Soon to be new 1963 Riviera owner

[mtn]

Hello all I am soon to be a 1963 Riviera owner and just joined the ROA but wont be able to access any of the member only stuff till I receive my packet. Anything I should check on my new ride? What are the trouble spots ? Other than the 425 what makes for a rare Riviera ? And finally is there anywhere you can look to see how many of a certain color combo they made? Thanks for all the help and any advice is appreciated.

Mitch

[bepnewt]

Just last night I was doing some searching on the forum for different things and ended up reading some threads about people who either were about to buy a 1st gen Riv or had just bought one and asked about what they should look for. There's a lot of great information in those threads about rust spots, the differences between the 3 first-gen models, etc.

I'm new, myself, so can't give you any insight except to check out these threads while you're waiting for the guys with knowledge to chip in:

What to look for on a '63

New to Riv -found a nice '64, Pre-buy ??s (long)

Howdy, new guy with a '63.

The first thing you'll want to do is post a pic of the data plate. If you open the hood, I believe it will be on the firewall area, driver's side. That's where it is on my '64, I assume it will be in the same place for a '63. Let us know what color the car currently is ( exterior and interior ), what options it has ( tilt, power windows, power seats, longer armrests + extra door handles, etc. and the more rare ones like the auto-dimmer, rear defrost, etc. ). The guys here can tell you alot from that data plate.

If you're like me and not familiar with the Dynaflow, you'll want to read up a lot on the subject. There are many threads in this forum that touch on it. I think I also read you'll want to be careful with the switches under the dash that run your heat ( and A/C? ). I believe someone said they can break easily if they aren't moving very well and you stress them.

-BEPNewt

[Jim65Riv]

Hi, Mitch; Welcome to the wonderful world of first generation Rivieras. You have done the right thing by joining the ROA. The members-only section has a wealth of information. The second right thing that you did was to post on this forum. You now have dozens of new best friends that you never knew you had. Just post your questions and you'll receive all the help you need.

I can help you with the percentage of colors produced in 1963, thanks to Darwin Falk, ROA #2077, in the July/August 2007 issue of The Riview.

Color Code # Produced % of Total

Arctic White C 7,735 19.34%
Silver Cloud D 5,729 14.32%
Marlin Blue F 4,321 10.80%
Regal Black A 3,881 9.70%
Desert Sand R 3,412 8.53%
Bronze Mist S 3,077 7.69%
Diplomat Blue W 2,853 7.13%
Burgandy N 2,024 5.06%
Fawn Mist T 1,913 4.78%
Spruce Green E 1,448 3.62%
Glacier Blue H 1,221 3.05%
Teal Mist P 821 2.05%
Granada Red V 749 1.87%
Willow Mist J 669 1.67%
Rose Mist X 41 0.10%
Twilight Aqua Q 35 0.09%
Special Order O 71 0.18%

We love specific locations, so we will know where you are in relation to other members. We also love pictures, so please post some when you get the car.

Good luck with the car and I hope to meet you someday.

[CheezeMan]

Would love to see build stats for major options in '63... A/C vs. Non-A/C, AM Radio vs AM/FM, etc.

Thanks!

[mtn]

Thanks for the welcome and I live about an hour north of KC MO the paint break down really surprises me ! I wonder if you may have numbers on exterior and interior also like sliver paint on red etc ? Also I have read through a lot of the posts on here, not all but enough to know there are some very knowledgeable people posting here and that's awesome ! I will post some pics when I get some ! I'm pretty jazzed been looking for a Riviera for a long time, and while I know I should only ask so much at once I have one more question. Will a 64 trunk lid fit a 63 ?
Thanks again guys !

[bepnewt]

Will a 64 trunk lid fit a 63 ?
Thanks again guys !

Keeping in mind that I really don't know much...

In one of those threads I read last night, the OP was looking at a car that was a '63. When a forum user saw the pic, he pointed out that the trunk lid may be from a '64 based on the "Riviera" script badge. I _believe_ what was said is that the trunk lid will be the same, but the '63 has the word "B U I C K" across it in separated letters like this:



and the '64 will have the script "Riviera" like this:



So, the trunk lid will fit, but if you want to get the correct "B U I C K" on it, you'll have to drill holes (slots?) for the 5 letters and then fill in the holes from the "Riviera" badge.

-BEPNewt

[RivNut]

The production figures for what interiors went with what exterior colors don't exist. Just the total number for each paint color and each interior color. Other percentages like a/c, radio, etc. are in the article that Tom made reference to. If those numbers are important to you, contact Joann at the ROA office and request a copy of that issue. It will probably be worth it to you.

Ed

What part of NW Missouri? I'm NE KS, probably just down I-29 and south on 435 a bit.

[Jim_Cannon]

Would love to see build stats for major options in '63... A/C vs. Non-A/C, AM Radio vs AM/FM, etc.

Thanks!

49.7% (19,892) had “Air Conditioning”

98.6% (39,439) had a radio (don't know the split between regular AM, Wonderbar AM and AM/FM)

AM/FM radio also had the electric antenna option on the car; it cost $178.99 in '63 dollars. That's about $1250 in 2010 dollars for a radio. And in '63, there was hardly any programming available on FM.