[BJM]

1985 buick lasabre 65,000 miles

I believe this car is a 1983 LeSabre not an 85 due to the grille. I spotted the 2 sport mirrors and emailed them for additional photos. They obliged and sent me the photos to my email, which I have deleted prematurely.

Anyway, the color of this car is what I call Rose Mauve, which is a light purple - the best I can describe it and those of you from this period should know what I am talking about.

GM and other companies used to find a nice color and exploit it over 1-3 years. I remember seeing Rose Mauve on Cutlass Supremes, full size Buicks, some Olds Toronados and I fell in love with the color because it was different and well executed on the 3 box GM cars of the early 1980's.

It paired well with maroon interiors and maroon half "opera" roofs. I always wanted a rose mauve 2 door Electra or LeSabre. That is precisely what this car is except the paint is faded and it's a Minnesota car.

The additional photos they sent showed a car with a badly rusted rear bumper and some rust over the wheel wells. At $600, it's not overpriced but I have never heard of anyone restoring these cars due to the wire infested and complicated engine bays and electrical ghosts that exist everywhere in them.

Nonetheless I see very few of my favorite "rose mauve" LeSabre 2 doors and really want to move on this car. Does anyone else remember this color and do you have a favorite non "normal" paint - even going way back. [ Verde Green is another favorite of mine from the late 30's for instance ]

[Pete Phillips]

Jake,
I remember that color, but it looks more like gray in this photo. I recall an Oldsmobile 88 around here that was that color, from the early 1980s. A 2-door LeSabre from the 1980s is getting very hard to find, and with such low mileage on this one, the interior and mechanical components are probably in very good shape. Go for it!
I've always liked a very light, pale green from 1976 called Dunbarton green, if I'm not mistaken. Had a '76 Cadillac Seville with that color of paint and a dark green vinyl top that was just beautiful. I don't think any other GM divisions had that color in '76. AMC had a very similar color in 1975 and I remember how badly I wanted a '75 Matador coupe in that color when I saw it in the Exeter, New Hampshire AMC dealer's showroom that year.
Pete Phillips
Sherman, Texas

[Aaron65]

My parents bought a new '83 LeSabre Limited coupe in Rose Mauve when i was 6...307 eventually ended up getting replaced by the dealer after 7 (!) breakdowns...the cam bearing bosses were cast incorrectly and the distributor would break (somehow--I was 6, I'm guessing it chewed the dis. gear). Anyway, my grandpa bought it from my parents and my cousin inherited it and burned it to the ground pretending it was a 4X4. It would be a cooler car to me now than it was then...

[BJM]

Pete,

I did go back and try to buy it and the car is gone. It was Rose Mauve, which sometimes looked grey-ish as I believe it had some grey in the mix.

The car had somehat faded paint but the interior was nice so I believe the mileage. Someday I want an 82-85 Buick LeSabre 2 door coupe with Buick road wheels and a half roof padded top. This car would need ruist repair and new paint but I know where I can get Rose Mauve paint and you would't have to cover a differnt color in the repaint, jams would be easier.

I have even seen some with rallye steering wheels and I thought one with a bucket seat interior.

There is a beat up white one where I work. It is so bad I can't even make an offer on it. It tilts to one side, has several dents, rust, the plastic fillers are cracked or gone, the rear bumper tilted, but the old girl still runs. All white with those Buick road wheels - it was a nice ride when new.

You are right - GM did some nice work with greens too in the 70's. I had a nice Mint Green Oldsmobile 98 - circa 1978, that I purchased from a widow here in Madrid, for $500 - one owner car.

aaron, sorry to hear about the reliability issues with your family's 307. Those experiences are what drove many Americans to buy Japanese, especially the after sale service many folks received from dealers.

There are not a ton of these cars left but I still see them in my Craigs List searches. My price point for CL is usually aroung $1750 so this one for instance popped up at $600 and is now sold. I've seen a few of the late 70's LeSabre Sport Coupes with the sloped C pillar / sail panel that look pretty sharp too. So they are still around.

These full size coupes just don't register high on must have buzz-o-meter I guess but they show well in my opinion and I like them. It was eith Buick or Oldsmobile. The Chevy Caprices and Pontiac Bonnevilles were understyled dogs, period.

But Oldsmobile and Buick embraced this market and solid hundreds of thousands of full size LeSabres, 88's Electras and 98's. I spotted a sweet 98 coupe about 3 months ago and pitched it on the Olds forum Buy/Sell and it got no responses.

I doubt I'll see another Rose mauve LeSabre Coupe with that low of mileage again - ever but I see about 5-7 of these coupes a year, still not plentiful.

[JohnD1956]

I've had several of these era GM's and most were Fix and Repair Weekly cars. Some I hated and some I loved to hate, while a few were teriffic. But I believe that time has weeded out the production weaknesses in these cars.

If you want one and find one that runs, and looks at least 80 % good, you must jump on it. Chances are it will hold together for the near future. It was like that with my 78 wagon.

I recently took it to a show and one of my friends said he had called about it, but the seller told him someone else had just been offered first refusal an hour earlier. When I went to look at the car the seller told me someone had called right after me but I thought it was just a sellers ploy to push the sale.

None the less I liked what I saw and put a deposit that day. It's been 9 months now, several unexpected but easily performed repairs, and driven 7.000 miles and I still love that thing when I drive it. It may even be going to Iowa next year.

[LINC400]

I like the pinky mauve Lincolns and Cadillacs of the mid to late '70's. Also the array of aqua and turquoise both offered during that time. Many people ask if mine is the original color. The identical matching interior should be a clue, but I guess people have a hard time believing that you could get cars in colors other than shades of gray years ago.

If most of the LeSabres had a burgundy interior with Rose Mauve, I would guess it would be much easier to just find a LeSabre with a burgundy interior and repaint it Rose Mauve. You would have the extra work of painting all the jambs, but I think it would be much easier than waiting for another Rose Mauve one to show up.

A guy on the Lincoln Forum just found an early '60's Lincoln with pinky mauve interior. He wants to gut it and replace it with beige. Ugh, what a shame as I'm sure that is probably a very rare interior.

[BJM]

I've seen that Lincoln pinky mauve color - very cool. I long for the days when the interiors were offered in more that just grey/black or tan. And the manufacturers wonder why they get hammered for non creativity.

I wonder when the total meltdown truly occurred when interior colors were strictly limited to grey/black (dark) and or tan. Burgandy hung in there through the early 90's I think. Maybe a dark green here and there but for the most part by 1996 on I only remember two main colors for interiors.

[LINC400]

Isn't it amazing that in 1976 Lincoln offered 26 exterior colors, almost as many interior and vinyl top colors, in any combination you wanted, and they managed to be profitable.

Now you get 5 colors, a choice of charcoal or black interior (tan is getting hard to find), and everybody is bankrupt.

[Pete Phillips]

...and in a new Buick, you get your choice of a 4-door sedan or a 4-door SUV. Some choice!
Dull and boring, boring and dull.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZz.

Pete Phillips
Sherman, Texas