So, back when i was 17, 18, had this unfortunate job, where i came across an abandoned 69 Riviera in a backyard of a house that had been foreclosed, and they had not come to get their items, and the company i worked for happened to get the job(removing said belongings to trash or, storage.) back then didn't know anything about these cars. (Buick's, Chevy) but the car was in great condition.. kindauzzled: the body had been worked, and primed, not a dent on it, really straight. interior was covered in this awful blue "velvet" fabric with a swirls design, but under that, the original vynl seats were slightly dirty, but not torn, blue interior, floor shifter, bucket seats most everything was there. Engine was rebuilt with all the receipts in the car, showing what was spent. front bumper was missing, but amazing for what i thought would be my first car. (except i had to figure out how to fix the body from where they mounted hydraulics to the car :af well i didn't have the title for said vehicle, pulled it home anyway, My dad is a mechanic, and asked if his tow buddy could do the Vin search, and all the proceedings to get the car back to me with a title. 3 months later, after hearing that the owners were coming to get the car back they never showed up. till the day before it could be released to me. Lost the Riviera, Severe Disappointment, to say the least, before knowing anything, i was trying to find an other one, but couldn't find anything that wasn't to far gone, or had no title. 10 years later, someone i dont know (but talked to briefly over phone) and 2 states over, has $500 dollars of mine, all is there, except the engine, so i have located a 455 buick, and made arrangements to pick it up Saturday. "[FONT="]It runs good had about 100k on the car it came out of a 75 Buick electra call or txt if you have any questions thanks"[/FONT] is what the add said. then i learned the 75 are a little worse off then i was lead to believe, and if all goes well, i will be leaving Friday morning around 3 am, and travel 9 hours out to go get the pictured rivi below, and 9hrs. back (maybe by midnight, with traffic and all...) 18 hour trip on paper.
Your car was ordered without vinyl top. Makes it a bit more rare.Riv's were designed to be luxury / sports car for the more affluent driver. You should have little to no problem dropping the 455 into her although it came from the factory with the 430. Theres a bunch of guys here that can help you along your way bringing this car back to life.
Welcome, that is a cool story... You may have lost that first Riv but it inspired you to find one later so thats cool!
Looks like you lucked onto a good rebuilder; - the 455 should fit like a glove. Once it runs, that will hopefully keep the inspiration up, and maybe a paint job will follow. Good on you for saving a fairly scarce Riv!
I'm from Colorado, north of Denver, and i was told the vynl roof's were a 50/50, if the roof was ok, no vynl, if it was mucky, then they threw vynl on top to save money, learned again. nice about the vynl!!! as far as the engine goes, its the only 455 i could find with out spending a ton of money to 1: get it, 2: make sure it runs, i would like to put a 430 in there, but haven't found one, and 455 power levels are quite appeasing... and yes, i have been wanting this for 10 years, so once i get the engine in, ill be going to get me a set of hammer and dolly's to work on the dents you can see in the picture. (front passenger, and drivers door) and then while doing that, im thinking color/s. would like a 2-tone, but everybody seems to like the Lime Green highlight look around where I am. so Im gonna change those color/s combo. yeah that first Riviera started something, and couldn't ever just settle on a Chevelle, or anything less. but i have a 454 block waiting to be built! (might go into my 83 Chevy K-20)
also, since the change from "Gross" to SAE "Net", how much of a disappointment is the 74-76 455 compared to the earlier versions? 375 ft lbs is still more then my 04 Sierra denali he has 5 blocks, one runs (supposedly the one im buying) so i thought about in a few weeks grab another one, and stripping that one down to rebuild it completely, maybe a .030 bore, cam, stage 1, just a bad ass daily driver. :TU:
According to Darwin Falk of the ROA, as published in the Sept/Oct 2007 "Riview", nearly 85% of 1969 Rivieras left Flint with a vinyl top. According to his statistics, nearly 36% of the total production wore black vinyl tops. In descending order of popularity, white, buckskin, dark green, dark fawn and burgundy vinyl tops were also offered. Jim Vesely BCA # 39477 ROA # 7437
If the one running is a blue block, you will need to add in the cost of buying another set of heads. You may want to think carefully about engine year selection in light of your plans.
Yay, juat what i wanted to hear, $3000 on car and engine, now $2000+ heads lol. Well those will be on the shelf for a minute. Where the garage sale part of the forum.
. . . thanks for looking up the numbers Jim, even less than that for '68 - the vinyl top option popularity increased each year with 2nd generation Riviera. :TU:
Randy, You are absolutely correct. According to Darwin Falk in his series of articles, Options Not Included in the "Riview", 7.2% of 1966 Rivieras wore a vinyl top (offered only in the spring of 1966), 63.1% of 1968 Rivieras were ordered with vinyl tops, 84.9% of 1969 Rivieras had a factory vinyl top and 87.5% of 1970 Rivieras were so equipped. Darwin has not written an Options Not Included article on the 1967 Rivieras to date. The following information is also from his articles: 5.78% of 1965 Rivieras were ordered with a black vinyl top (the only color available that model year and only in the spring of 1965). 75.1% of the first year of the boat-tail generation, 1971, left Flint with the vinyl covering. Both the full vinyl top (as in prior years) and a sport or landau were available for 1972 although the landau top was only available after about December 1971/January 1972. It is, apparently, not clear if the full vinyl top was offered for the entire 1972 production run. 69.7% of 1972 Rivieras had factory vinyl tops. In 1973, only the sport or landau style vinyl top was offered and were installed on 81% of Rivieras. Jim Vesely BCA # 39477 ROA # 7437
well, Crap... So i have had a transmission quit on me, and other slow downs... dont have the rivi yet.. kinda freaking out. feeling like i jumped the gun and jinxed it right from the get go. looks like ill have money at the end of march, but doubting ill get out alive with the car. craptastic! but browsing this site, ran across a thread, where some one graphted a GMC Cyclone front frame on a skylark frame, and went all wheel drive. and then there is ken block with his hoonicorn mustang. (AWD Mustang) and as im driving my 04 GMC denali Sierra, i take a turn a lot faster then you probably should in a pickup, cept it doesnt bother this truck, as i can walk away from most vehicles in the turns, and continue walking away jsut because speed was higher in and out of the turn, i can also out turn most suv's in my pickup, so i thought, how Badass would it be to have a old land yacht out turn most modern sport cars? not out handle, out turn, Smaller Radius, (we can improve handling, with all the control arm availble now, but tightening up the radius??) GM had this option for trucks, 02-06, called Quadrasteer. and its AWESOME! 36.5 turn radius. so i am only 27, And realize for my dream from here on, will be quite the venture, 1)get my first rivi, and make road worthy, 2) finish getting tools for my company) 3)find a firehouse for rent or sell, (move in) 4) aquire another rivi, GS, Skylark, or anyother beautiful bodied RWD car 5)aquire 02-06 GMC Sierra Quad steer Pickup (complete with engine ad driveline) 6) swap the whole rearend for the all Wheel Steer set up. (possibly entertain idea of AWD, AWS) so for me it would be another 15 years i think to accumulate all tools, space, friends and knowledge to even prepare for this. but couldnt keep it to myself, and would really love if somebody else would do this. (or wait 30 yrs to see me fail) AWD, AWS, 500 ft lbs.? any takers?
I think it's great to have big dreams and ambition! I joined V8 Buick when I was a teenager and driving my 76 Century... I started with very little and worked hard to make my dreams come true... So I say good on you and have fun!
