You’ll Never Guess What Engine Someone Swapped Into This Buick Le Sabre Wagon

A little while ago, I wrote up Camaros and full-size wagons modified in Finland to dodge heavy passenger car import taxation. In the case of the Camaros, it meant replacing the rear seat and glass with a six-foot-long bed, grotesquely extending the rear of the car; with the wagons such as Caprices and Electras, the rear seats were replaced with uncomfortable temporary-use MDF board-based seats that turned the wagons into vans in the eyes of the lawmaker. You would also have to keep your speed below 50mph, but who cares? The cars cost half as much as a regular wagon, or less.

After the cars were successfully registered in Finland, they had to deal with the great weather and ample amounts of road salt here. Fast forward nearly 40 years, and some of these van-wagons still survive, bearing scars from Finnish winters and summers. Sometimes they pop up on sale on Nettiauto for cheap, and in some cases the original drivetrain has been swapped for something faster, or something at least functioning. Take a look at this Buick Le Sabre, which now has a Volvo engine under the hood.

Come on, usually it’s Volvos that receive American V8s in the hands of builders. One of Paul Newman’s Volvos even had a Buick engine, albeit a V6 from a Grand National.

I got in touch with the seller to find out what exactly has happened to the Buick that now relies on half as much engine than it used to. Matti R, from Lappeenranta in southeast Finland, explained that he’s originally a Volvo enthusiast and hobbyist. He got this 1983 Buick as it was advertised to “need a little work”, and he soon discovered the original Olds 307 had cracked the block from the water jacket.

Granted, it had sat for over a decade after being put up for sale, but the earlier ad gave a pretty solid idea of the car. As the description went, the frame and the underbody were said to be okay, with a single patch needed for the spare wheel tray, but it was also mentioned to run and drive despite having been off the road for a long time. Importantly, the ad had the words “All kinds of little detail work to do” (Kaikenlaista pientä hifistelyä löytyy), which ended up meaning a complete engine swap. I guess that just depends on your definition of “detail work”.

Matti wasn’t discouraged by the 307 being damaged goods. With access to a lot of Volvo parts and a number of engines, he soon figured he’d drop a B200K in there partially as a joke.

The B200K is pretty much your average Volvo Redblock, which you can find in various old rear-drive Volvos from the 240 to the 740, as well as the Dutch-built Volvo 360. In the 360, it represents the One Good Engine available in the car, as it’s a Real Volvo Engine compared to the Renault-derived fours the 300-series otherwise used. Stock, it produces around 100 horsepower, and it usually breathes through a Solex carb.

Now, the Buick might not have had a lot of power stock, but 150 horsepower still represents 50% extra over the Volvo motor, with 240 lb-ft of torque available at 1600rpm. The Volvo B200K produces almost exactly half of the torque, 121 lb-ft at 2700rpm. In any case, it might be that the Buick’s rubber-burning days are over. At least it will probably use around the same amount of fuel to make up it, as old Volvos have been known to drink a bit.

As for the gearbox, the Buick now features a neat installation of a five-speed Volvo M47 manual gearbox with a floor shifter. Matti had to build the clutch setup and the custom propeller shaft himself, but it works. You can probably count the number of floor-shifted, full-size Buick wagons with one hand. Since the steering column still has the now-vestigial shifter for the auto transmission, it’s now Twin Stick like an old Mitsubishi.

Looking at the cabin, the wagon also retains its Body by Fisher sill covers, as well as a good amount of fake wood. The Buick had originally been imported in May 1989, during the heyday of the van-wagon import craze. By that time it was six years old, so it must’ve been very cheap even by the time it was in Finnish plates.

Matti says the Buick again runs and drives, and it again does need some detail work to pass roadworthiness inspection, but he’s been able to go on test runs to verify it’s all buttoned up. There’s no welding any more to do, but for example, the doors have been swapped for less rusty ones and the electric windows on these need work. He’s put it up for sale as there hasn’t been enough time to finish what needs finishing.

Since the engine swap is one of those rare cases where the new engine doesn’t provide extra power, or necessarily even extra reliability, as Olds 307 motors seem to generally have a decent reputation for a Malaise era engine, it remains a curiosity whose biggest plus is that it works and moves the car, and again gives it a chance to pass inspection. Since it’s a four-banger, it could be called Duke Rödblock as an Iron Duke reference. Or Redbuick?

Images unless noted: Nettiauto, Matti Rapanen