That's a long time! How many miles did you drive with it? Done a lot of things to it over the years? All original car? Hope to see some pictures of it here in the garage...Lime green and buckskin is a great color combo.
Thanks! I bought it with 127k miles on it. It was just a used, 15 year old car at the time i bought out of the local paper for $800. It had a $99 "Earl Sheib" paint job on it. I drove it everyday for the first two years or so back and forth to high school and work. After that the car saw less and less daily driving as I started getting into the A body GS's. When I bought it, it was painted a dark green. I had it re-painted it back to Lime Green around 1987 and started entering it in car shows. Its still wearing that paint job from 87 but the paint has now cracked, checked and peeling all over the place. It still looks good if you stand back a few feet and squint your eyes:grin: As far as current mileage, it has about 179k on it although the original engine is sitting in my garage. I lost oil pressure with the original 430 in the mid 90's. I found another 69 Riviera, used it for parts and put that cars engine in mine. One day, I'll rebuild the original engine and put it back. Its been sitting for years. I hardly take it out anymore
Hi Robbie, I will snap some cell phone pics when I get home from work later this January 25. For now, I am just going to snap a few low resolution pics because my Riv has warts. The exhaust system and heater hoses are not original as well as most of the clamps to the heater and radiator hoses. I am running it with a oversized and flashy Wal Mart battery. I tore out the original black felt carpet in the trunk because it was stained and frayed. I am trying to find a suitable and better replacement carpet very similar to the original. I bought it nearly three years ago from a dealer in Oklahoma. I had the entire front end replaced: all of the steering linkages and ball joints. Some time in the past, the Riv was repainted with the correct olive beige code 82 paint. It has a number of dents and dings so it is not car show worthy. Every once in a great while, I will drive to a cruise in (and cruise out). I get bored quickly though because classic Buicks are seemingly tough to come by around here. I made good friends with a guy who drives a 71 Electra coupe, but that is about it. My Riv also has 104,500 miles on the original numbers matching engine and transmission.
So you have to work on it before you take it out of the garage again? Which Buick do you take out when it's nice outside? How did you find out about losing oil pressure? Drove it with the idiot light only? The oil pump could not have been worn at this mileage or could it? I had a 1968 Riviera once and drove it for at least 30,000 miles on LPG. The left bank of the engine did nog get any oil. When I pulled the valve cover you saw no oil there. Pulled the heads and pan and find out it could hardly suck oil, only via the by-pass hole in the pick-up screen it was able to suck up dirty oil. Never had any damage to the engine. Idiot ligth burned one time at a traffic light...I thought it was the Fram filter but did not know at that time about all the dirt in the pan. But from then I started to use AC PF 24 only, but ofcourse it had nothing to do with the Fram filter back then. But what amazed me was I had driven all these miles without normal oil pressure and without engine damage...never saw so much dirt in the pan. That was the time a started to learn more about the old Buick engines.... ---------- Post added at 04:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:01 PM ---------- Hi Craig, Would be great to see some pictures! Olive beige is a great color and typical 60's/70's color. I like the old colors from way back. Here we have quite a few Buicks driving around...although I get bored of the Buicks and other classics they pimp here. Lots of people screw up the originality of the car. If you customize or try to, do it the right way and not the cheesy way. Such a shame of classics I think. Why did you replace the front end? For even beter handling or worn?
Craig, What color is the 71 Electra? We sold one to a guy in NY and it was rumored that it made its way over seas. Louie
I have absolutely no plans to customize my Riv. The interior is all original and the vinyl seats are in very good condition, no rips or stains. I do need to find two square seat buttons. Sometimes I think that the 69 Riv's were probably the only car to ever use square buttons. Ha ha and to boot, we get two different sizes of them, the bigger ones of course on the doors with an outline of aluminum (I think)! :bglasses: These cars are certainly unique. When I first drove my Riv home from Oklahoma to Shreveport, Louisiana with my wife following closely behind in her Volvo, she called me on my cellphone and told me to stop wondering over the lines so much. The steering had at least 1/4 of turn of play and it was quite tough to drive. Now it is very tight and steers like a dream. These Rivs handle very well also. I need to fix the clock and radio. One day, I will sit down with DVD Buick Manual and take the dash apart to fix these issues. Living here in the American south, I noticed the African-American people just love this car. Whenever I drive around in Shreveport on nice days, only once have I not been honked at or :TU: from other drivers. Look for a few pics soon. ---------- Post added at 01:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ---------- It was a white coupe. The owner also installed an Edelbrock intake on the 455. He was thinking about upgrading the engine to stage one specs, but just did not have the time.
Hey cool, a '69 Riv love fest! Bought mine 35 years ago for $800, and put 92,000 miles on it. Also changed it from lime green to dark green. Most reliable daily driver I have ever had!
What happened to the engine was the timing chain went bad and dropped all the plastic teeth in the oil pan. I fixed the timing chain but never cleaned the pan. The screen got clogged and like an idiot I drove it with the oil gauge sitting on zero. It fell into disrepair towards the end of the 1990's. In 2002, I deceided to drive it to Flint for the 100th aniversary of Buick. I took it out of the garage and I went through the whole car top to bottom. I drove it to Flint and back with zero issues. Then back in the garage it went. Its been sitting off and on since then but I do take it out once in a while. Ive kept up with the maintenence since. I wouldnt hesitate to drive it to Florida tomorrow. Last time I had out was a few months ago towards the end of summer. I have a 70 and 71 GS that I use routinely when the weather is nice.
Wow...awesome Riviera! Body looks very straight! Did you ever replace the Vinyl top? Great color combo! The engine compartment looks like it's never been touched. I like the wheels with the hubcaps! Looks great! Thanks for posting the pics.! And yes, I am glad I know about the nylon timing, I still have to look if it's still sitting in the engine. I think it still is. But for now it's ok it still holds it's ignition adjustment and runs great. ---------- Post added at 10:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:44 AM ---------- I think i've never seen a 1969 Riviera ending at $25,100. I've seen much less doubtful original untouched low miles 1968/1969 Riviera's and they went for a much lower reserve. ---------- Post added at 11:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:53 AM ---------- So btw Craig, when i put 104,500 miles on my Riv i will not experience the tight steering anymore? I can't imagine that it will be less tight in about 50,000 miles. Or why do you think steering got so sloppy at only 104,500 miles? Thanks!
Thanks for the compliments. I have to admit tha the car looks alot better in photographs than it does in person. Vinyl top was replaced arund 1986. Probably still have the receipt for it. Oh, the engine compartment has definitely been touched! I purposely didnt repaint the replacement used engine so I could retain that original, factory look. Although I did refinish some select pieces under the hood. Which is what should have been done with the Ebay Riviera I just installed brand new vacuum actuators and all the vacuum hoses. I used a color coded vacuum hose set for a 1969 Rally Sport Camaro. Now the car doesnt wink at me. The actuators were a Christmas present from Jennifer. She bought them from GM Obsolete. they are basically modified Camaro actuators. They work very nice but the cost is steep. That why I got them for a present because Jen knew I wouldnt of bought them for myself. A few words about steering- A bad set of strut rod bushings and a worn centerlink will give these cars weird steering problems. Mine seemed to be all over the road when these went bad. it would wander and i had to constantly correct the wheel to keep it in a lane. I found the strut rod bushing worn out and the centerlink n/g. What a difference anfter changing them
I bought the Factory vinyl top from SMS Auto Fabrics. Where did you get it from in 1986 if i may ask? I like the look of the paint in the picture, it looks like it is from 1969. I like the looks of your Riviera much more then the one here on Ebay for $25,100 Hope to see a real untouched low miles 1968/1969 on Ebay...one with the transparant plastic covers still on the seats! Is your interiour still fine? I got a few tears at the seams in the bench seat but that's all. I also have the factory buckskin clothe to replace the bench seat sometime form SMS Auto Fabrics.
Hey Robbie, I uploaded one cell phone pic of my 1969 Riv to "My Garage". Here is the hyperlink URL below... My wifes Volvo is in the background. She ONLY drives Volvos. I need to clean my Riv up really nice and upload some more pics that include the interior. My Riv also has the strato notch bench vinyl seat with square buttons in buckskin color. http://www.v8buick.com/garage_vehicle.php?do=view_vehicle&id=957
Hey Craig, Thanks for the picture upload! Great color combo! Body looks sharp! Yes, same bench we have...it's a comfortable seat. Does not show on the picture that you need to clean up the Riviera, it looks very clean. Hope to see more of your car soon!
Every single vehicle this seller lists , is put up on a lift and covered from front to back with undercoating. Every bolt, line, hose , ect. It is everywhere and it looks terrible. Undercoating hides a lot of rust. Some listings actually show the cars up on an outside lift getting hosed down with the tar. All their engine bays get a gallon of silicone sprayed on. Check out the Cutlass listed with an advertised 5,000.. YES...5,000 man hours listed on a flawless restoration. They must have been sleeping for the first 4,500 hours. There is plenty to pick apart on that car. Every car listed is said to be the best of the best. Buyer Beware !
That is exactly what I thought! The undercoating to cover up all the rust! Over all this car just looks too suspicious.
I see the listing isn't active anymore. Last night, after just one day into the new listing it was at $21,100 with 16 bids. I figured they were all shill bidders. Did he have a Buy it Now on it? I don't recall.
