Buick deliberately capped first-gen Riviera production at 40,000 a year — in a year it sold 440,000 cars overall — just to keep the Riviera feeling exclusive.
Lead trim: Riviera 401 cu in Nailhead V8 (325 hp, 1963) · up to 360 hp
Buick Riviera1963–1965
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Buick Riviera yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactBuick deliberately capped first-gen Riviera production at 40,000 a year — in a year it sold 440,000 cars overall — just to keep the Riviera feeling exclusive.
The Buick Riviera is a personal luxury car marketed by Buick from 1963 to 1999 (except 1994), General Motors' first entry into the personal luxury segment, a ground-up design on the new GM E platform (unlike its stablemates the Oldsmobile Toronado and Cadillac Eldorado, initially front engine/rear-wheel drive; front-wheel drive from 1979). The first generation (1963–1965; designer Bill Mitchell) was introduced on October 4, 1962 as a 1963 model with a bodyshell unique to the marque and "Coke bottle" styling on a shorter, narrower cruciform frame: 117.0 in wheelbase, 208.0 in long, 3,998 lb, 6.0 in shorter wheelbase than a LeSabre. It shared Buick V8s of 401 cu in (6.6 L) and 425 cu in (7.0 L) with the Dynaflow twin turbine automatic (1963) and the three-speed Super Turbine 400 (1964–65). Buick's 325 hp 401 "Nailhead" was initially the only engine, with dual exhaust standard; an optional 340 hp 425 was announced in December 1962 (only 2,601 delivered in 1963) and became standard in 1964, when a 360 hp "Super Wildcat" with dual Carter AFB four-barrels was available; the 401 returned as the standard engine in 1965. Motor Trend recorded 0–60 mph in 8 seconds or less, the quarter mile in about 16 seconds and an observed top speed of 115 mph. Production was limited to 40,000 in 1963 (37,958 in 1964 and 34,586 in 1965); base price $4,333 in 1963.
Collectors Spotted in the Buick Riviera Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Buick Riviera yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
3 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riviera 401 cu in Nailhead V8 (325 hp, 1963) | 1963–1963 | 6.6 L V8 | 325 hp | 445 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| Riviera 425 cu in Nailhead V8 (340 hp, 1963 option; 1964 standard) | 1963–1964 | 7.0 L V8 | 340 hp | 465 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| Riviera 425 cu in Super Wildcat V8 (360 hp, 1964 option) | 1964–1964 | 7.0 L V8 | 360 hp | 465 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
Buick skipped the 1994 model year entirely before bringing the Riviera back redesigned for 1995.
GM shrank the Riviera to a 108-inch wheelbase for 1986, then had to stretch it back out again by 1989.
The special grille from the limited 1983 "Riviera XX" 20th-anniversary edition - with 24-karat gold badging - became a standard part of the 1984 facelift.
A twin-turbo Riviera convertible tuned to 410 hp paced the 1983 Indianapolis 500, more than double the production S-Type's output.
The Riviera had ridden on the same E-body platform since 1963, but for 1977 and 1978 only, Buick shrank it onto GM's new, smaller B platform.
This Riviera introduced two high-mounted taillights above the trunk, below the rear window — a quirk shared with its Toronado platform twin that anticipated a feature later made a federal mandate.
Buyers found the Riviera's boat-tail look too radical, so for 1973 GM blunted the deck lid and shortened it — the Stage One cars that followed wore the toned-down tail.
The dramatic boat-tail Riviera wasn't designed for the big body it got. GM's stylists built it to fit the smaller A-body platform; management decided late to stretch it onto the full-size B-body instead.
Both the Riviera's E-body siblings, the Toronado and Eldorado, switched to front-wheel drive — Buick alone kept the Riviera rear-wheel drive.
1965 was the year the Riviera's Gran Sport debuted — its Super Wildcat V8 ran twin four-barrel carburetors just to hit 360 horsepower.
Buick deliberately capped first-gen Riviera production at 40,000 a year — in a year it sold 440,000 cars overall — just to keep the Riviera feeling exclusive.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
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