As soon as the Grand National was killed off, Buick found themselves in a strange predicament: should they continue to run with the successes that the Grand National and T-type had brought them during the 1980s, or should they revert to building “premium American motorcars” and re-embrace everything that seemed to smack of the term “brougham”? Sadly, we know that Buick all but canned sporting performance at the end of 1987 and didn’t bother revisiting actual power until 1997’s Buick Regal GS, with it’s supercharged 3.8L V6. But if you look closely at the front-wheel-drive LeSabre line, you can see that there were internal struggles to keep a good thing going. In 1986 Buick had actually made a LeSabre Grand National for NASCAR homologation purposes, and between 1987 and 1989 you could order the H-body as a T-type, Buick’s other code for performance in the Eighties. It was mostly for show, but what a show it was: black paint, gray interiors, tasteful spoilers and air dams, a set of sporting wheels…if they had addressed the powertrain situation, the transition to front-wheel-drive might have been a little bit less painful.
Underhood is the expected 3.8L V6, which was capable of churning out 165 horsepower and 215 ft/lbs of torque…shame they couldn’t figure out how to force-feed it some much-needed air. It’s dead-nuts reliable, parts are everywhere and it’ll last, but exciting it is not. At least it’s bolted into one of the best-looking front-drive body designs made. It might not be your cup of tea, but you have to admit that the LeSabre body, especially dressed up, is handsome and fairly sleek, especially for a Buick. And that’s why we would recommend this car as a Rough Start candidate: on it’s own and left alone, the T-type is an interesting conversation piece that, if you are so inclined, could be daily-driven. But what we are seeing is the perfect starting point for a restomod. The L67 supercharged V6 from the early 2000s Regal would give this LeSabre the guts it should have had stock, and with a bit of magic, some computer tuning and a smaller pulley, you’d end up with a Pro Commuter build that would pull mid-20s fuel economy as long as you kept your foot off of the long pedal on the right, and would be at least in the twelves on the strip. How could you lose in that situation?
Craigslist Link: 1989 Buick LeSabre T-type
Swap in a full-on Coyote motor and piss off all those LS lovers…
I’d be tempted to turbo it just because that SHOULD have been what they did from the factory (Hello, McLaren Grand Prix?). Even if a 3800 SC would be the easy button. And if I’m going to that much work, it would get a stick shift too.
GM did consider selling them with a turbo 3800, but apparently they couldn’t keep a transaxle alive. Also, really rare, they made 100 or so LeSabre Grand Nationals.
It FWD, it doesn’t matter what power plant is transplanted, it’s FWD.
End of story.
The price of T Types is down. Just buy one.
Yes they were FWD but they made great looking Nascar race cars . Bobby Allison AND Bobby Hillon Miiler American Racing, The Quaker state car of Drag Racer Kenny Bernstein, and a few others ran them > The Late Buddy Baker drove a great looking sister looking Crisco Olds . Even Dale Earnhardt ran this body style in the old Busch Series !!! At Least back then the cars did not all look like IROC cars !!!!!!