Ok everyone this is the story behind the green giant. It has always been a dream of mine to own a "muscle car". I've really been looking into getting a 1969-1971 Olds 442 but have found that insurance is sort of a problem at my age. Farmers Insurance practically laughed in my face when I mentioned the car and they said "no way!". So anyhow, after doing much research into just what exactly classifies a "muscle car" and a "cruiser" car I asked about the old land yachts (i.e. Skylarks, Riviera's etc...) and found that these do not classify as "muscle cars" to the insurance agencies. Within 2 days of finding this out I picked up my local newspaper and read "1972 Riviera, Orig. Owner, Immac cond., 455 engine, 400 trans, stock, $4500". Since I am a college student and can't afford really anything else I thought "what the hell" so I called the guy. I made arrangements to meet with the owner the next day but he said I was "more than welcome" to come see the car but he had another guy who was coming with the money (cash) the next day as he already gave him a downpayment. I went to look at the car anyway as I thought it wouldn't be much of a car for $4500, maybe bondo all over, tore up seats etc... When I saw the car it was love at first sight. Not only was it a real land yacht but the epitome of artistic design mixed with real American muscle. When I started it up it absolutely purred! I thought it would be a big beasty idle and shake the windows out of visual focus but it was like sleeping giant just waiting to explode and that it was. The big Buick 455 feeding this 2.5 ton car was rebuilt 3K miles ago professionally along with the transmission. I couldn't even feel the car shift from gear to gear! I asked the man if I could punch it and he said to "go for it". I pushed the pedal to the metal and I woke the giant! I seriously went from 15-40 in about 3 seconds. I love that Buick low end torque! I had to double check the VIN's to make sure they matched and sure enough they did. I couldn't imagine such an old engine performing that well to move so much steel. I thought he had put in another engine or through a chop shop but everything matched even the transmission! After the test drive I told the man I could get him the $4500 at my bank right then and there but he said he had to wait a day for the other guy to be fair. The man who had the car was about 30 years old and I asked how HE could be the original owner. He explained to me that he had inherited the car from his grandpa who was put into an elderly home and he already had 3 cars so he needed the money for a downpayment on a house. I drove home in my 1986 Mercury Cougar all day thinking about that car. Early the next morning I called the man to see if he heard anything from the other buyer and he said "no". So I again offered my $4500 again and he said he told the original guy he was taking "first come first serve" basis. So I was like "YAHOO!". The guy told me to get the money and the car was mine. I drove all the way back up to Reno with the money. Then I ran into somewhat of an obstacle. As we were filling out the bill of sale to my name the original guy called the man telling him he had the money! Due to my quick thinking I had already taken the title from the man and had it in MY possession so he couldn't change his mind in the middle of the sale. The title was still in his grandfathers name on the original bill of sale too! He never put it into his name as he had no need to and it would be another expense. The guy told the first buyer that he was in the middle of selling it and I could actually hear the other man screaming at him through his cell phone! Needless to say I got all the information from the guy as well as giving him mine and the money and got the hell out of there! All the rest fell into place. Insurance went smoothe...about $50 a month in insurance. As for the car it has a grand total of 117358 miles right now as I type this message. The old man had only driven it on weekends as it was his cruiser as well. Now it is MY cruiser. It is not the fastest car on the street but it blows rice rockets away! Everybody asks what I did to the car and I say "nothing". There is nothing better then to tell somebody that a car is stock. It may not keep up with the Corvettes and Trans-Ams but if I wanted a fast car I will just build a street rod (when I am older and have the money) and blow everything away. Everything on my Riviera works. Odometer, trip set, speed alarm, rear license plate light, wipers, power seats, power windows (getting weak), power locks, blinkers, brake lights, headlights, AM radio, joystick side view mirror control etc etc...Anything I miss? As for the engine it has the original Frigidaire air compressor, air cleaner, carb, exhaust manifolds, heads, cam, intake manifold, pretty much anything you can think of is original. Only new parts I had put in were flomaster exhaust pipes and mufflers as the stock exhaust was actually crumpling up near the exhaust manifolds. A new radiator, alternator and weather stripping. I'm currently putting in the blinker turn signal springs in the steering column as the blinker won't automatically turn off coming back from a right hand turn. After taking the steering column apart I found the broken spring laying in there. Ordered both new springs as I'm sure they've been through 10,000 turns each and will replace them as soon as college finals are over. If anyone has ANY questions just email me or reply to this thread. But for now carpal tunnel is setting in and I got work tomorrow! HAHA. Talk to you all later.
Cool story!! This story will probably power the infinite improbability drive for quite a while, don't you think?:laugh:
Nick... I hate you... and I love you... and you have one of the nicest Rivs I have ever seen, esspecially for have not really started messing with it or anything yet... you say that's original paint??? Sweet, sweet find there, man! ~Stamps
Hey Nick. You said the power windows were getting weak. Try this. Peel the door panels off and lube up the track and rollers with white (lithium) grease and if the window glass slides up and down a run channel on the front and/or back spray a generous amount of silicone spray on them. The rubber gets hard and brittle and this will rejuvinate the rubber as well as lube the channel for easy gliding up and down. If it still runs slow then you can be fairly sure it is time for window regulator motors. These are fairly easy to replace by removing the regulator from the door and swapping the motors. You should be able to pick the motors up at your local parts store. Rebuilt should run about $80.00-100.00 a pop. New around $150-200. Be sure to put lots of white grease on the gears and also be sure to use the 1/4 inch pop rivets to re-install the regulators back into the doors. If you use nuts and bolts they will viberate loose. You may have to borrow or rent a pop rivet gun to use these rivets as it is a large gun, commonly called a "Big Daddy" rivet gun in the glass business. Another thought is that you could stop by your local auto glass shop and have them install the pop rivets for you once you get to that point. They shouldn't charge you much to do that small amount of menial labor. Well, hey, good luck to ya.
