210delray, as you said, these cars came equipped with lap belts in the front but in 1965, it was still possible to delete them and get a credit (for the last time!).

Jonny I read your comments about the engine and I can tell you the engine pictured is not a Buick 350. The ‘65 LeSabre 400 had a 300-4 barrel and ‘66-67 LeSabre 400 models had 340-4 barrel engines which look the same as the ‘65 300. The exhaust manifolds shown on the picture indicates this engine is either a Buick 300 or a newer 340 but they would not fit a Buick 350.
The 350 also has different valve covers.

This car lightly modified from original.
The engine was painted gold but it left the factory with light green paint. The tail panel is painted gold but it was originally the same color as the body (but it looks good like that!). Some parts of the interior were redone in black but they should be the same color as the rest of the interior (except the dashpad that should be brown). The original steering had two spokes that were curved down to allow reading the gauges.

Shaker, the ‘65 Buicks could also be equipped with the cruise control. In that case, the black needle with a yellow dot in the speedometer would indicate the set speed and pushing on the set button would make the car accelerate quickly from still to to the set speed without having to touch the accelerator pedal. Once there or above that speed, the “cruise” light came on above the 60 MPH mark in the speedometer. (see the link to my page on CarDomain below for images of it).

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/772306

And ‘65 LeSabres had cast iron drums which were not so good (and the featured car lacks power assist, not common on these cars!) but models with the bigger engines like the Wildcat, Electra 225 and Riviera got aluminium brake drums which were the best drums on the market. I have a ‘67 Buick Riviera with disc brakes (and 4 piston calipers) and they are not much better than the aluminium drums in my ‘65 Wildcat.

Andy, the floor dimmers didn’t disappear in 1966, there were still used in the seventies. That’s what I have in my ‘75 Buick Electra and newer cars have them too!

My own exposure to ’60s cars has been limited to the ‘67 Mustang I am trying to restore. Driving that car with 4 wheel manual drum brakes is an adventure. You have to get used to really stomping on the brakes to get it to stop.

There are not a lot of these cars left mainly due to rust. If it was not seen, chances are detroit did not bother to paint it at the factory. Replacing rusted out floor plans, and cowls are the first order of business when restoring alot of these cars.

The one that I was glad to get rid of was my ‘81 Mustang. The &*%@ horn was activated by pushing IN on the turn signal stalk. I don’t remember where the high/low beam switch was. I want to say the floor just like my ‘66 Mustang. I either want the switch on the floor or at least a GOOD turn signal lever switch like a decent foreign car. The current domestics are good – smooth with just the right feel too. My VWs and Hondas are for me the benchmark on switch feel.

As for the through the floor pedals: our family had a 1935 Ford fordor (no I didn’t spell that wrong) in the 1980s. It was an unrestored car on it’s second paint job. Neat old car. Vacum wiper system that was uh less than optimum. One rainy weekend we drove it from Chattanooga to Pigeon Forge (a place where they made cast iron birds?) for a car show. We were humming along at 50-55 mph when Dad hit a low spot in the road and got a face full of road water!!! Us two kids in the back seat thought this was endlessly funny. Mom was a good sport dealing with a leaky roof (rubber insert top) over her door. The wiper would slow to a crawl on the hill climbs and then race as we coasted down the other side. My ‘49 Chevy did exactly the same thing.

They are fun old cars but I am glad that this isn’t what we all HAVE to drive everyday.

Yes, but my mother thinks I’m stupid.

Thank you — I had been wondering what the hell the black needle on the speedo was for.

Very cool.

And for the record, it was set to 90 mph. The fastest I ever went was 85 mph.

My first car (in 1973) was a ‘65 LeSabre 4-door hardtop, which started life as a gold metallic color, but when my uncle sold it to me for $500, he had “livened it up” with an Earl Scheib ‘Daytona Orange’ job with a white, sprayed-on ‘vinyl’ top. Once I had spray-painted the grille with gloss-black paint (except for the large cross-bars), the look was complete.
300 V8, Super Turbine 400 tranny and the worst (drum) brakes ever for a beast that size.
Since I walked to work at US Steel in those days, the car was only really used to take my Dad shopping, and for me and my buddies to cruise around on my days off, the trusty six-pack always occupying the center-front seat position.
I can say that the bullet-proof tranny, being pulled all the way down to “L” (with two feet firmly planted on the brake pedal) ended many a drag race just short of disaster when it finally scrubbed off the ill-advised velocity of that lovely, lovely behemoth.

The Carter carb’s automatic choke never worked right (despite numerous attempts to fix it); but proper feathering of the throttle would usually bring the engine to life in all but the coldest weather. I can’t remember what kind of gas mileage I got, but in those days, it didn’t matter.
I do remember that the car was extraordinarily quick for its size/engine combo; I once measured a 0-60 time of 9 seconds up a slight grade; I raced later-model 318 Plymouth Dusters and er, dusted them…
The stock AM radio came with an adjustable “reverb” for the rear speaker, you could set it between “bathroom” and “bad acid trip” settings.
Instead of a cruise control, the speedo had an adjustable extra needle (like an alarm clock), where a buzzer would go off if you exceeded the set speed. (I couldn’t see the sense of it; the buzzer would merely irritate you to set the pointer to 100mph). The six-way power seat was always set to “pimp” mode to accommodate my lanky frame.
Surprisingly, the car ended life after a woman crossed a double-yellow line and crushed the driver’s side of the car from the back door through the rear fender — her insurance co. “totaled” it for me, and wrote me a check for $500.

Thanks for allowing me to wallow in my automotive past… ;-)

The last known model I’m aware of was the 1980 F-350 my dad had as a work vehicle.

So who remembers the OTHER foot switch for Wonderbar station-seeking radios? There was a feature that was ahead of it’s time!

Now, if you go back far enough, you’ll see holes in floorboards for clutch, brake and gas pedal linkages. The only thing that can be said for that design is that when the rubber boots inevitably deteriorated there was fresh air for the driver’s feet.

Meanwhile, we’re pumping out gansta rap and Dodge Aspens. Hunh. There’s a corollary here somewhere – I just can’t put my finger on it.

Among other monikers such as “Quadrajunk”.

Carburetors are one thing I don’t miss.

Back in the day, I had a ‘72 Pontiac Grand Ville with a Rochester Quadrajet carburetor. The float pin had a rubber tip. When the gas stations started pumping “gasohol”, the rubber degraded, causing the pin to get stuck. Thus, the Rochester was rechristened “Quadraflood”.

Concur about ghettotastic rims on classics. Surfing through the ads on craigslist, it is amazing how many people are selling old POS Detroiters with a set of 22’s that are worth more than the rest of the car. Who decided this was a good idea?

So’s the guy buying it — which is why the OG wheels are in the back seet.

And, to be fair — these wheels are less pimp than they are Rock-a-Billy car gang.

Love the brass accents on the rear fascia though.

The owner had told us that it was a 401 Nailhead. Which sounded fishy to me, as that wasn’t available with that transmission in 1965. but hey, swaps happen.

The LeSabre 400 came with a 300 small block.

However, after checking the block numbers (and Farago thinks he’s the only one with OCD) turns out that this puppy as a ‘69 Buick 350.

Awesome.

Same here, I never had a floor mounted bright switch go south on me (I also grew up in NJ). And yes I think it was the Japanese who first put it on the control stalk, although I don’t know if the Europeans did it before them or not.