Stripes on the 1st Gen Riv

[bepnewt]

My '64 Riv should be arriving tomorrow or the next day, depending on the weather. Obligatory pics will be posted, of course. All of the snow should be melted by Sunday. I'll do more details later when she's here but the main detail is the car isn't numbers-matching and has some non-stock things going on.

So, I'm thinking about putting some stripes on it, something to accentuate the lines of the hood, skipping the roof and continuing on the trunk area. I can't find a pic of a '63 - '65 Riv with anything like this. Maybe, because it looks horrible? Dunno.

If anyone has a pic of a first 3-year Riv with racing stripes, I'd like to see it. I was thinking along the lines of the 1969 Camaro Pace Car, mostly because I'm looking at orange for the stripes and I've always liked the way that white and orange looked. She's currently white.

Thanks,
-BEPNewt

[steelman]

Brian, I have about 500 first generation Riviera pics in my collection, only one even comes close to stripes. I found several two tones, one even close to Hugger Orange and white. Couldn't resist adding the Camaro Pace Car, too. Notice how wide the stripes need to be to line up with the intake grilles in the cowl. Much wider than Pace Car stripes.

[bepnewt]

... Notice how wide the stripes need to be to line up with the intake grilles in the cowl. Much wider than Pace Car stripes.

Thanks, Steve. I was befuddled that I couldn't find _any_ with stripes and I searched well I must say.

I spent a few hours last night in Photoshop putting stripes on a white '64 and I didn't quite find a look that jumped out at me as "Yeah, that's it!"

I'm going to think outside the box tonight when I tackle it again. I believe it's going to be hard to find something that works with the gorgeous lines of the Riv instead of against them.

On a side note, I need to see your Riv in person some time. She's a beauty.

-BEPNewt

[steelman]

As my painter is from Tulsa, that just might be possible. I have known Jim Gleghorn at Jim's Body Shop on Admiral for about 20 years. I have talked to him several times about painting the car. I just have to pick a color and find the time to take it up to him.

[bepnewt]

As my painter is from Tulsa, that just might be possible. I have known Jim Gleghorn at Jim's Body Shop on Admiral for about 20 years. I have talked to him several times about painting the car. I just have to pick a color and find the time to take it up to him.

Nice coincidence - I was looking at Body/Paint shop options in Tulsa/Broken Arrow this morning and had narrowed it down to 2 that I was going to visit to see if I can see examples of their work and Jim's was one of them.

-BEPNewt

ps. Just got word - my car is in Oklahoma and it will be at my house this evening. Psyched!

[steelman]

Jim Gleghorn is an ISCA Official (as am I) and has has built several award winning show cars over the years. "The Wizzard" is another excellent painter in the Tulsa area, but last I heard was building bikes and not very affordable. Johnny Young is another very good painter in that area, but I am not sure where to find him these days, as we have lost touch. Nice to see taht you came up with Jim's name on your own. Can't wait to see your pictures. Psyched is probably not a strong enough word right now for you.

[petelempert]

It's just an opinion, but I think stripes tend to look better when accentuating a bulge in the hood rather than a recess or cove. Consider the 70-2 442 hood paint schemes or the many Chevy cowl induction treatments. First 63-5 Rivs have two coves leaning into the base of the hood. Visually, it seems to defy the negative space effect the designers hoped for by painting it with a contrasting color. Some people paint the coves on 67-8 Mustang hoods and it looks funny. Also, the stripes would end up being quite wide...which tends to make the hood look narrower. How do I know? First, I spend too much time thinking about this junk. Second, I was thinking about the same thing for my 63...thinking silver body with contrasting black or gray stripes. I laid it our with construction paper so I could eyeball it. Terrible. Just an opinion. PRL

[bepnewt]

Appreciate the input, Pete. I was amazed at how much I didn't like the stripes when I laid them out in Photoshop.

I'm going to mock up 2 thinner stripes, one on each side of the center of the hood to see how that looks.

My dilemma is:
- I don't really like white
- I don't want to shell out the $$$ for a full blast and repaint right now
- Want something to give the exterior appearance some personality until I can do the repaint

I'll keep thinking on it. First is replacing some of the rubber seals and the rubber touching the ground.

-BEPNewt

[60FlatTop]

I have owned my '64 Riviera for 33 years now and have thought of many neat things to do with it over the years. Dramatic, like making it a convertible and mild like your idea of a tricky paint scheme.
I have looked at how the car naturally reflects light and have thought about a panel paint job on the sides that would be similar to the car's color at dusk or evening light. Being Claret Mist Metallic the darker colors look great in changing sunlight. If I painted the car I would do a panel layout like this '78 LeSabre with subtle shade changes.

See on my car how the light follows the body line, that could be paint.

Bernie

[RivNut]

Look back through some past Riviews and find the volume that features Galen Shield's '65 Riviera. It was orgininally an all white car, but now sports a two tone gold and white paint scheme. It uses the lines that Bernie points out as shadow lines to separate the colors. Galen's car also incorporates an airbrushed chrome spear that follows that line and separates the colors.



On Bill Mitchell's personal '63 Riviera - Silver Arrow I - he painted the vertical surfaces on the body below the shadow line and the sail panels on the top a darker shade of silver than the horizontal surfaces; subtle but nice. It's not the paint that gives Mitchell's car its stance, it's the chopped top.

[Riviera_Rob]

Two tone paint schemes seem to work real well with the lines of these cars.

Rob

[riv1964]

Brown and egg shell gold

YouTube - Roger's Fully Rollerized Rivie

Roger

[bb1970]

Brown and egg shell gold

YouTube - Roger's Fully Rollerized Rivie

Roger

You beat me to it. There is a good look at 38 sec..

[bepnewt]

Just watched that from the other thread. Nice.

Thanks for all the pics and opinions, guys.

-BEPNewt

[donhess64rivi]

hey how do you convert your year rivi to the hideaway lights. all the way to the billet grill thanks hess

64 buick riviera.

[RivNut]

Hideaway headlights are best achieved by installing a complete '65 front clip including the '65 front bumper. I've seen custom tubular bar grills for sale on eBay. If you want the bars the same width as the bars in the headlight grills and the same distance apart, you'll have to have a custom one built.

Ed

[oldbuickone]

What about just shooting the top? Save some $ and change the look a little.

[Dales90]

Hi,
The blue over fawn 64 with mountainous background in the first post is a car that has been on ebay a few times. Saw it at a car show in Boise, ID in July 2010, it was for sale, and was as nice in person as in the pic

Dale