In 1979, the Riviera moved onto the front-wheel-drive Toronado/Eldorado platform, continuing the tradition of rococo Riviera personal luxury coupes that started back in 1963. This version of the Riviera was built through the 1985 model year, so we’re looking at the very last year of the V8 Riviera in this weathered Denver car.
While the Evil Empire was being vanquished by a combination of crashing oil prices, idiotic decisions made by cheap thugs and vodka-soaked gerontocrats, and rebellion on its fringes, the abolition of the 85 mph speedometer requirement ranked as one of the Reagan Administration’s major accomplishments in the fight for freedom. General Motors, however, had stockpiled millions of these speedometers and had to use them up in cars like this before they went back to the 120 mph speedos preferred by the Founding Fathers.
The Buick Division got a lot more futuristic later in the decade, with octogenarian-confusing touchscreen displays and such, but we see some foreshadowing of this stuff with the microwave-oven-control-style Electronic Touch Climate Control HVAC unit in this car.
The landau roof and opera lights on this car have suffered much from decades in the harsh Colorado sun.
Under the hood, the 150-horsepower Oldsmobile 307-cubic-inch V8. This engine went into cars made by every GM division at the time.
This chintzy interior light features plastic “chrome” and fake woodgrain and seems more appropriate on a low-end camping trailer than a $16,710 luxury coupe (at a time when a new BMW 3-Series coupe could be had for $16,430).
Still, these cars were pretty comfortable when they were new.
[Images: © 2016 Murilee Martin/The Truth About Cars]
My neighbor had one of these since new for about 10 years, and she babied it. I’d rather spend time in that car than any mid 80s BMW. So plush. So rococo indeed.
This is why choice is a good thing.
My best friends mom had an ’85 325i. That car was a revelation. At the time I drove a VW Dasher and my friend had an old Oldsmobile. Compared to my slow car and my friend’s faster but much more ponderous one, the 325 was a delight. It was quick, had responsive steering, and just felt good to drive.
We had a blast the few times that he could finagle a spin in that car. So, for me, there’s a whole slew of BMWs I’d take over this Riviera.
Here’s a few; the 325 previously mentioned, a 733i with the five speed manual, an e28 533i/535i/M5, and an e24 M6.
The Riviera, and its cousins, would be far, far, down on my list.
Again, having choices is a very good thing.
Having choices can lead to crack pipe smoking decisions like buying a 1980’s ‘american’ luxury car with a M21 diesel in it.
Almost nobody made that decision though. BMW powered MKVIIs and Continentals were few and far between. Wikipedia says 2,300 MKVIIs and 1,500 Continental Sedans were sold over two years. That still sounds high to me. The diesel only gave up 35 hp to the V8, but that 35 hp represented a large percentage of either engine’s output. I wonder how many 524tds were sold in the US?
Tresmonos made that decision though.
Oh.
that car brought more joy to me than MDMA or coke ever could.
A few thousand 524TDs. My favorite use of that motor is in the back of the Vixen motorhomes. A futuristic looking 21′ motorhome with a pop-top and a stickshift!
You have to look at it in the context of the times. Gas was expensive then, diesel was cheaper. The V8s were slow and thirsty, the diesel was only a little slower and a lot less thirsty. And it sounded like a Mercedes…
My parent’s next-door neighbor had one of these, in blue. She garaged it and rarely drove it. Unfortunately, about 10 years ago, on one of the rare occasions she did drive it, she got into an accident with it and totaled it.
Nothing starts off a Monday morning right like seeing one of those hideous, baroque boats headed towards the crusher.
Still a sales success for GM. 47 miles seems a bit low. I assume this is the 4-speed THM with o/d shown on the shifter?
Must have been good traction in the snowbelt with that heavy motor over the front drive.
During the mid-80’s I worked for a company that had a small fleet of office cars execs could check out and drive on company business. One of those cars was an ’85 Riviera. It was very heavy feeling and rode very nice on the interstate but was extremely under powered. I enjoyed driving it but hated it at the same time. I once had to drive it on a 1800 mile round trip. I cursed it a lot on that trip because it spent much of the trip in passing gear. And so it went on that trip until I got caught in a freak late April snowstorm on the back roads of West Virginia. That day the Riviera, because of it’s front-end weight, low power and, in this case, a brand new set of Michelins, became my all-time #1 best car the get caught in a freak blizzard in. Best driving car with street tires in heavy snow I’ve ever driven.
The underpower may have been the six.
Nah. It was the 305ci V8. Lotta car to pull itself around mountain highways. Being a little underpowered made it invincible in snow though. I don’t think there was any choice of powertrains back then. All got the same as I recall.
There were always at least two engine choices on the sixth-gen Riviera in any given model year, and four choices from 1980-1984.
350 ci (5.7 L) Oldsmobile V8 — 1979-1980
350 ci (5.7 L) Oldsmobile diesel V8 — 1980-1984
307 ci (5.0 L) Oldsmobile V8 — 1980-1985
252 ci (4.1 L) Buick V6 — 1981-1984
231 ci (3.8 L) Buick turbocharged V6 — 1979-1985
307 V8. Roger that. I stand corrected.
Probably the best overall option was dumped for MY81 with the rest being lackluster with the possible exception of the 231 (which I thought only came in the special order only T type).
The majority of these had the 140-150 HP 307 Olds from 1981-85. A few here and there were ordered with the 3.8 turbo which featured SFI in 1984-85 and that would have made this car much quicker.
If the 307 is in proper tune it provides adequate power in these but hills slow there progress some.
In my neck of the woods when I was a kid, this car, along with the Toronado and El Dorado of the same vintage were the official winter cars of Harley Davidson enthusiasts (bikers).
My grandmother had one of these, an ’85 as well. It was probably that same shade of brown, too. But it had leather.
“Under the hood, the 150-horsepower Oldsmobile 307-cubic-inch V8. This engine went into cars made by every GM division at the time.”
I twitch every time someone brings this up. I’ve not-so-fond memories of repeated arguments with parts jobbers that the engine in this ’88 Caprice wagon is a 307, not a 305. Yes, I know the VIN code says it’s a “5.0 liter,” a 307 is 5 liters. No, I swear it’s a 307. Look, I can see the goddamned oil fill neck, Chevy small blocks don’t have those. Look, just gimme the damn part.
Of course, it was for a 305 and didn’t fit.
I always asked if the oil fill was on the side or front and center when I was a parts jockey. I knew the difference and had an example of each engine in my parents driveway.
Thank goodness then that for the past 10-15 years the computer systems bring up both engines and ask you for the vin letter of the engine you have.
we see some foreshadowing of this stuff with the microwave-oven-control-style Electronic Touch Climate Control HVAC unit in this car.
Well, GM did own Fridgidare until 1979. Maybe they helped with the design.
That’s not a directable air vent next to the light, is it? It looks like a chromed version of what you’d find above your head in a charter bus.
It’s just two lights. Interior side dome light and spot lamp for reading in the back.
Methinks it needs more lights.
The Eldorado looked better (stainless roof!), but was saddled with 4.1 most of the run, or the awful 5.7 diesel. So the 307 don’t sound too bad.
Seems like almost all the Eldorados you see from this gen have the 4.1. Wiki sez the 4.5 was also available in here, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one with it.
That 5.7-liter Olds diesel was almost singlehandedly responsible for souring Americans’ opinions of diesel engines as a whole. Now Volkswagen has gone and tried to resurrect that reputation.
Like I said, we had an ’85 equipped similarly to this one—but with leather—however I never liked that steering wheel. The 3-spoke seen on the Turbo/T-type and some of the cabriolet units looked cooler.
http://assets.hemmings.com/story_image/391181-1000-0.jpg?rev=2
“If you don’t like your VW diesel, perhaps you should buy another VW.”
-VW Marketing Department
Yup. Although I haven’t got one of those tone-deaf letters just yet.
I think that’s a pretty rare wheel, I don’t recall seeing it much at all. I like the wood center bit.
Liked the Olds version later on though. Very modern.
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/3513/3741/33781870002_large.jpg
That one *is* nice, better than the one that was in the Riviera.
The Cadillac 4.5 replaced the HT 4100 in 1988. Sadly the heavier E-body Eldorado from the 1979-85 generation was 3 years out getting the 4.5 which would have made that car much better with 155 horses compared to 125-135 from the 4.1.
They feel plenty slow with 200hp, so really the 135 would have been almost intolerable. Though I guess expectations were a lot lower back then.
And I think the wiki page is wrong, then RE: 4.5.
the 4.5 and 4.9 weren’t new engines, they were the HT4100 with a bit more displacement and some of the more egregious flaws fixed.
The 1979 Eldo had the Seville’s 350 V8. In 1980, the 350 disappeared and the 368 showed up with throttle body fuel injection. In 1981, the 368 got the 4/6/8 cylinder deactivation deal. The HT4100 showed up in 1982
The 4.5 was only available on the shrunken post-1985 Eldo.
That sort of chintzy lighting, paneling and switches lasted in conversion vans well into the late ’90s.
I think it’s actually quite appropriate for these 80s PLCs, less so for a conversion van. The PLCs looked especially chintzy compared to the demure contemporary options from Europe, but that was their appeal.
Oh I agree. It’s what American luxury was all about. And I know you secretly want a conversion van example, so I got one for ya.
http://www.2040-cars.com/Chevrolet/Express/chevrolet-1500-gladiator-conversion-van-florida-garaged-and-in-top-shape–550260/
Only in Florida…
But it’s in Boston! I dunno why the link says Florida, that’s a weird site. Hard to find listings with good interior photos all of the same vehicle.
Well, I’m sure it’s a Florida retiree’s transplant. There goes the neighborhood, I mean city.
With conversion vans, it also depended on which conversion company did the converting. I worked at a NC dealership in the 1990’s that sold a lot of Dodge conversion vans. Our most economical vans were the Mark III’s, followed by another brand I cannot remember (Primetime, maybe?), and the top-of-the-ladder one was the Elk van. Elk conversions were very nice, definitely of superior quality compared to the other two.
Indiana’s economy must have collapsed after conversion vans fell out of favor, ’cause I could swear all conversion van companies were located in that state…
Those chintzy lights seem to be par for the course on damn near everything of that era. Growing up in that era it seems that everything(including home appliances and fixtures) were made with that cheap chrome plastic crap. When I think of the late 70s, I think brown masonite paneling and cheap plastic all the things.
If you think home appliances and fixtures were chintzy back then you must not deal with what they have been making the past 10-15 years. Talk about made in China throw away crap. Our repair shop gets in appliances including vacuum cleaners, small items like toaster, mixers etc and many types of lamps and lighting fixtures on a daily basis. We most always end up putting in older sockets/parts and wiring because the crap today is really bad in most cases, especially the washers and dryers and vacuums.
Those old appliances sometimes looked chintzy, but they are tanks that were/are worth being repaired.
Now, we have washing machines and fridges that are connected to WiFi and have touch screen panels. Why on earth would I need my dryer connected to the cloud? My washer and dryer have manual dials, clean and dry clothes well, and were made in America. That’s all I care about.
When I was shopping water heaters, I’d come across reviews with things like “Cons: Water heater doesn’t have Wi-Fi connection.”
WTF, it’s warm water. On/Off, temp, vacation setting. That’s it.
There is now a juicer that you must connect to the internet for it to work. You also have to purchase their “juice packs”. And it costs $700.
That is absurd. Is it something German?
No. Think Silicon Valley tech hipsters.
I’d be pissed if someone hacked and DDOS’ed my hot water heater.
Ah! You’re from the Midwest.
“Hot water heater.” That’s very regional.
I wouldn’t mind a wifi connected washer and dryer, just to tell me when the cycle is done. Why not, costs like $.25 to add that functionality these days. What I really want is one of the combined washer/dryers like the Europeans often have. No need to swap clothes.
I could see a connected waterheater being good in that it could be learning like Nest thermostat, and alert you if it springs a leak.
Not sure I need a fridge with a camera inside though. Then again, my kitchen is largely decorative – the roommate and I very much lead the bachelor existence.
“What I really want is one of the combined washer/dryers like the Europeans often have.”
Had one in Korea. It’s really REALLY crap at drying the clothes. All the humidity is too much for the dryer to cope, at least in the example I had. I’d dry them for an hour or two, they’d come out damp, and I’d hang them on the line in my apartment.
The Home Depot sells those washer/dryer single units. $800-$2000.
Wifi in my washer or dryer notifying me that the cycle is done fixes a problem that I don’t have. Sometimes I hear the buzzer go off, sometimes I just check. I don’t want to download some washing machine app on my phone and I don’t want a “smart home”.
Instead of a notification to your phone for a leaky water heater, it’s better to spend $100-$200 on a leak detector/auto shut off. If I’m not at home, a notification pushed to my phone is going to do dick.
Also, Nest sucks. It’s a novelty that doesn’t offer any benefits over regular thermostats. I don’t even have a programmable thermostat anymore. My furnance/AC is more efficient staying at one temp if we are going to be in the house that day. The Nest Smoke Detector even worse. $100 for a smoke detector?!?!? Go f@ck yourself Google.
I know, too spendy for my cheap self.
At this point, adding the connectedness is so cheap there really is no reason not to. If you don’t want to use it, don’t.
I actually agree with you on the Nest for the most part. I think it CAN save money with some heating systems, but I suspect the payback time is measured in eons at the current outrageous pricing. I just keep my house cold all winter, and wear a sweater. I do have a programmable thermostat that simply sets the place back to 50F from 11pm-10am.
What I do plan to buy is a wifi-enabled IR transmitter for the window A/C unit in my bedroom. Then my lazy @ss can turn it on before I go up to bed to cool the place off. They are relatively cheap. One of my geek buddies actually made a Lego robot to push the button on the remote to do the same thing! But his kid has ALL the Lego.
The only thing a Nest is good for is ensuring you have a very expensive furnace, and for letting other visitors to your home -know- that you have a Nest. Unless you’ve got a 10,000 sq ft house where you really should close off a wing you’re not using, it’s pointless. Programmable is plenty.
And what’s the big deal about missing the dryer being done anyway? So stuff sits there for a while – if it’s wrinkled, run it two more minutes.
People are looking for solutions to fake problems in order to seem more high tech.
I get why they add connectedness. It’s cheap to add and people pay a premium for it.
That is a cool idea for the window AC unit. I have a ductless system for my upstairs now, but I would have liked that before I spent the cash on the Mitsubishi system.
The problem with adding too much technology to my house is that my wife gets furious if technology doesn’t work. She got Ford executive numbers when the MFT on her 2012 Focus flaked out for 6 months. She has zero patience for something tech working slower than the thing it replaced.
Hmm, so what are -good- quality washer/dryer vacuum brands in modern times?
If you want an old school, durable, borderline commercial grade washer or dryer that is made in the US, there is always Speed Queen. They are expensive though.
That sounds very cool and ’50s. I will look them up. Have Whirlpool washer and dryer now (not H.E) but they came with the house. They work fine, when I moved in my dad just replaced the dog gears on the agitator since they were stripped in there. I think that was $8.
The outside of the washer is rusting at places though, where the lip over the drum is.
We have an Amana washer and dryer (made in Benton Harbor, MI by Whirlpool). The washer is not HE because my wife hates HE washers. When we went to the appliance store, we asked to see the cheapest washer and dryer made in the US. That’s what we ended up buying.
I don’t want HE either. Seems to be a pain, and I’m more concerned with clean clothes than I am saving an extra gallon of water and having to do some special HE procedures.
Miele. Expensive, but works well. Very quiet, which I like.
Those seats make my back ache just looking at them. No support at all. And those acres of fake wood, so klassy!
My Deville gives me mid-backache after a while due to lack of support. It’s impossible to sit up straight in there.
Seats designed for shrunken old people with spinal curvature. It’s the only logical explanation. The seats in my folks Oldsmobarge 98 were just hilariously terrible. And a $20K+ car in 1984 that did not have the ability to adjust the angle of the passenger seat backrest was just sad.
I guess one positive of having a 85 mph speedometer is you could brag on how you could peg it out.
I’d drive this anyday over an ‘austere and sophisicated’ sled from across the pond. $16k for manual windows and rubber-cast bumpers? No thanks, BMW.
I don’t think you could still get manual windows in a BMW in the US in 1985, but you could get a manual sunroof in a 318i. The nice thing about the austere car from West Germany was that it wasn’t festooned with fake wire wheels, fake landau bars, a fake radiator shell, a fake wood dashboard, fake fender vents, fake gauges a’la Pontiac, pointless metal pleats on the tufted and badly stitched seats, or a fake convertible top. The hallmarks of the personal luxury car/brougham era rubbed those of us that didn’t like self-delusion the wrong way. Today it’s BMW that pipes fake engine noise into their gaudy passenger compartments. They’ve taken over the vast market that once bought Coupe DeVilles and assorted other pimpmobiles, but they’ve given up their authenticity to do so.
The magazines treated this generation of big GM coupes pretty well. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with the suspension system. Apparently, the Eldorado Touring car had competent ride and handling, but by then Cadillac had killed off its only successful post-war engine design.
I drove a low mileage (62K) mint 1985 Rivera T-Type several years back when on the hunt for a lower priced 80’s collectable car to take to the shows. It was gray with the sport leather steering wheel, alloy wheels, suspension upgrade and leather interior.
The T-type was sure the way to go if you wanted a firmer suspension and more power under the hood. It’s a shame that Buick didn’t keep the 79-81 bucket seats however which were more supportive and comfortable than the 55/45 split bench units that most of these had. It did have power recliners and 6-way adjustments on both sides which did help some though.
The owner wouldn’t budge on the 6600 asking price so I walked.
Whyyyyyyy did I have to miss out on the personal luxury coupe era?? I’ll never live it down (half-joking…)
I do remember when these were common demolition derby cars in the mid to late 1990s and yet at the same time you’d occasionally see one in mint condition owned by a little old lady/man.
A FWD car in a demolition derby? Every demo derby/enduro race I’ve been to is a sea of Crown Vics, Caprices, and A/G-bodies.
Yep. Actually, at least here in the rust belt, at least half of derby cars are FWD nowadays. B’s, G’s and box Panthers are almost extinct.
My sister had numerous malaise-era cars when she and her first husband moved out of my mom’s and “grew their wings”, so to speak. A Riviera like this being one of such, but rusty and rough with faded paint.
It was a comfy ride, lol. That’s… about it.
I will venture so far as to say that the convertible Rivy’s of this generation were somewhat attractive. But I much prefer the next generation Riviera with its impressive digital gauges (not to mention a 3800…).
307? Nah… lol Not for me. Then again, my gramps used to have an early 80’s Delta 88 which had the same motor. I remember how badly it squeaked and rattled going down the road, but that wheezy ol’ 307 would always roar to life after some blips of the throttle just prior to start up.
But this was the only generation where you could get some Spanish on the side of your Toronado!
CALIENTEEEE
Almost forgot about those.
What a difference latitude (or possibly altitude?) makes in the way a car rusts. Living in Canada one rarely sees them rusting from the top down like this; usually the rockers are Swiss Cheese before the hood even loses its gloss.
I always think of the red/white convertible model driven Arnold in “Raw Deal”. A quick look in Hemmings has the conv model priced mid teens to 20k now
Strangely enough, these (1979-85 Rivieras) were the most popular of all Buick Rivieras. The 1985 model year (the last year for this design) saw sales top out at 65,000.
Go figure.
It’s a shame so many left the factory with that idiotic little vinyl landau roof. It ruins the tension between the formal roofline and the flowing fenders. A friend’s dad had one and I still can recall the awesome triple note horn!
I was born in ’76 and my mother and my aunt were both teachers, and of course I myself was in school at the time these cars first lived, and the Riviera, along with its Old’s Toronado platform mate were suprisingly popular among Midwestern educators of that time, both male and female.
Now of course, every school parking lot is chockablock with Camcords and Odysseys.
Wow, lots of hate for these cars on here. Not fair actually. They handled well for their size and rode beautifully. My Mom had a 1979 with the Buick 350 V-8. It was quick enough, and equipped with the Firm Ride and Handling suspension it was a great driver. Those “lights” in the backseat were an option. Rear Courtesy and Reading Lamps, to be exact. They were somewhat rarely ordered and really did add a nice luxury touch by lighting up the back seat area. We had one of the first ’79 Rivieras and were asked constantly what kind of car it was. Sadly with only 30k on the odometer in 1985 my Mom was hit in the rear quarter and our Riv was totaled. It was a sad day indeed. I have great memories of that car. And for its day it was truly a fine automobile.
Every time someone on here says that something like this “handles well and rides nicely”, it makes me think that either they have never actually been in a decent car, or they live somewhere such that they have never gone faster than 35mph in one. On perfectly smooth roads with no curves in them.
I mean, I guess they handle well and ride nicely compared to a small oil tanker in heavy seas?
“Handling” in the Detroit sense meant the car didn’t quite scrape the ground turning into the owner’s suburban driveway, and didn’t oscillate on Midwestern highways where the only curves were vertical. Corner carving is the pinnacle of handling these days, but back in Detroit’s salad years curvy roads meant the highway department hadn’t straightened them out yet.
Lol. Although to be fair, Detroit’s not the only culprit, Hyundais have ridiculous body roll too (or at least used to). Heck, my ’07 Lacrosse corners better than my ’01 Sonata.
When I moved to the middle of a corn field in Northern Illinois to go to law school, the design of the typical American land barge suddenly made a lot more sense to me. The abilities of my ’84 Jetta GLI were very much underutilized in that corn-filled wasteland.
There are some areas of the Midwest with nice driving roads, but they are separated by endless miles of flat and straight.
>wasteland
Fite me IRL bro. That’s where your food comes from!
That steering wheel… good gawd.
The 1987 model looked far more modern. These things are so dated they look like they are from a different planet.
It is incredible how this and the ’95 Riv are only a decade apart. Technically a little less, as the ’95 Riv was introduced in Mid-1994 for the ’95 model year.