Having survived yet another downsizing at General Motors, this time coming for the sixth-generation, front-drive Buick LeSabre for the 1986 model year, the full-sized Buick LeSabre Estate Wagon would be made for a few extra years in all its oversized, rear-wheel-drive goodness. The seller has this 1986 Buick LeSabre Estate Wagon posted here on craigslist in Madison, Virginia, and they’re asking $4,000. Here is the original listing.
GM downsized their full-sized cars – or most of them – for the 1977 model year and Buick’s LeSabre was on the list. The previous LeSabre Estate Wagon was about a foot longer than the 1977 through 1990 models as seen in this 1986 model. After the 1990 model year, the Estate Wagon would lose the LeSabre and Electra names, and even though the “jelly bean” Roadmaster Estate Wagons looked bigger, they were actually about five inches shorter than the wagon seen here.
This wagon was looking fantastic for the seller’s $4,000 asking price until seeing the left rear 3/4 view with the dent in the left side of the rear tailgate and what looks like surface rust on a few spots. It looks like the bumper filler material is mostly gone from both the front and rear, but that’s available if a person wants to spend the money restoring the exterior of this otherwise good-looking wagon. The paint has seen better days, so add that to the list.
The seats look good both front and rear, as does the rear cargo area. It could use carpet if a person wanted to go crazy bringing it back to how it would have looked back when Ronald Reagan was president. There are interior dyes and sprays that work pretty well for “restoring” different parts, but there’s some heavy surface rust showing up on parts of the interior chrome and other cracks and crevices and I have to wonder what the underside looks like.
The engine is an Oldsmobile-sourced 307-cu.in. OHV V8, which was factory-rated at 140 horsepower and 255 lb-ft of torque when new. It sends power through a four-speed Turbo-Hydramatic transmission to the rear wheels and the seller says it runs and drives like it’s 1986 again, which I think is a good thing. Although, a 4,300-pound car with 140 horsepower, yeah. It’s had a lot of maintenance and if a person wanted what looks like a solid LeSabre Estate Wagon for little money, here ya go. Any thoughts on this one?
Nice inclusion of specifications Gilbertson.
307ci Rocket 🚀 Olds. 4-Barrel Rochester. 2.73 gear ⚙️ std issue. Buick offered a 3.08, 3.23 as more lively options. Cool GM wagon 😎
When did they stop offering these Buicks wagons with the “Scenic Cruiser” roofs? I always liked that roof treatment; in fact I wanted to graft one to the top of my 77 Dodge Maxivan.
Around 1969
I had a 1972 Olds Vista Cruiser, the sister to the Buick Scenic Cruiser.
Put many, many miles on my mom’s 1982 Buick LeSabre Estate Wagon before my parents gave it to my wife and me as a wedding present in 1992 (which we promptly sold for $1800). Truly an awful car: no power, terrible floaty handling with weak brakes, horrible gas mileage, etc.
I had an ’85 Caprice wagon in the exact shade of blue. Had the 305 in it. Now there was a garbage engine for ya. But, I paid $150 for it, one owner, with 100k on it, in 1991. Had to cut holes in the inner fenders to get the back plugs out. Which original owner never replaced. Good times!