1961 Buick Lesabre Bubble Top, Running Project Car on 2040-cars

up for your bidding pleasure today is my 1961 Buick LeSabre 2 door hardtop (bubbletop.) I traded my Camaro for it a while back with the intention of building it up and using it as an advertisement piece for my custom automotive upholstery shop, but recently stumbled into a deal with a 53 international that I think will fit the direction of my shops marketing a little better. So instead of just letting the car set and becoming one of those guys who consistently says "I'm going to do something with it someday" I'd rather give someone else a chance to actually do it.

The car does have a lot of good and bad points to it, I'll give you the bad first and if that doesn't scare you away, this might just be the right car for you! Body wise it's relatively solid for a rust belt car, but its a million miles away from being rust free. it's going to need patches in both lower fenders (as shown) the drivers door skin has some bubbling in both the front and rear of the door, however this is concentrated to the outer skin only, the shell is solid and the skin hasn't rotted as far down to the bottom that its separated from the shell. Like on the impalas the door glass channels rot causing the glass to separate from the scissors and drop down into the door, when I first purchased the car this was the case and it had set outside with the window out for a prolonged period of time, this is what I believe has caused the door rot. I have since fixed the window (impala inner door components all interchange) by replacing the lower channel, and have reinstalled the door glass. The drivers quarter panel just in front of the wheel well has some rot and will require some patch work (as shown). after starting to strip some bubbling behind the wheel well we found some pitting and pin holes (as shown) The rear window lip (around the molding) has a hole large enough to drop a number 2 pencil through (as shown) and will need some attention. The hood is beyond repair, the previous owner had a mishap involving a stuck accelerator pedal and the corner of his garage door opening, as the front bumper was off of the car at the time, the forward edge of the hood too the impact causing a crease. My intention was to pull out the "dent" and putty it just enough to look decent in flat black and run it that way for a season, but for a nice paint job unless your a seasoned body guy or metal fabricator it needs a hood! I've spoke with D.V.A.P. and they have a few straight rust free hoods in the 250-300 range, I found one through ebay in a California a salvage yard a few weeks ago for 425 including freight shipped to my door, any full size 61 buick hood will interchange (Lesabre, Invicta, Electra.) The car needs some bumper work, the originals are here as cores, but this car was at one point pulled on and off a trailer with a winch hooked to the lower part of the bumpers pulling them out pretty good. On top of hook shaped bends in the bumper bottoms, the rear bumper is rotted and torn... a good welder and chrome shop could make it look good, but starting with a better core would be cheaper, DVAP has both as well for a reasonable price. And now the worst for last; the car needs floor pan work! the previous owners let it set outside with a busted windshield and the drivers door glass out for an extended period of time, rain, snow, ect all worked their way in and the carpet soaked it up like a sponge to the point that it looks like swiss cheese in the good areas and an completely gone in the rest. The good news is the rockers are still solid and the floor rot has been pretty well concentrated to the low areas and along the drivers side between the seat and rocker. I've already purchased all new pans that will go with the car. The trunk floor is nice and solid, so the floor work needed is all up front, primarily along the drivers door opening between the seat and door, and along the lower areas of the front pans (as shown). My though was pans are cheap (figuratively speaking) if I'm going to replace the fronts, id do the backs as well and so I purchased all 4 pans for it. The previous owner has put a newer rebuilt carb on it, it works, however the choke is not hooked up and the linkage is not correct (he's got a hand formed piece of all thread in place) along with the car is the original carb (that needs rebuilt) and all of the linkage to put it back the way it should be.

And now if you haven't ran for the hills, THE GOOD; This is a running car with 48897 original miles, I'm the 3rd titled owner (the original owner passed away, the gentleman I purchased it from purchased it as part of the estate, and then it found its way to me.) Being a Lesabre it has the 364 (the smaller of the two nail heads offered in 61) We've had it running and have moved it around and up and down the street under its own power. it sounds good, but can really use a good tune up, none of the plug wires match and the cap/rotor/points have been on it for who knows how long. It does have a newer fuel pump,  a new battery, and hoses. the previous owner had flushed the radiator, and started working his way through the fuel and brake system. He changed the seized up master cylinder with a street rod style master cylinder and power booster combo from summit, he also did new wheel cylinders, lines, and hoses. After I got it I did a disc brake conversion on the front so everything from the spindles out is new (utilizing readily available gm components.) I have a brand new windshield and gasket to go with it and take place of the formerly busted one. With the exception of the brake lights, everything works on the car down to the courtesy lights and am radio. I believe the brake lights will be functional as well, but uses an inline pressure switch (similar to the old fords) that needs plumbed in  with the brake lines. I have the new switch, but considering the other work the car needs, taking the time to put in a T for the switch then re-bleed the brakes wasn't a priority. For the most part, this cars never been apart so all the panel alignment and gaps are as they should be, the doors trunk, and hood all open and shut by fingertip like a new car. The frame under the car is remarkably solid, being an x-frame car this was one of my concerns so we looked it over pretty good, it's got the typical  rust scale for a 1961 frame that never been touched, but it actually cleans up pretty nice. The inner fenders, radiator support, firewall, and body mounts are rust free. The glass is all nice useable driver quality and the windshield is new. Although it all needs recovered the interior is all intact enough to use as patterns. The body side moldings are all near immaculate. It will need new lower windshield stainless as its bent up bad, however this is interchangeable with the 61 Impala which it somewhat easy to come by.

Long story short, this is a nice (becoming increasingly rare) bubble top buick project. it needs a fair amount of work, but its priced accordingly. If your looking for a car that you can just block out and paint then start driving next week then your going to be disappointed and I encourage you not to bid, BUT for someone not afraid of taking the time to do the metal work, then this car has a ton of potential, and it's really not going to take a ton of money to have a really nice car out of it! For me I looked at it as it's a coil spring car at all four corners so it's easy to bag with plenty of room to tuck a large diameter wheel, I'm not a body guy but the work it needs could be done by a novice that's after a car that looks good in a satin finish, and it's a car that's odd and elegant enough to really command attention without a lot of changes. And if it doesn't sell here now it may just wind up back on here shortly satin black, bagged with 18's and 20's, and a bright red custom interior... But for now here's your chance to get it before the work starts and the price goes up.

And the fine print: I have a clean title in hand in my name. The car is currently located at my shop which has good interstate access and a parking lot large enough tractor trailers turn around in. Id encourage anyone interested in it to come by and take a look in person, or if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask or give me (phillip) or my dad (marvin) a call at 440-241-9762. It's obviously a project that can't (or shouldn't) be driven home, so it will need to be towed which is the buyers responsibility. I don't mind storing it here for a week or two as you work that out, but will need to be paid in full with fully cleared funds before it leaves. And I don't mind to work with you or your transporter as best as I can, so like I said, if you have any questions, want any additional pictures, need to work out any special arrangements, just send me an email or give me a call, I'm easy to get along with. I'd like $500 down through paypal within 48 hours of end of auction, and the rest can be cash, money order, or I sold a 71 C10 on ebay a while back and we did it all through paypal and that seemed to work out well if you want to go that route. The car is sold as is where is, and because I'm thinking about posting it on the local (Cleveland) craigslist, because the cars for sale locally I reserve the right to end the auction at any point should it sell locally. This is a no reserve auction so bid to win, and because my next hot rod may depend on it, please bid high!