J3Studio

1963 Arctic White Riviera coupe with unknown mileage on Bring A Trailer: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1963-buick-riviera-13/

This thread hangs in there and reminds me that the 1985 just turned 36. Quietly, it's now firmly on the old Corvette side of the old versus new dividing line. I don't think we'll ever take it 6,314 miles again, but I could see over 1,000.

Most factory radios were awful—and not just with domestic cars. Many German cars included no radio well into the eighties—the assumption was that buyers who cared about sound would pick something from the aftermarket they liked and order it from folks like Crutchfield. In 1983, the Delco-GM/Bose Music System started to change that view.

You did fine with the pictures—thank you. What I have (so far) for 1996 options (other than the supercharger) is this: 1996 Riviera options Exterior options RPO code Price Electric sliding Astroroof w/power sunshade CF5 $995 Bright White Diamond Tri-Coat paint 78 $395 Body-side accent stripes $45 Paint stripe delete NC Mechanical options RPO code Price Engine block heater K05 $18 16-inch chrome-plated aluminum wheels $695 Interior trim /upholstery options RPO code Price Heated driver's seat w/memory for driver & passenger outside mirrors A43 $310 Leather/vinyl 55/45 front seats w/driver & passenger recliners AM6 $600 Leather/vinyl front bucket seats w/operating console AS7 $750 Options packages RPO code Price SE Prestige package SE $1,150 Based on your photographs, I believe you have AS7 (bucket seats with console) and the SE Prestige package—in addition to the supercharged engine and what came with it. By 1996, the CD player was standard. If I'm wrong with any of this, there are others on this forum who can correct me. The Ruby Red Metallic with the Dark Ruby Red leather seats is a sharp combination. Best of luck with the sale.

Agreed. Also, what options other than the supercharger? If my Google skills are functioning, I believe Bob is ROA member #257.

@RivNut That looks sharp—thank you. What was your decision process for doing that extra work to become the classic one of one?

@RivNut I'll bet that looks sharp—do you have a picture easily available? I took a look at the Riview archives, but the July/August 2005 issue only has a fairly low-resolution photograph.

Thanks, as always, @Pat Curran — if I don't find some other information, I'll likely reach out to our ROA folks and ask for a change.

… the 1980 Riviera had 14 (!) audio options: UM7 Signal Seeking AM‐FM Stereo Radio w/Digital Readout $185.00 UU1 AM‐FM Stereo Full Feature Radio $208.00 UM2 8 Track Tape & AM/FM Stereo Radio $81.00 UM4 8 Track Tape & Signal Seeking AM/FM Stereo Radio With Digital Readout $298.00 UU3 8 Track Tape & AM/FM Stereo Full Feature Radio $289.00 UM6 Cassette Tape & Signal Seeking AM/FM Stereo w/Digital Clock $325.00 UN3 Cassette & AM/FM Stereo Radio $94.00 UU2 Cassette Tape & AM/FM Stereo Full Feature Radio $302.00 UP6 CB & AM/FM Stereo Radio (includes Antenna U83) $290.00 UP1 CB, 8 Track Tape & AM/FM Stereo (incl. antenna U83) $360.00 UM3 Signal Seeking CB & AM/FM Stereo w/Digital Clock (incl. antenna U83) $473.00 UM5 Signal Seeking CB, 8 Track Tape & Signal Seeking AM/FM Stereo w/Digital Clock (incl. antenna U83) $587.00 UN5 Signal Seeking CB, Cassette Tape & Signal Seeking AM/FM Stereo w/Digital Clock (incl. antenna U83) $613.00 U83 Triband Power Antenna (incl. w/CB radios) —and, by the way, the new forum software pastes rich text really well.

That looks great—you must be very pleased with your results.

The ROA site lists four exterior colors for the 1985 Riviera convertible: http://rivowners.org/features/Ev_Stats/colortrim/85.html —they are the expected White and Red Firemist, along with Light Sage and Medium Sage. I can find no evidence anywhere else that Light Sage and Medium Sage were available for the convertible—in fact most of my sources describe those two colors as only being available for the sport coupe, and not for either the convertible or the T Type. Does anyone have any insight into this difference of opinion?

Once again, something I've never had to think about because even my oldest car is (kind of) modern. Do alignment specifications for radials exist for cars that never offered them?

Agreed on the color—wow!

When we bought our 1995 Honda Civic, air conditioning for it was still a dealer-installed option—none came from the factory with AC. There's such a difference in the arrival years of standard air conditioning, depending on the market position of the car and other factors. Some not-so-random examples: Lincoln Continental Mark III—1971 Cadillac Eldorado—1975 Buick Riviera—1978 Chevrolet Corvette—1980

L1 for both 1963 and 1964, I believe. Just to confuse things, L1 became the code for Soft-Ray tinted glass (all windows) in 1965 and for some years thereafter.

Sounds like a substantial loss to this portion of the automotive hobby. Thanks for the context, Ed and Jim.

Thank you—that's what I thought. Perhaps safer to say it was their first post-war two-seater.

(because I figure someone on this forum will know) Was the Allanté truly Cadillac's first production two-seater? I'm fairly confident that it's the first one in the last seventy years, but I'm weak(er) on automotive history prior to around 1950. Thanks in advance.

Welcome, Fabrice! Bringing a Riviera to France seems very appropriate.

Are there exact or approximate numbers for sales of the supercharger option in 1995, 1996, and 1997? Obviously, they were pretty high or Buick wouldn't have made it standard in 1998 and 1999.

Featured in one of the Hemmings emails yesterday—1963 Granada Red (I guess) Riviera with a black interior of some sort (not pictured and undescribed), asking $18,000 negotiable: https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/buick/riviera/2327496.html

… this one for the sixth-generation (1979 to 1985) Rivieras. Colors not even close to fully calibrated. Click the image to expand somewhat. Some notes: 1) Thin black horizontal lines indicate that the color formulation is the same, even when the name isn't the same. They also indicate when the exact same formulation came back after a few years and when a color carried over from the previous generation. 2) The number is the actual Buick paint number, while an asterisk indicates metallic. Even if the paint number didn't change, the formulation sometimes did, like Red Firemist from 1982 to 1983. 3) Colors are sorted by their Hue value. One of the many ways to describe a particular color is the HSB color space—Hue, Saturation, and Brightness. Also named as HSL (Hue, Saturation, and Lightness), HSB is a different way of measuring the RGB color space. The interest here is that it nicely separates hue from other color factors over 360 degrees, with the red in ROYGBIV starting at about 345 degrees. HSB was initially conceived as a way to add color to black-and-white television transmissions without changing the signal that the black-and-white sets were receiving. It has been around for quite a while—French engineer Georges Valensi invented it in 1938, pre-dating the first consumer color televisions by 16 years.

Neat color combo.

There were just a four Rivieras at Mecum's Indy auction and all but one sold. All descriptions as claimed by Mecum and/or the seller. 1970 Glacier White Riviera GS coupe with a white vinyl top, a white interior (not pictured), and 31,000 miles ($14,000 hammer price): https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0520-428788/1970-buick-riviera-gs/ 1970 gold Riviera GS coupe with a black vinyl top and a green vinyl bench seat (no sale at $25,000—designated as The Bid Goes On … in case someone comes forward with a higher bid) https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0520-413983/1970-buick-riviera-gs/ 1973 Burnt Coral/Burgundy/? Riviera GS Stage 1 coupe with a white vinyl top, saddle vinyl 40/40 seats, and 23,000 miles ($41,000 hammer price): https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0520-414593/1973-buick-riviera-gs-stage-1/ 1982 White Riviera convertible with 45/45 maple leather seats ($6,500 hammer price): https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0520-413361/1982-buick-riviera-convertible/ There was also one ur-Riviera. 1955 Belfast Green/Dover White two-tone Special Riviera coupe with a green/white bench seat ($22,000 hammer price): https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0520-428751/1955-buick-special-riviera/ The $41,000 that the 1973 GS Stage 1 went for is right on Hagerty's "all the money" for a #1/Concours car.

Wow! Just took a look at that thread …