About a decade ago, I was fortunate to share in a long dinner conversation with Ed Welburn, then vice president of Global Design for General Motors. Cadillac was presenting a new model during Monterey Car Week, and who better to have on hand than the design boss himself—the true successor to Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell. Welburn would soon retire after a 44-year career, through which he gained a perspective on automotive design that younger designers could only learn in museums and history books.
We got to talking about GM’s greatest postwar achievements—ones we both experienced when young. Hailing the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray as America’s sports-car icon, Welburn also singled out the 1963 Buick Riviera, 1967 Cadillac El Dorado, 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, and early iterations of the Pontiac Grand Prix. Unknowingly, he validated my untutored opinion, proof that MVPs and Monday-morning quarterbacks can sometimes make the same calls from markedly different vantage points.
This example of a 1963 Buick Riviera sold in 2016 for €22,400 (about $23,700 today) at an RM Sotheby’s auction in Paris.
Tom Gidden, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
For Buick’s seminal 1960s model, the name Riviera—Italian for “coastline”—was chosen to evoke the luxurious spirit of the most exclusive towns in Italy and Southern France. Buick’s Riviera might also be the most beautiful American car of that decade. It was GM’s first “personal luxury car,” going head-to-head in the market with Ford’s Thunderbird, which by 1963 had lost the character of the original T-Bird.
Buick’s concept car was penned by GM stylist Ned Nickles, and the near-identical production version of 1963 carried on with minor changes through 1965. In its day, the Riviera was a sensation. Apparently, Jaguar founder and designer Sir William Lyons, under whose aegis Malcom Sayer designed the unequalled Jaguar E-Type, declared that “[Bill] Mitchell had done a very wonderful job.” Over the Alps, none other than Sergio Pininfarina called it “One of the most beautiful American cars ever built; it has marked a very impressive return to simplicity of American car design.” High praise from the head of Ferrari’s preferred styling house. Indefatigable Raymond Lowey, designer of everything from toasters to locomotives, said the Riviera was the most handsome American production car—apart from his own Studebaker Avanti. Who’s to argue?
The tasteful interior could be upholstered in all-vinyl, cloth and vinyl, or leather, and front bucket and rear bucket-style seats comfortably seated a party of four occupants.
Tom Gidden, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
The Riviera went through eight generations from 1963 through 1999. Sadly, like many a swoon-inducing heart throb, the Riviera got bigger, heavier, and uglier as it got older. GM’s kitschy styling “enhancements” had turned the near-perfect original into a caricature of itself by 1971, and with the final 1999 model, it had become an amorphous blob. Regardless, Buick’s first-generation Riviera (1963 through 1965) is not just a styling landmark, it is also a dream driver. Customers could choose between a 401 cubic-inch V-8 engine or one that had 425 cubic inches of displacement. Either was shifted by GM’s “easygoing” Twin Turbine Dynaflow automatic transmission. Today, the Riviera would weigh 6,000 pounds, but in 1963, its “svelte” 3,998-pound figure made it fairly brisk off the line and a truly comfortable cruiser.
This example features a 425 cubic-inch V-8 engine making about 335 hp.
Tom Gidden, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
Part of that comfort came from a tasteful interior, upholstered in all-vinyl, cloth and vinyl, or optional leather. Big spenders could get real walnut inserts on the doors and below the rear side windows. Any which way, front bucket and rear bucket-style seats comfortably seated a party of four occupants. With ashtrays aplenty, optional air conditioning, and Miles Davis on the FM radio, the Riviera can easily be imagined as the ideal vehicle for frequent jaunts to the local jazz club.
Although this particular car was unrestored, expect to pay $60,000 to $70,000 for a concours-quality 1963 example.
Tom Gidden, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
While the Buick Riviera is not rare by any standard, the reality is that far fewer first-gen Rivieras exist today than the 112,244 that were made up until 1965. What is rare are exceptional examples, for which it’s best to pay a premium, as restoring one of these chrome-laden, complicated beasts from the ground up will have owners clipping coupons for Early-Bird specials. Expect to pay in the $50,000 neighborhood for one in good condition, and $60,000 to $70,000 for a concours-quality 1963 example (less than a third of a proper, full restoration). The top model variant of the day, a 1965 Gran Sport, can command about $140,000 in concours condition. Go for the best example, regardless of year or engine, then go out to a cool jazz club in style.
Click here for more photos of this 1963 Buick Riviera.
An unrestored 1963 Buick Riviera that sold through RM Sotheby’s in 2016.
Tom Gidden, courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
Authors
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Robert Ross
