Grafton, Ohio is a small, rural town roughly twenty-minutes southwest of us here on the far west side of Greater Cleveland. Around here, Grafton is known for one thing, the medium to minimum security jail, or being politically correct, "correctional facility" that houses upwards of 2,000 inmates. I can't help but feel the preening eyes of the perps on me as I drive down Avon-Belden Road, the paved cow path that snakes through the jail's sprawling campus. I assuage the creepy feelings by humming the theme to "Cops" to myself. That and mumbling, "...if you can't do the time, don't do the crime".
The Big House in Grafton is also home to this lovely, 67,000-mile, 1965 Buick Riviera that's currently for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $34,900.
Introduced in 1963, the Buick Riviera was General Motors' second salvo at the four-passenger, Ford Thunderbird introduced in 1958. GM's first attempts at a personal luxury car like the Thunderbird, the 1961 Oldsmobile Starfire and 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick Wildcat, essentially dressed up 88's, Catalina's and LeSabre's, nice as they were, weren't nearly as distinctive as the Thunderbird.
The Buick Riviera, though, checked every box and metric on the then current wish list of personal luxury buyers. Distinctive styling? Check. Unique and gorgeous interior? Check. Powerful engine? Check there too.
At first, these cars weren't intended to be Buick's but a relaunch of the LaSalle, Cadillac's companion make GM put to pasture in 1940. When the LaSalle idea was stymied, head designer Bill Mitchell offered it to Cadillac and then Chevrolet who both turned it down. Oldsmobile and Pontiac showed more interest but wanted to alter the car's design, only Buick took the car lock, stock and barrel. They chose to call it, "Riviera", a moniker Buick first used to denote their hard top models going back to 1949. We have to remember that back in the early '60's, GM's myriad divisions were more like separate car companies owned by the same conglomerate. They were able to operate with an autonomy that's hard to fathom now.
With a 360-horsepower, 401 cubic-inch V-8 with two four-barrel carburetors and Buick's Super Turbine 400, that was added in 1964, a Buick Riviera was serious luxury GT. Still, it was clobbered at the box office by the Ford Thunderbird by nearly two-to-one. Why? Combination of things.
First off, it was too expensive for young performance buyers and lacked the flash and dash of the Thunderbird. It was deemed to lack the elan important to Cadillac buyers too. Nonetheless, the Riviera was a fine car in its day although it occupied an all too narrow a niche in a limited market.
General Motors didn't get the personal luxury car recipe right until they introduced the mid-sized Pontiac Grand Prix in 1969 and Chevrolet Monte Carlo in 1970. By then, Ford had turned the Thunderbird into a caricature of itself too.
Details in the Facebook Marketplace ad for this Riviera are scant. It's a numbers matching, mostly original car, which scares me some, air blows cold which is a plus. Average retail on these is $22,900, high retail $54,400. Seems the seller hopes to split that difference. I love these cars and this no doubt a more prudent buy than something less expensive that would need significant cash spent to make it what this one is already.
If there ever was one, this '65 Riviera for sale in Grafton near the jail, is the perfect gangster car. If you chose to rob your own bank and spring for it.
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