and will “need some work to be roadworthy,” and one thing the new owner will have to do is repair the power convertible top mechanism; “the top goes down manually but not with the switch.”

As a result of its long slumber, the engine has been brought back to life and treated to a “new water pump, fuel pump, all upper gaskets, hoses, [and] battery.” While the Invicta and Electra models got the enlarged 401 “Nailhead,” the LeSabre had the smaller 364 in three stages of tune, the base engine being a two-barrel 250-horsepower “Wildcat 384,” so named in the Buick fashion for its torque rating. (A 300-horsepower 364 four-barrel was optional, but the seller doesn’t mention which one this car has.) This car has the optional power steering and brakes, along with the optional “Turbine Drive” automatic transmission, which is basically the Dynaflow rebranded. The Twin Turbine was sold on its smoothness; drop the selector in “D” and the transmission never shifts because all torque multiplication is handled by the torque converter. Drop the selector in “L” for a little extra gear reduction, but be careful, the transmission will stay in that gear until you float the valves or blow up the engine; the Twin Turbine stays in low gear until you move the selector back to Drive.

By the way, the accelerator-pedal-start microswitch is located on the carburetor itself; once again, 1960 was the last year for that interesting feature.

The seller reiterates that the LeSabre is not a “get-in-and-go vehicle,” although they don’t specify what work still needs to be done. The car does have its share of road rash, including chips, small dents (including one seen here on the passenger quarter panel), and a little rust in the wheelwells and rocker panels.

Still, it looks like a pretty solid, running 1960 Buick Convertible, and big American convertibles from the 1960s are still worth quite a bit of money. Is this one worth $22,500? Tell us what you think in the comments.