Riviera Books …

[J3Studio]

… are there any books that cover the entire history of the Riviera?

[NC1968Riviera]

https://www.amazon.com/Buick-Riviera-1963-78-Performance-Portfolio/dp/1855205351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542808402&sr=8-1&keywords=buick+riviera+book

 

Due out June 18, 2019: https://www.amazon.com/Buick-Riviera-Those-were-days/dp/1787113566/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1542808422&sr=8-2&keywords=buick+riviera+book

[NC1968Riviera]

18 hours ago, j3studio said:

… are there any books that cover the entire history of the Riviera?

There don't appear to be any books covering the entire run of the Buick Riviera (1963-1999).

BUT if you are a member of the ROA, you get access to the ROA archives via the website (www.rivowners.org) and a slick bi-monthly full color magazine that features members cars of all eras of the Riviera. (I am assuming you are not a member but you probably are )

[bob71GS]

18 hours ago, j3studio said:

… are there any books that cover the entire history of the Riviera?

 

There are two books ,

1 1963-73 by Chris Wolfe publisher Motorbooks International   Chris was a very dear & extremely close friend, he came to Akron back in 2001 to attend the Glenmore Gathering show and he autographed his book for me. Sadly he passed away a couple years ago. From time to time, his book will pop up on Ebay.

 

2 1963-78 by R M Clarke, publisher Brooklands

 

Robert Bonto

[Rivdrivn]

18 hours ago, j3studio said:

… are there any books that cover the entire history of the Riviera?

Not exactly. Comprehensive Buick history books will, I suppose, and are much easier to find than anything Riviera specific. These are the only Riviera items that I’ve found to come close.

[Pat Curran]

Automobile Quarterly and Collectible Automobile have done some nice articles on the Riviera's over the years as well as Hemming's various titles.  AQ is no longer being published but they pop up once in a while at on line bookstores.  Collectible Automobile has a limited supply of back issues but not sure if they have any available for the issues that have featured Riviera's.  Buick:  A Complete History has chapters dedicated to the Riviera.  You might be able to find it on Amazon.

[Rivdrivn]

26 minutes ago, Pat Curran said:

Automobile Quarterly and Collectible Automobile have done some nice articles on the Riviera's over the years as well as Hemming's various titles.  AQ is no longer being published but they pop up once in a while at on line bookstores.  Collectible Automobile has a limited supply of back issues but not sure if they have any available for the issues that have featured Riviera's.  Buick:  A Complete History has chapters dedicated to the Riviera.  You might be able to find it on Amazon.

Here it is...

[RivNut]

2 hours ago, bob71GS said:

 

There are two books ,

1 1963-73 by Chris Wolfe publisher Motorbooks International   Chris was a very dear & extremely close friend, he came to Akron back in 2001 to attend the Glenmore Gathering show and he autographed his book for me. Sadly he passed away a couple years ago. From time to time, his book will pop up on Ebay.

 

2 1963-78 by R M Clarke, publisher Brooklands

 

Robert Bonto

I have one of these, personally autographed by Chris, in my collection.  Before his death, he and I talked about writing volume II which would have taken the history all the way through 1999.  I had been assigned the duty of taking pictures that he'd outlined for me that would show different options and differences among the different years and generations.  I think that somewhere in the items that he left behind, was a rough draft of the next volume.  Every couple of weeks, I'd answer the phone and hear "Hi Ed, this is Chris in Denver."  Then we'd go on a talk about what was yet to be covered.  But sadly, that never came to fruition.  I probably have the pictures but not the notes that go with them. I think that the main thing that was keeping Chris from pursuing this at full steam was that Motor Books international wasn't too keen on publishing a second book based on the sales of the first one.  But that was a number of years ago and interest in the marque has really increased since them.

[Pat Curran]

Here are a few more that contain info on the Riviera.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

[J3Studio]

Thanks for all the responses, folks.

 

I'm fairly stunned that there is no complete Riviera-specific book. I can't be the only who finds appeal in all the generations.

[J3Studio]

On 11/21/2018 at 8:59 AM, NC68Riviera said:

There don't appear to be any books covering the entire run of the Buick Riviera (1963-1999).

 

BUT if you are a member of the ROA, you get access to the ROA archives via the website (www.rivowners.org) and a slick bi-monthly full color magazine that features members cars of all eras of the Riviera. (I am assuming you are not a member but you probably are ).

 

I'm actually not an ROA member, though I love these cars. Despite my interest, I don't think I'm yet ready to be serious about owning one—and adding a marque specific membership carries implications, at least for me.

 

Limited time, limited resources …

Edited November 22, 2018 by j3studio
Clarification. (see edit history)

[J3Studio]

Following up three months later—any thoughts on what the interest would be in a book that covers the entire story arc of the Riviera?

Edited February 21, 2019 by j3studio (see edit history)

[JZRIV]

2 hours ago, j3studio said:

Following up three months later—any thoughts on what the interest would be in a book that covers the entire story arc of the Riviera?

I doubt enough to make a profit which is probably why it has not been done and same reason there isn't many reproduction parts for Riviera's. While they are gaining in desirability, the numbers of interested folks isn't anywhere near the massive public interest in mainstream classics like Mustangs, Camaros, Chevelle s, Challengers, Chargers, old trucks, etc which make it lucrative for folks to reproduce parts and printed documents.

 

No one person I know is familiar enough with all generations to write a book therefore it would take a tremendous amount of research to cover all years and get it right. There is a lot of accurate information on net but there is also a lot of incorrect information when it comes to Riviera's so an author would have to be careful and fact check what goes in the book.

 

I think its safe to say Chris Wolfe never got wealthy off his book. Though I never asked him directly I think he did it more for the passion he had for Rivieras than to make money. It was a different time when he published which was mostly pre-internet so a book was still the best way to get information. ROA was still in its infancy and aside from that there was little printed info to be found on the Riviera aside from factory literature and manuals. Today the Riviera has a much larger following and there is a decent amount of Riviera related information available on the net which tends to reduce effectiveness of a book. ROA's members have been the main source of information we have today either directly or indirectly no matter where you find it.

Edited February 21, 2019 by JZRIV (see edit history)

[kreed]

Agree completely with Jason. One could possibly EDIT a book with experts from each Riviera generation writing their sections but.... Finding people willing and able to meet publishing deadlines as well as acceptable wring styles would likely be frustrating at best . My two cents worth ( although a beautiful coffee table book with lots of color pictures and info would be loved by a few us but $$$$$ would come in to play very quickly ) 

KReed

ROA 14549 

[J3Studio]

41 minutes ago, JZRIV said:

I doubt enough to make a profit which is probably why it has not been done and same reason there isn't many reproduction parts for Riviera's. While they are gaining in desirability, the numbers of interested folks isn't anywhere near the massive public interest in mainstream classics like Mustangs, Camaros, Chevelles, Challengers, Chargers, old trucks, etc which make it lucrative for folks to reproduce parts and printed documents.

 

No one person I know is familiar enough with all generations to write a book therefore it would take a tremendous amount of research to cover all years and get it right. There is a lot of accurate information on net but there is also a lot of incorrect information when it comes to Riviera's so an author would have to be careful and fact check what goes in the book.

 

I think its safe to say Chris Wolfe never got wealthy off his book. Though I never asked him directly I think he did it more for the passion he had for Rivieras than to make money. It was a different time when he published which was mostly pre-internet so a book was still the best way to get information. ROA was still in its infancy and aside from that there was little printed info to be found on the Riviera aside from factory literature and manuals. Today the Riviera has a much larger following and there is a decent amount of Riviera related information available on the net which tends to reduce effectiveness of a book. ROA's members have been the main source of information we have today either directly or indirectly no matter where you find it.

 

Thank you for this detailed and useful response, Jason. I'll agree that there is not much profit to be made, but I'm still stunned that there isn't an overall study. Of course, I'm also stunned when there aren't overall studies of other interesting models and marques …

Edited February 21, 2019 by j3studio (see edit history)

[RivNut]

A lot of the information you're talking about exists in Darwin Falks series of articles in the Riview about available options.  There is also information in the Evolution of the Riviera series on the website.  Its just not in that Coffee Table book format, and none of what I've seen so far includes enough pictures. Especially the little things that separate year to year differences.  Like the hood spears on 66 and 67's, or the under dash control knobs on 63 and 64's.  Does the future buyer of a car going to look that closely?  Now that we know, do we need it in print?

[RivNut]

PS - One group of people who could really use such a book are the folks who sell 1st generation Riviera parts on eBay who think that one part fits all.

[abandg]

I have a new Car Exchane book from 1984 with the story of the 1963 to 1965 Riviera. It is a story with photos the history of the early Riviera  12 shipped to your door. Gene

[Pat Curran]

Looking at both cars featured on the cover you can definitely see different takes on automotive design.  

[J3Studio]

On 11/22/2018 at 3:04 PM, j3studio said:

 

I'm actually not an ROA member, though I love these cars. Despite my interest, I don't think I'm yet ready to be serious about owning one—and adding a marque specific membership carries implications, at least for me.

 

Limited time, limited resources …

 

I have joined the ROA, even though I'm still not a Riviera owner, and don't believe I'll be one any time soon. A strange thing, this automotive hobby.

[Rivdrivn]

On 2/21/2019 at 2:36 PM, kreed said:

Agree completely with Jason. One could possibly EDIT a book with experts from each Riviera generation writing their sections but.... Finding people willing and able to meet publishing deadlines as well as acceptable wring styles would likely be frustrating at best . My two cents worth ( although a beautiful coffee table book with lots of color pictures and info would be loved by a few us but $$$$$ would come in to play very quickly ) 

KReed

ROA 14549 

I am familiar with this approach and can recommend it. I was a member of an editorial panel for a book series on the psychology of terrorism after 9/11 with expert authors from around the world submitting their potential chapters. Writing styles varied, of course, and some were better than others. We accepted most, sent back some for further revision, but very few were completely rejected. It was an enjoyable process which distributed the workload rather nicely. We took plenty of time but did have self-imposed deadlines that were easy to meet. The editor-in-chief kept us organized, on-task and moving ahead. Money-making was not the goal and all participants were volunteers. The hard-bound books were eventually published and sold at cost mostly to academic libraries; I think we broke even.

 

In this instance, I’d like to see an authoritative, Riviera-specific, reference that doubles as a nice photo-intensive coffee table book. And if not from the ROA, who? If not now, when?

 

 

[65VerdeGS]

On 2/22/2019 at 5:55 AM, abandg said:

I have a new Car Exchane book from 1984 with the story of the 1963 to 1965 Riviera. It is a story with photos the history of the early Riviera  12 shipped to your door. Gene

 

I have a copy of this magazine featuring a multi-page article on the First Gen Riviera.  

 

The article is quite comprehensive and interesting to read.  I'd recommend you get a copy from Gene if you want to learn more about these interesting cars.