(first posted 10/30/2015) Getting old is a bitch; the forces of entropy gradually and inevitably get the upper hand. Non vital parts are sloughed off, the skin gets mottled, joints creak, fluids leak, and uninvited parasites grow. Most of all, energy is just not as easy to come by, and sitting motionless in the late summer sun warming the internal parts is a lot more appealing than rushing off to work early in the morning. The growing question is how much longer just getting anywhere will still happen. One of these days, this Buick will remain motionless, until it’s hauled off.
This Buick and its owner live at this low-income senior-citizen housing complex, and I’ve seen it for years, as it’s on one of our favorite urban hike routes. Sometimes it’s in the same parking lot spot, seemingly for months, and I wonder if it’s going to ever leave again. But here it is, out on the street; a welcome sign of life. Did the owner feel inspired by the warmth of summer; to take it out on a balmy evening for a ride along the McKenzie River? Or a run to the drug store for some meds? The latter, more likely.
The owner has to be quite old, as this was an old person’s car from day one. These LeSabre coupes were bought by folks when the kids were gone, and they had no use for a wagon or sedan anymore; let’s live a little and really treat ourselves! Nothing so gaudy as a Riviera; just a nice modest LeSabre, but a hardtop coupe and with a vinyl top. And a very plush and quiet ride to pamper themselves when heading off on a trip to visit the grand kids.
Of course, if the owner bought this one new, they really would be getting up there now, well into their nineties, most likely. Or maybe they bought it younger than most LeSabre coupe buyers, or bought it used. We may never know. But we do know that they’re trying to keep the inside as decent as possible on a Social Security budget.
Which doesn’t stretch far enough to keep the outside washed, so that the parasitic plant life is kept at bay.
The moss is dormant now, after a long, hot summer. But I’ve seen this crop in the winter, when the “green roof” was very green indeed. The stuff is popping through the tiny holes in the vinyl roof, which is also feeding it well.
We get liver spots and basal cell carcinoma; this Buick has vinyloma. It’s not deadly; just needs a vinylectomy.
The Buick has company here, other oldsters with failing bodies and peeling skin abound in the parking lot. But the LeSabre is the grand dame of the place; the oldest and biggest car here, as well as the thirstiest. And the one that gets the most attention, naturally; the benefit of outliving all the others of its vintage. Of course, that also means it’s the one most likely not to start on one of these cool mornings to come.
(2021 Update: It’s not been there for a few years now)
The same car was for sale opposite the McGraths hill mushroom farm on the outskirts of Sydney in 87 minus the vinyl top $4500 was the ask, I was tempted mostly because I needed another car and I had about that much to buy one, some simple arithmetic showed I couldnt afford to feed it and I bought a Valiant instead cheap but the thought was there did I do wrong and missout on the coupe of a lifetime? or did I make the smart move, I guess I’ll never know.
Paul, you have a gift for expressing the inner story of old cars; this post is almost a poem.
It’s certainly a car that evokes a time, place and type of owner. I hope the next owner gives it the right kind of loving care and attention
You can almost feel the shadow of the reaper pass over this Buick.
Brings tears to my eyes.
+1. I especially enjoyed ‘vinyloma’.
I was thinking the same thing. Very nice write up.
Even if the article is about a car that I don’t care much for; I will read it if see Paul’s name on it.
I know someone who bought a brand new loaded ’75 Electra 225 coupe when he was 19! He’s retired now but not that old! I bought mine well used when I was 24 so I could store my ’67 Riviera in winter… I later bought a 1974 LeSabre coupe to drive in winter when I was 26 as I decided not to use the 1975 Electra in winter anymore!
The guy who had sold the LeSabre to me in the fall of 2003 was a few younger than I was and so was the one who bought it from me two years later when I finally got a 4×4 for winter!
I kept my 1976 Electra Limited coupe as a parts car a few years after I stopped using it so it could donate some of it’s parts to my 1975 Electra and 1974 LeSabre. The thickly padded “Landau Custom” vinyl roof was in poor shape but it never grew moss, I guess the padding didn’t retain enough moisture as the metal roof below it was “aerated” in quite a few places! But there was some kind of ivy on the aftermarket antenna!
I was driving that car on my way back from work (I worked at night then) when I heard on the radio that a plane had crashed in one of one of the WTC towers. Soon after that, I retired that car because of engine problems and bought the 1975 Electra that I still have.
Perfect for Halloween!!
Indeed it is. The Evil Dead movies featured Sam Raimi’s personal 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88, and this 1973 Buick LeSabre would be an equally good choice for a Halloween movie or party.
If that’s a Peter DeFazio bumper sticker, he’s been in political office for nearly 30 years. Would the owner have once been a politically-active democrat, or just the target of an active campaigner during one of the many election campaigns this car has seen? The sticker crookedly clings to the bumper like the moss does to the roof to add to the story of this car. Great write up Paul.
That bumper sticker (and the huge gap between the rear bumper and the body) reminds me a lot of the very similar Buick Centurion convertible in the movie Used Cars. Rudy Russo (Kurt Russell) complains about losing a perfectly good bumper sticker when the rear bumper flops off the car after hitting a bump as it’s being driven off the lot by Wally Shawn (after the bumper was held onto the car by a big wad of Rudy’s chewing gum).
Moss growing on a car is unnerving in a bad sci-fi flick kind of way.
We had a ’72 LeSabre hardtop sedan when I was a kid…the bee’s knees I thought and a pleasure to be a passenger in. (After the engine was fully warmed and it would stop stalling and on sunny days, as rain and moisture would sometimes prevent starting. What a pos in retrospect.)
In any case, I recall being unimpressed with the ’73, thinking it was whacked with an ugly stick, though the evolution from 74-77 was much improved.
’73 was a banner year in car sales, with the exciting and modern Colonnades getting all the attention in any case.
If it weren’t for the moss on the roof, I’d say that’s an attractive 1973 Buick LeSabre.
The Chia-Buick
+1!
Comment of the day? 🙂
+++1
Hit the nail on the head!!!
As about who’s it is – maybe they would like some help with it? They might welcome a hand?
Dang, Paul. This piece put an existential spin on my morning commute, on what is otherwise the most joyous day of the work week. 🙂 Fantastic pictures. These big LeSabres coupes may be geriatric-mobiles, but I think they actually look very graceful and beautiful. Grand Dame, indeed.
Agreed. I think they’re the nicest looking of all the big GMs of this era.
A sad reminder of a vanished age.
Seems to have the 70s-80s semi-wide whitewall in front and the more contemporary in back. May not be driven much, but he is keeping them shiny.
I think that “wide white” is actually from using the tire sidewalls as curb feelers. A friend in law school drove a Cutlass with a wide whitewall on the fronts like that. I always wondered how he had managed to do that to only the front tires. One day I was at his house and watched his wife pull over and park at the curb, with a loud “scuuuuuuuuffffffffff” as the concrete curb ground away at the sidewall. Question answered.
I never thought of that, but zooming in, it makes perfect sense!
Having grown up with these GM full sizers in driveways all around me when they were new, and watched the survivors decay over the years, I feel that the writeup captured the spirit of this car quite evocatively.
The idea of taking an early 70s Caddy/Buick/Olds/etc. like this one, keeping the external decay but giving its old big block some muscle and upgrading the suspension and brakes, and using it as a low-buck rat rod/Halloween car, has been with me for a while. Seeing this car on the day before Halloween makes this idea especially tempting!
I’ve always found the roofline of these to be the finest of any of the big 70’s B-bodies. It has such a graceful line to it, and recalls the old-school close-coupled coupes without looking too small for the car (a problem which afflicted the fuselage coupes). Other than the overlarge federal front bumper, the lines of this car strike me as really nice. And despite the mossy condition of the roof, those whitewalls are much whiter than the ones on my car!
These look especially nice without the vinyl and with a set of Buick road wheels.
Although we don’t see the passenger side in the photos, and the car could use a thorough scrubbing, there is one thing that is glaringly evident….other than this misalignment of the rear bumper, there do not appear to be the dents and scrapes commonly associated with the failing spacial judgement in old age. That is quite a testament to the owner! In 2003 I attended an auction for a man who was moving into assisted living. His car, a 1985 Caprice Classic Coupe was one of the items to be auctioned off. This car had but only 8700 miles on it and the interior was spotless. The front and rear as well as the drivers side were perfect. Walking around to the passenger side, the entire side, front to back wore the scars of battle with the side of the garage. The man could not judge how close to the right side he was when pulling out of the garage. I remember thinking what a shame it was that such a nice car had so much damage. Fortunately, a local body shop owner bought it and fixed the entire side, and kept the car as his nice day driver. I hope someday, this Buick finds an owner that will lavish attention on it an bring it back to its former glory.
Nice look back, but the moss freaks me right out.
My parents had a ’73 LeSabre four-door hardtop, bought gently used in tan with a saddle vinyl roof. Way too big, of course, but not a horrible vehicle for all that. It looked about as good as any car with those cowcatcher bumpers could, and was quite attractive in side profile.
I recall that after a year or so, it needed some major suspension work because it started bottoming out dramatically on the slightest road imperfection, and the water pump failed right at 60K miles, as they seemed to on all GM cars of the era. Other than that it was a reasonably decent ride for the three years or so they had it.
It hasn’t been until I started reading CC that these B-bodies really registered with me. Why GM bothered offering these as 2 doors from any division, much less Buick, is a puzzler. It would seem to be the equivalent of offering a minivan in a size that only allowed seating for a driver and 3 passengers.
My mother’s aunt had a car like the one described by Jimmy J. Her’s was a 64 Plymouth Belvedere that had all of 14,000 miles on it when she was t-boned in 1974. We joked that her car must have had a huge extra layer of paint on the right side as she had that side of the car re-painted whenever she so much as scratched it.
Because they sold well?
And they sat six, just like the sedan. It was just harder to get into the back seat.
Do you know how often one saw a car with six adults in it back then? Almost never.
1. Most four door cars were ugly until the 1990’s
2. When equipped with a bench seat a full size car EASILY seats 6 adults.
3. Most four door cars were ugly until the 1990’s
4. Did I mention most four door cars were ugly until the 1990’s?
5. Large two door cars are just plain sexy
I don’t quite agree with that. I prefer 4 doors because I hate long heavy doors! I think that cars like the 1965 and later Corvairs look better as 4 doors than the coupe version and GM “B” bodies also looked better than the 2 door versions in some years.
The 1967-68 4 door hardtops were also really nice.
From the 50’s to the 80’s especially 60’s and 70’s almost all cars were initially designed as 2dr hardtops. All the other body styles of a model are an afterthought, made to fit not designed.
GM’s four-door hardtops always had excellent proportions.
“Why GM bothered offering these as 2 doors from any division, much less Buick, is a puzzler.”
As Paul said, “they sold”! Some who were not alive back then assume incorrectly that coupes always sold slow. Check car history books.
Some families [pre-1980] with 1-2 kids would get a 2 door sedan, since the parents thought coupes were “sporty and stylish”. Were no ‘child seat’ laws, too.
But also, was easier to get in back seat of these tanks!
Two-doors were considered safer for small kids in the pre-seatbelt era. No doors for them to open while the car was moving!
They sure did sell! I just looked it up: 41,425 of the Custom trim level alone, compared with 42,845 four door sedans and 55,879 four door hardtops.
It was a different world back then.
Interesting. The two door seems to be a dying breed in America. One time almost every manufacturer offered a few in their lines. Now, you can count them on a little more than one hand. Sad.
Fixed rear windows on two doors also add to the penalty box effect on rear seat passengers. Worst idea ever. They were especially despised on GM’s downsized intermediate 4 doors.
I like the way the character lines that begin at the radiator shell/grill area flow over the hood and front fenders before smoothly transitioning to the doors as they go around the greenhouse before becoming concave on the quarter panels. Not much design is done that well today. On the other hand, GM really struggled with integrating non-cosmetic bumpers into their cars and the combination of lighting laws and corporate edicts did them no favors either.
I was born in the early ’60s and I can only remember one four door car that my dad ever owned. Before child seat laws, some parents actually preferred two door models and relegated the kids to the back seat “for safety.”
The full-size two doors weren’t actually that hard for the rear seat passengers to enter and exit. (Or so it seemed to the 60s and 70s version of me! 🙂 )
In spite of the moss, a fairly handsome car from that period and a highly evocative write up from Paul. Great reading!
I agree. My Dad always owned two doors, but had numerous company cars as well that were always four doors. My Mom was always very leery of us kids riding in the back of the company cars for the reasons you stated. One day, we were riding in the 65 Rambler American four door that my Dad had been issued and I went to roll the window down. By mistake, it hit the door handle and the door opened up and I almost fell out of the car. We were on the Cross Island Parkway in NYC probably going 60 mph. Thank God my older sister grabbed me before I fell out. After that, my Mom would not let us ride in any of Dad’s company cars.
Did no one lock their car doors back in the day? I know central locks weren’t a thing back in the 60’s and 70’s on most cars, but when I was a child (granted the 80’s) I was taught to always lock my door immediately after closing it, and back doors never unlocked automatically just by pulling on the handle like front doors sometimes do. If the door is locked and you actually have to pull on the knob to unlock it, you’re highly unlikely to fall out (unless you’re trying to do so).
On most 1965 cars, if you pushed the lock button down, you couldn’t open the doors from outside but, even with the door locked, from the inside, operating the handle also unlocked the door. Such was the case with the Rambler I spoke of as well as the two 65 Impalas I once owned, and the 65 Sttarfire my Aunt owned. I believe this was the case up until 1967.
And it was not that uncommon to hear of an instance where a kid fell out of the car when a door popped open, for whatever reason. How we all survived those years is quite amazing – today’s hyper-protective parents (no criticism) would never believe it.
I know Ford eliminated the door-lock override in 1967, if you wanted the door open, you pulled up the plunger first. Strangely, by 1975, it was back to the old way.
That’s how the front doors work on my ’64 Impala, but not the back doors.
The back doors in the mid-’60s Dodge i rode in as a small child had replacment lock buttons on them that could be locked so that a key was required to open them from the inside (can’t remember if they allowed the door to be locked without engaging the key lock allowing for standard unlocking when adults were riding in back). I seem to recall these were a popular dealer or aftermarket add-on back then.
And later on in the life of a family, I’ve heard plenty of stories from now-middle aged guys that as teenagers they tried to steer their parents to the two-door version of the car they’d soon be borrowing!
Speaking of teenagers, Paul, a lot of high schools now require a certain number of community service hours for graduation; giving this Buick a good wash-and-wax might be an opportunity for some kid who’s into old cars (Aidan, if he’s visiting you soon? That kid with the Metropolitan if you can contact him?)
At that age vinylectomy must be as scary as an appendectomy. It is not the procedure itself but what they might find in the process.
Great car – love the green color combined with all the moss. Very nice to see there are still some old people left driving BIG boats : )
Well, what do you know, these did sell pretty well….the Chevy, especially. The Buick, predictably, sold in the lowest numbers, but compared to LeSabre sedans in 1973 the coupes didn’t do all that bad.
But still, over the life of this model, Buick sold about as many in 6 years as Chevy sold in 1 year.
I love big old Buicks, and just about any full size coupe. I have to admit I find this car kind of gross. I don’t think I would want to sit in it!
Great article and cool car! It also looks like there is an early-to-mid ’80s Impala in the background.
Buick wasn’t always “old people” brand. The brand’s buyers in ’73 maybe had average age of 40-50, while elderly folks then were still buying stripped Chevys and Fords.
This is true. My Dad was 44 I n 1973 and he was intending to buy a brand new Century Luxus Colonnade Coupe. It was hardly what I’d have called an old person’s car outfitted as it was. Jade Green Metallic with a white interior and white Vinyl roof, bucket seats and console,5 spoke road wheels with thin stripe white walls and the biggest V8 available. It was a sharp looking car and he really had his heart set on it. Unfortunately, the dealer wouldn’t give him much in trade for our 71 Malibu Sport Coupe and wouldn’t budge on price. They said something to him that really aggravated him and he walked out of the showroom and never returned. He kept the Malibu one more year traded it in on a 74 Impala Custom Coupe.
Paul, your write-ups are always great. This one is no exception. I love the moss on the vinyl top – is that something native to Oregon? Never seen that happen here in R.I.! I bet the interior of that car has a rotten musty old smell that a lot of GM cars got as they aged – my grandmother’s ’72 Lemans always smelled like that – even when it was only a few years old!
not a big fan of the front end (I much prefer the 1971-72 front end due to a smoother grille and the smaller bumpers) but I really like the roofline of the car (hated what they did with the B-body coupes starting with the 1974 models), I always feel these cars look better on the side than the front.
Wow, it’s not often that an old Buick like this will look better in Iowa than it will in Oregon.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1973-buick-lesabre-custom-a-safe-bet/
I guess it’s all about how you take care of yourself. Perhaps the rakish personality who chose the 2 door and the fuddy duddy who chose the beige sedan explain the differing condition of these cars all these years later.
I rather like the 73 these days, and this two door hardtop is pretty attractive. I remember that color combo as being hugely popular in 1973. Strangely, it was only a one year color, as I recall.
I think the fundamental difference would be undercover storage or not.
I pass a white 25-30 year old Falcon ute on my way to work that has not moved in 5 years at least, and the horizontal surfaces are nearly black thanks to the tree sap and so on.
My favorite big Buicks have got to be the 1967 Wildcat
DROOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That color! Those wheels! Those sexy hips!! Be still my beating heart!! 🙂
Yup . Large 2 dr. cars (especially with skirts) are plain sexy! In 79 I had a 74 Caprice Spirit of America sport coupe. As I recall 2 ocasions with my wife and I and 2 other couples used it to go to a late night special feature theater 30 miles away as we could ride in one car.
and the 1965 Riviera
I have the opposite, a 1965 Wildcat and a 1967 Riviera.
I also used to have a 1967 Wildcat hardtop coupe and a 1968 Wildcat hardtop sedan as well as a 1965 Electra 225 hardtop coupe.
If one says ” There cannot be light without the dark” I think one may be referring to this stunningly-beautiful black ’65 Buick Riviera.
The shape and color (I know, black is the lack of color, blah blah blah, now shush!) of this single Riviera is enough yang to balance all of the yin of so many overstyled and tiring (to me) modern car designs.
It is absolutley, positively, definitively, objectively and subjectively THE CAR.
Not that I have strong feelings one way or the other.
Here I am. I am satisfied with my comment and ready to save it. But there are twin ads for soup covering two lines of the required save lines.
Actually one is for something else. Similar colors. Weekly deals. Well I do like a deal and I do like soup. But can I save my comment first, and then I will be happy to peruse your tempting online soup-purchasing options?
No? Okay I clicked on one. Then came back. Ads still here. Hmmm. I mean, thanks for coming by and blocking my exit and everything, I appreciate your hard-sell-soup/snacks efforts, but I really am finished now and ready to leave.
Okay, I will guess where I am supposed to type and try not to make a typo while avoiding going to your presumably-delicious and healthy online soup link. Here goes.
If you are reading this, I was successful and have gone to make a bowl of chicken noodle soup.
Those giant old beasts were dinosaurs even when they were new. Roomy, but not that roomy, huge, try parking them, very thirsty, slow by then, unreliable, lousy drivability etc.
But somehow, 50 years later, even to me they’re a nice site to see. Wretched excess, but a welcome break from the near identical jelly bean like cars of today, which are surely better, but 1,000X more boring.
Having been there when these were new I disagree on the reliability part Mike .
No worse than any other American car at the time .
They were aspirational cars that’s for sure, I don’t recall Mr. Simpson driving his slowly / gently even in the snow .
-Nate
This article shows who remains the master around here – very enjoyable if more than a little sad. This is a beautiful Buick, still giving its owner pleasure.
A good friend lives in the Portland area and was selling her late husband’s truck that was parked outside. I was amazed to see all of that vegetation growing on it. Every area has it automotive hazards but this one is far better than rust.
These great, early seventies’ pre-bumper GM full-size cars are such a vivid reminder of how well the Sloan ‘car for every purse and purpose’ ladder worked.
Then the Japanese and the eighties arrived, and Roger Smith pissed it all away.
Is that rear bumper misaligned? I remember it being more tightly aligned, and on the whole, I actually like the ’73 front and rear clips better than the ’71-72, although I’m probably in the minority. Much, much better than what followed for ’74-’76.
The white strip hanging off the front bumper brought back memories of being a pressman at the old Barr Rubber Co. in Sandusky Ohio in the late 70’s-mid 80’s. I spent many a hot summer day with my head and arms under the elevated top half of a two piece compression mold heated to about 450 Degrees rolling that white stripe into a cavity in the mold.
Poor Fozzie Bear. I think he gave his life for the seat cover.
It may just be the angle but the window crank seems awfully low and awkward.
Every time I visit Oregon I see lots of lichen and moss covered vehicles .
I imagine they’re all rusted out as these plants hold moisture right against the body…..
Agreed , it’d be nice to see this auld crate cleaned up .
-Nate
Only in Oregon do cars become mobile gardens just by existing long enough with infrequent washing. Has anyone tried adding some herb and vegetable seeds? “Hon, let’s have some salad with lunch. Could you go out to the car and harvest a few things?”
One fascinating thing about these old, big Buicks is that the automatic transmission was technically ‘optional’. Which begs the question, has anyone ever actually seen one with a standard transmission? I’m going to guess it would have been a three-on-the-tree but, who knows?
In my memory, the ’73’s headlights were more swept back. They completely ruined it for ’74, and then the Caprice stole the effect for ’75.
Commenting further on someone’s earlier comment, hard starting in rainy or damp weather was often caused by moisture/condensation getting inside the distributor cap via hairline cracks in the cap….or moisture getting into the spark plug wires for the same reason.
My Dad had a ’65 Ford F100 with the 240 6 cylinder which suddenly developed a hard start/no start condition in damp weather.
We pulled the distributor cap off to find condensation on the inside of the cap due to a hairline crack in the cap..replaced the cap with a new one and the problem went away