Well, in the pursuit of refining my desired look for the Riviera I am trying to find an OEM style solution to the center caps. One of the stupid decisions for the 70 Riviera was to intermingle the oval R symbol while also having the "Riviera" script intermingled on and in the car. The oval R is only on the rear corner lights and the wheel cap centers. The wheel caps are heavy and require imho excessive maintenance as they sqweak, work loose, get dirty easy and...yeah they are kinda ugly. I even put a shield emblem in place because the R just bugs me. In fact, the car has been run for years without center caps and I am now getting back to a solution. So I am in the process of fitting and find a mounting solution for the smaller circle medallions that were used on other big cars. The problem is the wheel center hole is too small on the Riv wheels. Here's some photos for reference.
As an A body owner, I’ve always been jealous of the finned cones on big cars. I’m glad ‘68 at least had some fins-I really dislike the smooth ‘71 and ups. Big fins with trishield is my vote. Patrick
I guess I am being a little harsh of the style of the finned caps, they aren't bad when clean and done well. Still do not like the oval R. However every time I drove my car with these caps I was always checking for how loose they were and cleaning them, checking the mounting tabs, swapping taps, re-bending etc. Many times I would be close to losing 1...but I do have two sets minus the plastic emblems in case of a loss. Finally I just pulled them off since I just waned to enjoy the car with one less hassle. Mounting these fin caps is tricky as you can not access the lug nuts without removal yet these are heavy enough that mount should be improved like bolting in...catch 22. The ABody fin caps would be better.
Well Chad, I gotta be honest with you and say that when I see small car center caps on big car wheels I cringe. They just look totally out of place IMHO. I feel that the Big Buick wheels with the turbine style centers are the best looking factory wheels that ever rolled out of Detroit. But of course, YMMV.
So you would not like this either? The cap shown on my wheel is a big car center cap, with a small medallion.
Oh yeah, that's a later year Riv center cap that looks just fine. I just don't like when I see Skylark centers on Riv wheels.
Hi Chad, I`m with Nick regarding the center caps but I do get your point about their size, etc....I also dont like the A body centers, when I see that on a big car it just leaves the impression that the owner didnt go to the trouble of finding the original caps. Regarding the mix of the oval "R" symbol and the name written in script that is probably true for all the years except `63. I do like the big car flat cap in the Boattail pic you posted. Riviera used the same basic cap in `65 and starting in `71 except the colors were swapped, ie, a silver "R" on a black background. If you are considering using the big car flat cap on your black (?) `70 I think the original `65 flat cap (silver R in a black background) on your black car would look awesome. Cars (oldbuickparts.com) has these caps in repro and their quality is excellent and in my opinion should be priced at twice what they are. I`m pretty sure they also offer a retainer which will work in your 2 1/8th center hole. The factory flat cap retainer in both `65 and `71 and up are designed for a 2 inch hole so factory caps will not work with your wheels. Believe it or not just that 1/8th inch difference in the diameter of the hole makes a huge difference! If you want to send me a PM, I`ll send back my phone # and I can tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the big car wheels..and there really is a lot to know....6 different generations of the big car chrome Formula V wheels! Tom
From 70s something big car buicks (two different cars to make a set of 4). I pulled them off 20+ years ago...dont recall model(s), but obviously buick and definitely was not an ABoby or small car caps.
Interesting, my 67 has those same wheels and caps. Does that mean its a 7 inch wheel? (Referring to the Riviera GS picture)
I run a set of the 66-70 finned caps on my 73 Riv wheels. I had to tweek the clips a bit but they fit nice and tight . I have never had one come off and the car has seen the century mark many tines . If you don't like the "R" how about the tri-shield . I have this set of 4 on E-Bay right now https://www.ebay.com/itm/1966-1970-...LECTRA-225-and-ESTATE-WAGON-NORS/303058090316
Been cold in the garage and haven't gotten back to it. Thanks for the offer but I definitely do not need any more finned caps, I just need to decide on the medallion, one option is to buy nice new Buick shields which are colored but since I muted the grill emblem I realize I would be guilty of mis-matching the theme like Buick did between the circle R and the Riviera script, but I would be doing it with colored and non color Buick shields. I am thinking more of doing something with the "Ghost Shield" design to match the caps medallions. http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/buick-ghost-shield.327556/
