Mr Riviera Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Bill Mitchell’s post-war masterpiece, the Buick Riviera, turns 50 | Hemmings Blog: Classic and collectible cars and parts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrlforfun Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 OK Riviera People: Personally I like a First-Gen Riv bone stock. I'm not even that crazy about the Bill Mitchell prototype. What gets me is the amount of people that can't keep their hands off these cars between lowering, shaving, chopping and what ever else they do to them. When George Barris did the Villa Riviera it was new and a dramatic alternative at the time. Today, after a 50 year battle with Father Time I find it even that more critical to preserve the stock integrity. Hey, that's me and what do I know anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 (edited) To each his own. At least I haven't seen one on gold wire 14's bouncing up and down the street; I might have to chime in then. Mitchell's Silver Arrow I was not a prototype, it was a stock car that he modified/created for his own tastes rather than the ones (40,000 in '63) that he created for the masses. What do you think you'd do to your car if you had access to the GM design studios, the GM tooling, and the GM $$$$ - I think I'd tweak it just a smidge to make it unique but still fall within the "guidelines" of being stock. As did Mitchell. Lots of things he did to Silver Arrow I showed up in later year's production cars.Heck, even the picture that Hemmings is using is of a "customized" car. (No real wire wheels on first generation Buicks.) Plus the body on this one has been modified with the addition of a passenger side mirror. Ed Edited April 10, 2013 by RivNut (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Opps, should have stayed away from Google images. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gseago Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Opps, should have stayed away from Google images.I've actually spoken to the owner of this car on another forum and encouraged him to join the ROA. If I had posted a picture of this car at a normal stance I wonder how many would be able to tell that it has hydraulics or simple complemented it for what it is, a really nice Riviera? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 As I said in post #3, if it has "...14" gold wires..." it would probably be identified as a hopper. Not to say that it's not a good looking car. Someone decided to step up from an Impala.Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Ohhh, geeez, look at the exhaust: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 OMG!!! Not to mention the vinyl top. I can see why your knuckles are dragging the ground, walking around with your head hanging so low. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Vinyl top? Why, in the 35 years I've owned the car no one has pointed that out!Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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