Well just about everybody has a different opinion on this subject, I personaly think it varys from year to year and how you style your car. Post your opinion!
Its a Luxury car of the 60's. Big Comfortable car, with Big Power under the hood and a nice smooth and quiet ride quality to match.
This subject always causes an arguement on other websites. IMO, if it's a GS, yes it is. Why not if it ain't a GS? Because most musclecars have the performance package.......and the GS option is a performance package. The same goes for the Wildcat GS.....it's also a musclecar. Problem is when the poncho and chebby guys see one, they automatically think someone plastered the GS emblems on the car for looks. :blast: I started that arguement about the RivGS on a musclecar website (www.musclecarclubs.com ?) over the winter and the GTO guys went nuts :laugh: .....as we all know the GTO is the only true musclecar and was the very 'first' :sleep: :error: :spank: ou: If a chebby Impala SS is a musclecar and a Riv GS is not, as his website states, could someone please explain that to me? .......And if I hear that term personal luxury car one more time I'm gonna have to break out the big guns! :af:
In its day it was a personnal luxury car like Fords Thunderbird. However, I think its aged into the musclecar catagory now. I mean, Big blocks, barely adequate brakes, outstanding styling, etc..... Sounds like American muscle to me.
For some reason, I think of the 63 and 64's as classy lux. cars. The 65 GS looked more sporty and had the badges if it was a GS. The 66 body style seemed sleek and performance minded even down to the dash design. The 68 through 70 designs just don't appear perormance minded. Now a boattail was larger looking, but looked fast to me again like the 65 GS, 66 ane 67's. I think it goes back to the body lines for me. Of course, all can be customized a little and make them look like what ever you want. So, I do think Rivs for the most part are American Muscle Cars. I know they have velocity joints and weigh 2 tons or more, but they still were muscular.
Muscle cars are fast without class, Buicks are fast with class.Personally I think Rivs are in a class by themselves. I don't really consider them muscle cars and I don't really consider them to not be muscle cars. Really I mean, who cares?
A muscle car is partly about horsepower to weight ratio. Considering you could get a 455 in a Trans Am, the Riv is just too big to be a true muscle car. It's a really fast boulevard boat.
Just thought I would throw this in here, I got this definition of a muscle car directly from Merrian Webster dictonary Main Entry: muscle car Pronunciation: -"kr Function: noun : any of a group of American-made 2-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving
The 71 Riv was originially designed to be a smaller car, possibly an A body (like a Skylark) which would have made it a muscle car. But they decided it should stay about the same size, which still works for me...
I'd say that the Chrysler 300, Chevy Impala SS, Olds Starfire, Mercury Marauder, Ford Galaxie 7 Litre and Buick Invicta/Wildcat/Centurion were full size muscle cars. Most of these were available with bucket seats, 4 speed transmissions, fancy wheels and tachs which coud hae made them "sporty". And that the Thunderbird, Riviera (GS or not) Toronado, Lincoln Mark III and Eldorado were personal luxury coupes. In my opinion, the 1965-68 Riviera GS were the sportiest of them and the Pontiac Grand Prix was between the two categories. Jacques Duval, a racer and auto journalist in Quebec said in the seventies that the Riviera was the rich people's Trans-Am. The same Journalist (who was later a Ford spokesperson!) also said in his 1970 "Guide de l'Auto" that the 1970 Buick Wildcat 4 door hardtop that it was the best handling full size car he had test driven. In the same book, he didn't have such nice words about the Mercury Marquis and the Ford Galaxie convertible that he tested on the same track (and in real life situations too). I remember he also praised the Sportwagon that they used for many years to film other cars on the track for his TV program "Prenez le Volant".
It is a musclecar.......the idea of a car needing to have a lighter body in order to be included in this classification is ill founded. In fact, the GTO (godfather of all musclecars ) fully optioned weighs in very close to a stripped down Riv. In fact, when I parked mine next to a '67 GTO I was surprised when I noticed the length of the body was almost equal to mine. When you are talking about a '70 Riv, keep in mind the torque of that motor is right up there with infamous Hemi. If that isn't muscle, then please enlighten me. :bglasses:
I think, in this day and age, for those who like "classes", there should be 3 parts to the muscle car category, small muscle car (or, Pony Car), mid-sized muscle car (Charger, Skylark, Torino), Large Muscle Car (Riviera, Impala, 300 series, Thunderbird). To be honest, if its fast or handles well, looks half way decent (in my eyes) and is driven, its cool by me, no matter whether it falls into a class or not.
I beg to differ with you, but......a COPO 427 Camaro is DEFINATELY a muscle car. Same goes for a SD455 TransAm. A 302 Z28, now that is a pony car. Just like a 302 Boss Mustang. The classic definition has always been, large displacement in a mid-small sized body.....as I have read for at least 20 years or so now, I believe that is the most common definition. John
Don't forget part of the musclecar classification is the performance package, (SS, GS, R/T, GT, 442, GTO, etc.) Good idea, but I don't think it would fly at car shows. There isn't enough "large" muscle car supply (around here anyway) to fill that class. I don't like classes either, it puts too many cars at a disadvantage in a crowded class. :bglasses:
A dual Quad '65 Riv (or GS Skylark) would cream any stock GTO from that era......what do you mean non-competitive? :spank:
On the basis it has a performance package, yes. A run of the mill Camaro with a 454 is not unless it's a SS. If it has no performance package, then it's not a musclecar. :bglasses:
almost all the previous rivieras are faster than the 1970, the 70 was faster in 0-60 but not in teh quarter mile at all
