Not long ago, Rare Rides presented Buick’s very special celebration of the company’s 75th anniversary via the 1978 Buick Riviera. Today we’ll fast forward five years and have a look at another anniversary Riviera.
It’s the Riviera “XX,” from 1983.
Our story starts in 1979 — a rough time all across the passenger car landscape. By and large, quality control was laissez-faire, engines were strangled by emissions requirements, and consumer tastes were at the low point best summarized as Brougham. But General Motors had a trio of new personal luxury coupes to offer. Making the swap to front-drive-only and accompanied by a downsizing, the new E-bodies came in Buick Riviera, Oldsmobile Toronado, and Cadillac Eldorado guises.
Buick’s Riviera was in its sixth generation for 1979, and all examples rolled out of Linden Assembly (d. 2005). It was the first-ever front-drive production Buick, paving the way for the rest of the brand’s history to date. Most Rivieras were of the traditional coupe style, but by 1982 there were ASC-sourced convertibles as well. Engines on offer ranged from 3.8 to 5.7 liters of displacement (the former being turbocharged), with either six or eight cylinders. Special mention of the 350 Oldsmobile V8 here, as it was available in gasoline or ill-fated diesel guises. All Rivieras were motivated by a three-speed or four-speed automatic, dependent on model year.
Upon introduction the Riviera was blessed with a Motor Trend COTY award, and sales of the big coupe doubled over the prior year. Buick shifted over 52,000 in 1979, and a similar number in 1980. In 1981 the V6 Turbo model was renamed T-Type, as Buick started a new sports trim line. The same year saw the 350 (5.7L) disappear, which made the Olds 307 (5.0L) the largest engine on offer. Its 140 horses were bested by the turbocharged model’s figure of 185. Base model customers were relegated to a naturally aspirated 4.1-liter V6. With a four-barrel carb, it made 125 horsepower. Most customers chose the V8.
That brings us to today’s special Riviera XX. For 1983, Buick created a limited run of 500 coupes to celebrate two decades of Riviera’s existence. All examples featured a two-tone cream and tan paint job, upgraded leather and velour upholstery, walnut wood, badges of 24-karat gold, and actual wire wheels. Door trims were unique to the model, featuring a single slab of walnut. Previewing the ’84 model year, the XX had a slightly revised grille design not seen on other trims.
Refreshed with the aforementioned grille for 1984, the Riviera’s sales continued to climb. Personal luxury showed no signs of stopping, as sales reached the 65,000 mark for the sixth gen’s final year in 1985. But a new E-body arrived in ’86 that was 19 inches shorter and featured a singular V6 engine. The demise of the PLC was underway, and GM bowed out early.
Today’s superb condition Rare Ride goes up for auction in Florida on January 12, 2020. You can drive it home on some vintage Uniroyals.
[Images: seller]
ah, nothing says “old man car” like gold badging/pinstripes, wire wheels, and Royal Seal tires. only thing it lacks is the Landau roof.
Can’t win them all ;)
The Buick is the most apropos of the three for such a roof treatment.
This was a very tasteful example of the Riviera I assure you most had landau roofs and the Toronado sporting opera lights as well, but I take issue with this,
“but by 1982 there were factory convertibles as well”
I don’t remember GM ever offering a FACTORY convertible in the Riviera/Toronado/Elderado, only aftermarket chops
“Factory-sanctioned” would be better wording. The convertibles were coupes that were dragged off the line and converted by the American Sunroof Corporation, then sold as new cars through dealers. GM would have likely worked with ASC to make the necessary structural improvements and engineering changes, but clearly wasn’t interested in doing the work itself.
Also, I do not believe there was a Toronado convertible; however the Riviera and Eldorado got the drop-top treatment.
Yes, there were factory authorized chop shops that made the convertibles, but the ’76 Eldorado was the last “in-house” convertible
If I ever have to part with my ’65 Wildcat, this generation Riv is on my shortlist as a replacement.
The tires are the crown jewels! :) You can still get gold-line tires from Vogue and Coker, but the “ROYAL SEAL” and crown just set these vintage ones off so nicely.
If you are ever within striking distance, the Coker Museum is highly recommended.
true story- back in HS/college I wrenched part time. weekends were mostly LOF and tire jobs. Guy comes in with a Caddy shod with Royal Seal tires. One had a slow leak, which turned out to be the valve leaking. swapped in a new one, aired up the tire, and sent him on his way.
he comes back an hour or so later saying now the car has a horrendous vibration while driving. Pull the tire and throw it on the (bubble) balancer, and it was so off-balance it nearly tipped itself off the level. Bust the tire down and pull it off the rim and I find this enormous black blob of goo stuck to the inside of the tire.
my guess was that he ran the tire low enough for so long the heat caused the sealing compound to melt, then when he parked it flowed down to the bottom and congealed.
I always hate when “old man car” is said with derision. Why are the tastes of older buyers less important or shown contempt compared to the tastes of younger buyers?
These are what they are but younger buyers can’t say s*** given some of their “tastes” IMO.
would you prefer “heaven’s taxi cab?”
Opulence!
Last-ever American car with factory wires? Or does that honor go to Brougham in 1991?
I think it was the Brougham, I also want to say the other B-bodies were available with them as well.
You could get wires and opera windowed landau tops on anything GM made down to the Olds Omega/Buick Skylark as well. Broughamification was in full tilt by 1982
I love this generation. Even as a weird early teens kid, I thought these were beautiful and I wanted one.
Needs more boat tail.
I like this least of the three. Eldorado looks best, followed by Toro.
I would put this XX in front of a Toro Calienté, but not an Eldorado Touring.
Personally, I thought the Eldo Touring was silly, particularly when you could buy a “base” coupe without the vinyl roof and classy-looking alloys. My dad had an ’80 so equipped – black on tan with a hand-painted tan pinstripe.
The car was garbage, but it was dapper as hell.
If you had to go fake-performance with these, I’d say the Riv T-type was the best choice, looks-wise.
Yep, you paid MORE for the vinyl roof and white wall tire delete with the “touring” designation. Oh, that tricky GM
Huh. Well, paying more for less stuff would have been completely out of character for my old man, may he rest in peace, but his tastes definitely leaned towards “understated but dapper.”
The Eldo was trash, though – it got dumped about a year later for a BMW 7-series.
Problem with the Toronado is the front fascia. The Eldorado and the Rivieras look good because of their more formal grill. The Toronodo lacks that and it looks like a face that is missing its nose.
Overall, I think these are supposed to be a step up from the Cutlasses and Regals, but I think they miss the mark. The G body 2 doors have a better overall shape.
These do look a whole lot better than the follow-on generation, however.
None of these were bad looking, but I’d pretty much agree with Corey here – the Eldo was the best of the bunch, followed by the Olds and the Riv.
The Toronado “coffin nose” was a take on the 30s front-drive Cords
Riviera King Ranch Edition.
“Most Rivieras were of the traditional coupe style, but by 1982 there were factory convertibles as well, back when American manufacturers built their own drop-tops.”
I’m not sure what you mean by this. The Buick Riviera convertibles of the ’80s were built as coupes by GM and then sent to American Sunroof Corporation who chopped off the hardtops and built convertible tops. Buick was responding to the success of the Chrysler Lebaron convertible, and probably hadn’t given a thought to convertibles when the car was designed.
I thought these were the last factory GM convertibles. *Thinking face*
75 B bodies. back when the caprice could be optioned out almost to cadillac levels.
Nope. 1976 Eldo was the last..
From Wikipedia:
1976 was to be the final year for the Eldorado convertible and the car was heavily promoted by General Motors as “the last American convertible”. Some 14,000 would be sold, many purchased as investments
1976 Eldorado is correct!
I fixed it. I didn’t have time during the day today to log on and deal with WordPress.
Umm…Buick Cascada? I like to pretend it didn’t happen either, but yeah, my rental experience at LAX says otherwise.
And Third Gen Camaro?
third party modification, just like the Mustang up until 1994.
You’re absolutely correct, Todd, I don’t know where Corey got that info, but it’s wrong
I never noticed how the dashboard is essentially a flat panel. Not sure I can name another car with a single-plane dash that isn’t a kit car…..
All three were essentially flat. The Toro was bisected verticality by the center dash vent.
I’d have to agree that the Eldo looks best, though if I had the opportunity to have a mint edition of any of the three in my dream garage, I wouldn’t pass it up!
My Triumph Spitfire. A nice slab of plywood with walnut veneer and a selection of classic Smiths gauges. Though MY car actually has maple veneer, because I redid it 25 years ago and added a couple more gauges.
I don’t think I have ever heard of another American car where the wood was REAL in this era. Most Broughams have “fake bark” slathered all over. And it always looks completely fake.
“My Triumph Spitfire. A nice slab of plywood with walnut veneer and a selection of classic Smiths gauges. ”
all point-to-point hand wired.
“the XX had a slightly revised grille design not seen on other trims.”
The sad thing is, I notice these things.
This is the car that got me interested in cars. When I was very little (late 90s), my grandmother had a 1985 Riviera, which was the last model year of these sixth-gen PLCs. Grandma’s Riviera was Triple Brown (brown paint, brown landau top, brown leather). It definitely had the Oldsmobile 307 in it, with its electronic carburetor.
I like your grandma.
“Location: Kissimmee, Florida,
“Seller’s Description: – Believed to be 6,000 miles”
Welp, that answers my one and only question, to a level of certainty that is sufficient to satisfy my curiosity.
Welp, golly gee!
Del Boca Vista!
Give me a 79 Toronado with Olds 350 and 3 speed auto. That was my ultimate 79-85 E-body at least with zero mods. The V4-6-8 Eldo would have to have the cylinder deactivation system made inoperative.
Love the room on the front and rear floor. As it should be. One pet peeve of mine about FWD cars (since the early 80s) is the need for a trans hump when there is no trans/driveline under there.
For a lot of cars, this is a structural thing. It makes the floor stiffer and stronger- specifically the passenger compartment (in a crash) and the chassis (as a whole).
Like anything else in mechanical design, there is more than one way to skin a cat. They could design the structure differently to make for a flatter floor and achieve the same strength. That might make the car heavier than the hump would- maybe it’s worth the trade or maybe it is not. The 2006-2010 Honda Civic is the only small car I can think of with a truly flat floor in the back seat, instead of footwell-hump-footwell. It was a pretty neat feature and I actually carried a few 4’×4′ pieces of sheet metal back there once (or maybe it was 4’×3′ or ×2′). As I put the stuff back there, I remember smiling in amusement, as a car nut, about that flat floor.
Agreed on the importance of structure. There is a little bit of a hump there but still plenty of room so I think a compromise could be made. I loved the old Citroens that had a raised body so the floor could be flat. It’s amazing how much more space no or little bit of a hump makes.
Oh yes, and if one company could pull it off while still meeting modern day crash standards, then anyone can.
Hideous, baroque garbage.
Now don’t talk about the current CR-V like that.
Both are ugly and overwrought, but at least the CR-V is useful and had some IQ put into it.
Just because you don’t like it doesn’t make it garbage.
Just because you bought one doesn’t mean it was a good idea, Gramps.
Wow those seats are magnificent! Like sitting in a soft, suede baseball glove.
Looks like much nicer leather than they put in the other models too.
They should resurrect the Riv name for its 60th, and adorn their huge Enclave in this beautiful lush and elegant livery.
That, sir, is heresy.
That’s funny, because every time I see a new Enclave I think today’s Electra 225 and would love to see Buick resurrect that name
@Lie2me, Electra 225 ESTATE, Good Sir.
Electra would be a good name to resurrect for an EV version of a Buick crossover.
Yes, with a range of 225 miles, no more, no less.
Man one of these with a well built later supercharged 3800 would be an amazing daily driver.
That’s actually a great idea.