My First Car - 1960 Buick LeSabre

1978 - I'm a 14-year old paperboy, which is something that I did for far too long. Being a long time car nut and already subscribing to Car Craft Magazine, I was on the lookout for that special car. You know the one: Free or Near Free. I was not afraid to get dirty or work on something that wasn't necessarily running. Initially I made a deal for a 1958 Chevy Bel Air owned by one of my paper customers, but somehow the deal fell through and she had sold it when I went to pick it up. Eventually my first car was found sitting for the better part of seven years, in the front of house 5 blocks from my own.

This 1960 Buick LeSabre 2-door hardtop had been purchased as a parts car for restoring a 1960 Buick Invicta. It had a 364 "Nailhead" V8 with a two-barrel carburetor - known in the contemporary circles as "the economy engine" - and a "Twin Turbine Dynaflow" transmission. The Invicta's restoration was never done and the car was eventually sold to my buddy Curt (he still has the car from what I'm told). LeSabre simply sat. Fifty dollars later it was mine. My dad insisted that I pay for it myself; to this day I'm glad he did, because it truly instilled a sense of value in me. We hauled it home on the end of a rope tied to our station wagon; thankfully we didn't have to go far because I couldn't imaging hauling it any farther than that. Two hours later it was coughing to life. Now the real work started.

The car needed a number of things (hey, it was fifty bucks -- what DIDN'T it need?). The muffler was blown out, the intake manifold had a huge leak, the tires were bald, and the interior looked like threadbare turmoil. But the doggone thing ran, and it ran pretty well. My memory says the car only had about 100,000 miles on it. The bumpers were straight and the trim, with the exception of the driver's side spear, was also decent.

Within a couple of months, my measly paperboy income was getting the Buick closer to being a dependable car. I was still to young to drive, even on a Washington Learner's Permit, so my Dad was happy enough to drive it to work. I think he liked the car more than I did. Together, we discovered in many ways that this was an unusual car. In 1978, unless you were looking for tune-up parts, replacement stuff for `60 Buicks was near impossible to find. I can't imagine restoring one of these today; it would have to be true and pricey devotion!


Once I got my driver's license, I was in heaven. All the time and effort I had put into repairing things, tracking down parts, and bartering goods & services had finally shown its value. I put a bunch of miles on the car and it really was dependable. The engine always purred and its road manners were wonderful. It just cruised! It also leaked transmission fluid out of the front seal.
This car had a transmission called a Twin Turbine Dynaflow; it had two forward gears but used only one in regular driving. The torque converter had two stall speeds, and used them depending on how much throttle was applied. Essentially it was a 4-speed automatic if you put the right mix of throttle and shifter together. Pretty slick, but also pretty old, pretty heavy, and pretty wet from a dried up front seal.


Add to the dilemma the fact that the driveline was encased in a Safety Tube from the back of the trans to the differential. My Dad and I had neither the ability or the place to remove a 600-pound transmission plus encased driveline. So I sold it in 1981 to get a car that I could work on -- a `65 Chevy. That Chevy ended up needing more repairs than the Buick ever did. Oh well; you live and learn.


And I still miss my Buick.