The term “brougham”, as originally applied to automobile bodies, defined a vehicle where the driver sat in an open front compartment, and the passengers in an enclosed rear compartment with a fabric roof. That of course was based on the popular horse-drawn brougham carriage of the nineteenth century. The genuine brougham body style was last used commonly in the thirties or so, and often as taxis. The Checkers of that era had a removable roof section for the driver to accentuate that aspect, at least in nicer weather. Someone is apparently keeping the image alive. Found in Portland, ME. by LDeren.
You know that almost looks ok…except for the trasition from the front door to the back door.
Could this be the only Buick with the added landau vinyl roof and accessory luggage rack in Oregon? Damned things are all over Indiana.
Portland, Maine. The other Portland.
Oops. Could still be true of Maine, though, too. 🙂
Nope, still plenty of traditionalists in Northern New England. 🙂 I’ve got to dig out some pics of “Bostonian Edition” Cougars from the 80s and 90s.
These padded roofed cars must have zero resale value. Cab companies aren’t dumb, so I give them credit for using an otherwise undesirable car. I’ve seen them on all sorts of Panther cabs in St. Louis and Kansas City.
Probably a one-elderly-owner car, low mileage for the year when it was bought by an owner-operator cabbie. Depending on how long it’s been hacking it might not even have caught up with average yet.
I’ve worked at Yellow Cab Houston as well as several independent cab companies. Yellow Houston…used to allow old-time drivers who knew the owners’ families, to buy their own cab…as long at it met city standards, they could use it as a cab. Often these folks, not given to understatement, would have a three-year-old Imperial or New Yorker; or one de Ville. The cars WOULD have to be painted in YCH livery.
So…there were some painted, padded vinyl roofs rolling out there.
The other cab companies…used used cars. No ownership there. One of them used Budget Rent-A-Car sales-lot specimens…volume discounts. Age wasn’t an issue in this town; it was probably a good move.
But at the time they were using Fox platforms…Fairmont and Zephyrs. Some of them had vinyl roofs; as well as some Granadas and Monarchs from earlier buys. Didn’t matter; got painted (dark red with this company). The paint mostly held up; and the vinyl roof was a non-issue.
They use the cars because the 3800 is indestructible, not because of their resale value.
my grandparents have a 2001-5? Buick Le Sabre- always taken to the dealership for repair work- I would like to inherit the car- Do I need to worry about dex-cool issues?
thanks
My mother got a 2005 Lacrosse. She has it serviced by the Ford dealer (long story). I recall researching that issue. It has been a few years, but I remember that there were some who argued that DexCool was fine as long as it was changed right on schedule, and others who argued to get rid of the stuff ASAP. I believe that the Ford service advisor and I agreed to change out the DexCool at the first coolant maintenance interval (which i believe was 2 years). No cooling system issues, although the care has little more than 20K on it at this point.
I am open to being corrected here by some of you who deal more frequently with the stuff.
If it still has Dex in it, I would replace with Dex. Some (perhaps the older ones) cooling systems are just filthy with grime; however, my newer one is clean and clear and the dealership replaced with Dex. I think the issue can sometimes arise from not cleaning the Dex out good enough. Does it destroy things like I’ve read? Not sure. I never had an issue with my previous engine (high high miles). I am no mechanic though.
(Maize is my work ID; Dolr is my home ID)
Wow, that’s what my car (2001 LeSabre Custom) would look like . . . on Broughamaide! I can only assume from the name on the door and the lack of body rust that the car is a southern transplant.
Lessee, taxicab duty . . . better stock up on window regulators! And most of the non-replaceable dash light bulbs will be burnt out as well (since they are on all of the time).
Oh, front wheel bearings every 75K miles too.
Thanks for sharing – I have never, ever seen a LeSabre taxicab, much less a boughamified one. All it needs now for the trifecta is a fiberglass chicken head on the roof.
Really? I see yellow LeSabres all the time! Long live the 3800!!!!!!
The style pictured here is more reminiscent of a town car (no, not the Lincoln, though that is where the name came from). A true modern brougham would look like a coupe with the driver sitting on the hood. Brougham carriages (along with some early brougham cars) looked like this:
Of course, in the modern sense of the word, this is all brougham. If you go back far enough, its amazing how different today’s interchangeable terms used to be.
Sorry, I just ain’t got no love for that thing.
Bet it smells like a combination of BO and pine tree air freshener inside.
In my locale that thing would smell like Somalia.
Did you checkout the Hooters car hire site in Napier Paul, you can hire self drive classics here in Havana Pacific. Ok, http://WWW.HOOTERS.HIRE.CO.NZ its uppercase on the brochure I have Id scan it but thats broken sorry
Wow, how awesome is that site, thanks for posting that Bryce! The address has a hyphen between hooters and hire – http://www.hooters-hire.co.nz So many classics to choose from – I’ll take the ’37 Dodge…gonna have to start saving I think!
Flying to Portland Me. in mid May. First time out of Texas in years. Will keep my eyes out for oddball broughams.
The vinyl treatment on the rear door is hilariously disgusting… yikes.
I never thought too much about the last ever Buick LeSabre, but the one that directly preceded it was one of the least pukeworthy examples of “90s Brougham”. I’m sure this version is just as sound mechanically, but this breed’s last restyle didn’t do it any favors.
As you might recall, I had one of the 90’s LeSabres, and it was indeed a fine, well-made automobile. I would still recommend one without reservation to someone looking for a smooth, roomy and quality car on a budget.
Richard for the 2001+ version of the Le Sabre do we need to worry about any potential dex-cool issues? I have the stereotypical grandparents who own one and take in to the dealership for everything- the dealership is within walking distance so I guess it makes sense for them
thanks
To be honest, I am not entirely sure about that. I do know that there were some corner cutting in the overall package, as it seems that the 2000’s LeSabres seem to not age as well as the older H bodies. However, I still see a large number on the road, and I have seen many sitting on used car lots with lots of miles. Your best bet would be to talk with an independent mechanic that does not have any brand biases and see what he is noticing. I suggest that because it is possible that a GM dealer might be prompted to not give you 100% of the story, so as not to lose future business.
It will likely need a plenum replacement, maybe lower intake gaskets at some point. However, I wouldn’t lose any sleep waiting for those components to fail. That’s my experience as an independent mechanic.
Also, in my experience, I don’t necessary blame the dex-cool as much as the unreasonably long service interval. That’s a matter of much debate, but in the shops I’ve worked in, we replaced it with traditional coolant mainly for the lower cost to the customer.
On my cars I replace the trans fluid, brake fluid and coolant at 5yrs/50,000miles unless the manufacturer calls for service before that point.
As would I, in fact I wouldn’t mind having one of those as a daily driver myself. I have a friend who owns one and I’ve had the pleasure of driving it on a few road trips. It’s a great car for eating up massive stretches of highway and not bad at all around town either. The interior is huge, the ride is extremely comfortable, the Buick V6 was superb by this point and it’ll even get close to 30mpg cruising at 75MPH all day. The inside of them is very 1970s (FIVE ashtrays!), but unlike most GM cars from that era, the build quality and materials used aren’t half bad. From what I’ve seen, even much better than the contemporary Olds and Pontiac H-Bodies. No rattles or dangling pieces of trim, and they’ve got a full set of gauges – not super exciting, but I wouldn’t hate looking at it every day. Likewise, it’s not exactly a BMW on curvy roads… but I found the suspension to be more than adequate for any kind of spirited driving you’d want to do with a car like that. Within it’s capabilities it stays planted well and is fairly responsive. I could say a few more good things about the way it drives, but I gotta stop myself here because I’ve had an “Everyone is Wrong” rant brewing inside my head ever since the Toyota Camry article last week.
Anyway, great cars and a great value as well. I’ve seen them in seemingly perfect, showroom condition for <$3k. I'm sure it helps that when new they almost solely appealed to geriatric upper-middle class buyers who hardly drove them. It makes me wonder what car being built right now will serve the same purpose 10 or 15 years down the road, because when these were new I would have punched myself in the face for paying them such lofty compliments!
Sorry for the delayed reply, could have sworn I hit "Post Comment" on this last night.
Behind it was a late model Lincoln Continental taxi. Though it wasnt broughamified, like this one, its not a car I usually see as a cab.
As you all know, I do love me some Broughams, (and am President of The Brougham Society) and I hold the LeSabre in reasonably high regard. But this roof treatment does nothing for me, as it turns “Brougham Sensibilities” into a sad parody of itself.
ah, then that makes ME President. out!
The half vinyl roof reminds me more of a landaulet where the rear section of the roof folds down, as seen on the odd M-B 600 Grosser or more recently Maybach did a version.
The concept of a half-padded roof I’m okay with, depending on what it’s inflicted upon. And that car is a prime example of what not to affix such a roof upon…
Early 80s well into the 90s, the most common cabs in Portland were Volare/Aspens. There was never any standard color. Towards the end many had lost their plastic grills, replaced by whatever chicken wire-type stuff was lying around the shop, for that Mad Max style people love about old Yankee cities. (?)
I’d like to join your Brougham society as I am a fan myself lol. I actually never knew these Buicks came with roofs like this. Sure looks out of place on a bulbously styled car IMO. At least they sculpted the back window area out some. Imagine it in a khaki color, no thanks!
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