I bought this 61 Buick LeSabre from a local guy a couple of years ago and it was basically stock except the wheels. I went through the suspension and lowered it, added swaybars and shocks and modified the upper control arms. I kept the Coy's Wheels he had on it because they looked good to me. I removed the interior, had the seats rebuilt with new springs, foam, etc and customized the dash to include gauges and eliminate the white surround and face of the speedometer. The biggest addition was Vintage Air. I custom made some ducts for it and had to make my own compressor bracket. It has it's original 364 Nailhead coupled with a TH350 tranny. It all turned out well I think. What I like is that there is almost never another 61 Buick 2 dr. hardtop at any show I go to, so it draws a lot of admirers.
I didn't like the way this car drove after doing a lot of suspension work. The problem was the front end had negative caster. After not finding anything aftermarket for a 61 Buick, I decided I would modify some stock upper control arms to give me positive caster. I moved the upper ball joints back 3/4" with a little cutting and splicing. I just got back from the alignment shop and am kicking myself for not doing this a year ago. It's not that hard and it makes a helluva difference in straight line stability.
Yep!! Positive caster can make a difference. I always try to add as much caster as I could on customers cars. Most would come back and comment on how much better their old cars drove.... ...
The Jalopy Journal
