I've never seen why and how any person would have paid a relative king's ransom to purchase a 1953-1966 Cadillac Eldorado seeing how similar it looked to other Cadillac models. I feel similarly about 1977 and 1978 Buick Riviera's and LeSabre coupe's. However, back in the '50's a Cadillac was a Cadillac; Buick never made any bones about their LeSabre being "less" than an Electra and in more ways that just having a lower sticker price. Above, right, is a 1977 Buick LeSabre. The car on the left is a 1978 Buick Riviera decked out in LXXV Anniversary (75th) regalia. If you can't tell the difference well, friend, you're in the right place.
Amazing what ad agencies could do decades before Photoshop or Adobe Premiere. Buick went so far as to attempt to create the illusion that the two-year only Riviera harkened back to the legendary original of 1963-1965 vintage. Perhaps the folks who saw an overstuffed and overpriced LeSabre cried afoul and where the ones whom Buick didn't dedicate their Free Spirit to.
Which came first, the 1977 Buick LeSabre coupe or Riviera? I can hypothesize that someone "upstairs" either instructed a designer to put a kinky rear quarter panel uptick aft of the center post ala a 1963-1965 Riviera or this was an early mockup of a 1977 LeSabre. "Stop right there! That's going to be our 1977 and 1978 Riviera!" Seeing how many makes and models designers had to draw up at the beginning of the Great Downsizing Epoch the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.
Here we see that kick-up behind the door on this 1963 Riviera - no center post for these airy beauties. These cars were, if anything, distinctive and shared even little mechanically with any other GM make or model. There certainly ain't an ounce of LeSabre in this design.
No LeSabre in the lovely design that replaced it either come 1966; above is a '67. On these "second-generation" Riviera's, Buick shared Riviera's "E-body" shell with the front-wheel-drive Oldsmobile Toronado (and come 1967, the Cadillac Eldorado). However, seeing that then Buick President Edward D. Rollert was hesitant to embrace new and unproven engineering, in a display of autonomy (or hubris) rarely seen today at multi-divisional conglomerates, Riviera remained rear-wheel-driven. Explains the somewhat odd proportions and stance of these cars as they literally are a front-wheel-drive car with rear-wheel-drive.
For 1970 Buick botched things up adding fender skirts to the design - adding fender skirts rarely if ever improves upon an existing design. The inverse is mostly true as well. Sales ran aground for these one year only Riviera's that looked like more like a bloated Skylark than anything unique, different and distinctive like Riviera's had been. Bill Mitchell made few mistakes. 1970 Riviera's are one of them.
Riviera distinctiveness carried over into 1971 even as the Riviera moved to GM's new-for-1971 "B-body" making Riviera more LeSabre than Eldorado\Oldsmobile Toronado. Distinctive doesn't always mean mass appealing as these "Boattail" Rivera's are amongst the most polarizing designs in GM's history. You either love 'em like I do or think they're grotesque.
Sidenote: There is speculation that the Buick Riviera was to move to General Motors intermediate "A-body" for either 1969 or 1970 using the 116-inch-long wheelbase used on the luscious Pontiac Grand Prix and Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Gosh, can you imagine a Riviera Boattail with the proportions and scale of a Grand Prix or Monte Carlo?
Funny how removing what makes a design polarizing can neutralize anything remotely interesting about it. For 1974-1976 Buick hit CNTL-ALT-DEL on the boat tail and came with this thing. Hello darkness, my old friend. Have to admit, though, while there might be some familial resemblance to other big Buick's of the same vintage, this is still no LeSabre in drag. Still doesn't mean I have to like it.
The LeSabre\Riviera "B-body" relationship continued come 1977 although the plan was already in place that the Riviera would move to the smaller E-body (Eldorado\Toronado) come 1979. And that time it would become a front-driver just like the Eldo and Toro.
I can't blame General Motors for not whipping up an old E-body based Riviera for just 1977 and 1978. However, seeing how little effort it seemed they put into dressing up a LeSabre (or dressing down a Riviera to make the new LeSabre), I've always wondered why they even bothered.
The 1979 Buick Riviera that replaced these was heralded as a watershed of efficient design and engineering even though, aside from disparate styling details, it differed little from an Eldorado and Toronado. Motor Trend even awarded it their "Golden Calipers" as their Car of the Year which I find amusing. I had an '82 and I found it to be the worst car I ever had. Pretty as a picture but as reliable as the Titanic after it hit the iceberg.
These Riviera's may have aged better than probably anyone would have thought at the time. And they do make for interesting car show fodder as I can't tell you that I've ever seen a Buick LeSabre of this vintage at a show. Stuffed with an Oldsmobile 403 cubic-inch V-8, leather interior and all Buick luxury baubles-and-bits, you could do a lot worse with your late '70's, height of the "Malaise Era" dollar. But... do we have to call it a Riviera?
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