Three-quarters Front View of a 1964, First Generation, Buick Riviera, on display at the 2020 London Classic Car Show
The Buick Riviera is a personal luxury car that was marketed by Buick from 1963 to 1999, with the exception of the 1994 model year. As General Motors' first entry into the personal luxury car market segment, the Riviera was highly praised by automotive journalists upon its high-profile debut. The ground-up design that debuted for 1963 was also Buick's first unique Riviera model, and it pioneered the GM E platform. The production Riviera was introduced on October 4, 1962, as a 1963 model, its distinctive bodyshell was unique to the marque, unusual for a GM product. The design was substantially the same as the original, less expensively hidden headlights concealed in the fender grilles. The elegant ground-up styling sported the new "Coke bottle look" introduced the year before on the arresting Studebaker Avanti, with a tapered midsection surrounded by flaring fenders. There was no trace of the "Sweepspear" used on beltlines of earlier Buicks with the Riviera package, It rode a cruciform frame similar to the standard Buick frame, but shorter and narrower, with a in (51 mm) narrower track. Its wheelbase of 117 in (3,000 mm) and overall length of 208 in (5,300 mm) were inches (150 mm) and in (200 mm) shorter, respectively, than a Buick LeSabre, but slightly longer than a contemporary Thunderbird. At 3,998 lb (1,813 kg),[8]:210 it was about 390 pounds (180 kg) lighter than either. It shared the standard Buick V8 engines, with a displacement of either 401 cu in ( L) or 425 cu in ( l), and the unique continuously variable design twin turbine automatic transmission. Power brakes were standard, using Buick's massive "Al-Fin" (aluminum finned) drums of 12 in (300 mm) diameter. Power steering was standard equipment, with an overall steering ratio of :1, giving turns lock-to-lock.
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: Olympia Exhibition Centre, West Kensington, London, W14 United Kingdom
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -place, -quarters, 2-door, 325, 401, 1964, 2020, 6927cc, automatic, bottle, bucket, buick, cabin, car, classic, coke, cruciform, cu, dual, engines, exhaust, frame, front, generation, hardtop, hp, london, luxurious, nailhead, riviera, seats, show, standard, transmission., turbine, twin, v8, view
