The odometer of this 1965 Buick Riviera Gran Sport currently reads just 18,290 miles and the seller believes this is accurate and correct. There doesn’t seem to be any documentation to prove the mileage is correct, but the condition could help to verify it. When the seller found it, it had been parked in this garage since 1981. Take a closer look at it yourself here on eBay.
The Gran Sport package was first introduced in ’65 and included the 425 cui Super Wildcat V8. This dual-quad engine was rated at 360 horsepower and 465 pounds of torque. After getting the car back to their shop, the seller went about getting the motor running again. They lubricated the cylinders, both carburetors, and linkage and replaced the rest of the fluids. They claim it fired right up and idled nicely. It still hasn’t been driving on the street, but it does move on its own.
This Riviera was order with nearly every option available, including vinyl bucket seats with center counsel and wood grain trim. Not only was it a comfortable car to ride in, but the Gran Sport option added power and a heavy duty suspension to keep it on the road through the turns.
The seller believes the condition of their Riviera is enough to prove the mileage and while it is in solid shape, documentation would still be nice. It would be amazing if it really is a low-mileage survivor, but given that there were only 3,354 of these built in ’65 it shouldn’t have a huge impact on the value.
Lets see you have a car that you drive only 18,290 miles and there isn’t one piece of paper to show the mileage is accurate. I say BS – that engine is way too greasy and dirty for the claimed mileage. JMHO
I have loved these since I first saw them in the 60s. My first experience or knowledge of one, shall we say, was unfortunate. Our local doctor’s son and a friend took a white one out for a drive one night and ran the car head on into a bank. The body separated from the chassis and kept going on for another distance. Both sets of seatbelts snapped…yes..snapped, as if ripped apart by giant hands. This example…oh how I wish…
I would love to have one of these, one of the sharpest Buick’s ever made.
18,000 MILES….? NOT A CHANCE… even at 118,000 it is a very well taken car… this would be a great cruiser !!!
the oil staining, discoloration, heat marks, carpet spots, all say 118,000. and its still not bad considering the car as a whole… rare and complete makes it worth plenty anyway…
Wow what a find. Imo, this is the best of this inaugural 4-5-6 Riviera milestone design since i really dig those clamshell hide-aways. And a survivor to boot, yes! I had a 64 for a while and remember putting LOTS of gas through the thing so get this if you care about economy at all. Still, loads-o-fun if you get both carbs working well! Change out the wheel cylinders right away to avoid infecting those precious ‘survivor’ asbestos brake shoes with leaking fluid because if those brakes work as he says, they’ll be fluid-leaky in short order if you assumed them useable as is.. Guess i ain’t into these enough to spring for the 15 large but lucky you to the person who does!
I agree more like 118k. Odo only went to 99k back then. A car was worn out back then at 100k
I’m going to have to agree with those who say the speedo is on its 2nd time around. Too much sign of usage beyond 18K miles. Aside from that, the car is in super nice shape. I could enjoy it.
My landlady was left a Riviera GS when her husband died. There were holes drilled in the two front fenders where he mounted the outrigger mirrors when he towed their Airstream travel trailer. She worked in a school that was just a two mile round trip each day but still complained about the mileage. Wonder what the mileage was pulling that Airstream. What was apparent even back then was the component and build quality probably exceeded that of GM’s mid sixties’ Cadillac. Beautiful car. This should be renovated as a true survivor. Freshly tuned up, I’ve read the Riviera GS would do a real 125.
Nice example of mid60’s GM luxury/power. Like in the movie “ROADHOUSE” w/Swayze, “Do these work?”, he should of UTUBED a clip of at least the clamshells working (open/close). I agree with everyone else on the mileage, a heavily optioned real classic with the sought after GS badge and dual quad plant. IMO worth north of 15K….
Question. Does onlythis year model have the clamshell headlight covers? I imagine they were trouble prone. But coolest movie scene was in Road house, when he looks at the car, ONLY tries the light covers and buys it. Classic.
Yes, as far as I know. They were vacuum powered from the engine. Great when they worked properly. Each clamshell were one piece that went up above the grill when activated.
The clamshell headlamps on these ’65 Rivieras were electrically powered by a motor located right behind the center of the bumper. Quite elaborate setup consisting of horizontal and vertical control arms that pivoted the clamshells. I’ll try and find an illustration I have here and post it soon
Won’t you let me take it for a drive ??? Please !!
I had an uncle that had one of these and that big thing would boggie! Loved the hide away headlamps! Room to spare, front and rear. Do not know the name of the color, but the green paint had to be fairly rare as I do not recall ever seeing one. And with the green interior, I wold think that would be ever rarer still. Any time there are only a few in such and such color combinations, the price goes up. Spend a few bucks on cleaning up the engine/engine bay, good tune up, new brake system, serious clean up and wax job – – – somebody is going to be lookin’ good on cruise night at the local burger joint and you can bet your bottom dollar there wont be another one around that is anything like this one!
I thought I’d speak up here behalf on this car. The auction description reads “May seem impossible to some but considering the originality under the hood and all around this car, those miles are highly believable.” Seller doesn’t state that it is in fact 18,290 actual but from what I’ve read and see in the description, it surely isn’t anywhere close to 118,000 either.
I’ve owned a bunch of those back in the day and water pumps were good for 2 seasons maximum, if you were lucky. Master cylinder, fuel pump, belts, hoses and the like all would have been replaced on even 50,000 mile cars, not to mention spark plug wires.
Perfect car to clean up and massage mechanicals into a nice fair weather driver and there seems to be a growing trend towards that lately. Back to the good old days when we drove them and worked on them on the weekends. I, for one, am sick of everything showing up at the car shows being trailer queens…
I’ll drive your grandads car.
ONE OF OUR NEIGHBORS HAD ONE IN A LIGHT BLUE COLOR. IT WAS THE FIRST NON CONVERTIBLE NEW CAR HE EVER BOUGHT.I HAD THE PLEASURE OF BEING ABLE TO DO A BRAKE JOB RELACE THE SHOCKS WITH LOAD LEVELER SHOCKS AND HE WANTED LARGER AND WIDER TIRES ON THE REAR. NOT HUGE FENDER RUBBING BUT JUST ENOUGH TO GIVE IT A MEANER LOOK.THEN AFTER THE FRONT END ALIGNMENT I GOT TO TEST DRIVE IT ON MY OWN LITTLE TEST TRACK WHICH INCLUDED A TWO EXIT CRUISE ON I84 WHERE TOP SPEED WAS TESTED WHEN THE STATE POLICE HAD OTHER THINGS TO DO. THAT CAR MADE 105MPH SEEM LIKE 45MPH.. IT ALSO PAST THE BIG SMOKEY BURNOUT TEST JUST FINE. ALL IN ALL ONE OF THE NICEST CARS I EVER DROVE.
I laughed when I read Rich’s comment. I bought my ’64 Riv in 1971. Drove it until 1991, when I bought my ’69 Camaro. My friend Dave has the Riv now.
I’ve been putting water pumps in that car for over 40 years!!
Dude, It’s “Console”, not “Counsel”. I could overlook you making this mistake once, but you keep doing it.
Also, console and buckets wasn’t an option that was standard. Do your homework……
118,000 miles and looking that good in and out on a *60’s car? Sure, if garaged, and well cared for, it has another 100,000 left in it. I have driven most of my cars, all makes, new or used, over 200,000 miles. I have a ’93 Caddy now with 127,000 that runs and looks like new, a few creases in the leather driver’s seat, a few tiny dings in the body, and the radio is dead at the moment, but no rust, original paint, and yes, all the hoses, belts, and gaskets (except the head gasket) have been replaced, most more than once.
The first Riv’s were one of the beautifully designed cars I have seen I always thought a scaled down lightweight would have been just the ticket. The clam shell headlights….so sweet……….
Oh how Ive always wanted to have one of these babies.Just the sleek design and interior says it all plus the engine and horse power.
Tough call on mileage. Most cars of that era were shot at 100,000. I was there. Some of the inside looks right but carpet looks pretty crappy. Pedal wear looks good, no paint on dash worn thru around knobs etc, steering wheel looks good, seats are great. Engine/bay pretty clean IMHO. Even with a working PVC (positive crankcase ventilation valve) at 118,000 it would have more oily blowby on it I should think.
My father worked for buick then, and brought one of these home for a weekend. Still remember him doing a burn out and pinning me to the seat. I would have to say that I agree with the crowd on the higher than listed mileage on this one, but it is in very good shape still.
IMO driven between 65′ & 81′ (when parked) 118K is just over 7K/yr., completely believable considering the condition of everything (pics). This car with options (GS) & 425 2×4 is truely an American luxury/muscle classic in very restorable condition. It would not take much to jump a few grades on the condition scale. Now the big question would be to restore to “trailor queen” or just a “king driver”, I would drive this beast myself.
Funny I don’t recall the emblems on the Riv to include Gran Sport, those emblems appeared on the Skylark, “Gran Sport”. Way too much grease on that motor for 18,000, also in one of the picks a lug nut is loose & what appears as a new brake rotor, on an 18,000 mile car??
Make that a brake drum not a brake rotor.
Paul, All ’65 Riviera Gran Sports had the front fender, rear panel and glove box emblems and there are 2 varieties. Early cars received a smaller emblem than seen on this car. They were not specific to Skylark and as a matter of fact, The Skylark’s were different than the Rivieras. Can’t say why the drum may have been changed but these were sleeved aluminum drums similar to the Pontiac 8 lug variety. They were known to pulsate if rusted up from sitting and if the rust was bad enough and unaddressed it could seperate the sleeve from the drum. If serviced at a Buick dealer I’d bet money they’d sell the owner a new drum rather than have a call back on a defective drum if they had cut the old one.
On second look isn’t that a non PVC equipped engine judging by the breather on the valve cover, the kind that you pulled off to add oil. My 1965 Impala with the 325 horse 396 engine had a PCV and no breather. You removed a gasketed twist cap on the valve cover to add oil. Non original valve covers perhaps? I thought GM products had the PVC starting in 63 but don’t remember one on my 63 Spyder? Somebody speak up on the valve covers, I have no idea because I’m a Chevrolet guy.
Whoops found pic of PCV in valve cover with Buick cast into it. So back to Chevrolets for me.
Compare:
http://www.thelastdetail.com/1965-buick-riviera-gs-c-644.htm
Jeff, that is sweeeet!
Whoa!!! Followed the link to the “Last detail” That red 69 Corvette coupe in the background looks like a beauty even with the luggage rack. The ebay listing for this car has a link to where lots more pics can be found.
Hi Guys, let me give you some insight on this car. First off, my goal posting here is not an attempt to promote my sale as the car will sell itself. I’d rather inform you of what this car really is or is not from this collector’s point of view. Yeah, I’d love to sell this car for as much as I could get, who wouldn’t, but I’d never sacrifice my integrity for the money alone.That’s why I went into such extreme detail with my description, something that is rarely seen on ebay or anywhere.
I guess that if I were looking at the pictures, I may make a judgement on the cleanliness of the engine compartment myself. I danced with the idea of cleaning that area up but thought most enthusiasts would want to see the car for what it is. Let me tell you that although there is some grease as seen in my pictures, it is a minor accumulation. If those valve covers on a nailhead leaked, which these have some, the cooling fan will blow it wherever it wishes. I have seen many of these nailheads caked with grease 1/2″ thick on most of the block and this car has none of that. I cannot assure anyone that the mileage on this car is as shown and have not guaranteed such in my posting. All I can do or will do is to be honest about what I do see. I have owned many of these 1st generation Rivieras and know the difference between high and low mileage cars, and tho this may not end up being an 18,000 mile car, it certainly isn’t a 118,000 mile car.
If you read my item description, you’ll see that I’ve reported all of the original parts that are still present on this car, parts that would have been changed long ago, even if the mileage was 1/2 of what some are suggesting. The first thing I did after the purchase was to call an old friend to do a walk around with me. He is the head technical advisor for the ’65 Rivieras with The Riviera Owners Association and tho we found some points for discussion, we parted with the same conclusions about this car’s originality.
I wish you could all see this car in person and I’m sure you’d have a different perspective. A few collectors have and nobody has yet to walk away disappointed. An old saying states that “one can’t tell a book by it’s cover” and this truly applies with the pictures you’ve seen of this car.
I don’t for a minute think that this is anything but very original, I do see some some waviness on the right front fender & door that is an indication of some prior body work, not a big deal in my book the Gran Sport package must have been in small #’s because I have never seen these emblems on this car, so that would add more value for sure. The carpet, arm rest, & engine compartment tell another story as well as the lack of more underside pics. The last part of the picture is the other inventory listed on the site shows many other cars that are in very nice condition, so why is this car not being brought up to the condition of the white one, one would feel like your wanting to bail out of this as apposed to bringing it back.
I’ve noticed that quite a few posters have mentioned the carpets on this car. I can tell you first hand that they are in excellent condition and would appear close to NOS with a shampoo and you’ll never find a replacement set to match colors. My dilemma has been how far to go before this car is no longer considered a barn/garage find ? I have been more concerned with presentation as is and assuring that it runs and drives. And as my auction description states, please email me for more pictures if interested. Ebay only allows 24 pictures so I posted those that gave a good overall idea of thios car.
Rich,
I can appreciate the photo limitation dilemna. One possible solution is to setup a free account at flickr.com. They give you a full terrabyte, which is a lot. You can upload there and then post the page link for others to view.
Not accusing anyone here, and if I remember correctly, there where stories of speedo cables being disconnected to keep the mileage down !? Maybe a closer examination of the drive train and braking system would help answer the questions posted here and in other cases where the OD does not match the grease accumulation, a lot can be learned from pictures, just jack it up and pull off a wheel or two for example and snap away! Just a thought!
Memory can be so short. Years ago when I worked for a GM dealership we seemed to have an epidemic on people who disconnected their speedo cables, especially the ones who bought this infernal CPP (extended warranty) policy. We started to put a dab of colored lacquer on the cable connections at the transmission and cruise control. Even the speedo itself because we had a couple of customers who were ruthless enough to unplug it there. We voided a couple of warranties over it.
Speaking of Speedos…..
I loved the Speedometer speed alert on those cars…. You set the speed and when you exceeded it this annoying buzzer went off!!
It goes without saying …it could be a good investment …:)
Great looking Riveria. My uncle owned one in ’65. Was the nicest car in town, got stares everywhere he went! I nearly wet my pants every time I got to ride in it. Didn’t help that he would floor it for me. Threw our heads back!
I don’t care about the mileage as the condition of the car is excellent inside and outside for her age, and the car is beautiful in every way possible uprate the brakes suspension and rebuild the engine to get the max power and you have your car of your dreams
Hi BF Friendly FYI the GS option G-9 $306.38 did not include a HD suspension. That was H-2 $37.63 which included a quicker 15:1 steering ratio. I don’t have numbers but would guess that many Grand Sports had it given its complementary nature and relatively low cost. Source… http://rivowners.org/features/Ev_Stats/65gs/
Why is this coming up again today August 4 2018 ? All remarks are from 2013. Is someone delisting the car ?
You must have gone back to an old post?