Hazdaz

Yeah, I think that's one of the things that makes it pop the most. Reminds me a little of the Mako Shark concept from that same year and this Jay Leno video that I happen to have watched just the other day: https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2014/03/06/cars-of-futures-past-1965-corvette-mako-shark-ii/

Woah, that's a hell of a pretty car. Never particularly liked brown for paint, but damn does it go with this build.

Those sure are some pretty welds.

Think of it as an opportunity to get a better radiator and fan.

Overall I love it, but I guess you can only see the first set of pics without subscribing to that forum. From a monetary perspective however, I'll never understand doing this because you'll probably never make your money back. But then again, people that do this probably don't consider $100k a lot of money. From an engineering perspective, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand you are creating a chassis with 5 decades worth of technological improvements in metallurgy, machining, fabrication and design and analysis. But on the flip side, if this is just some random speed shop, can their engineering department really compare to that of General Motors at the height of their influence even with the massive advantages afforded to them because of technology? For the most part, I prefer progress and am disappointed that I can't see the rest of the pics without making another account. If the guy has the money and it's a reputable stop doing the work, then that would be one killer car in the end even if visually it would look almost stock.

That has scam written all over it. Stay far, far away.

In pic 9 is that the gear shifter or the parking brake? That's a pretty bad ass detail.

I can not disagree with that more. No way, mate. Look at where the headlights are on the 63 and 64 compared to almost every other car on the road - they look great, but them being inset the way they are does not help with illuminating the road off to the sides (which becomes important when turning). The cornering lights can only do so much, and since they are at the bumper level and up, they aren't illuminating the off to the side and down. There is a very good reason why more and more new cars these days have headlights that actually swivel a few degrees into a corner when taking a turn to illuminate the road in the direction you are turning into versus just straight ahead. I have no idea why I bothered drawing this up, but I felt it needed to be done. (I know that's not a 1st gen Riv in the pic but its the closest I could find.) If you are turning right, you are essentially taking a blind corner if there are no street lights. The headlights will not really help, and the corner lights only do so much. This video describes it better than I could:

I'll have to see how it is assembled, but if there is a reflector directly behind the aluminum I'll just remove it and replace it with a clear lens. I think that whole piece is just held on by 4 screws if my memory is correct so not a biggie to check it out.

Its hard to make comparisons from a pic, but that looks WAY brighter than stock. We had a warm day yesterday so I maybe should have tried popping off that trim bezzle, but its gonna snow again tonight so the project on my end is still on hold. One thing I was going to look into doing is cut horizontal slits on the lower trim piece (the one below the bumper) so some light shines on the corners right in front of the car. That's where I was having the most difficulty seeing when turning at night. The problem I see is that even with more light coming out of the corner trim like you have, its still angled too far up and forward, when I think the light needs to be aimed lower. I'm curious what you guys think about that.

Even the driver's side mirror is essentially useless and it's just a few inches away from you. The girlfriend's compact mirror is larger. But it looks cool, so that's all that matters, I guess.

Where did you find a matching mirror for the passenger side? There was never one from the factory (if my research was correct). The only passenger side mirrors I've ever seen were from other Buick models and they were not the exact same design as the stock driver side mirror. If you are doing this purely for looks, you might want to verify the designs (assuming that even bothers you). Anyways, to mount it, what I would do it measure out from the window trim down to where the drivers side mirror is, and then from the front edge of the door back. Then transfer those dimensions onto some tape on the passenger side door. I'd then take the door skin off - its those million nuts that go around the perimeter edge of the door. Drill holes in the door skin, but make sure you use a backer plate to reinforce those holes so you don't pull through the sheetmetal. It probably shouldn't be a difficult job at all, but I do find taking the door skin to be a pain in the ass because there are so many nuts to take off.

The 18s will rub only a little on full-lock when turning the wheel, but you should be fine. These old cars have so much room under them that its a crime not to bump up the wheel size.

Go with 18s on the front and 20s in the back and you'll be fine.

We also had a couple of warmer days this week and took her out for a spin.

For those that have gone with a disc conversion, how much better does your car really stop? Before I got the Riv, I was expecting atrocious stopping from the stock drums, but I can honestly say I haven't had any braking issues (yet). So while I purposefully don't push the car (its a cruiser, not corner carver), I am wondering how big of a difference would one realistically see with discs. Would any improvements be in shorter stopping distances, better fade resistance (since discs are vented far better), or a combination of both? Or is it more a function of the tires of the era that simply didn't have the grip to stop the car regardless of the brake-tech being used?

'64 Riv with 401: https://longisland.craigslist.org/cto/d/1964-buick-riviera-hardtop/6479926710.html Too bad they posted just one pic.

I wholeheartedly approve of the look.

I'm going to have to look. We're expecting snow tomorrow, so this project is still weeks and weeks away from even getting started. Do you have any pics of your setup fully assembled?

This is a project I've been waiting to work on (if only it got a little warmer already). I don't typically drive it at night, but I had noticed a hell of a dark region when turning with the car because the headlights are so inset. I was hell bent on finding a solution that would work.

I haven't looked through the entire thread, but I am liking the results so far and those rims sure look familiar!

I'm going to second this. It was probably used as an alignment location when the car was being built either for some other assembly or for the actually floor pan pieces themselves. Is there a cross-member or some kind of bracing underneath that spot? At least that makes the most sense unless someone knows for sure what it is for.

Jay has forgotten more about cars than most car guys ever knew about them to begin with. I'm going to give Jay a pass on this. I'll have to try finding this episode on Youtube or something - this show is one I like to watch, but always forget its on.

Super cool video. Loved watching it, but at the same time it makes me sad because you can start getting hints of the impending doom coming of the so-called Malaise Era that's just a few short years away for the auto industry.

That's when it's exciting to see some wacky cars come through. There was some heavily modified golden Caddy with some rather questionable changes done to it - looked like bits and pieces from a ton of different other cars stuck on it. It definitely wasn't pretty, in my humble opinion at least, but it was still fun to watch. And then I'm sure there was some other special edition Mustang right after it.