So, as long as I can remember, I've wanted to own atleast two cars. One being a daily driver, the other being a classic or something nice that I can drive on nice days or on the weekends and store for winter or during rainy days.
After I bought the Marauder in mid April, I found out there are only 328 made of them like that, in the Dark Blue Pearl, making it quite valuable and a collector car in the future, so I set out to buy something before the start of winter that I would drive through the snow, on rainy days and to busy places where I would worry about door dings, errant shopping carts, drunks and potential theft.
I focused my search on GM FWD products made in the late '80s and early '90s. My #1 choice was a FWD 3800 powered full sized Olds or Buick, but I also looked at Centurys, Cieras, 4.9 devilles, Town Cars, Bonnevilles and even considered an early '90s Maxima or Accord.
Over the last few weeks, I test drove a couple of different cars in the $1500-1700 range, the last being a 95 Ciera with only 86k miles, but it seemed as though everything I found needed major work to be a solid daily driver.
Then last Sunday, as I was carefully checking craigslist again, I stumbled across exactly what I wanted, a '91 LeSabre Custom Sedan (the last year for the cool Reagan era square body), it was posted Sunday morning, and I called on it Sunday afternoon and I met a few friends and went to look at it Sunday evening. 149k miles, $1295 OBO, white with the red cloth interior. It had a really creative ad that caught my attention, so I had to look at it!
I got out there with my friends and fell in love with it. It had a clean exterior, a spotless interior, a new radiator, recently rebuilt transmission, good tires, great brakes, very little rust. The only issues I saw were an illuminated CEL, both front window regulators were inop, the valve cover gasket is in need of replacement, the AM/FM portion of the radio is inop (but the cassette deck works, which is all I need with the iPod adaptor). So I made him an offer of $1100 and drove it home the next day.
I parked the Marauder in the garage Monday evening and haven't driven it since. I enjoy driving this old LeSabre so much, in a totally different sense than the Marauder. It rides like my Cadillac did, the 3800 gets 23 mpg in town, the seats are super comfy and it's much easier to park & maneuver than the Marauder is, it's a great car to slowly cruise the town in. The Marauder begs to be driven hard, in the way it accelerates & handles. Being a much larger, heavier car than the LeSabre, it's funny that the Marauder is a much sharper handler. The Marauder holds a flat stance as it aggressively takes the curves & sweepers, the LeSabre folds over on it's door handles at the slightest thought of making a turn. But whereas the Marauder transmits the bumps and potholes to the cabin, the LeSabre simply floats over them, making it probably the best riding car I've ever owned (or the '92 Sedan deVille).
My plan is to drive the Marauder on weekends, then store it once the snow flies and use the LeSabre for daily commuting and snow duty.
When I added the LeSabre to my insurance, the rates went up $118 for every 6 months, which comes down to $19/mo. I'll save that in gas in a month!
Here's a few pics from the day I bought it, before I cleaned it.
Spotless interior.
Lots of room to work on the 3800, for the little work it needs.
I ****ing LOVE how the hood opens on these, just like a Corvette. I remember going with my dad in 1994 to look at a dark blue Lesabre like this and thinking it was awesome that it opened backwards.
Considering I paid $1100 for this, I think I got the deal of the year!
I need to take care of a few minor things though... valve cover gaskets, the horn is inop, needs a cupholder for the front armrest. I had the LF wheel bearing replaced on Wednesday as well, that was shot.
I'm very happy with how well this worked out, bring on the snow!
After I bought the Marauder in mid April, I found out there are only 328 made of them like that, in the Dark Blue Pearl, making it quite valuable and a collector car in the future, so I set out to buy something before the start of winter that I would drive through the snow, on rainy days and to busy places where I would worry about door dings, errant shopping carts, drunks and potential theft.
I focused my search on GM FWD products made in the late '80s and early '90s. My #1 choice was a FWD 3800 powered full sized Olds or Buick, but I also looked at Centurys, Cieras, 4.9 devilles, Town Cars, Bonnevilles and even considered an early '90s Maxima or Accord.
Over the last few weeks, I test drove a couple of different cars in the $1500-1700 range, the last being a 95 Ciera with only 86k miles, but it seemed as though everything I found needed major work to be a solid daily driver.
Then last Sunday, as I was carefully checking craigslist again, I stumbled across exactly what I wanted, a '91 LeSabre Custom Sedan (the last year for the cool Reagan era square body), it was posted Sunday morning, and I called on it Sunday afternoon and I met a few friends and went to look at it Sunday evening. 149k miles, $1295 OBO, white with the red cloth interior. It had a really creative ad that caught my attention, so I had to look at it!
I got out there with my friends and fell in love with it. It had a clean exterior, a spotless interior, a new radiator, recently rebuilt transmission, good tires, great brakes, very little rust. The only issues I saw were an illuminated CEL, both front window regulators were inop, the valve cover gasket is in need of replacement, the AM/FM portion of the radio is inop (but the cassette deck works, which is all I need with the iPod adaptor). So I made him an offer of $1100 and drove it home the next day.
I parked the Marauder in the garage Monday evening and haven't driven it since. I enjoy driving this old LeSabre so much, in a totally different sense than the Marauder. It rides like my Cadillac did, the 3800 gets 23 mpg in town, the seats are super comfy and it's much easier to park & maneuver than the Marauder is, it's a great car to slowly cruise the town in. The Marauder begs to be driven hard, in the way it accelerates & handles. Being a much larger, heavier car than the LeSabre, it's funny that the Marauder is a much sharper handler. The Marauder holds a flat stance as it aggressively takes the curves & sweepers, the LeSabre folds over on it's door handles at the slightest thought of making a turn. But whereas the Marauder transmits the bumps and potholes to the cabin, the LeSabre simply floats over them, making it probably the best riding car I've ever owned (or the '92 Sedan deVille).
My plan is to drive the Marauder on weekends, then store it once the snow flies and use the LeSabre for daily commuting and snow duty.
When I added the LeSabre to my insurance, the rates went up $118 for every 6 months, which comes down to $19/mo. I'll save that in gas in a month!
Here's a few pics from the day I bought it, before I cleaned it.
Spotless interior.
Lots of room to work on the 3800, for the little work it needs.
I ****ing LOVE how the hood opens on these, just like a Corvette. I remember going with my dad in 1994 to look at a dark blue Lesabre like this and thinking it was awesome that it opened backwards.
Considering I paid $1100 for this, I think I got the deal of the year!
I need to take care of a few minor things though... valve cover gaskets, the horn is inop, needs a cupholder for the front armrest. I had the LF wheel bearing replaced on Wednesday as well, that was shot.
I'm very happy with how well this worked out, bring on the snow!