My Grandmother had a 1963 gave it to my father it has 34000 miles on it white with a black interior. My dad gave it to my sister lucky bastard.
Glad to hear that my 65 is HAMB friendly!! I just won a "First in Class" at the Riviera Owners Association annual meeting in June. I love it but you never know when it could migrate to someone else for the right price. Jerome
I have always been a hot-rod type, but...I have a serious thing for '55 Buicks. I will own one before I die. Oh, and don't even get me started on the whole station wagon thing again!
I've always loved the body lines on the '65 Riviera but the rather different patterns from the headlight doors to the eggcrate Ferrari-esque grille always seemed visually disturbing to me. There's a few customs running around wherein the owner has matched the grille pattern to that of the headlight doors and that execution looks about perfect.
My '65 was my first driving car. I had a '56 Packard as a hi-school shop project car and needed transportation so I got the Rivi for $500. Moved to 'Vegas a year later and got t-boned by some stoners in a Karmann Ghia. Miss that car a bunch. Just had it painted a couple months before. Favorite cars now are my '65 Riv, the '55 gasser, '59 T-Bird and ones I'd like to get - a '37 Chevy coupe and a '58 Chevy Fleetside. Then I'd be happy... almost.
When new, they were an old man's car no kid would ever have wanted even if he could have afforded one. Normal kids wanted Chevelles and Mustangs. But a few of us kids owned brand new lowered, shaved, pearl and flaked, Skylarked-wheeled Rivs when they were new in the mid-60's. Nice to see everyone who may have laughed at us then now "getting it". Another truth: No Riv ever wore wide whites in the 60's, trust me.
I know it's completely wrong... But I actually like wide whites on some Rivs. It has to be the right color car and the right wheels, but I don't care how they did it in the 1960's. It's more of a lowrider/west Texas thing than a custom thing I guess.
Funny thread... My favorite all time rod is an uncut "A" Tudor, and yet I drive a 55. The problem isn't which ride to pick, it is how to afford the top 5-10 all time favorites for the garage!
my favorite american car of all time, the closest thing to perfection from the factory in my eyes...the lincoln continential mark II
This has always been a cool aspect of this car to me: "Slated to be the reintroduction of the La Salle, a sort of junior Cadillac, the Riv instead went to the Buick division, which had lobbied hard to get it." http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/08/04/generally-fantastic-five-best-gm-designs/ I don't care if you're a GM, Ford, Mopar, or whatever car guy. The Riv gets almost everyone as, at least, one of the most beautiful cars ever produced. If you're like me, and pay attention to manufacturing details and processes over the years, you would also notice how well this car is put together. Look at how the body seams were metal finished compared to other mass-produced cars of its time. It's hand-finished quality compares more to the likes of Rolls Royce and Ferrari than it does to anything else in the GM lineup of that era. I may be a Mopar guy by blood (going back to my Grandfather working for Hudson and on up to my father and I both working for Chrysler), but the first-gen Riv will always have a space avaiable in my garage. I rank it tight up there with some of the best, personally unobtainable, cars I can think of for my dream garage.
He was trying to sell that damn thing for a bit, but I think (I hope) I talked to sense into him. That is literally the most perfect '65 I've ever seen.
oooph! That is a beautiful car. Just needs wheels a mild lowering...that's it. Man, I love Rivieras. Great, now I hate my car even more....
Must have been a lot of work turning a fifty year old car into a black mirror...looks like you could put your hand right into the paint. When I see "patins this" "satin that" and "Flat whatever", then see a car like that, I marvel at how anyone could strive to go the other way.
The Jalopy Journal
