65VerdeGS

I had my defunct stock AM/FM radio rebuilt by Rob Pacintini at Precision Radio Repair, with the enhanced sound option and MP3 jack installed. About $250. I bought a new 6x9 speaker (10 ohm) for between the back seats from Electro/Tech for about $50. I highly recommend Rob's work and now my radio sounds great: Here's his website: http://delcorepairs.com/ For speakers look here: http://www.turnswitch.com/speakers.htm Hope this helps,

Just curious, why was your '66 Toro a bad purchase? I owned a '68 Eldorado for 20 years, which is mechanically similar to the Toronados of the same vintage. I sold it a few years ago to buy a '67 Corvette. My Eldo was reliable. It was rare in that it had every factory option, including leather bucket seats and console. A bit strange, as the shifter remained on the steering column! I always worried about the front wheel bearings going bad as these were only used in the '66-68 Toros and "67-68 Eldos. As such they're hard to find and very expensive. Some guys swapped out the front spindles from the '69 on up cars to get around the problem, as the design was changed to use different less expensive bearings. The front end of those cars was built like a tank. And they drive like one too. One magazine writer described it as "the battle between the immovable object and the irresistible force." I always remembered that quote as an apt description of the car's handling. Cheers,

Might you be able to post a photo of the Corvette token you're offering for sale? Thanks,

I found the same grayish black putty-like sealant inside the "A" pillar trims on my '65 as well. I'd guess this was done to seal the trims against the windshield post, perhaps as an anti-rattle or anti-whistle provision? It wasn't used to attach the trims as these are firmly screwed in from behind the weatherstripping. Just use some body man's 'dum-dum' ribbon sealer when you reinstall, just in case.

Hi Gary, Yes, my '67 Vette is painted Marina Blue. The color gets lots of compliments. It really 'glows' under streetlights which make it look purplish midnight blue. Seeing your '65 Corvair reminds me of a friend who owned several. He had a tee shirt made up that said "What a Pair, Me and my Corvair!" That gave me a laugh, for sure. Cheers,

I have a copy of this magazine featuring a multi-page article on the First Gen Riviera. The article is quite comprehensive and interesting to read. I'd recommend you get a copy from Gene if you want to learn more about these interesting cars.

Your dad will appreciate the passenger side rear view mirror, so it's a plus in my mind. These aren't small cars to maneuver, so having any aid to see better is a benefit. That mirror looks to be a Buick type of the day and to my eyes doesn't detract from the car at all. The '64 is a solid car. If my experience is any gauge, a very reliable vehicle if reasonably maintained and not abused. I drove my '65 daily for ten years and over 100k miles, that was on top of the 113k it had when I bought it. It never let me down. I finally rebuilt the driveline when I restored the car, but didn't really have to other than by then she was burning a bit more oil from all the miles. And fun miles they have been!

Here's an update on my purchase of a windshield from Summit for my '65 Riv: I had Summit ship it direct to my glass installer. That way I don't have to move it from my house to the installer. I appreciated Summit doing that , and there were no extra charges. Including import fees and shipping, the windshield cost me only $133, shipped from Ohio to Vancouver, BC, which is really a screaming good deal. Maybe they made a mistake, but I'm not complaining!!! My windshield arrived this week. I haven't seen it personally but my glass guy says it arrived undamaged. Hearing that Doug had to return 3 windshields to finally get a good one makes me think I got lucky. I'm having the two vertical stainless moldings at each side of the windshield polished before I have the new windshield installed. Anyone else here buy a Summit windshield for their Riviera?

Hey Dave - so is the red GS you posted a pic of now for sale? Is it advertised elsewhere on this site? Just curious... My dark green GS might like a stable mate... Or she might get insanely jealous (the car, not my wife!) 😁

Good to see sheet metal items now being reproduced for our Rivieras. When I restored mine a dozen or so years ago here was NOTHING available in the way of new sheet metal from anyone, other than what good used you could find at wrecking yards. And finding anything for a Riv locally was just about impossible as the few cars that were in the salvage yards had mostly long ago been crushed or were just too rusty. The body guy that restored my '65 had to rebuild the trunk floor out of sheet metal, also the inner rear fenders too. Luckily he was a master at shaping metal. He even reproduced the gussets in the trunk floor. His work is holding up fine to this day.

Seeing Gary's post (nice stable you have there!) reminded me to mention the car that shares the garage with my '65 Gran Sport - a 1967 Corvette coupe with factory A/C:

I turned 60 this year. My Riviera and I have been together for 36 years. I bought my '65 Gran Sport in 1983 in Seattle, WA. I drove it daily for ten years here in Vancouver, BC, and must have been the only one that crazy because I rarely if ever saw another 1st Gen Riviera on the road. Same holds even truer today! I got lucky as I had no idea what a Gran Sport was when I bought my Riv. I'm not sure the previous owner knew it was anything special either, as I got it for only $2,000 and it was back then just a used 18 year old car in reasonably good shape. It was unmolested, with 113,000 original miles on the clock, still wearing its original paint, interior, etc. Soon after buying my Riv I joined the recently formed Riviera Owners Association (ROA). My low membership number 259 testifies to that. The ROA has been a wonderful resource, more so back in the days before the internet and forums such as this. Here's a pic of my GS, taken earlier this month: In the ten years I used it my Gran Sport as my daily driver I put another 100,000 miles on the car with several road trips to Los Angeles, etc. All this on its original drivetrain. Heavy on gas, yes, but extremely reliable. This car never ever let me down in all that time. After I retired it from regular use in 1995 I began the process of restoring it as funds and time allowed: first the body and paint (she had the usual back window rust, but not bad otherwise), then onto the engine and trans, while fixing other small things along the way. She's in fine form now, and I enjoy driving it immensely. I usually get several "NC's" ("Nice Car!") thumbs up each time I take her out on a drive. I've had many good times with this car over the decades, and still get that tingle of pride and admiration every time I gaze over its fine lines to get behind the wheel to again enjoy its sparkling performance.

Hi Ed, Nice math. I concede. A Riv with a 3.07 or 3.23 will get better mileage that a GS with its 3.42 rear, but probably not by a HUGE amount. Taking the ratios alone: A 3.07 rear is 11.4% higher geared than a 3.42 A 3.23 rear is 5.6% higher geared than a 3.42 So, a GS would consume (theoretically) somewhere in the range of 5-12% more fuel on cruise than the higher geared Rivieras. Not what I'd consider a huge difference, but a measurable difference nonetheless.

Hi Steve, My aging eyes thought your signature said you had a '72 Corvette! Guess I should have read closer, eh? You have a Corvette, which is good. Fun cars; I love them all! Cheers,

Hi Steve, I see you're also own a chrome bumper Corvette! That makes at least 3 of us here on this forum. Anyhow, just for your info, the GS dual quad doesn't exact a significant gas milage penalty over the single 4-barrel version. Yes, the 425 engine is a bit larger, but the main thing is the 2x4 setup runs on the rear carb UNLESS you step on it and bring the front carb into action. You can drive gently with a GS and get very similar mileage to that of a single 4-barrel car. On a dual quad car, the front carb is linked to the rear by a progressive linkage so if you don't have a lead foot and drive sanely, the mileage isn't really much different. A lot of GS owners converted their dual quad to a single 4-barrel in the mistaken belief that they'd enjoy a large mileage increase. Not so, as it turns out. Now having said that, these cars aren't exactly miserly on fuel. The BEST mileage I ever got on my GS was 16mpg, driving on the highway, mostly flat ground, not exceeding 60-65mph, and not doing any kickdown passing. Average mileage in town is about 12mpg. How do I know? I drove my GS daily for 10 years, so I'm very familiar with how much mileage it gets. Now that my GS has been 'retired' from active duty, the mileage I gets is not so important. So, when I feel the need for that torque rush I play with the loud pedal and get a big grin on my face! 😀

Hi Dave, Thanks for sharing what you paid for chroming. As others have said, you got a pretty good deal. You say some of your new chrome looks a bit 'foggy' - well I've seen that before and wonder what it means. You'll probably find the fogginess or blueish cast is most visible under artificial light. I had a similar problem on another car I had chroming done on. Some things in the car hobby have become very expensive over the years. Probably because fewer outfits are doing certain things (i.e. less competition = higher costs) and also increasingly stringent environmental regulation is biting into what folks used to get away with doing in the old days. Chrome bumpers went obsolete at least 30 years ago , other than on trucks and commercial vehicles. That's why there's less places now that do chroming.

Has anyone ever found a Build Sheet in a '66? I don't know about Buick, but Build Sheets were glued to the top of the gas tank on '67 -up Corvettes. No build sheets were put in the car before then. Anyone ever found a build sheet in a pre-67 Riviera?

Those bumpers look awesome! Dare we ask what it cost for the triple-plating job? Was the rear more $ than the front? Keep the updates coming - nice inspiration for the rest of us to get our rides in shape for spring!

Hi David, Your dash work looks awesome - keep your updates coming!

Thanks John and Jason for sharing photos of the AIR system on '66 Rivs. Indeed pretty rare to see a complete system. I've never seen one on a '66 Riv, but did notice plenty with that dimpled aluminum valve cover. As with other performance cars of the era, it appears most owners removed the air pump and mess of hoses and tubes as soon as they got the chance. Did the AIR system affect driveability that much? Of course it would have added a bit of extra weight. I've also heard that the air pumps could be noisy. But was the system that detrimental to the engine's operation? Did it contribute to overheating? Stalling? I guess one benefit would be that the exhaust system would run hotter, so maybe the pipes and muffler would last longer? My '65 was notorious for rotting out that big transverse rear muffler on a regular basis...

Hi Doug - No, mine hasn't arrived yet. I got this notification today from Summit: t. Your experience isn't generating a lot of confidence that my windshield will arrive in good shape. Glad to hear the vendor isn't giving you grief and is sending you a third one without hassle. I'll post an update once mine arrives.

On a side note, why do '66 Gran Sport cars with aluminum valve covers have a 'dent' in the left hand cover? Was this to provide clearance for an AIR (Air Injection Reactor) pump? I've yet to see a '66 GS with an AIR pump in place. I realize many such systems were removed over the years as they were often detrimental to engine performance. As far as I know, the AIR system was only mandatory in California in 1966, making this an extra-cost option in all other 49 states (and Canada). I can't see anyone back then paying $40+ for an AIR system. Anyone remotely environmentally conscious probably wouldn't be buying a big block Buick car anyway 😳 So, did only '66 Gran Sports sold new in California come with AIR? What about the standard Rivieras? Did they also come equipped with AIR in California? Did 49-state cars have the non-dented valve covers? If so, the dented valve cover would an indication that the car may have been sold new in California, correct?

I'll second Jason's opinion about the 3.42 gears and high speed highway cruising. I have a '65 Gran Sport with the 3.42's and it's great fun to drive around town, with neck snapping performance off the line, and great toe-in response in suburban driving. But on the highway above 60mph... Not so much. The car has plenty of power to much faster, but the RPM's and attendant engine noise at cruise get wearing as one approaches 70mph and above. On longer highway drives the car feels more comfortable when I keep the speed to around 60-65 and not more. I agree that a better all-around rear end gear ratio would be the 3.07, or a 3.23 if you can find it.

Hi Doug, Thanks for updating us on your windshield adventure. That shade band is supposed to be blue; it slowly turns brownish with time and exposure to ultraviolet light. You should be able to tell if your windshield is the original by examining the logo. OEM windshields have the LOF logo on the lower passenger side as per Tom's photos. When I bought my Riv in 1983 it had a replacement windshield with a SOLEX logo. This logo is at the bottom edge of the glass, centered between and covered by the windshield wipers. You might want to see if a logo appears in this location on your old windshield.

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