The Buick Riviera is a personal luxury car that was marketed by Buick from 1963 to 1999, with the exception of the 1994 model year.
As General Motors' first entry into the personal luxury car market segment, the Riviera was highly praised by automotive journalists upon its high-profile debut. It was a ground-up design on a new GM E platform debuting for the 1963 model year and was also Buick's first unique Riviera model.
Unlike its subsequent GM E platform stablemates, the Oldsmobile Toronado and Cadillac Eldorado, the Riviera was initially a front engine/rear-wheel drive platform, switching to front-wheel drive starting with the 1979 model year.
While the early models stayed close to their original form, eight subsequent generations varied substantially in size and styling. A total of 1,127,261 Rivieras were produced.
The Riviera name was resurrected for two concept cars that were displayed at auto shows in 2007 and in 2013. __TOC__
Origins
The Riviera name
The name Riviera, Italian for coastline, was chosen to evoke the allure and affluence of the French Riviera. It first entered the Buick line in 1949, as the designation for the new two-door pillarless hardtop, described in advertising as "stunningly smart". The Buick Roadmaster Riviera coupe (along with the Cadillac Coupe de Ville and Oldsmobile 98 Holiday coupe) constituted the first mass production use of this body style, which was to become popular over the next 30 years. Buick added a two-door Riviera hardtop to the Super the following year, the Special in 1951, and the Century upon its return, after a 12-year absence, in 1954.
From 1951 to 1953 the Riviera designation was given to the existing long-wheelbase versions of the four-door Buick Roadmaster and Super sedans. The 1951–53 Buick Roadmaster and Super four-door Riviera sedans feature more standard features, more plush interior trim, and a wheelbase (and overall length) that is longer than a regular Buick Roadmaster or Super four-door sedan. The 1951–52 Buick Super four-door Riviera sedan is still shorter in wheelbase and length than the regular Buick Roadmaster and shorter than the Roadmaster four-door Riviera sedan. In 1953, with the move from the Fireball straight-eight to the more compact Fireball V8 engine, the Roadmaster and Super four-door Riviera sedans became the same length.
In the middle of the 1955 model year, Buick and Oldsmobile introduced the world's first mass-produced four-door hardtops, with Buick offering it only on the Century and Special models, and the Riviera designation was also applied to these body styles. Four-door Riviera hardtops were added to the Roadmaster and Super lines at the beginning of the following model year. However, since it was a body style designation and not a model, the Riviera name does not usually appear on the car.
In 1959, Buick became much more selective in applying the Riviera name. From then until 1962 it only was used to denote a premium trimmed six-window hardtop style which it initially shared exclusively with Cadillac (the Oldsmobile 98 would receive it in 1961) and was available only on the Electra 225. The last usage of the term Riviera to describe a luxury trim level was 1963, as the formal designation of the #4829 Electra 225 Riviera four-door hardtop, the same year the E-body model two-door hardtop coupe Riviera made its debut.
Debut as a personal luxury car
In the late 1950s, GM lacked a personal luxury car to compete with the highly successful Ford Thunderbird—a uniquely styled, two-door that had dramatically increased in popularity when expanded from a two-seater to a four-passenger car— and the Chrysler 300C. To fill this gap, an experimental Cadillac design, the XP-715, was created, dubbed the "LaSalle" after a former GM luxury marque. Its angular look was reportedly inspired by GM styling chief Bill Mitchell's visit to London during the period, when he was struck by the sight of a custom-bodied Rolls-Royce. He later said that "knife-edged" styling was what he wanted for the new model, but with a lower profile. The design itself was penned by stylist Ned Nickles.
When Cadillac passed on the venture in 1960 the project was thrown open for competition by the other GM Divisions. Buick, desperate to revive its flagging sales, won the competition by enlisting the aid of the McCann-Erickson advertising agency to create its presentation. Initially referred to as the "Buick LaSalle" and later "Buick Riviera" concept cars, the finished design was adapted to a shortened version of Buick's existing cruciform frame. It was again introduced as a concept car in 1963 called the Buick Riviera Silver Arrow.
Of the first generation Riviera, 112,544 units were produced in three years, divided into exactly 40,000 vehicles in the 1963 model year, as well as 37,658 for 1964 and the last model year 1965 with 34,586 vehicles.
First generation (1963–1965)
The production Riviera was introduced on October 4, 1962, as a 1963 model. Its bodyshell was unique to the marque, unusual for a GM product. The design was substantially the same as the original, less expensively hidden headlights concealed in the fender grilles. The elegant ground-up styling sported the new "Coke bottle look" introduced the year before on the arresting Studebaker Avanti, with a tapered midsection surrounded by flaring fenders. There was no trace of the "Sweepspear" used on beltlines of earlier Buicks with the Riviera package.
It rode on a cruciform frame similar to the standard Buick chassis, but shorter and narrower, with a narrower track. Its wheelbase of and overall length of were and shorter, respectively, than a Buick LeSabre, but slightly longer than a contemporary Thunderbird. At , it was about lighter than either. It shared the standard Buick V8 engines, with a displacement of either or , and the unique continuously variable design twin turbine automatic transmission. Power brakes were standard, using Buick's massive "Al-Fin" (aluminum finned) drums of diameter. Power steering was standard equipment, with an overall steering ratio of 20.5:1, giving 3.5 turns lock-to-lock.
The Riviera's suspension used Buick's standard design, with double wishbones in the front and a live axle located by trailing arms and a lateral track bar in the rear, but the roll centers were lowered to reduce body lean. Although its coil springs were actually slightly softer than other Buicks, the Riviera's lighter weight made its ride somewhat firmer. While still biased towards understeer, contemporary testers considered it one of the most driveable American cars, with an excellent balance of comfort and agility.
Buick's "Nailhead" V-8 was initially the only available engine, fitted with dual exhaust as standard equipment, and the turbine drive the only transmission. Base price was $4,333 ($ in dollars ), running upwards of $5,000 delivered with typical options ($ in dollars ). Buick announced an optional version of the Nailhead in December 1962. Total production was deliberately limited to 40,000 vehicles (in a year that Buick sold 440,000 units overall) to emphasize the Riviera's exclusivity and to increase demand; only 2,601 were delivered with the delayed availability larger engine in the 1963 model year.
With the same power as the bigger Buicks and less weight, the Riviera had improved all-around performance: Motor Trend recorded in 8 seconds or less, the standing in about 16 seconds, and an observed top speed of . Fuel economy was . Front leg room was .
Inside, the Riviera featured a luxurious four-place cabin with front bucket seats and bucket-style seats in the rear. A center console with a floor shifter and storage compartment built into the instrument panel divided the front. Upholstery choices included all-vinyl, cloth and vinyl, or optional leather. A deluxe interior option included real walnut inserts on the doors and below the rear side windows. Extra-cost options included a tilt steering wheel, power windows, power driver's seat, air conditioning, a remote-controlled side-view mirror, and white sidewall tires.
Minimal trim and mechanical changes were made for 1964, with the most identifiable distinguishing features being a raised stylized "R" hood emblem and "R" emblems replacing the Buick crests in the taillight lenses. The interior is distinguished by moving the heater controls from controls under the dashboard eyebrow to slide controls in the forward fairing of the center console. Leather was dropped as an option, and the Dynaflow twin-turbine transmission was replaced by a new three-speed Super Turbine 400. This was a GM Turbo Hydra-Matic. It used a two-speed "D" and 'L" selector, but could automatically downshift from third to second until the car reached a suitable speed to downshift to first. This was the first year of the stylized "R" emblem, a trademark that would continue throughout the remainder of Riviera's 36-year production run. The engine was upgraded to the previously optional V8. A 'Super Wildcat' version was available, with dual Carter AFB four-barrel carburetors. In 1965 the V8 returned as the standard engine, and the "Gran Sport" version made its debut, powered by the Super Wildcat V8, a engine equipped with two Carter 625 CFM carburetors, a distributor with different advance, and outfitted with a more aggressive 3.42 axle ratio. A heavy-duty suspension was the separate H2 option but was not part of the Gran Sport option. It offered a quicker ratio steering box and firmer rated springs. The Super Turbine 400 transmission now had a variable pitch torque converter, but was fitted with a three-speed gear selector. The Gran Sport stock dual exhaust pipes were increased from to inside diameter and had fewer turns to reduce backpressure. Externally, the headlamps, now vertically arranged, were hidden behind clamshell doors in the leading edges of each fender, as had been in the original design. The non-functional side scoops between the doors and rear wheel arches were removed, and the taillights moved from the body into the rear bumper. A vinyl roof became available as an option, offered only in black, and the tilt steering wheel, optional in previous years, was now standard equipment.
Total sales for the 1963 through 1965 model years was 112,244. The Riviera was well received by the motoring press and considered a great success, giving the Thunderbird its first real competition as America's preeminent personal luxury car.
It has since earned Milestone status from the Milestone Car Society. Jaguar founder and designer Sir William Lyons remarked that Mitchell had done "a very wonderful job," and Sergio Pininfarina declared it "one of the most beautiful American cars ever built; it has marked a very impressive return to simplicity of American car design." At its debut at the Paris Auto Show, Raymond Loewy said the Riviera was the most handsome American production car—apart from his own Studebaker Avanti, in his view the Riviera's only real competition for 1963. The first-generation Riviera is considered a styling landmark and has become a collectible car.
+Buick Riviera Production FiguresYearly Total196340,000196437,958196534,586
Second generation (1966–1970)
The Riviera was redesigned for the 1966 model year. It retained its cruciform X-frame, powertrain, and brakes, but its new body was longer, wider, and heavier. Vent windows, a feature GM had introduced in the 1930s, were absent. Headlamps remained concealed, but now pivoted behind the grille when not in use, and they were once again horizontal. The car's added weight slowed acceleration with the unchanged 425 engine. The Gran Sport package remained available as an option. Rear seat belts and AM/FM radio were optional.
The new front-wheel drive Oldsmobile Toronado shared the Riviera platform, and, a year later, the also front-wheel drive Cadillac Eldorado — the Riviera retaining the rear-wheel drive layout.