Well of course it is. Otherwise everyone would do it themselves... 17' is ok, I think my garage is about 20'. Still going to be a little closer than I'd like, but buying a new house to accomodate my car is a little out of the questions right now. <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
D'oh! There's a misprint in the Standard Catalog of Buick - they reprint the wheelbase. The Wildcat is just under 220 inches (18' 4")...the LeSabre should be less. Sigh.
I think that it all depends on what you want to put your money into. I've got the 4Dr. HT. and am having a blast with this big boat. If I get half a chance I'll get an Electra 4Dr, and a LeSabre 4Dr. But...they gotta be '63s. To me it seems that everyone (My opinion here..) wants the 2 Dr. Coupes or the Converts. I suppose that the ROI on them is much more than a 4Dr. o No: Guess I'm a bit odd wanting the 4 Doors...:Brow: The Length is (Wildcats and LeSabre) 215.7" Wheelbase is 123" Electra: 221.7" Wheelbase is 126". I got these figures out of the '63 Owners guide. I've got about 1" in front and about 3" in the rear when I get it into the garage. Yeah it's a tight squeeze. Most homes now are built with these midget cars in mind I suppose, and not the Big Boats that we have.
Yes, it is, definitely. But where is the fun in that? Yes, they are a blast to drive, and instant gratification is great. But, I would take my "driveable dream" over a fully restored model any day. It all depends on how hands-on a person is. I should temper this advice with a big deciding factor: how much rust is there? Even the most DIY home restorers base a purchase on body/chassis rot.
The '65 LeSabre is 3 inches shorter than the Wildcat. 217" overall lenght and 123" Wheelbase versus 220" and 126" wheelbase for the Wildcat. That's correct. The ST-400 was the name for Buick's version of the 400 transmission in 1964-68. The 1964 and 1968 ST 400 didn't have the switch pitch but the 1965-66-67 did have it. Olds and Cadillac also had switch pitch 400 transmissions in 1965-67. The '65-67 LeSabre 400, '67 Sportwagon 400 and all the '67 Buicks equipped with big blocks had a switch pitch ST 400 with the BOP bolt pattern while the 1965-67 Nailheads had their own bolt pattern.
Ok, picture time! I finally got pics and measurements this morning. This thing is really in better shape than I thought originally. The exterior is really quite good, except for a few places of course. The interior isnt that bad, the floors are the worst(rusted through), but everything else seems to be in decent condition. Under the hood is really quite solid; the only places are the battery tray is pretty well gone and the right inner fender has a hole in it. Other than that the hood area is good, the rad and front bumper mounts are still good. Now remember everything that I consider good may not be, and I'm also taking into consideration that it has been sitting for 18 years. Of course I may get it home and discover that something else is horribly wrong, but so far so good. Lemme know what ya think!!
I think it would be cool to save it, but it's gonna be a lot of work. Clean it up first, change fluids and hit the safety stuff next...brakes, brake lines, fuel lines/tank, etc. Count on master cyl & wheel cylinder rebuilds or replacements. Car looks to be pretty much intact & unmolested! Devon
Yeah my first goal is to get it to my house so I can work on it whenever. And yes the first thing I'll do is clean it up. I don't really plan to drive it for a while so I may drain whatever is in it and go from there. I have a question: Is there a guide for doing a total restore? Basically what I'm looking for is a guide on how to proceed. I can just start ripping into everything but I know thats not the correct way to do things, and as much work as this is going to be already, I dont need to add to my problems by doing things that I didnt need to or doing something the hard way. Any suggestions?
Plan to use a lot of space. Get tags, tape, small boxes, notebooks and a good digital camera...you're going to take pictures of everything before, during & possibly after taking things apart. Tag everything & log it into the books. Make notes to yourself for tricky items keeping in mind it will be long enough before you put it back together that you will have forgotten quite a bit from the disassembly. Try to break down the taking apart/reassembly in phases. You certainly don't want the entire car in pieces all at once if you can avoid it. There's no super "restorations for dummies" book that I know of, but others may chime in. Devon
I noticed something. Are the rear fenders integrated with the roof and supports? OIW is the whole rear of the car one piece? And if so, I'm guessing reapairs to them have to be done in place, as opposed to the fronts that can be removed.
Rear quarter panels meet the roof at a lead (solder) joint on both pillars. If panel replacement is required, a competent person or shop can cut out the affected areas and weld patches from donor panels. Unfortunately there aren't any aftermarket panels for these cars. Devon
You could try looking somewhere like amazon.com for restoration books. I have a book, but it isn't quite handy to be able to give you a title. If you want to drive it, replace all fluids, and look after safety items like brakes and tires. Generally, you want to look after the mechanical side of things first, then make it look pretty after. Good luck. It's a great car.
Cool car! And welcome to V8 Buick!:beer I didn't realize there was a LeSabre 400 avail in '65. It's a performance package that'll have the hipo 300 engine with hi-comp, and a 4 bbl. Those '65 iron 4bbl intakes are hard to find as they're a 1-year only item. You have a 3 speed ST400 trans instead of the ST300 trans...another bonus! It'll have a switch-pitch converter, but I dunno if it's a a 11" or 13" unit. The 11" will give you a hi-stall near 3000 rpm. The rear axle should be the same 8.2 that is used in the Skylarks. Posi's are avail from Eaton and Auborn, and new gears (3.55-up) are also avail. Lotsa $$$ tho. IMO, try to get it running before you take the whole car apart. You might luck out and you won't need an engine/trans rebuild. Just give it a good cleaning, and go over the brake system thoroughly. That might be all it needs to get it on the road. Enjoy!:TU:
That's my car, man! Except mine's red. With black interior. And .....well, it's another LeSabre 400 custom coupe, anyway. I would try and make it a runner, before you start any ambitous restoration. It looks to be solid enough to do a "fix it up while you drive it" deal, like my own. I didn't see your location yet. But if you're near the west coast, I have a parts car with really solid floor pans, and a solid trunk floor with, miracle of all miracles, intact and non-rusted rear body mounts. I'm planning to cut those out, along with the solid rear quarters, before it heads to the scrapper.
Wow, if only I were 2000 miles closer you'd be my new best friend! Unfortunately I live in Michigan...but hey if you sell em keep me in mind. Since the funds are going to be slow in coming, and with gas the way it is, I dont think I'll be driving this for a while. I realized that I dont have any real hobbies so I think this is going to be it. I want to take my time and do it the right way. Usually when i get into something it ends up being "well I could do this but its too expensive or it'll take too long so i'll do this and just get it done", and I dont want to do this here. So if I don't have the money or time or parts or whatever I'm going to wait til I do and then do it correctly. I plan on this taking several years, and really am in no hurry to complete it. And by guide, I wasnt really looking for a step by step instruction manual (although that would be nice), I was just looking for more of a "start here, because that makes this easier, and then go here...etc. Basically a component list, you know: take off front body parts, pull eng/trans, remove steering, then suspension, etc. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. @BigBuickBoogie - Funny, your sig, I got mine in 1989.
Great tips. I would also suggest to get sandwich size and gallon size ziploc bags to put the small parts in. Then use the tape to label the parts bag. I even had a bag labeled "unknowns" for parts/bolts/nuts/screws I knew came off the car but somehow became orphans. I look at that bag more than I care to admit. Another thing was to tape the mounting screws/bolts to the part. For instance the defrost ducts are mounted with two screws. If/when you take them off just tape them to the part and they're there when you go to assemble. I also have a "Bucket-o-Bolts". I actually have a bucket with that label on it. You'd be surprised how many bolts and nuts you will accumulate when you start buying parts for the car. If ever I find a bolt/nut in the garage or replace the old bolt/nut with new, the "old one/found one" goes in the bucket. Whenever I need a bolt, dump the bucket out on the table and there is bound to be one in there to fit. .....and here's an old fat man tip.....buy yourself a boat cushion. Just a basic boat cushion. Your gonna be on your knees and a$$ alot. I've redone my fuse box, installed an underdash A/C and let me tell you it wears on you. I think I had permanent screw holes in my butt cheeks from sitting on the seat rail mounting screws in the floor of the car. Try kneeling into the car and putting your knee on one of those seat mounts. Yeeeow! The cushion makes it much easier. The car looks pretty cool. Those buckets don't look like 65's. They look better than the original '65. At first I thought they were 66's but they don't look like 66's either. Good luck and welcome to the obsession. Rick
Thanks. And those seats, I have no idea where they came from. When I got the car orginally the fellow that was helping me get it running had those laying around, and being 16 I thought they were 'way-cooler' than that bench in the front. I'm still kinda debating whether or not to put the bench in. It'll probably be determined by if I can find the original seat or not. If I can I may use it, if not, I'll see about having those seats looked and perhaps use them. Part of the reason I wanted buckets was because I wanted to change the car from a column to a floor shift. Which, if possible, still intregues me...
I like the boat cushion idea, would be better than knealing on a piece of cardboard. I like to use the freezer bags that have an area to write on. I swear though, no matter how fussy you are about bagging and tagging things, you are bound to be missing a couple of fasteners when it all comes back together. Kind of like the missing sock from the dryer. That's when you dip into the bucket of bolts. :TU:
A trick I learned from the Aircraft accident investigation and teardown world is something I call a bolt board. This is a piece of foam or cardboard with holes in it for the fasteners and you can either draw a sketch of the part on the side or number the locations to keep track of what came out of what hole. I theme mine such as dash, left side interior, HVAC/center console, ect...
