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J3Studio

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    Rivieras and Riviera parts for sale on local Craigslist, eBay, etc.

    in Buick Riviera

    Posted · Edited by J3Studio (see edit history)

    Mecum Kissimmee 2022 Riviera wrap-up:

     

    [Lot L199] 1964 Buick Riviera coupe. Surf Green Metallic with white Custom vinyl bucket seats. LW “Wildcat 465” 340 bhp (gross) 7.0 liter/425 ci V8 with an indicated 89,000 miles. Said to have sold, but no price indicated.

    [J111] 1965 Buick Riviera Gran Sport coupe. Seafoam Green Metallic with black Custom vinyl bucket seats. LX "Super Wildcat" 360 bhp (gross) 7.0 liter 425 ci V8 with an aftermarket ASC power sunroof and an indicated 15,000 miles. $83,000 hammer price

     

    [T237] 1965 Buick Riviera Gran Sport coupe. Regal Black with black Custom vinyl bucket seats. LX "Super Wildcat" 360 bhp (gross) 7.0 liter 425 ci V8.  $150,000 hammer price and discussed further in this thread.

     

    [G220] 1966 Buick Riviera coupe. Rivera White with a plum cloth and vinyl Strato-Bench seat. MW “Wildcat 465” 340 bhp (gross) 7.0 liter/425 ci V8 with an indicated 66,000 miles. $18,000 hammer price

     

    [J131.1] 1966 Buick Riviera coupe. Rivera Silver Green Metallic with a green cloth and vinyl Strato-Bench seat. MW “Wildcat 465” 340 bhp (gross) 7.0 liter/425 ci V8. $23,000 hammer price

     

    [J115] 1969 Buick Riviera coupe. Medium Gray Mist Metallic with a black vinyl top and a black vinyl bench seat. 360 bhp (gross) 7.0 liter/430 ci V8 and an indicated 16,000 miles. $37,000 hammer price

     

    [J135] 1972 Buick Riviera GS coupe. Burnished Bronze Metallic (I think) with a white Landau vinyl top and a sandalwood Kenway cloth Custom 60/40 notchback seat. WF 225 bhp (net) 7.5 liter/455 ci V8 and an indicated 64,000 miles. No sale at $37,000

     

    [W43.1] 1978 Buick Riviera 75th Anniversary Package coupe. Silver Metallic/Black two-tone with platinum gray leather/vinyl 50/50 seats. L80 185 bhp (net) 6.6 liter/403 ci V8 and an indicated 41,000 miles. $11,000 hammer price

     

    [E60] 1979 Buick Riviera coupe. Grey Firemist with red leather bucket seats. L34 155 bhp (net) 5.7 liter/350 ci V8 and an indicated 12,000 miles. Not advertised as an S-Type, but it sure has a lot of the S-Type's interior features. $20,000 hammer price

     

    [E267] 1984 Buick Riviera coupe. Brown Metallic with brown Landau vinyl top and brown leather/suede bucket seats. LC4 125 bhp (net) 4.1 liter/252 ci V6 and an indicated 73,000 miles. No sale at $11,000

     

    [G137] 1998 Buick Riviera coupe. Bright White Diamond Tri-Coat with bordeaux red leather bucket seats and an aftermarket wood kit. L67 “3800 Series II” 240 bhp (net) 3.8 liter/231 ci V6 with an Eaton M90 supercharger and 68,000 indicated miles. $7,000 hammer price

     

    —this was a relatively busy year for Rivieras at Mecum, with 11 cars and six out of the eight generations represented.

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 3

    [Eighth Generation] "Officially" Restarting My Very Picky Search

    in Buick Riviera

    Posted · Edited by J3Studio (see edit history)

    On 1/1/2022 at 2:41 PM, Jolly_John said:

    One owner RIV, lived in MA all its life, CarFax shows all maintenance performed by a Chevy/(Buick?) dealership from beginning to end, report of an auto accident in 2002, no sign of supercharger oil change in the fairly detailed CarFax report, three close-together reports of "electrical system checked" not too many miles ago. then sold at auto auction in MA in September, 2021, and wound up for sale in December at a used car-only dealer in Milwaukee, WI, still showing the same mileage as when at the auction.

     

    Really nice, special cars with relatively low mileage usually don't wind up for sale at a wholesale dealer auto auction....and then get trucked across half the country to be re-sold at a used car-only dealer.  Perhaps there's a good story behind all of this, AND perhaps this is a wonderful Riviera. But, I'd sure want to see it in person before pulling the trigger. Even if it's as simple as finding out the condition of the paint. As an alternative to the buyer actually seeing the car, there should be some Milwaukee-area guys in the BCA or the ROA who could check it out.

     

    @Jolly_John Thank you for the detailed and helpful analysis.

    1966 riviera auto climate control

    in Buick Riviera

    Posted · Edited by J3Studio (see edit history)

    14 minutes ago, lilmisshunter@yahoo.com said:

    Thanks for all the great info. After JZRiv explanation of the repairing the 67 and the 66 I have no interest in working on the auto climate control. I have moved on.  Should I start a new thread on converting from auto climate control to a manual system.

     

    Yes. :)

     

    Also, it sounds you have a really cool GS.

    1966 riviera auto climate control

    in Buick Riviera

    Posted

    52 minutes ago, bob71GS said:

    Jason is correct that the auto A/C would barely worked when they were new. When I ordered my 71GS, the salesmen sat me down at a desk and gave me the wholesale order form, the very first thing he told me was, "I do not want you to order the auto A/C, it is nothing but junk right from the factory" I ordered the manual A/C, works excellent. I also know a fellow with a 66 Riv that has the auto system, he has spent 5 years trying to get it to work and gave up. Parts are unobtanium  Good luck

     

    This raises (at least) two questions:

     

    1) Why did Buick keep selling such an unsuccessful and problematic option for all those years and across multiple generations?

    2) When did the automatic AC become "safe" to order? Was it in 1977 with the move to the B-body?

    1966 riviera auto climate control

    in Buick Riviera

    Posted

    1 hour ago, JZRIV said:

    They barely worked properly when they were new. The complex design had many areas that could and did fail and troubleshooting required someone with experience, excellent skills, and a 6th sense. Dealer techs back in the day would run and hide when a car came in for service with a climate control complaint. (this was a quote directly from someone who worked as a Buick tech in the 60s.)
     

    I have worked on 67 systems and then the system in the 66 when I restored it. I have not talked to anyone in the last 35 years that had more experience with them than I. I got the 66 to function to about 75% of its design and in past a 67 to function at 90%. In hindsight I should have converted my car to a manual A/C. When I calculate the hours I spent just on resurrecting the auto climate control, had I been paying a shop an hourly rate, I could have bought another car but I wanted to maintain originality and make every attempt to get the system working.  Foolish thinking! It wasn't worth the effort. 

     

    Converting to manual A/C in itself is a large task but very doable especially if you have a donor car, a shop manual, and the skill and time. I would not spend one cent on trying to get your system functioning. Its just not worth it.  If you don't want the hassle or cost of converting to manual A/C, if the car has no sentimental value, sell it and buy one with manual A/C.

     

    Wow! Maybe an article in the Riview someday? Here's what I have so far:
     

    Quote

    In February 1966, an automatic climate control air conditioner became available for an eye-watering $484.15—11% of the Riviera’s base price and substantially more expensive than any other option. With a complex network of vacuum and electric controls, the division-specific (Cadillac and Oldsmobile shared another at least slightly more successful design) automatic climate control air conditioner became noted for its reliability issues.

    Rivieras and Riviera parts for sale on local Craigslist, eBay, etc.

    in Buick Riviera

    Posted

    12 minutes ago, ericisback said:

    All the action on Bring A Trailer auctions happen in the last five minutes. I suspect you could just list the car for six days and 23 hours, open up the bidding for the last hour, and save everybody a lot of time…. Lol.

     

    The half at the front, half at the back rule usually stands—and it did here. What happens at BaT (because of the "magic" two minute extensions every time someone bids) is that the endgame is very compressed.

    • Like 1

    JIM CANNONS Service Bulletin CD's

    in Buick Riviera

    Posted

    1 hour ago, MikeJS said:

    For the masses, the file transfer worked seamlessly, sent the funds via PayPal, within a couple hours (or less) I received the link to the File Transfer site. The download is relatively large (665MB) so if you are still using a 14.4 dial-up modem it could take some time. We have fibre optic internet so the download was probably an excruciating minute or less. The files downloaded in their original folder and structure. Easy peezy. I'll probably keep a copy on a USB stick but also to take it to the office and print it for my "old school" files.

     

    Thank you @MikeJS

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