1971 Buick LeSabre 4 Door Sedan

[Smartin]

Since I'm on a story-telling roll, I thought I'd share my ex-driver with you all.

Funny, since I'm currently looking for one just like it!!

Alright....I've always been a car guy, mostly due to my appetite to tinker with things. I had a neighbor that restored 71-72 Olds Cutlass/442's, and I would watch his every move...probably to his annoyance a bit, but I loved every minute of it. I did lots of work such as color sanding and removing/installing trim on the cars.

And now that I was 16 years old, I wanted a cool old ride! One of my buddies drove us to Six Flags in his grandmother's old LeSabre one day....and that's all it took for me to fall in love with it. I bugged everyone for 6 months to sell me the car, and they finally caved! It had to be the best moment of my high school career...couldn't have come at a better time, since I was having a rough time with school/life in general at the time.

Well what else can I say? I drove hte crap out of it for over 5 years and it rarely gave me any flack. Of course you have your brake problems, alternators, water pumps, etc....but most of those I only had to do once...thankfully.

We had great times driving around town with 6 or 8 people in the car (thank God I had air shocks!)....and everyone came to associate me with my big green Buick. I eventually painted the car the original Twilight Turquoise - which is arguably the most beautiful color of the 71's.

Now the bad news - 6 months after the car is finished, I am at a rehearsal for an Easter church service and all of the sudden we hear a loud banging on the roof. HAIL!!!!!!!! HUGE HAIL!!! Ice balls start shooting across the room and break the stained glass windows in the church. Hail the size of baseballs tore through our part of town that night.

I thankfully was able to drive home with all my glass intact, but I could not see the damage incurred on the body until the morning. It was pretty devastating to see your blood, sweat, and tears bet hammered away in 15 minutes of hail storm. The body ended up with some pretty hefty dents all along the top, hood, truck, and entire right side of the car. It wasn't something I was willing to fix, and my liability insurance would not cover it.

I drove the car for another 2 years, and finally sold it to help fund my convertible project. I really miss my car.....I hope I never see it in a junkyard. It deserves better!!

A little while ago, I contacted the buyer, and asked him if he would sell the car back to me. He told me that he had sold it to a guy, and would ask him if he'd be interested in selling it back to me. No dice......

So here I am looking for a replacement..

Some shots of the car to give you a good idea of what it looked like: Pretty plain Jane - not too many options...Air conditioning was basically all it had.

[Centurion]

You'll hear no argument from me about Twilight Turquoise! If I could sit down and order a new '71 Buick today, that's the color I would choose. Brings back memories of an absolutely perfect Twilight Turquoise '71 Centurion I looked at in 1979. It was for sale, and it was one of those cars I should not have passed up.

Thanks for filling in the details I had not heard before, and I keep hoping the right '71 will turn up for you.

[Smartin]

I knew you would appreciate hearing the whole story, since you have heard bits and pieces throught the last year or 2..


I get so excited about these cars...it's nuts