Among my legions of car colleagues, the T-Type line from Buick in the 1980s is one that generates a certain type of response: “I wouldn’t mind owning one, but I’m not going to hunt for it.” In other words, if a clean T-Type LeSabre fell into our laps, we’d be fine with it, but it’s not the sort of car you embark on a years-long hunt for. It almost follows the general theme the car had when it was new: sporty, but not a sports car. Still, they are rare to find in any form, and this 1987 LeSabre listed here on craigslist for $12,000 looks quite nice.
When Buick began giving its cars the all-black treatment, it was an indication of a few different things: for one, it wanted to stand out, like any competitive manufacturer. Two, it was interested in seeing if it could snag a few customers away from its European competitors, who seemed to have eschewed chrome trim for color matching. Three, there was likely some internal fighting within GM between Pontiac or Buick being the brand that got to be crowned “exciting”, and we all know how that turned out. It seems Buick never got further than using a conventional front-wheel drive recipe that looked killer but didn’t actually hunt. If you are an enthusiast who has been hunting for a T-Type LeSabre, however, this one looks quite clean.
But it really is a looks-only car. What I mean is GM was signaling, in some ways, they couldn’t build a better BMW 3-Series. One of the biggest complaints about cars like the LeSabre was how great it looked outside, but then you slid into an interior that was straight out of your grandfather’s Buick. Expanses of plastic dash and zero sense of a driver-oriented cockpit. For anyone cross-shopping the T-Type with an E30 BMW at the time, it was a night and day difference. Under the hood was a reliable 3.8-liter, 150 b.h.p. V6 hooked up to a 4-speed automatic. Hardly exciting, but certainly capable of getting the job done.
This vintage advertisement for the standard LeSabre (listed here on eBay if you’re curious) shows you what was sitting across the showroom floor from the sinister T-Type at the time: the LeSabre your grandfather absolutely did drive. If you were in your early 30s and considering a T-Type but saw this very car staring at it across the tile floor, how would you react? In many ways, Buick was signaling that the T-Type experiment was simply that and it was more reliant on its steady customer base than trying to steal a few import shoppers away. Regardless, these T-Types show up infrequently at best, and we thank Barn Finds reader Barney for sending this one in.
I was thinking that this iteration would have been nice with a forced induction system to make it go as fast as it looks like it should, but no matter what, that interior will only say ‘rental fleet’ at any speed.
Missed opportunities.
Great line Jeff… Looks Killer, but doesn’t hunt. Made me think of the old saying “That Dog don’t hunt ” 🤣
I always thought these looked sharp, nice rims, I liked the interiors on these personally myself. And the 3.8 V6 is a motor you can hardly go wrong with. This one looks like a nice clean example for sure.
A sheep in wolf’s clothing.
T-Type synonymous w Turbocharging↪️🏁
True about the Regal, just an appearance package on this one. Maybe it could mean “Transverse-Type” for the LeSabre, LOL
Nope, Buick offered a T-type package for most (all?) of their ’80s models, most of those without a turbo; supposedly the T was meant to stand for Touring, as a sort of vague allusion to more European sensibilities.
Production numbers were low, with an estimated total of roughly 5,389 units built across its brief three-year run.
Nobody cross-shopped a LeSabre and an E30 BMW.
Agree with you there. The ’87 325 stickered for at least 50% more than the T-Type. Completely different league. If they cross-shopped domestics at all the competitors were likely the Thunderbird or the LeBaron GTS. Being a GM guy, I’d have chosen this one, regardless of whether the Ford or Chrysler cars appeared to be better.
Batman bought his nephew his first car.
not a lot of pics or info though. the way the hood opens really makes working on these a chore.
Only if you are trying to change the radiator :-) Rear plugs are breeze on these. I loved that the hood didn’t need gas struts or a prop rod to keep it open. Just moving the CG of the open hood past the pivot points held it open
Itis a shame that they didn’t but the turbo V6 in it, but I think the higher ups at GM weren’t too enthused about a full-size coupe with a turbo was not on their dance card. It has the look, just not the punch. I might try to source a turbo block from another GM car and see if that improves the performance. Otherwise, I’d leave it alone and just cruise with it, because that’s the only thing you can do…
I don’t think the FWD transmission at the time was up to the task of a turbo V-6. The higher-ups more than likely thought about it but engineering put the kibosh on it. Since Buick already had a couple of other all black turbo coupes in 1987, this was for the customer who wanted the “show” but couldn’t afford the “go.”
Indeed, I always thought these LeSabre T-types at least looked the part of a worthy successor to the Grand National, too bad about the FWD and relatively puny engine.
IMO swapping in a later supercharged 3800 powertrain would be the ticket to finally give one of these the Go to match the Show, while also keeping it in the Buick family, with a forced-induction V6 in the GN tradition.
I was kinda thinking the same, but with the supercharged variant. Looks like that didn’t start happening until the early 90s, and the transaxle was upgraded to from plain old 4T65-E to 4T65-E E/HD.
That 3.8l is venerable, though; in naturally-aspirated form it’ll last longer than the rest of the car, a guy just isn’t gonna set any speed or quickness records with it.
These were pretty nice rides and would be a worthwhile consideration at a lesser price. BUT perhaps it will rock somebody and the price will be met.
I drove one for a while back when they were new and enjoyed it.