Beginning in 1959, the LeSabre became Buick’s leading full-size product. And it held that role into the early 21st Century. In 1977, Buick began downsizing some of its cars for better fuel mileage, including the LeSabre. The seller’s 1985 Custom Coupe is from the last production run of rear-wheel-drive LeSabres. A one-owner car in well-preserved condition, this Buick can be found in Moriches, New York, and is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $14,995. Barn Finder “Zen” is the source of this tip.
The 1977-85 LeSabres were a dozen inches shorter and 700 pounds lighter, meaning the cars gained an upper hand of sorts at the gas pump. And the ‘85s were the last to have body-on-frame construction as well as V8 engines. While a Buick 231 cubic inch V6 was standard, you could opt for a 307 V8, which was sourced from Oldsmobile, as is the case with the seller’s car. Though this automobile looks like a “cream puff”, it’s logged 131,000 miles over the past 41 years.
For reasons not mentioned, this Buick’s V8 was replaced at just 48,000 miles, meaning the current engine has 83,000 clicks to its credit. And sometime in between, the lower portion of the TH-350 has been redone along with the rear-end. So much for longevity. The Buick is well-equipped with all sorts of power goodies, factory air conditioning, and a sunroof (which has new gaskets to keep out water).
The body looks good as does the white paint. The burgundy interior is up to snuff and includes a new headliner (bet the old one got a case of the “droops”). Said to be in mint condition (who are we to disagree), the LeSabre Custom Coupe is one of 5,000+ made in 1985. So, the number of survivors may only be in the hundreds. We’re told it’s an award winner with some trophies, presumably from local car events.
A beauty but euh…..a THM350 ? On the V-6 i’d believe but wasn’t the 200R-4 mandatory on the V-8. Aside that its a beauty of a past era. I love it
Wasn’t even on the V6, they all got the 200r you were correct.
If I were in the market (a la Howard) for a big comfy cruiser, this white/maroon ’85 Le Sabre is very attractive! However, the beautiful blue ’78 Le Sabre posted a few cars earlier is also very attractive as well (blue being my favorite color)! GLWTA!! :-)
IMO this body style is far less attractive than the ’77-79 coupe so I’d go blue, although it’d be even better without the vinyl top.
It’s no wonder the B body coupes’ sales tanked after the ’80 restyle, especially given how nice the ’81 up A/G Special coupes, Regal and Cutlass Supreme in particular looked. That size was a sweet spot for a lot of empty nesters accustomed to the feel of a big domestic car but no longer needed the room. Those who did need the room bought 4 door B bodies that wore the new roofline better.
I never used to like these, but they are really starting to grow on me.
I’ve always liked the LeSabre Coupe’, they probably knew when the C-body shrank in 85′ that some of those customers would go with a B-body!
Put the Turbo V-6 from the Grand National in it then I might look twice.
I had a 1980 LeSabre T-Type with a 4.1L V6. It would tow my boat nicely.
Pretty much about the end of the era of riding on a cloud. Just about everything since is like riding on no shocks across RR tracks. Maybe the 90’s Cadillacs were still pretty dreamy. But boy I wish manufacturers could get back to the days of comfortable luxury.
Even recently, I have had a Volvo xc60, Cadillac CTS, alpha Romeo stelvio and a Kia (big one) telluride. My RAM 2500 rides better than all of them and absolutely no where near what cars like this one rode like.
So what’s on the right rear fender, a power antenna? It must’ve come with one of those windshield antennas. Not the right spot but who am I to say when I did the same thing on my ’72 Caprice along with putting speakers in the door panels. Both something I wouldn’t do now.
I like the formal roof just as well as the ’77-’79 roofs. I’ll take the ’78 posted earlier just for the stand-out color combo.
These were very nice riding cars. I drove one just like this when it was new. I actually ran I95 from Lumberton NC to Jacksonville Fl with my foot to the floor for most of that trip and got right at 28MPG. True story.
It was a great car and the motor was typical Oldsmobile which means non-breakable.
base model nothing fancy. not seeing the 15k. maybe 1/2 that.