1963 Riviera 425 option cost?

[TwoLousGarage]

Hi all,

 

Back in the mid 70s, my grandfather bought a '63 Riviera that was part of a push/pull/drag trade-in promotion at a local Chevy dealer in NE PA. They were giving $500 toward any new car. Someone flat towed this Riv from Michigan with the driveshaft pulled and left it in the interior. He bought the car, got it running, and then moved it from storage garage to storage garage over the years. My Dad and I are going to start restoring it after years of saying we are going to do so.

 

It is highly optioned. It is an earlier build car (140 Speedo) that is loaded. I will post the trim tag this week. Using the below thread, I've been able to confirm it has at least $1,327 in options highlighted by AC, AM-FM, Cruise, PW/Power Vents and Leather interior. I still need to check if it has posi and what tire size it came from on the cast aluminum wheel covers.

 

My question- the 425 option code is not listed below with a price. Does anyone know how much it cost to order for 1963? It is a numbers matching engine. I believe this car could have carried a sticker close to $6,000 in 1963, which is obviously a crazy high price back then.  Being that it came from Michigan (plate still on the car from when they dragged it in), I wouldn't be surprised if someone from GM ordered the car. 

 

The only pics I have of it currently are attached. The second photo is of my Grandfather with the car. We surprised him for his 90th birthday by putting it in a local show back in June 2015. He passed away in late April 2016. 

 

Thank you for your help! We have a few smaller projects to wrap up and hope to start on this car in the fall. We are in parts collecting mode now. 

 

 

 

[1965rivgs]

  I don't have access to my '63 Buick service Bulletins but around December '62 Buick published a service bulletin announcing the availability of the 425 in both the Riviera and Wildcat models along with pricing for both. If someone reading this has access to those Bulletins they should be able to answer your question

  Let me guess, silver exterior with silver leather interior?

Good Luck!

Tom Mooney

[TwoLousGarage]

Thanks for the quick reply, Tom, and for posting those photos of the option lists 10 years ago! Looking forward to hearing from anyone that has that service bulletin and could let me know how much the option was. 

 

Close on the color combo - it is Silver with black leather. Just got back from getting a pic of the trim tag. The car is surprisingly solid for being a Michigan/PA car its entire life. It has some rust in the rockers and quarters that were previously fixed, but no rust in the floors, trunk pan, or frame. 

 

Looking at the trim tag, it was built the second week of January and is FB# 16,673.. so fairly early, but I had my timing of the speedo off. I thought early cars came with 140 mph before being switched to 120. Whoops! 

 

Would the bracket on the hood structure indicate 4 note horns were mounted as one point? I have a set of 4 note trumpet horns with a wiring harness, but am unsure if it came from the car or we bought it later on. 

 

Are build sheets found in the common areas like other Buicks - under the rear seat, on top of the tank, etc? 

 

 

[RivNut]

Nicely optioned with custom leather power vents. You also have Guidematic, and twilight sentinel, cast aluminum wheel covers. and cruise, none of which are stamped into the FB tag. The only options on the FB tag are options or accommodations for options put in a the Fisher Body plant.  Cruise and those others were installed during final assembly.  The D is for a radio but does not say which radio. You have the AM Wonderbar. Power antenna was also an option installed during final assembly.  Look for cornering lights in the lower section of the turn signal housing. No rear defrost. Except for your 425, almost the same car as my 63.  I’ll post a picture of its window sticker. Yes, that bracket is for the four note horn option.  J2 in the trim line is the power seat option.  Chances of finding a build sheet fall somewhere between slim and none. Slim just caught the last stage out of town. That leaves none. 😢

Edited Monday at 07:18 PM by RivNut (see edit history)

[RivNut]

[TwoLousGarage]

47 minutes ago, RivNut said:

Nicely optioned with custom leather power vents. You also have Guidematic, and twilight sentinel, cast aluminum wheel covers. and cruise, none of which are stamped into the FB tag. The only options on the FB tag are options or accommodations for options put in a the Fisher Body plant.  Cruise and those others were installed during final assembly.  The D is for a radio but does not say which radio. You have the AM Wonderbar. Power antenna was also an option installed during final assembly.  Look for cornering lights in the lower section of the turn signal housing. No rear defrost. Except for your 425, almost the same car as my 63.  I’ll post a picture of its window sticker. Yes, that bracket is for the four note horn option.  J2 in the trim line is the power seat option.  Chances of finding a build sheet fall somewhere between slim and none. Slim just caught the last stage out of town. That leaves none. 😢

Thanks for the insight! 

 

For some reason, I thought the dials flipped from AM/FM, but looking at pics online this is clearly *just* and AM car - which surprisingly still works great! It does have a functioning electric antenna and cornering lights. Admittedly, I haven't looked at the package tray, but wouldn't the "rear" lever next to the defrost lever indicate that it is equipped with rear defrost? It also has power trunk release. Cool note on the twilight sentinel & guidematic. I thought you could only get one or the other, not both. 

 

Updating my spreadsheet with the correct radio and power trunk yields an option load of $1354.55 without determining posi and suspension setups + the 425. I would love to see your buildsheet. I plan on getting one reproduced but unfortunately have no way to currently determine what dealership it was sold through. Too bad about the buildsheet non-existence, but I expected that to be a long shot. 

 

EDIT: looks like we posted at the same time. Very cool, thanks for sharing. Almost $5900 back then was no joke to spend on a car! 

Edited Monday at 08:00 PM by TwoLousGarage (see edit history)

[RivNut]

Just now, TwoLousGarage said:

Thanks for the insight! 

 

For some reason, I thought the dials flipped from AM/FM, but looking at pics online this is clearly *just* and AM car - which surprisingly still works great! It does have a functioning electric antenna and cornering lights. Admittedly, I haven't looked at the package tray, but wouldn't the "rear" lever next to the defrost lever indicate that it is equipped with rear defrost? It also has power trunk release. Cool note on the twilight sentinel & guidematic. I thought you could only get one or the other, not both. 

 

Updating my spreadsheet with the correct radio and power trunk yields an option load of $1354.55 without determining posi and suspension setups + the 425. I would love to see your buildsheet. I plan on getting one reproduced but unfortunately have no way to currently determine what dealership it was sold through. Too bad about the buildsheet non-existence, but I expected that to be a long shot. 

The switch for a rear defogger in 1963 would be between the headlight switch and the wiper switch on the console.  I looked at yours that's why I said it did not have one.  Look on the floor board to the left of the brake pedal.  See if there's not a 2nd "dimmer" switch.  That's a foot control for the seek feature of the Wonderbar.  The bar across the face of the radio is a "hands on" button that is the main seek feature on the radio. 

[RivNut]

[TwoLousGarage]

Thank you! Looks like we have our option load pretty figured out in this one.  I just submitted an application to join the ROA to access Darwin Falk’s riview articles and learn more 

[telriv]

Two Lous,

 

JW stamped on the block denotes it's a 425.

A 401 would be JT.

'63 Rivs could get the 425 around the middle of Dec. '62.

Available in the Wildcats around the middle of Jan. '63.

 

Tom T.

[RivNut]

I bought my car from the original owner back in 1982.  The gentleman was what you'd call OCD.  He had every receipt for every repair or service he had done to the car.  Besides the items shown on the window sticker, he drove out of the show room with seat belts, handy mats (white if you can belive that), a purse hood, and a vanity mirror mounted on the visor.  Because he used it to tow an airstream trailer, he also had a 3.91 rear gear installed as well as factory air shocks, and electric trailer brakes.  To keep better tabs on the engine, he installed 5 guages in the place of the ash tray.  A tachometer, oil pressure, amp meter, water temperature, and a vacuum guage. As well as a transmisson oil cooler. The guages even had their own lights and light switch.  As I said, OCD. 😁 

[1965rivgs]

2 hours ago, TwoLousGarage said:

 

 

Cool note on the twilight sentinel & guidematic. I thought you could only get one or the other, not both.

  Your impression of the inability to order both the Guidematic and twilight sentinel options together in '63 is correct for part of the model year.

  At the beginning of the '63 model year both options were available as factory installed accessories. During the model year Buick revised the main under dash harnesses to only two possibilities in order to control crowding of the harnesses under the dash. When the harness change was made, the twilight sentinel option was dropped from the factory installed available option list.

Tom Mooney

[RivNut]

The U8 on the data plates is the combination code for U6 and U7 Power windows and power vents.  My car was built 1D,  Guidematic and Twilight sentinels are on my window sticker>. Your car was built a couple of weeks before mine. Both in the time frame where both were available as options.  From what I can tell, other than your 425, our cars are pretty much identical. Mine is black with white leather - AA and 748.

[TwoLousGarage]

Interesting - so an X with no corresponding number would confirm that it came with both options from the factory? Our cars are only 2,060 apart. Pretty cool. I need to double check if our car has front seat belts. I included it in my option load but can't remember if they are there. 

 

Do you know if the original owner of yours bought something that was in stock, or custom ordered it? Did they do the "build expressly for" nameplates on all ordered cars, or was it an add on? I find it hard to believe a dealer would specifically order a car this optioned out without having an order already placed. It does not have the nameplate. 

[RivNut]

If your data plate would have had a B1 stamped into it, seat belts would have been factory installed.  The X on the data plate means that Fisher Body installed the wring harness for the X1 and X2 options. Which of the two were installed would have been determined by the build sheet. If your car has both, you can probably assume that both were factory installed. 

[TwoLousGarage]

Yep, likely no seatbelts then. 

 

I think it has both- there is a pill bottle cap lookin' thing in front of the guidematic. Looks like our cars are outfitted very similarly. 

[RivNut]

The “pill bottle cap” is the twilight sentinel.  There’s an ‘eye’ in it that detects light/dark. Darkness turns the lights on. The top can be twisted slightly to adjust for the level of darkness before yours lights come on.  If you find that for some reason, be aware that special headlight switches and dimmer switches are need with the Guidematic as well as your cornering lamps.

[TwoLousGarage]

Hi all,

 

Still looking for an answer to my original question: How much did the 425 engine option cost in 1963? 

 

I did purchase and receive Jim Cannon's Service Bulletin thumb drive. It has a ton of awesome information, including the December bulletin announcing the introduction of the 425. Unfortunately, there is not a price listed on that bulletin. I am still looking through the other ones to see if something comes up.

 

I did also go through every BAT auction for '63s. Of the 19 listings, only 2 were original 425 cars. Ironically, both were sold with a lot of documentation but no photos of original window stickers. 

 

The '65 425 single carb option was $47.03. If all else fails, I may just use that price point for my reproduction window sticker. 

[Jim Cannon]

Lou-

I should have looked this up for your earlier. I have it.

 

The option code for this engine is W1.  The cost was $48.38

 

Let me know if you need any other codes or costs.