Monday, May 20, 2013

Flint Artifacts: 1985 Buick LeSabre


How many people left Flint in this car, never to return?


8 comments:

  1. I love the terms 'limited' and 'collector's edition'. As if there were small, finite quantities of this automobile, and auto enthusiasts should run (not walk) to their nearest Buick stealership to get two...

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  2. If you were driving a sweet 1985 LeSabre Limited you probably weren't leaving town, quite the contrary, you were in it for the long haul. Flint Flighters drove Honda Accords, Le Cars, and Chevettes.

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    1. Accords? Weren't many of those — coming or going — in Flint in the mid 80s.

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    2. Au contraire, Accords were the vehicle of choice for Flint's young, overeducated classholes in the mid/late 80s. East Village, Mott Park, Woodcroft cast out more than a few Accord-loads of brain drainers who headed south to AA and beyond.


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  3. That picture looks a lot like the 78 LeSabre I once had & reminds me of a funny Buick story. I worked at Buick for 40 years, plants 12,10,36, the foundry & plant 81. In plant 81, we had a visit from the head of Powertrain at the time, Homi Patel. He was asking people what vehicles they drove & I told him a Ford. As a matter of fact, it was a 95 T-Bird. I also told him I once had a LeSabre and had to junk it with only 40,000 miles on it. The gas tank and oil pan had rusted out, the brake lines rusted through & the last straw was the frame at the rear axle rusted through. I didn't tell him it was 20 years old, that I had inherited it when my dad died in 94, and it rusted due to my dad only driving short distances so things never warmed up, then parking it in the garage. I had him going pretty good, until one of my coworkers spilled the beans.

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  4. BornAndRaisedDowntown80sBabyJune 7, 2013 at 6:48 PM

    I left in a 2005 LaCrosse in 2011.

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  5. Had one of these. Still own it to this day and next to the Accords i owned was the most reliable car I have ever had. Don't build em like this anymore.

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  6. I own a collectors edition 1985 LeSabre today and show it in small towns near Flint. I am always hearing I may have worked on your car. Alas I say were you in Kanas City in 1985 where our car was assembled?

    Yes I have thr orginal window sticker and about the first line says assembled in KC. KA.
    Is a great car and get a lot of attention is not parked near some muscle car.
    https://i.imgur.com/EdSCibf.jpg

    Al

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.