Ah, 1971-1973 "boat tail" Buick Riviera's - you either love them or hate them. I'm so fond of them I've reserved at spots for a 1971 or 1972 model (forget the big front bumper '73's) in my "Jay Leno Fantasy Garage". One original and unrestored the other LS-swapped up the ying-yang that still looks stock. Sigh.
Legend has it these cars were polarizing inside GM as well as with dealerships who claimed the design too aggressive and off-putting to Buick's generally conservative clientele. Buyers apparently felt that way too as sales of the "boat tails" dropped off by roughly half of what they were prior. What to do?
Just get rid of the "boat tail" and make the rear end more mainstream, right? That wasn't as simple as you'd think as doing just that would make the Riviera all but a LeSabre; which it essentially was albeit one with the interior of an Electra. In lieu of that, this is what they did for 1974. Careful what you wish for.
Our subject here is a 1976 that popped up on Facebook Marketplace recently. Asking price is $8,000 which is quite the deal if this really is in the great shape it appears to be in. Personally, I much prefer a LeSabre of this vintage but that's just little ole me. Taste and armpits as they say.
Actually, the design was inspired the tail end of an experimental Cadillac deVille and the grafting of the rear end of this car onto the Riviera was Bill Mitchell's idea. Hey, we're all human. Back in the day, GM designers mixed and matched disparate design cues and elements that may have been intended originally for one make and model but ended up on another. Google "Pontiac Banshee" and you'll see just how much of that car, that never made it to production, there is in the third-generation Corvette.
Buick designers weren't too proud of their efforts with the updated Riviera; they claimed they did what they were told to do.
Honestly, in a vacuum these aren't such bad looking cars - had Buick called them "Wildcat" or "Centurion" they would have been just another emissions clogged, gas-swilling, phlegmy, mid-'70's Buick. However, once Buick glued or riveted "Riviera" on them, these cars were forced to write checks their egos couldn't cash.
Sales sputtered along at around 20,000-units sold per year between 1974 and 1976, about the same number sold as boat tails sold. Blame the OPEC gas crunch for some of that as anything with a V-8 engine suddenly became a pariah. That and the premium sticker price didn't do sales any favors either. Sales of 1974 Chevrolet Monte Carlos, a design debatably as outlandish as the Riviera boat tails, were comparatively off compared to 1973, but once gas prices stabilized, sales soared.
Buick's designers were further hampered updating the Riviera for 1974 by limited resources. This mid-production cycle reboot had to be done as economically prudent as possible since GM was spooling up for their "Great Downsizing Epoch" they'd begin for model year 1977. There was little money to be spent on an all-new design that was going to be discontinued as soon as possible.
My question is - why didn't Buick disguise an Oldsmobile Toronodo and call it a Riviera? That could have been a nice "stop-gap" model until the Riviera ultimately came to share platforms with the Toronado and Cadillac Eldorado in 1979. I find it hard to believe they didn't think of that. Perhaps it was simpler or more cost effective to do this instead?
As for our '76 here, as they say in the business, "there's an arse for every seat". This will no doubt sell and to someone who may purchase it for reasons that I would never think of.
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