Black River

Thank you for the compliment. No sir, the Argent is the factory color, the green is a custom mixed pearl we came up with based on a color off a 2001 Honda Accord, but tripled the pearl content. It flops a few different shades and looks black in the dark. All the stripes and words are under the 13 coats of clearcoat, except the "552 RAM AIR" on the hood, because I change engine sizes a bit. Next go around I'm building a 604" for it, and it'll say "10 Liter" on the plates, so I'm twice as big as a 5.0 Mustang. Here's a pic of it at dusk.

The 552" in the Mach 1 and the 395" Stroker FE in the F-100, and a pic of our cherry picker with my buddy riding shotgun on it (we like things bigger here in Montana haha).

Andrew, I think you and my older brother would get along nicely Sorry for the crappy pic of a pic quality.

Very cool fellas. I was lucky enough to be born into a car family, and did the first engine swap into my Mustang with my dad when I was 12 (I started saving up for it when I was in kindergarten.) I built the 552" stroker that's in it now in my work office when the nitroused Cleveland I built as my high school senior project blew up on the way to my 10 year class reunion. I took autobody and got a degree in metal fabrication, and the bodywork took 2 years. I enjoy (and loathe) doing all the work myself, but I don't judge people that don't have the skills or patience or time to do it, just as long as they don't claim they do when the car is done. Give credit to your body or interior or engine guy, they deserve it.

Just curious if everybody here is just into Rivieras/Buicks, or if you'd consider yourself a car guy or girl? I love all brands of musclecars and street rods/street machines. My family currently has about 30 different muscle cars and drag cars between us (my parents and 2 brothers). Most of them are Mopars (Roadrunners, Demons, Challenger R/T), but we've got a '87 Grand National and '70 Skylark as well as my Riviera on the Buick side, and a few Chevys, Oldsmobiles, Cadillacs, and Fords. I'd consider myself a Ford guy first, with Buick and Cadillac being within a 1/2" of that. My personal list of what I've currently got that I'd consider "Special Interest": '63 Rivera, '70 Coupe DeVille, '72 Mach 1, '74 F-100, '94 F-250. I autocross the Mach 1 and F-100, and drag race the Mach 1, also. Just curious if everybody else has a diverse taste, or if you're loyal just to the Riv? Post up your cool cars and trucks if you'd like

Looks good. Your front is going to drop after some driving for sure. Give it a couple hundred miles, do some cornering and hit some bumps. If it doesn't, you can still cut a bit out of them if it's still too nose high. If it stays like that, a 1/3 of a coil should do it.

An excellent point, Pat.

I appreciate all classics both customized and factory stock. I find that the Rivieras lend themselves to customizing quite well, as they were already "custom" appearing compared to most cars of their time. Look at how far ahead a '63 was compared to the rest of what was out there. At least 4 years ahead of its time, most other brands were still getting rid of tail fins and massive amounts of chrome a little at a time at that point. I like this particular car, every bit of it, but I understand how some would not. I believe most of the Riviera's key enthusiasts are into factory stock, but there's those of us that love them because we can personalize them to our liking. I'm sure there's plenty that HATE my car, but there's plenty more that love it. I get people pulling up next to me recording me driving mine down the road all the time, I don't know if the same would happen in a stock one, except by someone like us that are into them. Most people don't even know what a Riviera is, I get asked all the time what kind of car mine is, and it still has the emblems on the fenders.

Here's a rough '74 Stage 1 for $2500 near here. https://montana.craigslist.org/pts/6054582756.html

Plate bracket on and new personalized plate installed. Super happy, thanks again Alini.

I used 3m spray adhesive. Worked great.

Mine is lowered a bit over 3", but I cut my coils. Its fine on everything except driveways with a harsh curb, it'll drag the exhaust every now and then. But mine has 2 1/2" custom exhaust, so stock might not be so bad. Lucas

Well, I won't try to preach to anyone, because I believe every man and woman should be able to do as they please. But, I will say that I was a fireman for 7 years, and was on the extrication van ("jaws of life") for quite a few accidents. If you've seen what I have seen, you would wear your seatbelt, believe me. The old "getting thrown clear of the accident" might work once in 500 times, the other times you get thrown clear, and impact the ground, a tree, or some other solid object without a steel cage around you at over 100 mph (when a car is rolling it will throw objects at a much higher speed than the vehicle was actually traveling, like a catapult), it is not a pretty sight. I was actually in a rollover at age 15 and didn't have my seatbelt on, and I would've been injured much worse if I had, but that was that one in 500 I was talking about. Despite that lucky occurrence, I still personally wear mine every time I'm in the car....Just food for thought, and I won't argue with anyone that decides otherwise. Lucas

This one is just a couple hours from me, looks clean. I don't know enough about the second gens to know if it's a real GS, but supposedly all original and in good shape for $12k (although he does say it has a 431 haha). https://missoula.craigslist.org/cto/6094019896.html

Alini has graciously offered me one he has left over from his blue car. Thank you very much, sir! Much appreciated. Lucas

I haven't seen it, either. There's a couple that look similar, but not exact. Check out under the Marble and Stone patterns on his site. There's a lot of places out there doing hydro dipping, I would think someone has got to have the pattern to do it. It's basically a tinted clearcoat with the pattern on it, and you can change it's color by laying down a different base coat color. I agree, that'd look super cool and classy on some interior parts.

Hahahaha......wow. Right year and the whole bit.

That's a great deal, I might take you up on that, Tom. Let me see what I can get done this weekend and I'll let you know Monday. Lucas

Thanks fellas. Rivman, that's exactly what I was looking for. I checked ebay and saw most of those for sale, but I'm a tightwad when I know I can make something myself and save me $40 or $50. I'll fab one up out of some aluminum. I appreciate both of your responses, and now I know where it's supposed to mount to for sure. Thanks again. Lucas

Thank you. On mine, I made new ones out of lexan, but you can just as easily mask off and do it to the originals. That's what I did on my Mach 1. I had him do a silverwood pattern on my door panel inserts and center stack for my gauges in that car. Here's a link to all the patterns available from my buddy and pics of the Mustang's panels. You just have to make sure it's spotless, so you have to clean all the old glue and veneer off. It was a pain on the Mustang, so that's why I just made new ones for the Riviera. He does it super reasonably priced, it's much cheaper than if you had them made out of real wood, and the possibilities are endless (there's $100 bills, skulls, American flags, flames, about 100 different woodgrains, camo, yadayadayada). http://www.montanahydroimage.com/about-us/ Lucas

I agree 100%

Hi, I was just curious if anyone with a first gen would mind shooting a picture or two of their front license plate bracket and how it mounts to the bumper for me. My car didn't come with one and the great state of Montana requires us to have a plate on the front, so I'll be fabbing something up. Just wanted to see what it mounts to and how it's bolted up. Thanks very much! Lucas

On my 63, I put a little bit on the corners, but that was it. It came out of the channel a couple of times, so I just did it in those spots. I don't think you're going to wrong either way, it's not that big of a deal just as long as it stays in place. If it doesn't, some adhesive isn't going to hurt anything, just makes it more difficult the next time around. Lucas

I got mine hydrodipped (ink dipping). Just about all the "woodgrain" and "carbon fiber" you see in new cars is actually hydrodipped. There's an unlimited amount of patterns available. Pretty much anything you can think of. Lucas

Yep, good stuff. That's what we were talking about on the "update for veneer" thread. My leatherette fits perfectly. Top notch stuff