The Riviera is a luxury car that was sold by Buick from 1963 to 1999. The Riviera was General Motors’ first luxury car and was highly praised by automotive journalists when it was debuted for the 1963 model year. Its distinctive body shell gave it an unusual Coke bottle look which was considered quite bold for a GM product at the time. The current owner purchased this car in 2017 and took it straight to Blue Collar Rods for a makeover. During its makeover the underside was separated from the car to be sand blasted and painted when it was revealed that there was some damage to the frame that had been previously repaired. The frame was sent out and put on an alignment machine and was verified to be perfectly straight. Once the frame was verified to be in proper order they moved forward to painting the frame. The body was taken down to bare metal and is straight as an arrow. At the same time the body was prepped the door handles were shaved for that ultra clean look. After properly prepping the body it was given a world class two-tone green and silver metallic paint job that is accented with hot rod inspired bright green pin stripes. Its original 401 ci V8 Nailhead V8 was rebuilt with new rods and lifters and both the 3-speed TH400 Auto Trans 10 bolt rear end received new seals. After rebuilding and servicing the driveline everything was repainted before being reinstalled. The engine has a nice rumble at idle and sounds just plain nasty ripping through its stainless steel performance exhaust. The engine bay was spiced up with tons of new chrome, an aluminum radiator and a color coordinated air cleaner. All of the front end components including the shocks and brakes as well as the fuel lines, the fuel pump, the gas tank and all of the nuts and bolts were also replaced. The car has menacing curb appeal with its sweet bright green pinstripes, color coordinated bumpers and its gorgeous 18” chrome Riddler rims wrapped in low profile Nitto tires. The interior is all original with the exception of new carpeting and the Retro Sound BT stereo system. The clamshell headlights were converted to electric and both they and the power antenna are now controlled by added switches. Everything else including the A/C works as it should. Between the cost of the original car and the extensive makeover, over $50,000 was spent to make this dream a reality. It was never built with the intent of selling it but health issues force the sale making this car available for less than what it cost to build. We are serious about finding this beauty a new home so if you like what you see don’t wait until it is too late to reach out to us!
