If you were a teenager in the 1980’s or 1990’s and your parents gave you the keys to their 1981 Buick LeSabre, it was pretty hard to get a speeding ticket. I am sure some of you were able to accomplish this but Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and even Cadillac equipped their large cars with some very small displacement and underpowered engines. This 1981 Buick LeSabre is located in Henderson, Nevada near Las Vegas. It may be the nicest 1981 Buick LeSabre to survive to this day. The odometer reading is 23,800 miles. The car is listed here on Craigslist for $19,500. That may seem like a lot of money but you can’t get this kind of size and luxury from the showroom today for double that amount of money.
This 1981 Buick LeSabre Limited is equipped with a 4.1 cubic inch V6 engine. It was rated from the factory at 125 horsepower and 205 lb ft of torque. It is a naturally aspirated 90 degree V6 that is backed by a 3 speed automatic transmission. A 4.1 liter engine is equivalent to 252 cubic inches. This is the first year for computer command control (CCC) and this engine was asked to move a big heavy frame. I could not find any 0-60 or quarter mile times but they would probably beat the Oldsmobile 350 diesel! Buick did offer larger and more powerful engine options.
The interior on this car is immaculate and inviting. The crushed red velvet seat covers are comfortable and hold you in place for long drives. The exterior of this car is painted in Dark Maple Metallic (Code 77) and it has picked up some rock chips over the years. The owner must be a perfectionist because he had the hood removed, stripped and repainted to match the beauty of the rest of the car. The car is equipped with creature comforts including air conditioning, cruise control and the factory radio.
Weighing in at 3,626 lbs, this car will float down the highway as you head to your next Buick Car Show. The undercarriage of the car was Ziebarted when new and it is said to be rust free. This appears to be a turn key low mileage survivor that I hope ends up in the right hands and not in the hands of someone like me when I was a youth!
This is a nice 80s Buick in very good condition, but no way is it worth 20K to anyone but the current owner, who must really love the car to keep it in this condition and take it to shows. Being a GM employee in the 90s, I drove a lot of the full size GM cars, and they were certainly nothing to brag about. It didn’t matter which engine you had, they were all slow. The V6 was by far the worst, even the diesel outperformed the 4.1 engine. It almost looks silly with half of the engine bay being occupied by the fan shroud. Again, kudos to the owner for being such a good caregiver to this nothing special, ho-hum old 80s car, but he should just keep enjoying it as he has in the past, this is just my opinion.
This must have been a customer special order car when new, as two-door
Limited’s were rather rare and something a dealer would not likely
order for inventory, especially with a small V-6 but with a four barrel carb,
and that cloth interior. Most Limiteds were ordered with leather and
there was a savings, it being a full size car but less money than an
Electra.
Excellent presentation and uniquely optioned. Would love to have this with a more modern powertrain, but I could certainly drive it as is. Maybe a 3800 transplant from an F-body circa 2002. Yeah it’s too much, but no problem with asking for the stars and getting the moon with one in this shape.
More than a few racers have put the 4.1 litre block in their Buick Grand Nationals to replace the 3.8 litre block. Sneaky way to gain a few extra cubic inches and horsepower!
No substitute for displacement.
So Buick had a 4.1L V6 but Caddy had a 4.1L V8?
Correct.
The same 4.1 liter V6 was offered in Cadillacs in ’81, perhaps later years as well.
Had MY OWN (personally-ordered) police 1980 LeSabre 4dr. I’m comfortable w/stating it was the finest quality ride of the 24 cars I’ve owned in my almost-75 years. Its no-balls 155hp Buick 350 was nonetheless a smooth runner, but its true forte’ was its truly nimble handling due to Goodyear Bluestreak Pursuit radials & the FAT front/rear sway bars beneath. Dark Blue (29) w/Oyster crushed-velour interior.
Unusual to see an original two door in this condition, with low actual miles like this. Most were the retiree four doors that were cared for and still have low miles. It certainly is in show condition for an 80s car, when many were not cared for during that time period
I would fly to Vegas tomorrow to get this car if it could be had for about 12k. Had an 82 2 door given to me by an elderly neighbor after her husband died. It was low miles but rusty but I loved it.
It is craigslist contact the owner and make a offer
This 4.1 4bl. V6 was the initial drive train for Buick’s Lawman police package (option BT1) in 1981. However, LE was so “dismayed” by its sluggish performance & the lack of a V8 that GM redeemed itself by certifying the Olds 307 V8 in Feb. of ’81, 1980 being the swan song year for Buick’s 350.
IMO, this v6 wasn’t all that bad for the time. This was the 80s, remember? Fuel economy was the focus and it worked for the time. The 80s was good for a lot of things. The economy yes, automobiles, no.
Egads is that the same gas pedal as in my 71 lesabre?
It’s a Beauty. A kid I went to school withs mom had the twin to this car. He took his driver’s test the same day another one of my buddys and I did. We used my mom’s car and when we are done our moms let us take it to school. We didn’t see our buddy when we got to school, we figured his mom let him stay home. Come Monday morning he shows up to school all beat up, looking bad. Apparently his mom also allowed him to drive her brand new 1,200 mile car to school. The State Trooper figured he went into the median at over 90 mph and then hit a culvert pipe, flipping it end over end several times and barrel rolled it several times. Thankfully he was wearing his seat belt as our driving instructor pounded it into our brains about safety. The trooper asked him for his license after he got checked out by the emt’s, and saw he just got it that day. He said “Well, you won’t be needing this back for awhile” and put it in his pocket. He didn’t get his license until he was 18.
I had a coupe DeVille with the 4.1 liter Buick 6 cylinder. It was painfully slow. Since this is roughly the same chassis (might weigh a bit less, but I bet not much), it will be slower than molasses.
My Coupe DeVille could barely keep up with freeway traffic back then, and that was when we had the 55 mph speed limit almost everywhere. This would be terrifying on the freeways now, especially out west where 80 mph is common.
Are you sure it was a 6 cylinder? Caddy had the HT4100 back then but it was an 8. I have that 4.1L in my 84 Seville and it is indeed slow.
https://www.carfolio.com/buick-lesabre-limited-v6-696564
Positive. Mine was a 1981. The Cadillac 4100 came out in 1982.