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1964 Buick Riviera: Mitchell’s Masterpiece
I’ve always loved personal luxury cars. It was one of the more interesting developments that hit the auto industry in the late ’50s to early ’60s. The original is arguably the 1955 Thunderbird. While it was seen as a competitor to the first Corvette, it seemed to be more cruiser than sports car. And by 1958, with the new four-seat “Squarebird,” front bucket seats, center console and all, the basic parameters were settled.
And the sales of the 1958-60 T-Bird blew the two-seat 1955-57 model totally out of the water, so it was just a matter of time before other manufacturers got their own versions into showrooms everywhere. While a case can be made that earlier cars earlier cars also fit the personal luxury mold, such as the 1956-57 Continental Mark II and 1953-66 Eldorados, I generally consider the first two the ’58-60 Thunderbird and ’63-65 Riviera.
The personal luxury car was generally smaller than a regular full-size car, or if on the same full-size chassis, it wore a special body different from its showroom-mates. A long hood, short deck and close-coupled but lush interior were also in evidence. By 1963, the Thunderbird was a success, all the more remarkable because it was a Ford and not a fancier marque. The 1963 Riviera was its first really close competitor.
As I’m sure many of you know, this car was initially not going to be a Buick, but a reintroduction of Cadillac’s once junior marque, the LaSalle. Along with the 1963 Corvette, it was one of new GM design head Bill Mitchell’s styling sensations, and showed a definite move from predecessor Harley Earl’s love of fins and chrome, chrome, chrome.
LaSalle initially came out during GM’s brief infatuation of having a ‘sister marque’ to go along with their other makes of cars in the late ’20s. LaSalle lasted through 1940, and Pontiac, initially the sister marque to Oakland, was the longest lived of them by far, with Oakland itself disappearing after 1931.
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The initial designs essentially carried through to what the production 1963 Riviera looked like, sans “LaSalle II” badging. And the result was a gorgeous conveyance! The initial ’63 model sold for $4333; about 40,000 were built.
Meanwhile, the 1963 Thunderbird sold for $4445 as a standard hardtop, $4548 as a tonier Landau and $4912 as a convertible. Production of the hardtop was 42,806, only a few thousand above the all-new Riviera.
As I was researching the orignal MSRPs, I was surprised to find the T-Bird was actually about a hundred bucks more than the Riv, even though Buick was an upper-class make. But despite its Ford badging, the T-Bird was kind of in a category of its own, distanced by class and sumptuousness over its more utilitarian Falcon and Fairlane relatives.
For 1964, Buick initiated only minor changes. Price was up a bit to $4385 and 37,958 were built. The Riviera was 208.1″ long with a 117″ wheelbase, though much of its chassis and instrument panel was shared with other large Buicks. For comparison’s sake, a ’64 Electra 225 was 222.8″ long, the LeSabre and Wildcat 218.9 inches.
As you would expect, a V-8 resided beneath the swoopy hood, in this case the “Wildcat 465,” a 425-CID engine with four barrel carburetor, which made 340 hp at 4400 rpm, and 465 lb-ft of torque at 2800 rpm. An optional Super Wildcat V-8 with dual four-barrel carbs produced 360 hp and 425 lb-ft.
The most noticeable exterior difference over the ’63 was a new stand-up hood ornament. And if you look further up at the picture of the ’40 LaSalle, you can see where the parking light housings came from.
In ’65 the headlights would be relocated into them for an even cleaner look. I miss neat styling tricks like that these days. Like the personal luxury car itself, nifty touches like this seem to have disappeared forever.
As for our fantastic featured example, it was spied by your author and Jayson Coombes at the 2023 Des Moines Concours d’Elegance. As always, it was an excellent show, and one of the featured cars was—you guessed it—the Buick Riviera. Many gorgeous examples were in evidence, but this one, in splendid Coral Mist with white interior, was my favorite by far!
In one of those odd coincidences, Matchbox recently issued a 1/64 Riviera in the same color combination. Of course, I purchased one immediately. So if you want a Mini Me version, local retail establishments may have them.
Owned by Al and Cheryl Schmidt, the car radiated swank and beauty. I can imagine taking it on a lovely summer night to the Moonlight Bay Supper Club for cocktails and surf and turf! It’s a crying shame Buick no longer makes anything even half as compelling these days.
And if you’ve never seen a Riviera in this color, it is because a scant 1.7 percent of ’64 Rivs were sprayed in it. Another shame, as the car is simply spectacular in this color!
Ah, peak Buick! We had the care of a friend’s silver 1964 Wildcat in grad school, while he was off on a Fulbright, for over a year. What a fun car! The only real trouble we had was the single-circuit brakes failing approaching an intersection; my wife was driving with our infant son in the back. Her quick downshifting and use of the emergency brake saved the day. I also had a 1966 Wildcat a few years earlier, featured in the dreadful movie Murder One. My stepfather wrote it off the following year, unfortunately — just before I met my wife. Buicks were my grandparents’ choice of car too, with his last being a mid-60s longroof and her last an early-70s Skylark with a sunroof… after that, they switched to imports, and I did too, sventually…
The Riviera is a point in styling history of before/after. Nearly everything domestic (and quite a few not domestic) developed styling cues off of it and not many approached how good the Riviera executed it all.
80s styling eventually moved away from it, but we still see it in luxury coupes and sedans, less so now with the more-recent “fastback coupe” roof fad and of course the lack of actual car models vs. crossovers/SUV. If Buick brought back the 65 look in a new car –now that would be retro worth doing.
Thunderbird to Ford in the early years was exactly like Corvette still is to Chevrolet in that they were the distinguished member of the family that is a pseudo brand unto itself not fettered by the image/market of the main brand’s offerings.
The Riv was the best example of the long, low and wide Mitchell loved.
Sadly emissions and CAFE killed this styling as it is just hard to do on a smaller car and still meet federal regulations.
My ’94 Buick Park Avenue Ultra with supercharged 3.8L V6 gets 28 to 31 mpg while cruising fairly cleanly at slightly illegal interstate hwy speeds. It’s only a bit smaller and lighter than the Rivs.
This was a great car and it got better every year till 65.
I have driven the 63 and a 65 grand sport that had less than 10k miles.
I often wondered how a convertible would have loose line with a hard cover.
The Riv always struck me as the closest thing to being a full-custom as a production car could get. I would have easily believed it was crafted by Barris or Jeffries or Winfield or some other of the custom car giants. I have a good friend who has a driver-quality black ’65 with white interior. Even with its obvious wear and tear, it’s still one of the most sexy and beautiful cars I know of.
Magnifique!
So it was planned as a Cadillac?
In a way, it still made it — as the 1967 Eldorado.
Top 4 American car designs: ’63-’65 Riv; ’66-’67 Riv; ’68-’70 Charger; ’57 T-bird.
It’s a fact. You can look it up.
Huge fan of Rivieras!
I also really like the atypical, sort of girly GM colors of the day, like this and Evening Orchid\Iris Mist. (Chevy\Pontiac names for the same color. 1965 only.)
Awesome car! Thanks Klockau!
IMHO, the only production auto that could compete on slinky, sexy looks in a larger car would be a ’66 Toronado.
The 1966 Toronado is basically a front wheel drive 1966 Riviera
You’re not wrong!
The Toronado had no limited slip or traction control. Smoke would curl up for the fender well and the front tires were swapped side to side at every servicing.
The ’65 Riviera Gran Sport is certainly one of those ’65 GM masterpieces. Mark Harmon drove one in Reasonable Doubts along with Kay Lenz.
The 1966 Toronado was very polarizing, in terms of looks. I fall on the side of “Ugh”. 1966 Riviera? Much better-looking.
I prefer the cleaner front end look of the 66-67 Riviera. I recall reading that 66 Riveria designer David Holls referred to the Toronado headlight placement as “frog-like”
To me the 1965 Riviera is one of the greatest postwar designs, period. And that’s from any part of the globe, not just the U.S. Its competition in my head is the Mazda Cosmo, BMW E9, and *maybe* a couple of others. It’s a sublime design. <3
I had a ’63 Riviera with the standard 401 CID w/Carter AFB and the two-speed Dynaflow automatic (P-N-D-L-R). Loved it. No other car drove or cruised as well. I also had a ’65 Riviera Gran Sport with the 425 CID w/dual Carter AFB’s and the TH-375 automatic. Very fun to drive, quite the hot rod. Burned lots of gas.
Fabulous color on that car. I’ve never seen a Riviera in that color but it would definitely stand out.
The 445 (401 Cubic Inch) hailhead was the standard engine for the Riviera with the 465 (425 cubic Inches) optional with single 4 barrel for 2×4 barrells. The 65 GS had the 425 with 2×4’s. Buick always put the torque rating on the air cleaner which confused some people. The 65 GS was such an awesome car but it had a drinking problem. These are great cars.
In fairness, ANYTHING from the era with 400 cubes has a drinking problem!
The Iron Resurrection crew acquired a ’65 Riviera and basically stood back and said, “What can we do that hasn’t already been done by the factory?” They recognized that it was already a work of art.
I like that show. I remember the episode.
64 was first year for the Turbo 400 (Super Turbine 400 in Buick-speak). Which was a big improvement over the 63 with Dynaflow (aka Dynaslow….). In 65 of course added the hidden headlights and removed the rear quarter simulated vents. Std engine in 63-65 was the 401 Nailhead, with 425 optional; in 65 you could get the GS with dual four carbs. 66 design change and also last year for the Nailhead engine.
I had a 64 Riviera, only thing that improves the looks is a slight suspension lowering which I did. Great driving car, miss having it. The big 12 inch aluminum drums up front worked great, no need for disc conversion. Even the std 401 single four carb engine had plenty of power for a cruiser, which the Riviera is best at.