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Personal Luxury: 1963 Buick Riviera

In 1963 Buick introduced the Riviera to the car buying public. In a year where Buick sold more than 440,000 cars, they chose to cap production of the Riviera at 40,000 in a bid to give the car an air of exclusivity. Barn Finder Ikey H spotted this Riviera for sale, so a big thanks goes to Ikey. You will find this Riviera listed for sale here on Craigslist. It is located in Northern Dauphin, Pennsylvania, and it comes with a clean title. The price for this Riviera has been set at $8,500, but the owner is open to reasonable offers.

The owner of this Riviera is a person of few words….and pictures. What we can see of the car in the supplied photos looks fairly promising. There is no obvious rust visible on the car. The paint is a bit patchy, but there are no bare spots. There is a spot on the trunk lid that makes it appear as though the car has had at least a partial repaint at some stage. The trim all appears to be present, although the bumper chrome is not perfect.

The interior of the 1963 Riviera is quite striking. The car was marketed as a personal luxury car, and it seems obvious that one of the cars that Buick had set its sights on was the Ford Thunderbird. All of the right luxury trim touches that you would expect for such a car are present. Even though there are some issues with the interior of this car, it is still an attractive place to spend some time. The dash pad is cracked, and the covers on the front seats are badly damaged, but the rest of the interior looks quite good. It also looks like the car has been fitted with some optional equipment, such as power windows. It doesn’t look like it has a tilt wheel, and I can’t tell whether it has been fitted with air conditioning.

The rear seat on the Riviera looks to be in a far better condition that the front seats. The trim items also look to be good. We get no information on the mechanical specifications and condition of the car, other than the fact that it runs. In 1963 there were two engines available for the Riviera. The car was initially introduced with a 401ci “Nailhead” V8, and a 425ci version was a delayed option that became available. While we don’t know which engine is fitted to this car, it will be a far more collectible proposition if it is fitted with the 425 engine. While Buick built 40,000 examples of the Riviera in 1963, only 2,601 were built with the 425. The engine is backed by the Twin Turbine automatic transmission. The car would also be fitted with power steering and power brakes as standard.

This 1963 Riviera poses more questions than it answers. The actual condition of the car is difficult to determine due to the quality of the photos. The mechanical specifications and condition are also an unknown quantity. The relative value of the car is certainly going to be impacted by which engine it is fitted with. It is also impacted by the list of optional equipment that has been fitted. I can only hope that the owner reads this article because there is so much that I’d like to know about the car

Comments

  1. Avatar mlm

    Those ’63-65 Buick Rivieras are gorgeous.

    Like 23
  2. bobhess Bob Hess Member

    mlm,,, Ditto! First one I ever saw was this color. Thought they couldn’t do better… and they didn’t.

    Like 5
  3. Avatar Coventrycat

    I second that.

    Like 4
  4. Avatar Mike

    I’ve owned a dozen of these and they are great cars. Smooth, fast and beautiful. If it is rust free and driving, it’s worth the asking price. Most of these were rusty in the pans and rear quarters. The dash pad will set you back $800 to have Just Dashes re-do it. The seats are not original material. Figure $5,000 to get the interior back in shape if you can’t do it yourself and $10,000 to strip and paint it right. Lot’s of chrome on these so budget $3000 for plating. Will be a beauty when done. Or go get one that is already finished for $35,000 or so.

    Like 9
  5. Avatar j liu

    Beautiful in 1963 and still so today. Classic, striking lines.
    No A/C on this one but it does have the rare Autronic Eye..Twilight Sentinel automatic headlight dimming system.

    Like 4
  6. Avatar Kevin Aurelio

    My grandfather had one in this color. Always loved that car and still want one. Just no $$$

    Like 0
  7. Avatar mainlymuscle

    401/425 is not the big deal on these,as they aren’t musclecars.What they are is one of the prettiest cars ever,next level down from XKE’s ,Mid year Vettes,and a whack of Ferraris.The interiors were ahead of their time,and as sleek as the exterior.As mentioned,expensive to restore,so either buy the best you can afford OR ,cruise this baby proudly as is ,while tweaking it upwards.There is always a strong buyers pool for early Rivs in any price range.

    Like 1
  8. Avatar beatlepat

    There’s a great picture of Leonard Nimoy dressed as Spock, leaning against the hood of one of these. Instantly my thought was that of course Spock would drive a Riviera!

    Like 0
  9. Avatar chad

    altho ‘a ford guy’ this (even up to the mid 70s) & the toranado (again on yrs) have caddies, tbirds, all of em – beat on looks (2 me).

    I all ways think, on seein either 1, what the europeans thought when a brand new one toured their streets. No comparisons to what they had.
    8^0

    Like 1
  10. Avatar Rex Kahrs Member

    In the early 1970s, my wife’s Dad was an actor, and was performing in a dinner theatre production of “Oliver!” in Milwaukee where he lived. Leonard Nimoy was cast in the role of Fagan.

    My in-laws hosted the cast party after the show closed, at their gorgeous Art Deco home on Lake Michigan. Nimoy showed up, driving a brand new 1971 Riviera. Needless to say, my wife, about 12 years old, and her brother, 11, were very impressed to have Nimoy in their house. Now all these years later, my brother-in-law is restoring a ’71 Riv.

    Like 4
  11. Avatar Ralph

    The lack of a big chrome center vent and outer “eyeball” vents means that this is a non-a/c car, it does have the deluxe interior option which came with the full armrest door panels with the rear door release handles. The seats have been re-upholstered at some point too.

    The main issue with the 63 vs the 64-65 cars is that the 1963 Rivieras are the last to feature a Dynaflow, all the 1964 and up cars received the then new Turbo 400 or SuperTurbine 400 as Buick called it back then, the TH400 is more serviceable than the Dynaflow, which was pretty dated by 1963, even with improvements that were made over the years, plus finding someone that can fix or rebuild a Dynaflow in 2018 is another issue.

    Like 3
  12. Avatar JP

    Back in the day a good friend of mine had one & I drove it & couldn’t believe the ride,power & handeling it had! What a gorgeous automobile!

    Like 0
  13. Avatar CaCarDude

    These 63-65 Rivi’s are the sweetest ever, my personal favorite being the ’65 model with the clam shell light set up, this color used in ’63 was Glacier Blue and quite a looker in this body style.
    Things could have been very different for the Riviera line up as it was first designated to wear the Cadillac badge, not sure just how GM decided to go with Buick on this, but sure happy they did! I am a big Buick fan and have 4 in my stable now, no Riviera’s but maybe in the future that ’65 will turn up…

    Like 1
    • Avatar Tricky

      Yup, big fan of the ’65 as well!!

      Like 1
  14. Avatar PatrickM

    Not a lot of comments on this car, just stuff about the old family car and grandpops ride. That’s ok. I’m not so sure about the odometer, judging from the driver’s seat, I’d say it should have a 1 in front. I really like these cars. Some of the most beautiful lines I’ve ever seen. I still feel that way. Today’s cars can’t compare with these. But, I’m gonna pass on this one because I feel the real story isn’t being told.

    Like 0
  15. Avatar SumtingWong

    My Pops bought a new one in 1963. Second car I knew of that could do a burn out. He traded it off three years later because of the rust.

    Like 0
  16. Avatar Bob C.

    I wonder how these performed with the Dynaflow? I heard they were so smooth, yet so slippy on take offs.

    Like 0

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