I am in no way an expert on Riviera's and have a couple questions.There is a local lady that has 2 65 Rivvies and asked me if I would be interested in buying them.I went in and looked at them and thought that they would be able to make a decent one out of the 2.The one is gold that was purchased with a vinyl top.She is the second owner of this car and was told that the vinyl tops were sorta rare.That is question 1.Was that correct? The one has a real wood steering wheel and shifter handle(auto on floor with black buckets).I didn't get a price for these cars and really didn't have enough time to get cowl tag(if thats where its located) info or all of the options.The gold one needs 1/4 work but the other(color hard to tell)auto on floor black interior also, seemed ok.There was no lighting in the garage where they were and since I was working,I didn't have enough looking time.Neither had dual quads.What can anyone tell me about where to locate numbers for these cars as well as how to tell engine sizes?What engines would be in them 401?425?? Any help will be appreciated. Pato No:
Pat, The vinyl tops were indeed VERY rare for the 1st gen. Riv and is indeed correct. On April 9th, 1965 Buick announced to its dealers that an optional vinyl roof would be available on the Riviera. The roof was offered only in black and would be indicated on the trim code plate as "#2" As it turned out only 5.8% of the 65 models were ordered with this option, which listed at $110. The paint colors were probably either Sahara Mist or Champagne Mist, but im not 100% sure. The standard engine was the Wildcat 445 with the Wildcat 465 being and option, you said neither had dual quads so therefore they cant be the Super Wildcat engine either. There were 28467 Rivs produced with the 401cid in 1965 and only 2311 produced with the 425cid which is more rare than the Super Wildcat engine. I could find the options, trim , etc. with the cowl. If the wood in the center of the buckets went all the way up to the dash you have the upgraded interior. Also if the chrome in the interior was chromed then it is the upgraded interior. But if the chrome was painted then it has the standard interior. Leather was not offered in 65', so the cars should have vinyl. The standard seat trim was like squares, while the optional had triangles at the top. The standard interior colors were white, black, medium blue or saddle. The optional Beaumonde cloth interior was offered in green, medium blue, fawn, or black.The conpletely vinyl interior was offered in green, saddle, black and after Jan 65' or so white was available. And finally the dorr panels on the optional interior were full armrests with full length wood panels. The standard were short armrests. Hope this helps.:TU: I'll try to find out more info.
