marcball

Ben, euh, from one French Riviera-owner to another, congratulations and welcome !

"The only thing the world will never have too much of, is exageration" Salvador Dali

I read somewhere that they let the exhaust fumes back into the habitacle. My 71 has them and smells of various unburnt fuels but I ain't sure where it all comes from. So far, it is only two months and still fairly endearing, "old vintage American iron" smell...

Jon and all, I totally agree on the superhero car allure of the boattail Riv. Grandest swellest design in ages. Here my spaceship struggling to enter my discreet batcave, though... Cheers and keep on trucking ! (from France)

Howdy y'all (from France), here two pictures I took this yesterday, at weird angles, but it somehow shows the glory of the boat tail's design. Side story : the rear picture shows the "ramp on a ramp" wooden devices I had to construct in order to protect my Riv's underbelly from being scratched when going over the sidewalk border and down into the (shoehorn) basement garage. This made it possible for us to take the car out last sunday for a local US cars festival here in Niort, France. Keep on trucking !

Hi folks, my driver door window is struggling to rise at times and it seems clear that it is caused by the rear end of the weatherstripping which has grown dislodged and is now being pulled down with the window at times, or floats out and prevents the door from closing easily. Two questions : 1. what adhesive to use to reattach the weatherstripping ? any black weatherstripping adhesive roll on ebay or are there specifications to respect ? 2. Which weatherstripping retainer clips to use (seems mine has dropped and is lost) ? any official spec number there ? Cheers ans best regards (from France)

Wow, I did not know about these, they look pretty dashing ! I'm to far in France to be interested, but it makes for a pretty fine "3Dprint + metal-casting" project...

could have been a Hertz rental...

Well thanks so much for this detailed feedback, exactly what I was shooting for. LOoks like keeping / inspecting / refreshing is the way to go about this. I have received the 2 service manuals which I'm perusing joyfully over breakfasts (also received from Germany a copy of the 1971 Buick vehicles catalogue, quite the fun and dandy read by the way). I'll look into all this in more detail once I return from our year-end family trip to Paris (in our "modern" 20yr old panzer). More after that... Thanks again, and keep on trucking !

Duck Tape, always makes me giggle...

Thanks guys, that's all helpful. What I was actually most interested in were these questions : "- Could the evap canister system end up creating problems for the reliable and smooth running of V8 ? B. Should I buy a fresh replacement canister ? C. Should I cut off and drop the whole evap system altogether, and if so how do i do it ?" If I can get rid of it all, better than wondering when it might mess with the carburation, if any. Cheers !

That is another swell car indeed, thanks for sharing the story. Houston TX is where I fell in love with Big Block American muscle... Cheers and keep on trucking !

Congratulations (from France) on going for a no-holds-barred restoration on this boat-tail Riv ! it will be totally gorgeous, and I already love the classy colour combination, when so many boat-tails (including my copper orange) have gaudy shiny looks. The shape of this car is outstanding in its own right and is likely best served with an understated body colour... Well done, congrats on the masterful craftmanship, and please keep the pictures coming !

Folks, my "brand new" 1971 Riviera runs just fine. Aso, I don't plan on doing a full-blown restauration. Still,I want to do some preemptive maintenance here and there, and I might as well start somewhere. So, topic #1 : How do I deal with the missing vapor canister bracket ? And beyond the bracket, what is the matter with the evap canister, in 2016, in my country where I do not run the risk of being stopped and inspected on the fly by the EPA ? I don't care about bringing the car back to conconrse condition, so my question is more like : Could the evap canister system end up creating problems for the reliable and smooth running of V8 ? My present situation is : A. There is no bracket under the canister. It's part # 3.10 1238330 according to the service manual and parts catalogue (just received them in book and CD form, fun read). I doubt I can find one in France, but I could manufacture one from some small flat iron straps. Any other ideas ? B. Should I buy a fresh replacement canister ? C. Should I cut off and drop the whole evap system altogether, and if so how do i do it ?

yessir !

hihi, that's way before my time. Feels too dark for my taste (and I'm a fan of late-model Johnny Cash albums). For oldies French culture, might throw in some genius Serge Gainsbourg (especially his pioneering reggae dub albums). But when it comes to females, i'd rather melt into some Diana Krall, or remember my teenage years and rock it with Lone Justice.

Peter Frampton ! "L'homme qui fait chanter sa guitare !" (the man who can make his guitar sing). That's what it said on the sleeve of the LP that had somehow found its way behind a convertible sofa in the guest bedroom close to the attic in the Paris suburbs house where i grew up in the 1970s. As to the other tapes, good stuff indeed, although I'm not familiar with Mrrs Nugent and Chong. Am I missing somthing ? For my Riviera playlist, I'm mostly planning on classic ZZ top, Bruce, SRV, Waylon, Johnny Cash and maybe some acid surf music (a la Pulp Fiction) as well as some blues by our French guitar hero Paul Personne...

Hi Randy, I'm in : ROA member 15280 ! Thanks all y'all for the warm welcome, this is gonna be excellent !

Yep, that's certainly how the car's look feels like to me, a massive Barbarella concept car somehow escaped from the car show compound...

Hey thanks ! that picture was perfectly helpful, as I had been looking last night at the engine's side, between 2nd and 3rd plugs and found nothing but paint. But now I looked harder, between 1st and 2nd, with a thin brass brush and managed to take this snapshot. So TR it is, basic 455 ! no problem at all, making progress getting to know the orange shrek in my basement. This probably means i'll get to repaint the airfilter in black and find a sweet 5 dollar 455-4 sticker to slap on it. Nice. Thanks again and keep on trucking folks !

"Factory custom car" ? I did not know about that (as Sobchack would say). What do you mean ? any special program beyond the Silver Arrow III ? I also did not know about yank tanks, but then again, been away fro a long time... No readable engine numbers that I can see at this stage (painted over it seems, more below). Cheers

Merci ! Yours looks swell. I'm not planning any major restoration at the moment, just want to enjoy it, strengthen it where it may be (or become) lacking, and maybe improve a few things here and there... More soon !

Thanks mate ! Nice to exchange with folks around the world about this unusual Riviera bunch of boatmobiles. Looking forward to more of it. And you're right, I mainly bought it to create consensus-breaking memories in my kids, of rides to the playa together, and of doing basic woodworking and Legos in the basement with the pimpmobile in the background... like it should be in any normal family, right ? Oh well, there are worse idiosincrazies...

brown interior, good condition, quite plush, I feel like a proper 1970s glam rock record executive commuting back and forth to Staten Island to try and stay away from my pimp and dope dealer friends in Mahnattan, somehow. Gotta get some music to complete the picture...

I like the "positraction" diff name, sounds like something from Star Trek, or rather Isaac Asimov's "positronic brain". Anyway, need to investigate what it looks like and whether I have one. Just curious, does not really matter to me. Istres is where they have a large French Air Force base, did you have anything to do with that ? Nice area, anyway, the whole Provence thing, spent many family summers there in the 80s... Keep on trucking !