Harley Earl was legendary in the automotive world from the 1930s through his retirement in the late 1950s. As General Motors’ first Vice President of Styling, he pioneered car design. He was the first to use modeling clay for new model mock-ups, pushed to integrate fenders into car hoods to create a more unified body, and was known for driving concept cars as daily drivers. When Bill Mitchell took over for Earl, he had big shoes to fill. One of his first projects was the creation of a new personal luxury coupe that would become the Buick Riviera.
Bowing in October 1962 as a 1963 model year offering, the Buick Riviera name had been used previously as a Buick Roadmaster trim line. The new Riviera (Italian for coastline) would put a priority on fit and finish. An example of this was the installation and adjustment of the doors and door windows prior to application of the outer door skins, insuring proper fitment. Riviera production would be limited, guaranteeing exclusivity.
The Buick Riviera was built on a modified Buick Electra frame. At seventeen feet, it undercut the Buick LeSabre’s length by seven inches, but was both longer and 400 pounds lighter than its prime competitor, the Ford Thunderbird.
The Buick Riviera was meant to be a personal luxury car, and as such, came with a long list of luxury equipment and options. The interior was big and roomy, able to comfortably accommodate four passengers. The dash cascade ran rearward between the front seats, creating individual rear buckets. The center stack was home to separate air conditioning and heat controls, as well as the radio. Door panels had both front and rear door handles so the rear-seat passengers could open the door without troubling the front-seat occupants. Vinyl upholstery was standard, with leather an available option. Other available options included power windows, power locks, power seats, tilt wheel, air conditioning, cruise control, AM-FM radio, and an automatic trunk release.
The Buick Riviera was a hit, selling 40,000 units in the first year of production. It would be in continuous production through the 1999 model year, spanning eight generations.
1985 was the last year of the sixth-generation Buick Riviera. By that time, the Riviera had evolved into a front-wheel-drive personal luxury car, riding on the same platform as the Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado. Offered as either a coupe or convertible, the Riviera could be had with a number of engine options including 4.1-liter V6, a 307 cubic-inch carbureted Olds V8, and even a rather unimpressive diesel. Production for 1986 was 65,305 units.
Our feature Buick Riviera is a true time capsule, having covered a scant seventy-seven miles from new. Highly original, it is finished in Dark Blue metallic paint with a matching partial vinyl top over a tan cloth interior. The Riviera is powered by a carbureted 5.0-liter V8 and a four-speed automatic transmission. As one would expect of a luxury vehicle, the Riviera is loaded with a power sunroof, power windows, power locks, power seats, power mirrors, trunk release, Twilight Sentinel headlight dimmer, Concert Sound stereo, cruise control, tilt steering, and a Gran Touring suspension. Mechanical work performed in preparation for the sale includes a new Delco battery, cooling system service with re-cored radiator and new hoses, and new belts. Included in the sale are all the original parts, window sticker, build sheet, dealer inspection checklist, and an Ohio title confirming the mileage.
This 1985 Buick Riviera will cross the Mecum Auctions block at their 36th Annual Spring Classic in Indianapolis, Indiana taking place May 12th through the 20th.
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Comments
Nice car!
THE EXTERIOR YES IT IS A WOW but interior with this wood .. not
MK: Wood (real or not) is not for everyone, I know. But what would you have instead? Black or gray plastic? Personally, I’ve always liked these (Riv, Eldo, Toronado and Seville) with the flat dashes, acres of wood and low/flat floors. Mega comfy with an attractive look.
Speaking of low flat floors, how come all the front wheel cars these days don’t have a flat floor anymore? I know my Rivieras snd my Toronado had a flat floor in the back.
That’s where they stick the exhaust system and other components. Take a look under one sometime.
ACZ: Although what you say is correct, the Riv, Eldo, Toro and Seville like this one also had exhaust and other stuff too. Yet they had the flat floors. So my take on this and to answer Bob T’s question, I feel this is all because so many people insisted on having bucket seats and a center console. These same people insisted on having the lower seating position and “sportier” “road feel”. So thanks to them, we lost the most comfortable seats and wide open floors.
Back in 1993, my new wife and I took our honeymoon via a drive from IL to Seattle to San Fransisco and back to IL in a 100K 1985 Cadillac Seville. Not the most powerful to drive, but it was mega comfy, quiet and averaged 25 mpg on the entire trip. And part of why it was so comfy was because you weren’t subjected to an intrusive tunnel and center console. We could drive that car 800 miles in a day. I sure wouldn’t want to try that in today’s cars.
1. do not like center consoles
2. liked the seat entire, not broken in two.
You’re forgetting an important part. You are trying to compare a full frame car to a unibody. The floor pan of the unibody is inherently closer to the ground, necessitating the hump. Look under one. It’s very apparent.
agree with you big tunnels are not great also, but flat floors… it had good engineers at past.
Dan, you should understand was born in Brasil, where extrativism of Amazon from USA, Europa and Brazilians itself is great. Yes, would prefer in plastic. Light grey plastic, or white synthetic leather
Dan, it is the problem of all Rolls Royces… love the 1950 RR Silver Wraith exterior but interior with wood, really not… wood seems poor houses floors, love ceramic, fluid synthetics… marble, granite… wood resembles me termites… we had in our apartment in S. Paulo many termites, the furniture was almost all lost, had to redo all doors,, we put fire inside the floor of bathroom because termites nest… then covered with cement all… so, really do not like wood in the sense to spread in all interior of houses or cars. At 2006 worked for Edag München, it was terrible, but they had samples of wood for car interiors, remembered “our” beautiful forests where they were gone… today we have technology to make modern materials, no necessity to kill trees. SO, no no wood inside a car THIS MAKES ME SAD OF BMW, they use lot of wood of asia and south america for instrument panels details, no please not, do not bring to me a yacht with teak deck, please not
USA people complain about Tornados vanishing wood houses, but they continue doing suburb houses all wood, remember the story of three pigs, come wolf and venting them all away, only the reinf. concrete house stays. So do not have feelings for USA people who loose houses in Tornados… they stubborn way to construct, tornados will still vanish them all away… great LEAVE PLEASE TREES CLIMB UP FOR 400 years without men interference. Here in Germany, unfortunate they use a lot wood, even do high bldgs so. Unfortunate our rent ap has wood floor, asked the owner to allow me to replace with beautiful ceramic white floor, he did not allowed… he likes this old fashioned material. So unfortunate as poor in a rich neighbor has to see this daily. BUT inside car not.
MK: Got you. For me, I just like the warmth and look of wood (real or other). One of my favorite cars of all times is the 1988-1991 Cadillac Seville STS. It had a LOT of real burled walnut wood on the dash, wheel, console and all 4 doors. It only came in a camel colored leather that was buttery soft. The combination of that leather and real wood was intoxicating for me.
ok, you like the use of wood, me myself prefer the trees to be preserved, not even christmas Tree today agree,,, but ok, what wanna say in common we have we like the 1990s GM Cars as exteriors, it was elegant… now we do not know what to buy even even having 1 million bucks for it- indeed the 1988-1991 Cadillac Seville STS is beautiful as exterior, INTERIOR NOT… what like most is the rear vertical window, elegance, shapes at exterior are right 😊
When was at Epcot Centre in 1992, me and brother took a GM Catalogue of “new” cars, still have this wonderful book with me here at home and keep it with all care… then after we travelled in caribe with ex Costa Riviera until La Guaira, visiting family, well would like another ship but ex father insisted in visiting family… which for me… any way, aruba beaches have a wonderful green colour, Virgin Islands were nice look, we took a catamaran there salad champagne… the of course miami and orlando back, indeed love Florida saw many GM cars, Cadillacs we do not have here neither in Brasil, only some 1954 Eldorados. BUT will stil keep the 1992 GM Book, in fact another 70 years book received as ex employee of GMB in 1995 keep also. GM today is not GM
this car beautiful/stunning – the long hood and short rear deck near perfection. As I’ve note before, this generation of the Riv (and Eldo and Torno) are often overlooked on lists of the best GM designs. There is a white with a red convertible Riv in my neighborhood that I drool over every time I see it.
It would be interesting to see what Buick would do with the Riv in today’s push to ev’s.
GM does not have intelligent designers and competent people anymore to develop this again.
Simply love the E body 1979 – 85 Cadillac Eldorado, and very similar Buick (like this one). I think survivors are finally fast becoming appreciated as genuine classics.
Stunning! This generation of Riviera has always been one of my favorite GM designs!
I agree.
Love the blue exterior. Nice interior as well.
Reminds me of the Olds Cutlass Supreme. These cars had incredible acoustics and were fantastic vehicles for those road trips.
Not to mention personality.
Beautiful car! I had a friend in high school with a clean lower mileage 1981 Riviera that was jade green in color with the 307 Olds V8. Out of all the cars we had that was by far the nicest. It rode like you were on a cloud, the engine was virtually silent unless you floored it and it even had the rare alloy wheel option. We did a tune up on it and got the secondaries to open up further and quicker and advanced base timing a little and it would get up and go pretty good for the time
Loved this era an auto design at the time. Bought a beautiful ‘82 Grand Prix in 2 tone Redwood with
matching half top. Interior was very comfortable and plush. This was the era of “gasping, noisy V6s
that couldn’t get out of their own way”, so they were comfortable and quiet at cruising, but otherwise we’re not General Motors finest hours.
I am so tired of these cars that they say are worth so much a auctions, it is nice, but what is it really worth? Not much of a collectable at all. Just my opinion….
It’s worth exactly what the buyer will pay for it.
My In-laws had an ‘85 Riviera Coupe bought new. I don’t remember ever driving it but I rode with my FIL and as he was in his 80’s, he had a tendency to turn towards you while speaking. My wife pointed this out to him several times. A sweet car that was sold locally for not too much money. I couldn’t swing it back then.
Ah, such a gorgeous car!
Dan B I appreciate the feedback, a good salesman knows his product! What if Buick had put the 1986 & 87 GN 3.8 turbo engine in the Riviera? Definitely not your grandads Buick! LOL
BB: True story. I grew up in a large home and every one of my 5 brothers owned some type of 60’s or 70’s muscle car. By the time my sister was able to drive, the gas crisis of the late 70’s hit and my parents purchased a one year old Toyota Corolla hatch for her to drive. I was last and inherited that car. Point being that I never really got into the muscle car stuff. Fast forward to 1990 (ish) and I traded in a 3 year old Regal GNX (top one). I had never driven anything with so much power to that point, so my General Manager said let’s take it for a spin. As I pulled out onto the street, he told me to punch it, so I did and the car lurched forward while the back of the car attempted to lose traction and swing out. I thankfully and quickly corrected and let off the gas, drove to the end of that street and turned around. It was fun, but I was glad to park it still in one piece. haha.
BB, I have an 85 T-type Riviera. The 3.8 Turbo in it is not 1970 Stage 1 GS, but it is pretty good for the time. I bought mine new.
GM made some special versions of several models in the mid eighties and early nineties. I had an 89 Trans Am turbo 20 th anniversary Indy pace car, the 91 GMC syclone and 92 & 93 typhoon were products that should have been approved by bean counters at corporate. Too bad they killed the Fiero after 1988, I owned a 88 Formula V6 standard for 28 years. That car had a lot of potential, the space frame was used for the EV1! GM was always had a new toy, too bad John DeLorean didn’t stick around.
That wasn’t John’s choice.
I could swear my uncles Rivi had the 3.8V6 turbo, it was the best full size two door available before everything got downsized. Another uncle had the El dorado 4/6/8 engine, GM’s first attempt at DOD. Displacement On Demand was a Cadillac exclusive, a very luxurious automobile! Detroit should have stayed with body on frame rear wheel drive automobiles, with the exception of the fwd full size coupes. They were very reliable and the gas cap was behind the license plate!
BB: You may very well be correct on your uncle’s having the turbo. When I started selling Buick’s in 1988, this exact model was gone and replaced by the disastrously downsized model. However, there were a lot of these running around as 2 and 3 year old cars and we saw a lot of them traded in. Several trades did have the 3.8 V6 turbo and they ran out fairly well. However, the number one seller in our area was the 5.0 V8 followed closely by the 5.7 diesel V8 (farm country).
The Eldo with the V8/6/4 would have been a 1981 (only year with that engine in the Eldo). That engine was actually a really good engine and for the ones where the DOD worked properly, people liked them. For those who didn’t, a simple unclipping of the solenoid turned it off and you had a nice 368 V8.
To me the first 3 years were the Best, W/ the GS Package & the Trumpet Horns ,let alone 465 tq. Rear wheel drive. Smoke EM if you got ‘EM. Later. Jim. Looking for one Now!!!
Now that’s a Buick!
Tigger: You recall that tag line from Buick years ago? Maybe I’m showing my age, but they had one for a while that said When better cars are built, Buick will build them. Or something similar to that. I’m not even sure when that was out and may have been before my time.
But 100% agree with you: Now that’s a Buick.
I’ve heard that sloganbefore. I also remember “Wouldn’t you rather have a Buick?” from the early 1980s.
Yup. And another I liked was “The great American road belongs to Buick”.
Another description used behind the scenes. Ed Mertz had a guide. Buick = substantial, distinctive, powerful and mature.
That model Rivera was the most beautiful Buick ever built. Wish I had bought one cause I would still have it.
Wow! Beautiful car. The 1985 Buick Rivera, in my opinion, is one the most beautiful cars. I was in high school when the first model was introduced. I immediately fell in love with it. Once I got my license, I went to the dealership that my family used and asked to test drive the Rivera, I was hooked. My favorite image that resonates in memory, was seeing my neighbor at the intersection about to make a right turn. It was right before the sun had completely set and the twilight lights turned on including the famous logo “R” position in the vinyl part of the landau top and the cornering lights below made the Rivera glimmer in the dark. To the day, my most favorite car of all times. Thanks for the story the created a wonderful walk down memory lane.
I bought a new Toronado in 82. I’ve had probably 25 cars in my lifetime including my current Mercedes S550, but that Toronado was my favorite car I ever owned. It was a beautiful car. Traded it in 86 for a new Cadillac Sedan DeVille. I wish I had kept it.
Question for those under 55 years old? Do you know where the gas caps were located on these vehicles?
Behind the license plate holder….I have a 86 Gbody Buick Grand National ..awesome car
The epitome of everything wrong with GM in the 1980s. What an absolute corporate embarrassment.
Oh boy! Another troll
Strong motor, and a real eye catcher. wish my job paid more, and my kids gotten scholarships for college and high school, then this would be mine. At least I have my eye sight to see it and my brain to dream about it. May the NJ Lottery be good to me tonight!!