Jump to content

I'm Beginning To Think Eight-Generation Buyers Liked White …


J3Studio

Recommended Posts

… with a sample size of 1,000, just about a quarter of eight-generation Rivieras are either Bright White or Bright White Diamond Metallic/Bright White Diamond Tri-Coat/Bright White Diamond.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was always lead to believe that the 8th generation Rivieras that were of some "shade" of white were former lease cars.  Don't know if its true or not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, dship said:

I was always lead to believe that the 8th generation Rivieras that were of some "shade" of white were former lease cars.  Don't know if its true or not.

 

Interesting …

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Jim Skelly said:

not true; white and diamond white were available colors

 

The whites were definitely available for purchase. I don't believe that what @dship was saying, but I'll let him clarify.

Edited by J3Studio (see edit history)
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, RivNut said:

How does the percentage of white (in whatever shade) compare to other GM products from the same era, and to other brands.  Around here, I'd guess that 50% of all cars on the road are white or silver.  Two white cars in my driveway.  

 

@RivNut that's a very good point. I'd bet, for example, that there were a lot of white Eldorados in the same era.

A car there is precise color data for from the same era is the Corvette:

1995—Arctic White, 16% of production, third most popular
1996—Arctic White, 15%, fourth most popular
1997—Arctic White, 14%, fourth most popular
1998—Arctic White, 11%, fourth most popular
1999—Arctic White, 8%, fifth most popular

Link to comment
Share on other sites

White Rivieras also appeared in most of the eighth-generation brochures. Based on the earlier years where we do have color sales data, appearance in a brochure does drive color popularity to some degree.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the 2018 Overland Park Kansas Rivera Owners Association International Meet, five out of six eighth generation non-Silver Arrow Rivieras were white.  I believe they were all diamond white by my recollection.  The sixth non-Silver Arrow Riviera was silver.  One 1999 Silver Arrow model was there.

 

Jim Vesely

ROA # 7437

BCA # 39477

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, jj5794 said:

At the 2018 Overland Park Kansas Rivera Owners Association International Meet, five out of six eighth generation non-Silver Arrow Rivieras were white.  I believe they were all diamond white by my recollection.  The sixth non-Silver Arrow Riviera was silver.  One 1999 Silver Arrow model was there.

 

It's wild—at least so far in my analysis it looks like there were far more white Rivieras in 1999 than there were of the Silver Arrows. Of course, the Silver Arrow number is the one that is known—200 equals 10.2% of that final year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, J3Studio said:

 

The whites were definitely available for purchase. I don't believe that what @dship was saying, but I'll let him clarify.

I agree white shades were available for purchase...wasn't disputing that.  All I was trying to convey was that the majority of the leased cars came in white, from what I understand. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  This is not a trend that is exclusive to the 8th generation Riviera. I happen to have the production figures on my desk this morning for 1965. In that model year 15% of Rivieras produced were white.

  Also not a surprise that a Buick customer would be drawn to Diamond White paint. I havnt done any research but I`d guess Diamond White was a Cadillac color before available in other GM car lines. Have we seen Buick buyers step up to Cadillac colors in the past?

 

Tom Mooney

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, 1965rivgs said:

  This is not a trend that is exclusive to the 8th generation Riviera. I happen to have the production figures on my desk this morning for 1965. In that model year 15% of Rivieras produced were white.

  Also not a surprise that a Buick customer would be drawn to Diamond White paint. I havnt done any research but I`d guess Diamond White was a Cadillac color before available in other GM car lines. Have we seen Buick buyers step up to Cadillac colors in the past?

 

Tom Mooney

Just to add to what Tom states above.  According to Darwin Falk #2077 report (Nov./Dec. 2007) on 1964 Riviera paint colors. Top 3 were, Arctic White, Code C, was 19.12%, Silver Cloud, Code D was 12.77%, and Marlin Blue, Code F was 10.58%.  The bottom 3 were. Granada Red, Code V, was 2.42%, Sunburst Yellow, Code K was 2.01%, and Coral Mist, Code N, was 1.71%.  Only one lower was special order color at 0.24.  The numbers for 1963, again per Darwin are very similar to 1964 numbers.

 

Art 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I found some time to read some different articles about popular paint colors.  Without being extremely scientific, here's what I found out. Over the past few decades, over 75% of new cars sold are in what is considered "gray scale" colors: white, black, gray,and silver - in that order.  Followed by red and blue. The browns, yellows, and greens make up a small percentage.  However gray scale cars seem to depreciate more than the other colors. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/7/2021 at 10:39 AM, 1965rivgs said:

  This is not a trend that is exclusive to the 8th generation Riviera. I happen to have the production figures on my desk this morning for 1965. In that model year 15% of Rivieras produced were white.

  Also not a surprise that a Buick customer would be drawn to Diamond White paint. I haven't done any research but I`d guess Diamond White was a Cadillac color before available in other GM car lines. Have we seen Buick buyers step up to Cadillac colors in the past?

 

I wasn't surprised at the popularity of white on the eighth-generation cars—I was somewhat surprised that my fairly random sample confirmed this popularity so emphatically.

 

The history of the extra-cost Riviera white is somewhat sketchy because some vendor's paint formulations changed (Ditzler) and some didn't (DuPont). Pearlescent Diamond White (93) showed up in the 1989 Riviera, along with the seventh-generation mid-life re-style. It was available through the end of the seventh-generation in 1993. There was no extra-cost white in 1995—it returned with a different paint code (78) in 1996 and continued through 1999.

 

Interestingly, the Diamond White that was available to Cadillac and Chevrolet (!) before 1989 did not have a midcoat. The Diamond White (78) color formulation last appeared in Buicks, Cadillacs, and Oldsmobiles in 2001. Current General Motors tri-coat whites have different formulations and names like Crystal White, Iridescent Pearl, and White Frost.

Edited by J3Studio (see edit history)
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, awk409ak said:

Just to add to what Tom states above.  According to Darwin Falk #2077 report (Nov./Dec. 2007) on 1964 Riviera paint colors. Top 3 were, Arctic White, Code C, was 19.12%, Silver Cloud, Code D was 12.77%, and Marlin Blue, Code F was 10.58%.  The bottom 3 were. Granada Red, Code V, was 2.42%, Sunburst Yellow, Code K was 2.01%, and Coral Mist, Code N, was 1.71%.  Only one lower was special order color at 0.24.  The numbers for 1963, again per Darwin are very similar to 1964 numbers.

 

Darwin's Options Not Included articles are great, but he doesn't cover any Rivieras past the sixth-generation cars.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, J3Studio said:

 

I wasn't surprised at the popularity of white on the eighth-generation cars—I was somewhat surprised that my fairly random sample confirmed this popularity so emphatically.

 

The history of the extra-cost Riviera white is somewhat sketchy because some vendor's paint formulations changed (Ditzler) and some didn't (DuPont). Pearlescent Diamond White (93) showed up in the 1989 Riviera, along with the seventh-generation mid-life re-style. It was available through the end of the seventh-generation in 1993. There was no extra-cost white in 1995—it returned with a different paint code (78) in 1996 and continued through 1999.

 

Interestingly, the Diamond White that was available to Cadillac and Chevrolet (!) before 1989 did not have a midcoat. The Diamond White color formulation last appeared in Buicks, Cadillacs, and Oldsmobiles in 2001. Current General Motors tri-coat whites have different formulations and names like Crystal White, Iridescent Pearl, and White Frost.

  Which GM division, or car model, was the first to offer a pearlescent white color choice without regard to exact formula or paint "type"? Inquiring minds want to know!

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A friend of mine who is a Realtor, bought a new Buick every other year. He always bought a white car with beige interior. It was his opinion that 1) when he took his customers to look at houses that they would not judge him by his choice of car color, and 2) the white car was cooler in the summer. One year he bought a new one in diamond white. He really liked it until he hit a tall curb and scratched up the bumper cover.  After getting it back from the body shop, he told me he would never buy a color like that again - it costs him over four times to repaint the diamond white as it would have to repaint ol plain white.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/7/2021 at 1:31 PM, J3Studio said:

The history of the extra-cost Riviera white is somewhat sketchy because some vendor's paint formulations changed (Ditzler) and some didn't (DuPont). Pearlescent Diamond White (93) showed up in the 1989 Riviera, along with the seventh-generation mid-life re-style. It was available through the end of the seventh-generation in 1993. There was no extra-cost white in 1995—it returned with a different paint code (78) in 1996 and continued through 1999.

 

Interestingly, the Diamond White that was available to Cadillac and Chevrolet (!) before 1989 did not have a midcoat. The Diamond White color formulation last appeared in Buicks, Cadillacs, and Oldsmobiles in 2001. Current General Motors tri-coat whites have different formulations and names like Crystal White, Iridescent Pearl, and White Frost.

interesting information; my '89 is the Pearlescent Diamond White, and the paint still looks fabulous

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sometimes I wonder about color-blindness when it comes to men picking car colors. Especially considering how often I see people wanting to paint a vehicle that bright orange, "mango tango." Im not saying certain colors are worse than others, yet in the eyes of the literally color blind, they might trend in a certain direction. Maybe even towards white?!

 

(1 in 12 males color blind compared to 1 in 200 females in some estimates).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had never thought about this but my dad was color blind and during my "formative years," he had a bunch of white cars.  He was red/green color blind.  I remember a trip into Oklahoma when I was really young.  Stop lights were horizontal rather than vertical.  Mom had to tell him that red was on the left.  He was also classified 4-F for WWII because of an ulcer, but was asked to enlist for reconnaissance missions.  Apparently color blind people can see through camouflage. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...