1983 Buick LeSabre Ltd. review from North America

Nothing special on the first day for this $400 purchase: the inside mirror stayed in my hand after I touched it for the first time to adjust. I glued it back as soon as learned that there exists mirror glue.

New battery was put the first business for goodness' sake in this sub-polar city of Buffalo, NY, and stayed with the car into the eternity.

The car passed inspection question-free, thanks to a kind mechanic.

(In fact, deterioration was profound due to, my guess, a rollover back in the unknown history of this college-goers' limousine. The brown vinyl top was playing in-out hinting the above, and the tubular parts of the body frame became semi-tubular, losing their bottom half as rust, again, probably due to the deformations they experienced once, plus Buffalo itself.)

Another heritage from, probably, the first owner was a fishhook found in the depths of the trunk, and a tow hitch, suggesting a boat trailer and long trips. This innocent hobby left deep scars on the semi axles and their bearings, making me shiver with the vibration coming from the rear. One nice day this ended after something cracked while cornering at an intersection. Then came smoke, and a AAA tow truck thereafter. The Buick took its long-earned one-week vacation, paid by owner in the amount of $500, and was back refreshed with a brand-new junkyard axle (and God bless that mechanic). And that was basically it between me and mechanics, besides a few fix-while-you-wait appointments. Yes, the water pump leaked its share down the drain, and so did the radiator on its modest pace, the cracks in the gas tank got sealed with a hundred-dollar banknote, and a falling-off exhaust pipe magically re-connected by the wizards of K-mart for a price barely greater than that of a wholehearted thankyou, but this cream-and-chocolate-colored machine seemed to be determined to be "still going" just like that rabbit on your screen. Out of 30-so kilo miles spent with me far from what I was supposed to regard as home, she chose NONE for a standstill.

I sometimes wonder - was it the second, or the third round on the odometer.