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Early Production 1965 Riviera Gran Sport question


cjp69

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I was emailing with a lady who was selling her husband's 65 Riviera, which she said was a Gran Sport, even though none of the Gran Sport badges were present. It does have the #'s matching LX motor, and I suspect that the car was ordered with the A8 engine option, but not the Gran Sport option.

Below is her explanation. Thoughts? Anybody heard this explanation before? Is actually just an A-8 Riviera?

"My husband had the car built for him and picked it up at the factory. According to the info from the vin number it was number 5000 something (can look up the actual number tomorrow) and was built before the GS symbol was used. That's all I know."

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I was emailing with a lady who was selling her husband's 65 Riviera, which she said was a Gran Sport, even though none of the Gran Sport badges were present. It does have the #'s matching LX motor, and I suspect that the car was ordered with the A8 engine option, but not the Gran Sport option.

Below is her explanation. Thoughts? Anybody heard this explanation before? Is actually just an A-8 Riviera?

"My husband had the car built for him and picked it up at the factory. According to the info from the vin number it was number 5000 something (can look up the actual number tomorrow) and was built before the GS symbol was used. That's all I know."

I doubt this very much. The Super Wildcat 465 engine was a stand alone option in 1965 and 454 non-GS 65 Riv's came with this option. It actually makes it rarer than the 65 GS. As you probably know, the early GS's came with small emblems and I believe the change to larger emblems was made sometime in December of 1964. There is always a possibility that the right person had the right connections at Buick to have the the car built without the emblems but unless there was some type of paper trail to prove it, I would be doubtful.

I remember seeing these cars when the 65's first came out and the emblems were on the cars. If the VIN is in the 5000 range, then the story doesn't add up. Please let us know what you find out.

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When my Dad ordered his 65 Riviera in July 1964, the salesman gave us a Buick brochure which

I still have that shows the 65 Gran Sport with the small Gran Sport emblems on the fenders. The tooling was

completed on these emblems before any of the 65's ever went into production. I say BS on that lady's story.

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I doubt this very much. The Super Wildcat 465 engine was a stand alone option in 1965 and 454 non-GS 65 Riv's came with this option. It actually makes it rarer than the 65 GS. As you probably know, the early GS's came with small emblems and I believe the change to larger emblems was made sometime in December of 1964. There is always a possibility that the right person had the right connections at Buick to have the the car built without the emblems but unless there was some type of paper trail to prove it, I would be doubtful.

I remember seeing these cars when the 65's first came out and the emblems were on the cars. If the VIN is in the 5000 range, then the story doesn't add up. Please let us know what you find out.

Same thing I was thinking Pat. I looked at the car yesterday (now at a dealer's shop getting readied for sale) and I couldn't find anything "Gran Sport" about it, I am pretty sure it is a Riviera ordered with the A-8 option LX motor. As can be seen by the trim tag, it is relatively low optioned. Has the deluxe interior, but no power windows.

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  • 2 weeks later...
They have corrected their description to remove any mention of it being a Gran Sport.

http://www.parkplaceltd.com/used-cars/detail/1965-Buick-Riviera/995/494475H905133/~/Make_Buick~ModelActual_~Year_/1

Chris, as I`m sure you already know, the description still contains more bad info than not. It`s a shame this broker cant post a description that is as good/nice as the car. Looks like a very nice example. Is it Turquiose or blue? Did it have a posi and if so what gear ratio? I`d like to see the PP.

Ed, I always assumed the FB designation was an acronym for Fisher Body? Hmmm...learn something new every day.

Tom Mooney

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Ed, I always assumed the FB designation was an acronym for Fisher Body? Hmmm...learn something new every day.

Tom Mooney

Just one more thing that I stumbled across.

PLANT LOCATION CODES

FB Flint KC Kansas City

BA Atlanta BA Baltimore

BF Fremont BC South Gate

BK Kansas City BW Wilmington

Kansas City has two plants listed. One of them is the Fairfax plant in Kansas City, KS, and the other is the Leeds Plant in Kansas City, MO. I don't know which code goes with which plant. The Leeds plant was closed a number of years ago. BA for both Atlanta and Baltimore! ????? I took this information from the ROA's website.

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1965 Buick plants:

[TABLE=class: grid, width: 280]

<tbody>[TR]

[TD]Plant Name[/TD]

[TD]Body Tag Code[/TD]

[TD]VIN Code[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Baltimore, MD[/TD]

[TD]<st1:stockticker>BAL</st1:stockticker>[/TD]

[TD]B[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]South Gate, CA[/TD]

[TD]BC[/TD]

[TD]C[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Doraville, GA[/TD]

[TD]BA[/TD]

[TD]D[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Flint, MI[/TD]

[TD]FB[/TD]

[TD]H[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Kansas City, MO[/TD]

[TD]KAN[/TD]

[TD]K[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Bloomfield, NJ[/TD]

[TD]XB[/TD]

[TD]V[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Kansas City, KS[/TD]

[TD]BK[/TD]

[TD]X[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Wilmington, DE[/TD]

[TD]BW[/TD]

[TD]Y[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Fremont, CA[/TD]

[TD]BF[/TD]

[TD]Z[/TD]

[/TR]

</tbody>[/TABLE]

BA was used for Baltimore, MD (built A-body cars) and Atlanta, GA (Doraville, built B- and C-body cars) in 1964 only.

Edited by sean1997 (see edit history)
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1965 Buick plants:

[TABLE=class: grid, width: 280]

<tbody>[TR]

[TD]Plant Name[/TD]

[TD]Body Tag Code[/TD]

[TD]VIN Code[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Baltimore, MD[/TD]

[TD]<st1:stockticker>BAL</st1:stockticker>[/TD]

[TD]B[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]South Gate, CA[/TD]

[TD]BC[/TD]

[TD]C[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Doraville, GA[/TD]

[TD]BA[/TD]

[TD]D[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Flint, MI[/TD]

[TD]FB[/TD]

[TD]H[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Kansas City, MO[/TD]

[TD]KAN[/TD]

[TD]K[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Bloomfield, NJ[/TD]

[TD]XB[/TD]

[TD]V[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Kansas City, KS[/TD]

[TD]BK[/TD]

[TD]X[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Wilmington, DE[/TD]

[TD]BW[/TD]

[TD]Y[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Fremont, CA[/TD]

[TD]BF[/TD]

[TD]Z[/TD]

[/TR]

</tbody>[/TABLE]

BA was used for Baltimore, MD (built A-body cars) and Atlanta, GA (Doraville, built B- and C-body cars) in 1964 only.

I have always used the VIN character for plant location. I guess in certain circumstances the body code can be somewhat misleading. For instance, in `66 the Riviera bodies were assembled in Euclid Ohio but the car was still assembled in Flint. If I recall correctly the `66 Riv body tag has an "EUC" designation. Pretty sure my Flint built `66 Wildcats have an "FL1" designation. Seems things were changing by the year on the Fisher Body tags.

Tom

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Chris, as I`m sure you already know, the description still contains more bad info than not. It`s a shame this broker cant post a description that is as good/nice as the car. Looks like a very nice example. Is it Turquiose or blue? Did it have a posi and if so what gear ratio? I`d like to see the PP.

Tom Mooney

Agreed Tom, the description isn't the best, but for a car lot it is better than most I have seen, lol!

The car does have some rust issues, and needs repair and a repaint to be real nice IMO. It was in their shop getting the seat motor replaced so I didn't get to drive it or really give it a good inspection. There wasn't any paperwork in it, but it may have already been removed. I also doubt the mileage claim is correct, more than likely 150k. The color is Turquiose.

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