2 Tone 1985 with chrome wheels WHAT IS IT?

[Guest BJM]

All,

My wife's parents had a 1985 Riviera that was 2 tone brown, chocolate and tan with obviously chrome Riviera wheels. I have seen 2 tone 1985 Rivieras before but not with the chrome steel wheels (note: assume steel). She only has one Polaroid. I can probably scan and add it to the post but it's a compromise to modern high resolution digitals.

My question is - what likely is it? i.e. special model if any? I remember that Riviera but do not recall it being 2 tone and do not remember it being a turbo or anything. (implied by chrome factory wheels) I will try to scan old photo later--

[sosuzguy]

Let us see the picture first.

[RivNut]

There was a similar car in the Car Corral at the 2010 ROA meet in Harrisburg/Hershey. It has the same two tone paint and chrome plated steel rally wheels.

The car you wife's parents had was a matter of checking off what paint code and wheel options they wanted. It wasn't a special edition. In 83 and 84, there were three two-tone paint options. One of those was Lt. Brown #62 over Brown #67, and the wheel option was code WG2. In '79, there was a brown with tan two-tone option. Here's a link to an older post showing one for sale. This one doesn't have the WG2 wheels though. In '85 "Design Accents" were available for certain paint codes.

http://forums.aaca.org/f117/1979-buick-riviera-stunning-254692.html

Ed

Edited July 29, 2012 by RivNut
Add link (see edit history)

[JZRIV]

Did it look like the paint on this car? Photo - courtesy Jayson Pruitt

[RivNut]

Take a look at the picture that Jason posted again. Now look up in the upper left hand corner. That is the car that was in the car corral at the ROA meet in 2010. It had the steel wheels on it you were asking about.

I didn't take a picture of the car, but I did take a picture of a wheel for a painting reference. Here's that pictutre.

Ed

[Guest wildcat465]

Ed, the black painted inserts were from earlier years? My 85 had silver painted inserts, pretty sure they were original, don't have that car anymore though.

[RivNut]

I have no real idea about paint on these things. I was talking to someone (???) in Harrisburg about them and from what we could tell it looked like coupes had the webs and centers painted a dark color and the convertibles had lighter colored centers. Of course, we didn't look at years when we were comparing. We were looking for something more obvious. DUH.

Ed

[Guest wildcat465]

The two tone brown on the Riviera would be coded D84 on the SPID label with paint code 62 (believe it or not, also available in Blue code 22 and Light Green! code 42). Available on Riviera coupe only, N/A with body side stripe which was standard on T-Type and convertible. Buick called this "Designers' Accent Paint.

Chrome plated road wheels SPID code WG2 N/A on T-Type (turbo) My 1984 Product manual has black and white picture with little contrast in the inserts, suggesting the light silver paint I remember on my 1985. I do wonder what year Buick switched to lighter colored inserts on the Chrome road wheels?

[Guest Buicklover]

Ed & BJM,

The 2 sets of chrome wheels I have at home had both the silver inserts, & the black inserts. Personally, I like the silver insert. I took mine that I had purchased for my '83 convertible & refreshed them using the "Argent Silver" in a rattle can. When I started to prep the wheels, I cleaned the old silver off using lacquer thinner....This cleaned everything off........Underneath the silver paint, I found some very nice chrome where the silver had been applied. I decided to just reapply the "Argent Silver" to the center of the wheel & leave the outer areas in their natural chrome finish. Any overspray from the application was cleaned off with a rag & lacquer thinner. The end result is very striking. Now the wheels keep their chrome finish & don't get the silver burnt off from road rash with sand, stones, etc.

The other set, I might finish using semi gloss in the center hub, but will definitely keep the outer holes in the original chrome finish. Hope this makes sense.......

[Guest BJM]

Did it look like the paint on this car? Photo - courtesy Jayson Pruitt

That's it. I have the photo right next to it. I will scan it tomorrow when I go to my garage office. It has a sunroof and bodyside mouldings and the chrome steel (?) wheel option.

[Guest BJM]

Take a look at the picture that Jason posted again. Now look up in the upper left hand corner. That is the car that was in the car corral at the ROA meet in 2010. It had the steel wheels on it you were asking about.

I didn't take a picture of the car, but I did take a picture of a wheel for a painting reference. Here's that pictutre.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]147961[/ATTACH]

Ed

Appears a match as well, except as noted by Paul, it has silver instead of black in the surround. So, this is not a Turbo or a special model - as I thought it might be with the 2 tone paint, chrome wheels and sunroof - just an optioned that way 85 Riviera. Wife thinks it had leather interior.

Edited August 4, 2012 by BJM (see edit history)

[Guest BJM]

Let us see the picture first.

Here it is.

[BUICK RACER]

They were original equipment on the '85 I had, called "road wheel" and had silver painted inserts. The paint was not very good as I had the dealer repaint before I would take delivery. The same center was used on the Grand National in '86 and '87.