Hello everyone. A couple days ago my dad handed me the keys to his old '65 Riviera. Dad bought it back in 2000 when I was 16 years old as a father/son project with my younger brother and I. I could easily write a book about all the trials, successes and failures with the car but I'll try to keep it brief. Over the next 18 years the Riv served various roles as his driver, project car/blown apart mess, end of driveway eyesore, our gradual non-methodical rebuild, my first metal work project, body shop purgatory, and finally "finished" nice looking driver. The Riviera had a Chevrolet 350 and TH350 hacked into it when dad bought the car but that was eventually replaced with a rebuilt 401/TH400 combo. For the past several years or so my dad's health deteriorated to the point he can no longer work on the Riviera anymore so I have taken over that role. I put on a different carburetor to replace the long troublesome one that he had fought with for a number of years. I installed new brake shoes, cleaned up some under dash wiring, had a small radiator leak repaired, changed all the fluids, adjusted the throttle switches for the switch pitch torque converter, and did a lot of other little adjusting and tinkering where needed. It runs better than it has in years and I enjoy driving it. I also repaired the A/C system and converted it to R-134 so that works for the first time since we have owned the Riv. Though my dad hasn't personally driven the Riviera in over a year, I make time to take him for a ride in it at least once a week. Here is the Riviera as it looks today.
Welcome! Great story and a great looking car. I'm sure your Dad is very proud and loves riding in it. What part of Wisconsin are you from? And please, take some time to add your name to your signature at the bottom of the page.
Thanks. Yes my dad was happy to give me the Riviera after the time I put into it over the years. I'm in the Waukesha area.
Welcome from Montana! That's a great looking Riviera, very cool you're keeping it going. Love the style you went with, if my '63 didn't have the red stripes on it I'd have it set up very similarly. Very, very cool.
Welcome from Georgia! That’s a great story and a beautiful Riv. I like the Cragars too. Where in Wisonsin? Patrick
Thanks for the welcome everyone and for the compliments on the Riviera. I'm near Waukesha in southeast WI. The Cragars really made the car when I put them on last year. The old road wheels were pretty crusty and detracted from the rest of the car in a huge way. I would love to do about a 2" drop and get maybe a size or two smaller tires next time for a sort of early 70's lowrider look.
Come to the all Buick show tomorrow at Matty’s Bar and Grill in New Berlin on College Ave! Registration starts at 9:00 am!
2" will look good. My car is dropped a bit more than 3", you've got to watch the exhaust on speed bumps!
That is a nice Riviera you have there. I like the '65-ified '63-'64's because I prefer the rear end styling of those years over the '65 rear. I do really like Rivieras lowered. With the reversed offset I already get a little front tire rub on the inner fender if I hit a dip or bump while turning sharp, so these tires would have to go before any lowering would happen. Maybe next time it needs tires.