Name: The Riviera
SKU: The-Riviera
Availability: InStock

Description

The Riviera

A Buick Riviera Boattail proudly displays stunning good looks stealing the limelight from a yacht resting at a Riviera waterside beauty spot

When GM design boss Bill Mitchell wanted a modern speedster, the task fell to designer Jerry Hirshberg. He originally sculpted this radical “boat-tail” rear end for a smaller mid-size platform.

But corporate politics stepped in, forcing the design onto Buick’s massive full-size chassis. Instead of ruining the car, this mandate accidentally created one of the most unapologetic luxury cruisers in automotive history. The 1971 Buick Riviera became genuinely enormous, stretching out with a sweeping profile and a dramatic v-shaped rear window borrowed directly from the 1963 Corvette.

Under that seemingly endless hood sat a 455 cubic inch V8, providing the effortless torque needed to hurl this 4,200 pound land yacht down the interstate. It was beautifully polarizing and completely unhinged. Average buyers were so intimidated that Buick had to blunt the tail just two years later. Today, it survives as a glorious monument to an era when Detroit actually dared to be weird.