Hello, here's some pics and a bit of info about my 1963 Riviera. I've wanted one of these since I was about 7 or 8 years old. My Dad's friend had a yellow 64 that I thought was the coolest thing when I was a kid, and I finally bought this one a few months ago (I'm 37 now). I'm in the process of undoing and redoing a lot of the previous owner's "customizing" (I've been building custom cars and race cars with my family since birth basically). So far, I've finished lowering it 3", fixed the brakes, re-wired the entire lighting system, fixed a bunch of the missing or inoperative interior bits, and done a full tune on it. I added Ridler 695 wheels in 20x8.5 and 20x10 sizes, with 245/40 front and 275/35 rear tires. It's coming along, and I'll hopefully have it "completed" this next summer. Right now it's in the garage for the winter, but I've put a few shake down miles on it, and it seems to be running and functioning like it should now. The paint is custom black with hand painted graphics, and the interior is matching black and red leather. I've also got a 70 Coupe Deville, a 74 F100, and a 1972 Mach 1 that I bought when I was 12 that I've got a 552" stroker in it I built now, but we've had quite a few Buicks in the family through the years (Dad and one of my brothers have a 71 and a 72 Skylark both in the 11s, and my other brother has a 10 second '87 GN) but this is my first Nailhead. Thanks and glad to be on here and I'll post progress pics as I go along Lucas
Cool ride(s). I have been fighting the urge to get one of these and build a cruiser. Seeing this doesn't help. Keep us posted!
Hi there, sweet ride. I am doing a 64 Rivi right now and am struggling to find out what wheels will fit. Did you have any fitment issues? I am looking to do 18x8 front and 18x20 rear. Would you be able to provide your wheel specs? Hub/center hole, offset and backspace. Are you using your stock drums? Is there any rubbing that you know of? A lot of questions yes but if I can get my ride looking similar to yours, all would be good! Any advise would help, thanks Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk
Thanks guys.....Falcon81, I see you saw that I responded to your question in the bench section, but if anyone else wants or needs to know, these are on the stock drums. My rear backspace is 5.5" and the front is 4.5". I had to add 5/16" spacers to the front, otherwise the wheels will rub the frame at full lock. There is a TON of room in there for bigger/wider wheels and tires. Here's some interior pics as it sits now. You can see that I've got a bunch of it taken apart. I'm redoing all the trim and woodgrain in a black cherry burlwood.......More pics to come as progress continues Lucas
Got it thanks. I got mine down to the shell now. Changing all body mounts and will be doing body and paint. Then suspension, wheels and exhaust. Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk
Looks good! Mine doesn't look like it needs that much, but I'm tearing it down anyway because I've found a LOT of modifications and changes that the previous owner did that are completely unacceptable and half-azzed, so going in deep just to make sure its OK.....
Finished rewiring the whole lighting system (when you'd turn on the right blinker, the right front and left rear would come on, when you'd turn on the left blinker, the left rear would stay on constant and nothing on front would come on) and getting the LED taillights working properly. The headlights were another story and an electrical mess. Fabbed up a rear package tray, will post pics when I'm upholstering it in black leather........weather has been surprisingly cooperative up here, so got to put a few more miles on it
Well, my fabbed package tray didn't fit the contours as nice as I wanted, so I bought one from OPGI. What showed up is a cut out piece of cardboard with some black textured paint on top. When you would bend it to make the curves it needed, the black paint would crack and generally looked like garbage, and broke the paint and cardboard around the screw holes. So I pulled it and began modifying it to an acceptable appearance. Glued some steel washers around the screw holes for some support. Got some 1/8" foam and spray glued it down to the OPGI dash, then cut that around the dash. I then spray glued my leatherette down on top of that, lots of stretching and forming involved. Put some books and weights on it overnight. Here are some progress pics of what I started with and where I'm at now (dunno why pic 7 is out of order but the first pic should be after gluing the foam on and cutting it out)....Just need to pull and glue it down around the edges and trim and all good, super happy Will post more when I'm done trimming and have it installed.
Oh, and finally got it out in the sunshine, just a few days before it started to snow Probably stuck in the shop for the rest of the winter.
Thank you sir....I'm not really a "Mustang" guy either, I just happen to have wanted a Mach 1 when I was a kid. I started saving up for it when I was in kindergarten because I walked by a red and black 71 everyday on my way to school and had enough money, which was $3200, by the time I was 12 (that is not a lie). My parents and brothers are car people, and my "collection" pales compared to theirs haha. I'm a fullsize Ford/Buick/Olds/Caddy fan mostly. Thanks again for the compliments.
Got the package tray done and installed. I used some small block chevy valve cover hold downs for trim around the mounting screws and to spread the force out. They looked too plain just sitting there and i try to do little different stuff here and there. I put a more detailed thread down in the interior section about fixing/making the package tray.
seatbelts Got some seat belts for the car from seatbeltsplus.com. Look to be of great quality, made in the USA, and from their website it looks like they are tested rigorously to be safe. My car doesn't appear to have had them from the factory, but I was a fireman for 6 years and after running the extrication equipment on many car accidents throughout the years, I always have to wear one. Felt weird driving it around without one on. I'll be adding reinforcements to the floors where they mount. I picked the chrome lift latch type. I feel they're the most "classic" styled, and they were only $45 shipped.
Your family being car people is awesome at Christmas Got some Offenhauser valve covers, a batwing air cleaner, some vent window cranks, new heater control cables, and some Lloyds mats from my brothers and parents.
I ordered a package tray from them as well. I am hoping it is not the same one. You said it's made of cardboard? What the hell... Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk
Yep, just a cardboard cutout with some textured spray paint on it. Those first few pics I posted are of it and the paint crumbling off when I bent it to make the curves. Super disappointing, but whatever, it gave me a good excuse to make a pretty one and learn something new. My dashboard is custom leather upholstered to match the seats, so I took it as an opportunity to make the package tray match that.
There should be seat belt mounting nuts in the front & rear floors already from the factory. Seat belts were an option in '63 & standard equipment staring in early '64.
Thanks for the info, Tom. That'll make things much easier. Car has new carpet that I didn't install and it's too low to put my head under, but good to know that I'll just have to poke holes from underneath then cut it. Thanks again!
Been getting a bunch of interior and mechanical stuff done that I'll post pics of later, but going to start redoing the engine compartment, as this is the only area of the car that needs REAL attention.....Have quite a few custom goodies for it. Here's where it's at now, not much to look at, really quite ugly.
Lucas, If the engine is original it should be SILVER. Have you looked at the engine code??? A '63/401 will be JT & a 425 (rare) will be JW. The code is located in front of the valley pan on the passenger side. Red engines were in '66/401 Skylark GS's & '66/425 Rivs. If there is a "hook" cast into the water manifold on the passenger side it is a '66 engine. '66 was the ONLY yr. the water manifolds had hooks for pulling the engine. Tom T.