cultusrider

That looks excellent @Vin63! Do you mind telling us the costs of the parts and how long everything took to complete? Appreciated and thanks, Scott Here are a few of my “girls” although not getting enough time together these days

You bet Darren, very interesting to learn about the transitional changes for a model year. I'm new to classic cars but came in thinking there was a definitive selection of standard features and options for a specific model year...

Ok, had this photo in the collection already, does this help?

Hi Darren, will check my 64' "Beasley" tomorrow when I get to the hangar, it was built in November, 63' I believe, Scott

Thanks Darren!

So many excellent people and such great info on these forums... in anticipation of needing a Super Start battery one day I googled O'Reilly's and see there is a store just across the border in the great little town of Lynden, WA (famous for their pies, ask me how I know ). Thanks guys, Scott Here is a photo of my original 64' a few weeks back, redoing the brakes at the moment, but hope to be back on the road soon...

Awesome, thanks Darren... cheers, Scott

DW, any chance you could post links to those threads if you have them handy, I'll be doing the same thing after the summer driving season... thanks very much! Scott

After several weeks, the 64' finally arrived all the way across the continent from New York. More "patina" than I was expecting and leaking fluids (transmission fluid, engine oil) but for a 52 year old, original and unrestored car, she is pretty nice. This is my first classic car and I'm looking forward to taking care of any issues and just enjoying her for the time being.

Maybe not exactly what you are thinking but here are two video's I came across recently which you may find worthwhile... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JIwL0keMFQM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-MT6k4xa-Gs

Thanks Ed, still thinking really hard about buying this car. The owner says the car was tuned last year, is running really well and recommends just enjoying it the way it is until deciding which direction to go regarding the carb set up. He is ideally looking for an owner that will keep the car as original as possible (looking past this carb issue of course ) which is certainly my plan.

And #38 and #40 which is really headed in the right direction to help identify what that rear mystery carb is...

Excellent info, thanks guys. I have passed along this to the owner as well and directed him to visit this site if he would like to review all of the comments. It seems now my choices since I like things as correct as possible, are don't buy the car (although at around $24-26k if it as clean and low mileage as it appears and the seller certainly seems like someone to be trusted, it could still represent a fair buy?), or buy the car and try to make it a proper 2x4 set up as per factory if possible finding and using all of the parts outlined in this string (how much time, money and effort would that take?), or buy the car and return it to the stock single four barrel set up (might be relatively easy?).... hmmmm,..

Oh, and just wondering if anyone has looked at the carb and intake manifold hand written info provided by the owner?

I agree Darren, and think that between the comments of everyone here we probably have enough baseline info to verify at least the accuracy of the 2x4 installation, if nothing else... and maybe even the time frame of the installation if we also take into consideration the unverified history of the car according to the previous owners. In your guy's opinion, how much time and effort would it be for the owner to provide these answers?

The kind owner of the 64' just sent me via a Google application 39 photos taken this morning so hopefully these links work as I was unable to save the photos to a new file; serial number / vin carb and manifold info body by fisher tag dash - odometer (looks like 49k+ miles) engine 1 engine 2 engine 3 interior 1 interior 2 interior 3 trunk 1 trunk 2 I failed to mentioned that in some of his documents he notes owning the car since 2012,and before that it belonged to a another friend and car collector in Michigan that had bought it around 1992 from the third owner. He also mentions that he connected with the second buyer of the car who stated buying the car in the early 70's from the estate of the original owner, and that the double four bbl carb set up was already on the car and also believed that it was dealer installed. If true, this means that these components were installed during the very early years of the cars existence (for whatever that may be worth, but it seems notable).

Thanks Ed and Tom for your replies and recommendations, truly appreciated. To provide everyone with the opportunity to explore this car and listing, and potentially join in on the interesting and investigative collaboration, here is a link to the listing in Tennessee. I have found the owner of the car to be a good communicator and nice person. And although he has said he will, as of this morning he has not yet provided me with any updated photos as the car sits today (all of the photos I have are dated from 2013 and back to 2007) and he has yet to provide the information (#'s) requested as recommended by you gentlemen. He states he has known the car for at least 20 years, maybe more, and believes the repaint in original colors happened some 30 years ago. He states that the car has been driven sparingly for the last 25 years, accounting for the low mileage, but cannot provide any supporting documentation to validate the 50k miles. If there are any first generation ROA or other experts willing to go look at the car and meet the owner for me / all of us, I would be most thankful! Now back to watching the Panthers taking apart the Seahawks, Scott

Ed, as you can probably tell, I'm the kind of person that does a lot of research before spending my money which is why I posted the information on this site for feedback. I have read a boat load of the topics here and on other sites and it's obvious you like to help but I'm just looking for good sound information to support my decision making process. Thank you, Scott

We are on the same page, I let the seller know this morning that I could travel that way in a few weeks (after going to Scottsdale at the end of next week )

Thanks Ed, will certainly try and attain this info from the seller. The seller says that the car had a restoration in the early 90's but believes the 50k mileage (seems very low to me) to be accurate. Cheers, Scott

Yup, guilty of that one, maybe more than once

Good questions and comments Tom, I haven't come across this either and is exactly why I am asking the question as the seller of the car is a good person and the car has won at least one prestigious award. As a heads up, I tried emailing you earlier today on the ROA site as I believe you are listed as a technical advisor for the first gen Riviera's but the email link did not work? Thanks, Scott

These aren't great photos, but were included in the listing for the car;

Hi Ed, thanks for chiming in. Here is the website link and pasted below is the specific info from this page I was referring to. Looking forward to hearing what you think, and others too of course , Scott The last iteration of the Nailhead was the 425 cubic inch model with its larger 4.3125" bore, but same stroke as the 401. It was introduced in 1963 where it began as an option on the new Riviera. It was later available on the Wildcat and Electra models as well. Surprisingly, the 1964 and 1966 Riviera had the 425 engine as standard, but in 1965, the standard Riviera returned to the 401. Four barrel carburation was standard on all 425 Nailheads, called the "Wildcat 465". That "465" sticker on the air cleaner did not denote engine displacement as many thought, it denoted the torque rating, which Buick was very proud of, since it overshadowed almost every other V8 of the time. The 425 was considered a true performance engine by Buick, and in 1964 it was possible to order a two 4 barrel carb intake, which was delivered in the trunk along with the the special 4-barrel carbs, to be installed by the dealer. In 1965 it was called "Super Wildcat" and it was standard as a factory installed option on the 1965 Riviera Gran Sport and the 1966 Wildcat "GS". The 2-4s were still a "trunk option" for the rest of the Buick line for most of 1966. In May 1966, Buick offered this Super Wildcat 465 with dual 4BBL Carter AFB's as a factory installed option on all 425 equipped Buicks, except for the Skylark GS where it was a dealer install on the 401. This is a very sought after option for restorers as it adds a bit of cache to the vehicle and is acceptable due to the "dealer installation" option.

I just came across some info on a website called wildaboutcars.com that appears to verify that for the 1964 Riviera the dual four bbl. carbs could be had as a "delivered in the trunk, dealer installed option". Most interesting.