By all-original, I really mean it! Aside from white painted top and the usual wear items, Gertrude is as she left the Wilmington Delaware factory in July of '69. The Lime Mist Green paint is all original! The white top isn't original. She left the factory with a black vinyl top instead but at some point, I'm thinking quite soon after the car was bought, it was torn off and the roof was sprayed white. Everyone loves the green/white color combo and so do I!
The '69 LeSabre came with 3 flavors of engines, 2 of which were 350s. The base one was topped with a 2 barrel carb that pumped out 230 Horsepower, while the mid-range one came with a 4 barrel carb which boosted power to 280. And the top of the block was the 430 Wildcat V8 which was an absolute rocket from what I've been told.
This motor is the 350 with the 4 barrel and it has just 59K ORIGINAL MILES! Thats right! Not 159, 59! This engine has never been apart and nothing other than hoses/plug wires have been replaced.
But the real gem here is the interior. Its absolutely mint:
These brocade benches look like they've never been sat in. No tears or discoloration to speak of. Infact when I first bought it, there was still plastic on the bottom half of the front seat(however it was very yellow and cracked from storage so I removed it).
Options? Well not as many as you'd expect from a luxurious make like Buick. Aside from things like power steering and power brakes, the only other options are A/C, an AM radio, and a funky option called "Speed Alert"
If you look at around 45 on this speedometer, you'll see a little yellow dot. That is the needle that controls speed alert. There is a small knob on the dash that you turn to move the yellow needle to a speed you wish to not exceed. If the regular red speed needle goes over the speed alert needle, a buzzer will sound to let you know to back off the gas! What a feature!
No power windows or power antenna to speak of in my car either. The AM radio is the base radio available(good luck finding a '69 buick with radio delete). An AM/FM unit was available. Having an AM only radio is hard where I'm from because we have a lack of AM stations that still play music! I guess I'll just have to settle for baseball games and self-help radio shows for now.
Now for a little history on the car! She was built in July 1969, possibly only a few days before the moon landing! From birth, she was destined to be a PA car. The original selling dealership is Martin H Heine Buick-Cadillac located in Huntingdon,PA. On September 19th 1969, Frank and Mary Haulman purchased the Buick off the lot and didn't drive it much except for vacations. Beneath the backseat I found a receipt from the Vajda Motel in Blind River, Ontario. It was dated 1976.
I was told that Frank Haulman drove a 1960 Ford Truck and that was primarily the vehicle him and his wife used. That explains how the Buick accumulated so few miles during it's life. I know that as of 1994, Mary and Frank still owned the car because of a receipt for a new battery I found dated 6/8/94 that has Mary's name on it.
In 1995, Mary's nephew took ownership of the Buick and drove it for about a year. He even got it licensed as an antique. He worked at a fiberglass company in town and kept the Buick in one of the company's storage buildings. He never drove it after 1995, but he did occasionally start it up and let it run to keep things moving.
Flash forward to 2010. The nephew is moving and cannot take the Buick with him, his friend by the name of Andy buys it from him and immediately puts it back up for sale alongside the main road in Huntingdon. This is where I found it in September 2014. Sitting outside for 4 years had caused some slight imperfections in the paint. But Andy drove the car around town once every few weeks.
I bought it September 2014 and drove it 35 minutes back home to where I live. Even on some very old mismatched tires it drove just fine! A rebuilding of the leaky brake system was probably the biggest thing that needed done. Other than that, the usual wear items like hoses and ignition points were replaced along with a set of new whiteline radial tires.
I consider the Buick an oddball solely because how often do you see a big full-size car out and about anymore that ISNT a Chevrolet Impala? Hundreds of these beautiful full-size luxury barges met an unfitting end at a demolition derby and tons more had their big block hearts torn out for some other project car. There just aren't a lot left, especially in this kind of condition! And I sure am glad to be preserving a piece of history!
I hope you enjoyed reading about Gertrude the '69 Buick! She'll make several more appearences I'm sure!
-Boris
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