Hood and fender interchange? -74 Lesabre

[Guest 3RedLines]

Hi all,

I've had a 74 Luxus convertible since 1984 that's been sitting up since 1992. I am in the process now of getting this boat back on the road and I was wondering if the front fenders and hood from a 74 Electra Limited will work on my car. The Electra parts are in much better condition and would make the project easier.

Any help or comments are much appreciated!

[JohnD1956]

The 74 must be a LeSabre if it is a convertible. I'm pretty sure the fenders are the same. The hood may have 4 hole portholes as opposed to the Lesabre's 3 hole units. But if there is a salvage yard in your town you may want to contact them and see if they will help you figure this out with the Hollendar Interchange Manual.

[Guest my3buicks]

Yes, they are interchangeable, as John mention the Electra will have one more porthole on the hood. The basic parts will exchange though.

[Guest 3RedLines]

Great!

I,m glad they will fit. My hood is slightly bowed from people sitting on it during parades. The fenders never did look right and when i stripped them down to metal it was clear that it would be better to do something else other that try to patch this mess.

I stumbled on a wrecked 74 2 door Limited with 74k that looked to be a perfect donor for the front end parts and possibly interior. I thought the parts would fit but wanted to make sure before I try to make a deal on a car 150 miles away.

A little background on the 74 Convertible. I bought it a few years after marrying and we used this car mostly for vacations, taking about 8 trips mostly to the western US from western Canada all the way to the Mexican border in Arizona. There's a lot of great memories in this car for us. After my last trip in 1992 I parked the trusty Buick in the shed, still covered in the dust from Monument Valley. After that we got so busy raising 3 kids that we just didn't have the time to go anywhere and when we did the kids always came along. A Suburban took the place of the Buick as our vacation ride.

There it sat until 2004 when the original owner offered to buy it back from me. I didn't really want to sell, but had too many cars and not enough time on my hands so I agreed. Got a friend to help load it on a trailer one afternoon to prepare to take it back to it's old home the next morning. I was in the house talking to my wife at the time and she caught a glimpse of the Buick as it was being pulled to the front yard. She burst into tears and talked about how much she loved that car. She was ok with the sale til she saw the car leaving and had a big change of heart. I knew then that that car will never leave us, I explained it to the buyer and he understood so I took it over to my cousin's shop where it set in his shed until early this year.

With the kids grown up and out of the house I decided now is the time to restore some of the former glory to this beautiful automobile and make some new memories for my wife and I. I'm not looking for a 100% accurate restoration like port count or turn indicators on the fenders, just something that looks nice. It's now in the shop, stripped down to bare metal. I hope to have it back on the road my mid-summer next year.

Thanks again

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

I like. Keep us informed.

Ben

[JohnD1956]

Lucky guy! You still have the memory machine. That is the same reason I will never sell my 56.

[Thriller]

Cool. There is a local fellow working on a '74 LeSabre Luxus convertible. I feel a bit guilty on that one as I was one of two that suggested it looked like a good price...good is relative with the amount of rust found. I should strive to remember to find out how that project is coming along.

Great story of the car's history in your stewardship.