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.
This is the original Riviera hardtop, found only on Roadmasters.
Riviera's first year as a separate model was 1963. The styling of this hardtop was striking.
The rear aspect was less fussy than the front.
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.
Some of the feeling of the first generation's rear was carried over.
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 ...
... was something only GM's styling boss Bill Mitchell might love, given that the roof shape harkens back to his mid-1960s Corvettes.
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.
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.
3 comments:
At the time I thought the boat tail Riviera was about the worst thing I ever saw, and that vinyl top is not helping. I was right. Oddly, more or less the same thing works OK on the Sting Ray Corvette.
Oh wait, it's obviously the rear prow continuation of the pointy fastback that really does it. On the other hand I also thought the Reatta from a few years later, even though it was I guess too heavy for something transporting two people and didn't exactly have sports car handling either, was a pretty good design inside and out. Looking at the interior images I just found out that there was an original square cut dashboard and a later rounded one with driver's side airbag.
The Riviera equivalent in the 1950's was the 1953-1954 Buick Skylark. Just like these three it shared a unique body with the Oldsmobile 98 Fiesta and the Cadillac Series 62 Eldorado. That trio deserves a blog post, don't you think? They're more interesting than these three, at least the later versions, anyway.
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