I liked my 2nd grade teacher better in 1972. She was educating us all about the "oil embargo" (as if we knew WTH that was) but at the same time telling us she should probably get rid of her 1970 Buick Electra. The same year, cooler than your teacher, was Ms. Koenig that drove a blue '70 Vette and brought her extra large Sheepdog to class wherever allowed. A few years later was the art teacher Mr. Siroonian that had one of those typical Dodge customized vans with the bubble window and shag carpet throughout. He was kinda boring but played Gino Vannelli on vinyl when we were painting or creating whatever. I still listen to Gino Vannelli's Storm At Sunup on vinyl to this day. It's a masterpiece. True story. (I'd take this Riviera over that Vette though).
@@robk9685My art teacher drove a matt green Reliant Robin three wheeler. He rolled it coming into the car park. Off the scale cool. He also owned a 2cv I'm an artist because of Mr Hutton with a love of cars.
At GM it signifies the cutoff from Harley Earl to Bill Mitchel; I think the 60 model year was Earls last (IIRC). If Earl had worked into the early 60's I think some of the flowing lines would have hung around at GM a little longer. Nothing like the early 50's but muted like the 60-61 models. Food for thought.
What he did for GM was immeasurable. His styling hallmarks are still present in current Cadillacs in the creases. My father’s 1970 Delta 88 was one of his beauties. It was stunning.
Facel Vega had Chrysler power and drivetrains underneath. I’d like to have one . GM and Chrysler were the best of the day back then. The two engineering powerhouses and the coach work and interiors in the Facel Vega was great. I’d like a collection with one an a Riviera.
Bill Mitchell's comment about being so happy with the Rivera that he could drink for a week cracked me up!!! They probably did drink like that back then...amongst other things!
I think this era of Riviera is GM's contribution equal to FMC"s '61-65 Continental. Fabulously beautiful design, with a name that conjured up everything worldly and sophisticated at that time... "Riviera". I wanted one when I was 12 years old ! Brilliant.
My first 'car love' was for a 1965 Riviera GS owned by my Mom's best friend Candice! Silver with a black vinyl top and black interior with real wood. STUNNING!
I really don't care for silver cars in general but for whatever reason, a Riviera should be silver with a black top and black interior. I dunno why. Lol
The first gen Riviera is beautiful and was kind of a unique and groundbreaking car at the time, especially in exterior design. GM and the rest of the Big 3 could almost do no wrong when it came to exterior styling in the 60s. So many beautiful works of automotive art to come out of that decade.
Among the successful 'retro' offerings (Mustang, Charger, Thunderbird, Challenger, et al) the Riviera leaves a glaring absence. Style, performance, comfort, safety, ROOM + VROOM.
For GM or ANY of the big 3 to make a honest to God body on frame, V-8, RWD, 2-DOOR personal luxury/sport coup would take a act of congress now. When FoMoCo killed the big Bird and big Cat, we all had hopes that "Thunderbird" would come back as a serious luxury-sport 2 seater. Of course Ford f*cked the dog on it engineering wise. Beautiful concept and design, with horrible performance and execution. The big 3 got addicted to the margins made on pickups and SUV's in the late 80's onward and then the CUV craze. Now all you see is soccer moms in CUV rolling jelly-beans or $100K Escalades and Grand Wagoneers. I'm just a old guy now, yelling at clouds, and wishing I could have bought up so many cars in the 70's and 80's that ended up in the crusher. Sad.
I LOVED the interview with Bill. Unless you're a GM guy, most haven't even heard of him (he gets overshadowed by Earl, of course), but he was a major force behind some of the coolest cars GM ever made.
Wow, that Bill Mitchell interview just a super treat on an already TOP NOTCH (perhaps one of my favorite of your vids so far, along with your interviews with some of the designers you've featured) video. You sir, are an absolute gentleman and scholar most literally Adam! THANK YOU for the great work you do for automotive history!
A childhood friend owned a '65 Riviera GS. What a car! We were both into Oldsmobiles but I always liked the Riviera. He also owned a '67 Toronado. Both ground breaking designs for GM. He has since passed away. I still wish to find an example of one of these models to have in my collection. GM halcyon days designs. I don't think we will ever see this again.
I was a devout Thunderbird guy into my 30s. My dad had a 1964 Riviera the same color as the thumbnail. Once I drove that car, and noted how much better it rode and handled over ANY 1956-1966 Thunderbird I have ever owned (12 in all). I switched to GM ever since. The Rivieras I have owned include a 63, 67 GS, 70, 71, three 96s and now I have a 92. I recently drove a 66 T-Bird, a very nice one. I was reminded of why I switched to GM. And speaking of LaSalle, my dad had a 1940 4 door convertible and a 1936 sedan.
Drove them both as a teenager (my mother had a '65 Bird and my buddy's mom a '65 Riv) and I admit that the Riv is a much better handling/riding car. The Bird would not match the Riv in those departments until the '67 model. But I stuck with the Bird through all those years (presently have a '64 HTop and a '64 Conv). From behind the wheel the Bird's long, rounded hood and fenders make the car "feel" smaller and sportier than it is and, to my eye, it has a more cohesive form front to rear, esp. when you fold the top, which the Riv could never do. The Riviera is a beautiful and competent car. But the Thunderbird created the concept from which it sprung.
I click on this channel as soon as I see it. It's a very good channel, and it is a relief from all the stress of this upside down world of which we try to exist and thrive.
My first Buick was a '66 Skylark. I've owned eight more Buicks since. One consistent characteristic has been the weight of the doors - they weigh a TON!
My high school gym coach had a (used) 1963 Riviera in 1974. One day, he caught me admiring the car after school, and we talked about cars for almost an hour in the parking lot. That conversation began a friendship that lasted decades. It’s amazing how tacky and cheap the 80’s Firebird’s IP looks compared to the elegant Riv’s, a classic case of regressive design if ever there was one. Thanks, Adam!
Agreed, the Riviera was a rolling art work inside and out! Whenever I think Buick Riviera, I'm always reminded of the picture of the late Leonard Nimoy sitting in front of his, beautiful as that car still is now it must've been as futuristic looking as that series was back then! BUT--I'd argue the dashboard and interior and exterior for that matter of that generation Firebird was GORGEOUS especially compared to the molded plastic abomination that came after it (looked like they molded it but then allowed the plastic to warm back up and melt again after, and the twin Camaro was melted yet again LOL). Sure the '93+ Camaro/Firebird were better cars for performance but I'll make no bones about it I HATE what GM did to them! Maybe I'm a little biased because a long-deceased friend since high school bought a new '92 Firebird and I have good memories of that time, but this is also coming from a once-owner of a '96 Corvette who feels GM in some ways with the pasticky ever squeaky interior ruined it too LOL!
@@terrybeavan4264 GM was known for interior fit and finnish and quality materials until the late 70's. Then in the 80's onward it just became a bad joke. You can point right at Roger Smith and his minions for that. Cheap, cheap, cheap.
Mr. B. Here ! 🍩☕️👀😎👍. As a 71 year old kid, the kid of 1963 who saw this vehicle for the first time fell in love , this model changed everything . Love the automotive design from mid 50’s to the mid 70’s art work some did not live up to that . Most were beautiful ! 👍👍👍👍
Many years ago, our best friends had a 63 black Riviera, which was always the vehicle of choice whenever we went out together socially. Fantastic car - good memories.
In aviation design, the "wasp waist" was done for aerodynamic reasons. They had discovered the "area rule" to enable planes to reach supersonic speeds with the powerplants available.
I think it's amazing that they moved the headlamps to where the turn signals were in '65. You think they are behind the grille until they open like a clamshell. Just beautiful and the best implementation of hidden headlamps ever produced.
Excellent. I just noticed in looking at the white Riviera's 3/4 rear view how much the roofline and backglass looks like the 1964-65 Malibu. It would sure be nice to have classy cars like this today.
I agree, I also liked the beautiful cloth/leather interior it has (10:56) - rare (for me anyway) to see one with cloth instead of leather, I've never been a "leather" guy!
That design from those years is so beautiful. I think the clam shell head lights feature really cleaned up the front end. It's about my favorite hidden headlight feature on any car.
Interesting as I always liked the headlights that weren't hidden. I guess that's why we all have our tastes in certain cars. I'm not saying that the 65 was an ugly it is a beautiful car but I just preferred the headlights to be right there on that grill. 👍
Both front ends are beautiful. There was one good reason for the change in terms of styling. The headlamps in the grill make the car seem narrower and less imposing.
I've always thought that also, the four headlights always looked too close together which seemed to visually narrow the front end - didn't like those tiny little taillights (for safety reasons also) on the '63-'64 either, the long strip taillights of the '65 were a better fit and decluttered the back panel IMO! @@michaeltutty1540
My father had a ‘63 Riv. I was brought home from the hospital when I was born in that car. It was later traded for a ‘67 Riv. I wish I still had both of them.
Probably my all time favorite American mass produced car along with the 67 Eldorado and C2 Corvette. Thanks Adam for so many great videos overall, and SUPER stoked on this one.
@@philhamilton8731 Grazie mille! Champagne tastes on a beer budget as my dad would say... but at least I can enjoy the great videos Adam produces for us. Edit: I had an XLR for a few years. I joked with my friend from time to time I was going to get a license plate frame for it that said "The Spirit of Bill Mitchell". I know it was a controversial design, but I thought I saw things in there Mitchell inspired or would have liked.
The coke bottle curves on the F5 are to take advantage of the Area Rule to allow supersonic flight. It is a functional choice. The resulting look was stylish though :)
The F-102 was an early plane to benefit from area rule. The prototype was a dog and then the area rule made a HUGE difference. The F-5 is one of the most beautiful jet fighters ever though. Functional beauty!
I was going to mention this about the F-102 and F-106 and the Area Rule, but you guys beat me to it! I like Sergio's term "functional beauty." Interesting that auto stylists adopted this in the 60's. Not a bad choice.
These first generation Rivieras were one of the smaller Buick models of their time. Only the Special and Skylark were smaller, while the LeSabre, Invicta, Wildcat, Electra, Sport Wagon, and Estate were all larger.
I owned a 73 Riviera GS for years and loved it but I always wanted a gen1 Riviera. As you said Adam best car GM ever designed. Thanks for the trip down memory lane
Mitchell was a fan of European styling. From the C pillar back, the Riv is pure coachbuilt Rolls, right down to the dinky tail lights. One of the nicest a*ses on any car
I helped a buddy refurbish a 1963 Riviera back to showroom condition and it got tons of attention at a big classic car show in Arizona that I drove it to. Light blue with the Buick sport rims. As I recall it also had an AC unit in the rear package shelf area and it would freeze the back of my neck LOLOL. It had the wildcat engine and dear god did it ever pull away from a stoplight in a hurry, but you also watched the fuel gauge drop like a rock very quickly. Beautiful cars all the way around!
My dad had a '64 Riv, Red with what seemed like chrome leather seats (Silver), It was gorgeous! It had the 465 Wildcat Nailhead. At the time, my uncle had '66 SS396 Chevelle (325 hp 4spd) and he would get out of the hole first but man did the Riv have legs!! I dont think you mentioned that the "465" was the Torque rating as they didn't have the hp rating anywhere underhood. Anyway, love your channel! Keep up with the history lessons, I continue to learn a lot!
Simulated rear air vent gave texture design to the vehicle, made it look more mechanically sophisticated style and provided a little more detail, even though it was faux , small detail that made it look less like a entry level car , added a little more styling calories to the car?
As a young Dutch boy we had a Buick Riviera (model 1967 if I remember correctly) for one day. We took it all over the country with four adults and four children in it! Unfortunately I was too young (4) to remember more than some flashes, like our amazement at electric windows. Remember we drove VW Beetle at the time. As for the car, I find the exterior not ugly, but not beautiful either. I do like the interior much, much more. Beautiful.
Xlnt vid . I bought a '65 in '71 that was owned by a civil engineer that passed . His wife called it his baby . Immaculate , special order , with the brass plate on the consol " Custom ordered by ********* " , which I left in place . All servicing was done by Simpson Buick in Downey Ca. where it was bought . Vogue gold stripe tires . I paid $1500 . It had 42k on the odo . Hit a deer 5 yrs later . It had 77k . Kept the eng/trans/gs wheels/tires . Found a '60 Invicta with a blown eng. Swapped eng/trans . Had it from '76-'92 , rear ended 😢 Take care👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
@@seththomas9105 I like venison , loved that Riviera . Bast car I ever owned . The 140 lb buck went under the car after destroying the f.e. and I lost control . Went across (2 lane hwy) and sideswiped a tree . Keep these great vids coming 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
I had a 64. That wasn’t the most desirable year as far as history, but it had the best engine tranny combo, and the visible lights weren’t the alignment pain of the 65 models. Compromised as it may be, the air conditioner was more than a match for the heat and humidity of my home in the deep South.
I miss my '65 Burgundy Mist w/ DeLuxe, two handle, black vinyl interior Rivi. Should have kept it, but I was young and thought it was time to move to another classic car experience. Lesson learned. Great video. Further information I've read says the production 1963 Riviera was originally supposed to have hidden headlights, as Bills '63 Corvette featured. Unfortunately, Buick engineering couldn't figure out how to cover and electrically open stacked headlights reliably before the introduction date so they decided to place them in the grill. During this time Bill was driving the Silver Arrow which had semi-transparent fender pods covering single headlights on each side. It can be Googled. Finally in '64, engineering solved the issue with the clamshell design, articulated rods, and a single electric motor, mounted on the front frame crossmember. It speaks volumes about Bills influence and power to get a expensive, one year only, design and engineering element approved the year before the Riviera received a totally new body for '66. 👍🏾
The Twin Turbine Dyanflow transmission was very very effcient. I own a '63 Buick LeSabre 401 2 barrel with Dynaflow and routinely get over 27 miles per gallon on the highway. The last 8 years of the Dynaflow is equiped with a two position stator and this make the torque convertyer very very effieicnt in cruise. And all the CVT transmission has a torque converter ahead of the transmission "gearbox" too.
Way back in university, I read in Automobile Quarterly (when I should have been studying chemistry) that Bill Mitchell was inspired by the silhouette of a Rolls Royce - the curved fenders and squarish roof. But he thought, correctly, that it would look better if it was lower. Nice video of a great car.
Yeah! Reportedly in his design brief to Ned Nichols he said, "Give it that razor sharp roof like a Rolls Royce with that soft flowing body beneath, only make it lower - like you let the air out of the tires. Then the front should be aggressive like a Ferrari with an eggcrate grille. That's what I want; A Ferrari Rolls Royce."
In 1963 I was 15 and loved cars. My parents had a party one night and I got to park cars. One of their women friends had a new 1963 Riviera Grand Sport. It was gorgeous and looked like nothing else. The interior was incredibly luxurious. Very fast for what was one of the first "personal luxury" cars. I think the parking took maybe 15-20 minutes on the back roads.
My high school and college freshman buddy had a trashed early Riviera with the hidden headlight doors stuck open in 1972. Springs sagging, interior leather ripped up, paint very faded. But it was still a rocket from 0 to 100.
Nothing like the interior and styling of a Buick. I still own my grandfathers first new car and was my first car when I started driving a 1967 Buick Skylark coupe wonderful car .
its amazing that back in those days separate engines were developed for each of GM's divisions. today Dodge will squeeze a HEMI in just about anything... well Ford too with the EcoBoost.
That practice was unique to GM at the time, wasn't it. Plymouth - Dodge - Chrysler all shared the same engines by the 1960's, as did Ford - Mercury - Lincoln.
Interestingly Pontiac did a similar thing with the consoles in the mid sixties… on the lower priced models like the Catalina the console was separate from the dashboard but on the higher trim models like the Bonneville and Grand Prix the console was integrated into the dashboard.
One of my uncles had a 1965 Riviera. He needed to borrow my Dad's 1966 Volkswagen Bus to move something. They traded cars for the weekend. We sure felt rich driving to church Sunday morning in that black Riviera !
Buicks were not that expensive in today’s money they were about $25000 but were built to Mercedes standards. One heck of a value proposition. Your father probably had some romantic notion with the VW van which was very easy to do with those era of vehicles as they all had character.
Nice! I almost owned a 64 Riviera in 1982. It was white with a blue interior. Too long a story for here. Hey what about the wheel options and I don't mean steering wheels. Some if the best looking ever offered.
I have heard/read that the 65 style hidden headlights were intended from the beginning, but that it took a while to work the bugs out of the mechanism. I would say that the 62 full size Pontiac introduced Coke bottle styling as hinted at by the 61 model.
Finance guys nixed them for the first two years, (Sorry, Adam!) Finally for 1965 they budgeted the money when they slightly revised the front and rear ends with styling updates. The Buick engineer in charge of the mechanisms, Jack Ryder was cold weather testing them on a prototype in the Winter out in the middle of nowhere when he and another test engineer got the car hopelessly stuck in a snowbank. They had to walk out back to the nearest town for like 5 miles in the freezing cold. Mr. Ryder claimed he'd never be able to forget those clamshell hidden headlights after that experience.
Thank you for putting this video together, the first generation Riviera is truly one of the best car designs of the 20th century, I enjoyed hearing Mitchell’s interview. I’ve had 2, first a 63 many years ago, and now a 65, love these cars.
Have you ever seen the GM photos of the convertible ‘63-‘65 Riviera prototype? I don’t have it handy right now, look it up, it’s fascinating. It has a working convertible top, but what is interesting is that the top mechanism is (what is obviously) a prototype scissor top mechanism, which as you know, debuted in 1971 GM full size Convertibles.
I was 12 when My neighbor brought new 63. He called it his baby. Triple black. I think he loved that car more than his wife. His wife once bumped her golf clubs against the car before getting them in the trunk. You could hear him cussing two blocks away. Weird car weird man. 😳😁
Bill Mitchell used to stay at a Holiday Inn where I worked in London, Ontario. He always arrived in a red, circa 1965 Corvette roadster with a matching hardtop which was already 5-years-old. He had a smile that lit up the lobby.
Really enjoyed this Video! The first time I saw a Riviera was in 1968, I was 8 year old. It always stuck with me although I had no idea what it was. Living in Canada, I think it was a very rare vehicle. Almost 30 years later there was one close to my neighborhood and I would drive by to see if it was parked outside in the summertime. Then 10 years later I saw a '65 being loaded onto a small flatdeck car transporter in a random residential neighborhood and stopped to get a closer look. Now I new what that beautiful car was, I obsessively went on a deep dive on the internet to find out everything I could about The 63-65 Buick Riviera. There are many unique things about the Riviera. The biggest one is the frame design. I think it was completely different than anything else GM was producing. The frame was called the crucible, which was basically an X with the arms of the crucible spreading out from the centre to each corner. The idea was that this would better distribute the weight of the vehicle and provide better handling and stability in cornering taking advantage of lots of horsepower to dive in and pull out of corners. Because of the different frame the suspension system was called "an independent live axle set-up" with the frame design actually making the car stiffer, but the suspension design didn't transfer the stiffness to the handling or ride of the car. Another interesting thing is, in 1965 the front headlights were relocated behind the verticle chrome clamshells above the front bumper bulge. As mentioned in the video, there wasn't much room under the hood and it took Buick 2 years to figure out how to get the mechanics under there, and to get the clamshell pods to open and close precisely. Another thing that happened in 1965 was the optional GS {Grande Sport} edition of the Riviera. This included the 425 cu in Nailhead V8 with dual 4 barrel carberators. The spec sheet specified 360 hp with 425 ft lbs of torque. However owners have dyno tested these cars and have seen numbers of 375+ hp with torque as high as 475+. A torque monster! The GS package also came with a beefed up suspension, and a numerically higher differential of a 3:42 for the rear axle. Yes, the Buick Riviera was designed as a response to the Ford Thunderbird, but it was really a Beautiful, Sofisticated, Muscle Car disguised as a 2 door Luxury Coupe.
A gentleman on the island has a 65.Black black interior.Its fully restored and beautiful. 1 of the best designs to ever come out of Detroit. As always cheers from Eulethra.
I bought a nice dark blue 64 in 1981 for $700. I was a 17 year old kid and beat it unmercifully until it began to smoke. I then moved on to a 1970 Olds Toronado with factory bucket seats and repeated the process.
Dude great story. Did the same thing with a 70 Eldorado I bought in 1980 then bought a 76 Lincoln Town car in 1983 and did the same.😂😂 Then I grew up 😂😂😂 Now have 4 classic cars that I cherish...
I had a 64 Riv that I bought used when it was 5 years old, which is like buying a 20 year old car today. Fixed it up and decided to keep it for awhile. Beautiful car. One of the outstanding features were the brakes. Huge aluminum DRUMS same as used in Corvettes of the day. They stopped exceptionally well. Loved that audio exerpt from the original designer. Nowadays at a new car design meeting there’d not only be 15 engineers picking the design apart, but 150 government bureaucrats with their own demands.
You've gotten around to one of my absolute favorites. Thanks for your knowledge and enthusiasm to share it with us so frequently, you are one of my favorite RU-vidrs! I could never afford a Riv but for a time in the '90s I had something I considered a sister car, a '64 Skylark convertible (with the small-block V8, but 4 drum brakes!)
Lawyers hot rods. I was in HS when this came out and they started showing up on the street. We didn't have the GTO yet and the Mustang was a year away. We were seeing plenty of gen 3 T-Birds which are nominally 4 seaters. Us kids could whip up on most T-Birds on the street (not the 3-deuce 390's). Not on the top end, but light to light. A screaming small block Chevy or a blower Y-Block Ford would eat most of these prestige cars lunch. But even then, you had to be careful about calling out a big nail head Buick. Yeah, they were heavy, but nail heads are TQ monsters and they had good weight transfer. So light cars would blow off the tires and the big Buicks would dig in and run away. Along comes the Riviera and the game got more serious ... 😁
The first gen Riv was unique in many ways, receiving positive reviews and engineering awards. The integral dashboard/console speaks to high chassis rigidity. The door hinges are unlike any other car, GM or otherwise. Its beauty and character are more than skin deep. A truly fine automobile. 👍
