Buick Riviera 1963 - 1965 custom & mild custom

Petit retour sur la Riviera du gnrs 2012



Over in the custom building we found this beautiful ’63 Riviera. These cars are sometimes referred to as “factory customs” because they borrowed ideas from ’50s customizing and used them in the design right from the factory. The result is that there is not much left to do to a Riv to create a showstopper like this.



Dubbed “The Green Fly” this Riv uses Dirty Lime Gold paint to accentuate the already great factory lines. One of the very few body mods is the addition of ’50 Pontiac tail lights, a trick normally reserved for ’32 roadsters and the like.



Air suspension gets it low and painted steelies with spider caps and trim rings keep the look aggressive.



White vinyl and color matched paint are all the interior needs to achieve the mild kustom look.



The 1965 Riviera is typically favored because the headlights are hidden behind grilles on the fenders, but the ’63-’64 models can still look great too.

sublissime....

Aaron Kirby had just finished a six-year, 100 percent stock restoration of a numbers-matching ’69 Camaro RS/SS convertible when it was stolen from his driveway in broad daylight. Living in Los Angeles at the time, he took this opportunity to buy the car he’d been in love with since a teenager, a ’65 Buick Riviera. Since he told us the ensuing story so well, we’ll let him take it from here.


“I wanted to turn this miserable event into something positive, so I immediately started looking for a Riviera, but not just any Riviera. It had to be a ’65 Gran Sport, [which is] in my opinion, a custom from the factory and Bill Mitchell’s greatest design.



“After about a month of searching everywhere, I found an awesome, rust-free California car on eBay. I had used up most of my vacation time chasing dead ends so I wasn’t able to fly out to Oklahoma to see it, but it looked great and the seller was a high standing member of the Riviera Owners Association. I took the chance and bought it sight unseen. As soon as I saw it I knew I’d made the right call. The red paint was faded and thin, but I couldn’t find rust anywhere. The newly rebuilt engine ran strong, all the mechanicals worked, and the chrome and stainless were in great shape.



“I finally had the car of my dreams, so I had to make it perfect. Growing up near Detroit I was exposed to a lot of car prototypes. To me they were always the coolest cars around, and I still remember the day in high school when a friend took me to the GM tech center for a car show. I was already a huge fan of customs and prototypes, but this was the first time I saw the ‘Silver Arrow’, Bill Mitchell’s original prototype for the Riviera. To me that was it; I loved the design and it was cool to see how close it was to the ’65 Riviera. With this in mind, my plan at the time was to create a custom that had the feel of an early ’60s prototype.



“Since this was my daily driver, however, I wasn’t able to do much to it that wasn’t essential. On one occasion driving to work I lost brakes and coasted through a usually busy intersection. Luckily, there was a lull in traffic and no major damage occurred, but I took the hint and upgraded the stock single reservoir master cylinder to a dual reservoir version and redid the brake system. I decided to upgrade to front discs after I found a guy in Australia who developed a bolt-on system that used ’06 Pontiac GTO components. I may have gone overboard with the discs, but helplessly coasting through an intersection left an impression!



“The next few years I spent gathering parts, finding the best parts from the ’63-65 Riviera and thinking of the overall look and colors of my prototype. I didn’t want to do any modifications to the car that would permanently alter it, considering it is a real GS, and I respect that fact, but I learned from the Camaro incident to enjoy it while I can and make it my own. I added Autoloc’s shaved door handle and trunk release kits to keep me going, but life got in the way and things were put on hold.


Read more: http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/featuredvehicles/1208rc_1965_buick_riviera/viewall.html

I have a nice 1965 Buick riviera GS with the 425 nailhead and variable pitch 400 trans. It runs awesome with tons of power and torque. I recently added new plugs , wires,cap and rotor. It is a a/c car and I recently went through the a/c system with a new dryer and tsv so the a/c works perfect. Also put in a new heater valve and the heat works great also. All the windows work great and have new window felts and rubber. All the glass I's good. The wing window actuators are not currently working. Need to be replaced. Never got to it. But the interior is clean stock look and completely dynamated from the carpet,doors, headliner.. Keeps it nice and quiet inside.carpet and headliner are new also..the car has new tires,shocks,track bar bushings , strut rod bushings,balljoints(need to be installed but will have one before end of sale) car has live lake pipes ran through a glass pack so it sounds good. The car is a sweet ride and gets compliments everywhere. The paint is like a mirror and has 7 different candy colors and approximate 10 coat of clear..it is nice. 12k paint job. All the bumpers are re chromed and stainless is in great shape. Clamshell headlights have been rebuilt and work great. All the lights and interior lights work as well. The car is currently on hydraulics with 2 pumps and 6 batteries in the trunk. Car can be converted over to airride for the right price. Car is rolling on 15" supreames with new tires 215/75/r15 radials. Fun car just ready to build another ride.



Car does have some blemished because it is a driver. has some scrapes on the lake pipes (view picture) and a chip on the fender (REVIEW PICTURE) and a few chips on the door edge fron opening the door(minor) but by far is not abused.like i said this paint alone was over 12K and that is just a few grand under my reserve..these cars alone that are decent bring 12-15 so steel this one and have a one of a kind riviera..

1964 Buick Riviera- Car has power windows and driver's power seat which all work. Car also has cold A/C. The air ride set up is 8 valve: 3/8s line half up valves, 3/8s down, one ViAir 480 compressor, a 3 gallon tank, AVS switch box and Slam Specialties bags- air ride works great

Buick 1965 Riviera,
chopped top, shaved door handles with remotes, wire wheels, new radial whitewalls, rebuilt 455, ps, pb, cold a/c