In the late 1950s, Bill Mitchell succeeded Harley J. Earl as the President of Styling at General Motors. One of Mitchell’s first projects was creating a new personal luxury coupe to compete with Ford’s Thunderbird. The Buick Riviera was initially intended to be a Cadillac model, but Cadillac already had a personal luxury coupe, the Eldorado.
The Buick Riviera was introduced in October of 1962 for the 1963 model year. The Riviera name was taken from the Italian word for coastline. The name Riviera had previously been used as a trim level on the Buick Roadmaster in the 1950s. The new Buick Riviera was 17 feet long and rode on a modified Buick Electra frame. Great attention was paid to the new car’s fit and finish, so much so that the doors were made to be hung and the windows adjusted before the outer door skins were installed to allow for proper fitment. To emphasize exclusivity, Riviera production was limited to 40,000 units annually.
The Buick Riviera offered a slew of luxury appointments. Seats could be upholstered in either vinyl or a combination of leather and vinyl. The interior was spacious, with the ability to comfortably accommodate four passengers. The dash had a center cascade that was home to the radio and separate air conditioning and heating controls. The cascade flowed downward to a center console that housed the shifter and a storage compartment. The console divided the front bucket seats as it continued rearward to the back seat, making the Riviera a true four-place car. Each door panel had two door handles, one for the front passenger and one for the rear, allowing rear-seat passengers the ability to exit the car without having to trouble the passenger in front. Available options included power windows, power seats, tilt steering column, the aforementioned air conditioning, cruise control, power door locks, AM-FM radio, and an automatic trunk release.
No luxury car would be complete without a sufficiently powerful engine, and the Buick Riviera delivered with a standard 401 cubic-inch Nailhead V8 that churned out 325 horsepower and 445 pound-feet of torque. There was an optional Wildcat 465 that displaced 425 cubes, producing 345 horsepower and a dramatic 465 pound-feet of torque.
The Buick Riviera for 1964 was little changed, but did gain a stylized “R” hood emblem. The Buick crests in the taillights were replaced by the same stylized “R.” Leather was dropped as an interior option. The Riviera transmission was switched to the Turbo-Hydramatic 400 three-speed auto, dubbed the Super Turbine 400 in Buick parlance. The standard Nailhead engine made 340 horsepower and the optional Super Wildcat engine fitted with dual four-barrel carbs and made 360 horsepower.
Our feature 1964 Buick Riviera is finished in Granada Red over a black vinyl interior. It is said to be in highly original condition with no restoration effort noted. The paint retains exceptional gloss, and there is no pitting or patina observed. Stainless trim looks to be well polished. Buick Rally wheels are shod in modern whitewall rubber. Inside the Riviera is awash in formal black. Seats show no appreciable wear, with only minor creasing visible. The center stack and console are covered in wood veneer, and present well. An aftermarket stereo has been fitted. Beneath the Buick Riviera’s hood resides the optional Super Wildcat 465 V8. The engine compartment is a reasonably tidy affair, with just a bit of fading noted on the air cleaner cover.
This 1964 Buick Riviera will cross the Mecum Auctions block at their Las Vegas, Nevada event taking place November 10th through the 12th.
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Comments
What a piece of art just like most GM models from the 60’s. Grand Prix,Starfire,Eldorado,GTO, 442 Olds, Wildcat,The Bonneville,all great looking cars.
Awesome interstate cruiser back in the day. Good old Sunoco 260 was about 36¢ a gallon. Man, those were the days!
One of the best looking Buicks ever made. Very nice.
One of the great styled cars. Too bad the side glass is not curved. Think that came in ’65, for Ford anyway.
The ’65 Ford T-Bird had flat side glass. Oddly, the ’61-63 T-Birds (and Lincolns) had curved side glass but retreated back to flat glass in model year ’64 thru ’66.
My uncle traded in his ’63 Impala SS convertible for one of these in 1964. He was stationed at the Homestead, FL Air Force base, flying B-52’s for SAC from Homestead to Spain and back. Lots of good memories of that beautiful Buick.
Nice !!!!! Now this is when GM was king of sales in the USA. Very little imports back then, Volvo, Volkswagen, etc.
Probably when they had a CEO who was a REAL CAR PERSON!!!!!🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
Indeed, not only guys with talent who knew the principals to draw a beautiful product, elegant, simple and functional, but also someone who knew how to chose amount the proposals. Today both does not exist anymore, even with more technology of doing, with 1 million of people inside industries, they lost that. They have still luck, the majority taste of buyers went downhill bad and the products are still bought. GM opened many designers positions, they said they found no one, I am here and proposal myself, but they still do not manage to find me. So. But They still make their huge money. It is not me who gonna learn them how cars were nicier drawn again, if they do not find me, ok, keep here in my sofa writing in magazines like this one, saying our opinions all long
There’s also the fact there was no EPA mileage requirement, no Ralph Nader nonsense, and we were still a nation that was proud, svdcckukd accomplish anything we set out to do.
What Rader nonsense are you talking about.? Thank goodness for EPA requirements, otherwise we would still have cars that used too much gasoline.
In the winter of 1962, I was 12 years old. I loved it when new cars were introduced every fall. Our physical education teacher in Westchester Il. Matt Peset, bought a navy blue 1963 Riviera. To this day, I thought it was one of the most beautiful new cars I had ever seen. I would walk by his car everyday just to look inside.
NICE CAR… Those Designers do not exist anymore, RIP
Now that is a CAR!!! Just BEAUTIFUL inside and out.
Stunning car and a great color too. I wish Buick still made cars and with outstanding designs like this one has.
Beautiful car, with an interior that makes all but a slight few , look like garbage in today’s cars and trucks. Imagine the smiles on peoples faces, if cars of today had such great style and beautiful interiors.