1960 Buick LeSabre

Wagon

8 - Cyl.

Automatic

4g2011257

Gasoline

(Relist With Lower Reserve) 1960 Buick LeSabre Station Wagon 3 Seats. Car drives like new. Air.Electric tailgate window.Vacuum tube radio. Completely Rebuilt front end and Four Wheel Alignment. New brakes and shocks. There are no mechanical issues with the motor or transmission. Original Southern California Black plate car. Can be seen daily in Camarillo California, 40 minutes from downtown Los Angeles. You are no doubt familiar with the phrase "Body by Fisher". Buick proudly advertised this feature, but what they didn't tell you was that their station wagon bodies actually were not made by Fisher.... at least not completely. Unlike the higher volume Chevrolet and Pontiac wagons, the low volume 1960 Buick wagon bodies (and Oldsmobile, too) were produced by the Ionia Manufacturing Company of Owosso Michigan. Ionia was an independent company that made bodies and trim for the auto industry, and was part of the large Mitchell-Bentley Corporation. In addition to producing Buick wagon bodies from 1946 through 1964, they made a variety of other bodies or vehicle modifications. Just a few examples from this time period include Oldsmobile wagon bodies (1957-64), Lincoln Continental Mk II bodies (1956-57); and the semi-custom Packard Caribbean. Open the door on a 1960 Buick wagon and you will see that in place of a "Body by Fisher" tag on the sill plate, there is a "Ionia Body" tag (see photo above). Similarly, the cowl tag states "Mitchell-Bentley Corp" instead of "Body by Fisher" (see website section on body tag decoding). A knowledgeable enthusiast that is intimately familiar with 1959-60 GM wagons has provided me detailed information on the differences between Ionia and Fisher bodies. This individual has performed extensive body-off restorations on both Buick and Chevrolet wagons from 1959 and 1960, and is likely the foremost expert anywhere on this subject. Below are his comments regarding the 1960 Buick station wagon bodies. "Fisher provided a partially assembled cowl assembly that consisted of firewall, plenum, windshield pillars, floors (front & rear), door pillars, doors, and roof. The rear quarters were shipped loose, and were from a LeSabre/Invicta 4dr sedan. "Ionia-supplied components included rear cargo deck, seats, quarter inners, rear quarter floors, spare tire bin, tailgate. To the Fisher roof, Ionia added a 4" extension that was later covered with a "cap" molding (either chrome or non-chrome, depending on trim level). "The rear side glass and tailgate glass were unique to the Buick and were gently bowed, or curved. (If you buy one of these, make sure the glass is good, as it is a bear to find replacements!) The Buick-specific tailgate glass frame was made of polished stainless steel rather than the more typical chromed steel. There seems to be some confusion over the engines offered in 1960 Buicks. Perhaps this is because they have an identical external appearance, except for carburetors and air cleaners. It may also be due to Buick?s practice of identifying the engines by their torque rating, rather than their cubic inch displacement. The 1960 Buick had two engine sizes: a 364 and a 401. Both are members of Buick?s original (1953) family of V8?s known as ?nailheads?. This nickname is because of the small, vertically positioned valves. The 401 was a bored and stroked 364 and had been introduced only a year earlier in the 1959 models. For 1960, ALL LeSabres had 364 engines, while ALL other models used the larger 401. Wildcat 375E: the regular fuel 364 LeSabre engine. The 3rd seat on a 1960 Buick station wagon. This particular car is a LeSabre, and exhibits the all-vinyl ("Cordaveen") seating that is identical to that found on LeSabre convertibles. Note the spare tire location. This is in stark contrast to a 1960 Chevrolet wagon, which mounted the tire under the car, like a pickup truck. By mounting the spare in this location, the Buick wagon was able to use the standard passenger car fuel tank and fuel filler location (behind license plate). 3rd Seat is New Feature In 1959, Buick offered a "buddy" seat for the cargo area of the station wagon. It was really just a simple thin seat that bolted to the load floor, and was barely suitable for for small children. In 1960, a true 3rd seat option was made available on LeSabre and Invicta wagons for the first time. These three-seat versions received unique model numbers (4445 & 4645), and a standard power tailgate window. The power tailgate window was optional on 2-seat wagons. On Dec-02-11 at 09:00:36 PST, seller added the following information: The information above came from this website www.The1960Buick.com check it out there's a lot of nice pictures of the car