The Rise and Fall of the Buick Riviera - Part 1

There are automobile brands.  And so far as I know, almost every brand has models -- sometimes only one currently in production, but usually more.   (A possible exception is the postwar Volkswagen.  Eventually it officially became the Beetle or Käfer, auf Deutsch, and is now also termed the Type 1 -- a seemingly retroactive title.  Set me straight in Comments.)

Back in the 1950s, sometimes an American brand would introduce a top-line model with a new name.  Over the years new line-leaders would appear and the older name would become tied to lesser models.  For example, for 1953 the Bel Air was the top of Chevrolet's line, but 1959 saw it dropped to second place, replaced at the top by Impala.  The Monterey became Mercury's top sedan in 1952, but in 1955 the Montclair pushed it down a notch.  More of the same being the 1952 DeSoto Firedome dropping to second place in '55 due to the new Fireflite.

A more common practice for US makes was to have a model hierarchy and then replace it with a new one after a while, changing all the names.  Buick infamously did this for 1959.  Some brands retained model name hierarchies for long periods.  An example is Chrysler's New Yorker which, setting aside the Imperial that for a while was a separate brand, was top of the line 1939-1996.

Then there are more restricted cases.  A good example is the Ford Mustang, for more than 50 years a sporty, two-door car.  There always was a coupe, and off-and-on there were convertible versions -- but never a four-door sedan or station wagon.

This post is the first of two dealing with Buick's Riviera that was a separate, two-door-only model during 1963-1999 with time out for 1994.  Before that, it was a sub-model beginning as Buick's name for its hardtop convertible (pillarless model) in 1949.  From then through 1962 the name was applied to two-door and four-door hardtops as well as some sedans on occasion, but used across Buick's Special-Super-Roadmaster (and sometimes Century) model lineup.

The general idea was that Rivieras were sportier than regular Buicks in one way or another, though how this was expressed varied considerably.   As a separate model, our focus here, the generally-accepted high point was the first two generations in the 1960s.  The images below include these as well as early-1970s versions.  Remaining Rivieras are dealt with in Part 2.

Gallery

1949 Buick Roadmaster Riviera - Gooding Auction photo
This is the original Riviera hardtop, found only on Roadmasters.

1963 Buick Riviera
Riviera's first year as a separate model was 1963.  The styling of this hardtop was striking.

1963 Buick Riviera - Bonhams photo
The rear aspect was less fussy than the front.

1966 Buick Riviera - Barrett-Jackson photo
The second-generation Riviera shared its body platform with the Oldsmobile Toronado and the Cadillac Eldorado, as I discussed here.  This generation Riviera sold better than did the first and third.

1966 Buick Riviera - Barrett-Jackson photo
Some of the feeling of the first generation's rear was carried over.

1971 Buick Riviera
The third-generation Riviera was a styling mistake.  It was a long and low car but otherwise had a bloated look.  The front was conventional for its time, but the rear ...

1971 Buick Riviera
... was something only GM's styling boss Bill Mitchell might love, given that the roof shape harkens back to his mid-1960s Corvettes.

1974 Buick Riviera - "for sale" photo
Wikipedia considers this the fourth-generation Riviera, but I'd call it a major facelift.  From the prow to the aft edge of the doors this is essentially the 1971 design.

1974 Buick Riviera
What differs is the rear end where the boat-tail back window and trunk design are replaced.  The Riviera was no longer a pillarless hardtop (phased out for rollover safety reasons), but a pillard coupe.