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When your own hubcaps overtake you - Buick Riviera (historical test, ZQ)

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Created on November 30, 1963

Reading time 9min

Written by:

Reinhard Seiffert

Photos:

General Motors / GM

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Archiv Reinhard / Max Pichler

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Archiv

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General Motors / GM

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Archiv Reinhard / Max Pichler

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Archiv

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Buick Riviera (1963) -ohne B-Säule

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Buick Riviera (1963) -viel Fensterglas für das kantige Coupé

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Buick Riviera (1963) -damit hatte man sicherlich einen repräsentativen Aufritt

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Buick Riviera (1963) -schlichte Limienführung, riesige Ausmasse

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Buick Riviera (1963) -elegant und sportlich wirkend

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Buick Riviera (1962) - Coupé für den grossen Aufritt

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Buick Riviera (1963) - neu gestaltetes Heck

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Buick Riviera (1963) - mit amerikanischen Dimensionen

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Buick Riviera (1963) - Werbung in den USA im Jahr 1962 (engl.)

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Buick Roadmaster Convertible Sedan (1949) - Opulenz der Vierzigerjahre

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Buick Riviera (1966) - nun mit verdeckten Scheinwerfern

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Buick Riviera (1972) -es ging noch gigantischer - fliessende Linienführung der Siebzigerjahre

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Buick Riviera (1971) - eindrückliche Heckgestaltung

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Buick Riviera (1970) - mit gebogener Heckscheibe

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Buick Riviera Convertible (1983) - in Europa nur in begrenzter Stückzahl erhältlich - am Genfer Automobilsalon von 1983

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Summary

The 1963 Buick Riviera was gigantic from a European perspective. A displacement of 6.6 liters ensured sporty driving performance in a 1.9-ton car measuring 5.1 meters in length. While the driver didn't have to exert himself, the coupé really put its foot down, without hiding the fact that it was actually built primarily for the typical American driving style. Reinhard Seiffert tested the huge Riviera Coupé in 1963 for the magazine Auto Motor und Sport and found many positive, but also some negative aspects, as this refreshed report from that time shows.

This article contains the following chapters

Huge
Comfortable waste of space
Not everything is up to standard
The machine is in command
Suspension is faster than the hubcaps
Smooth and pleasant
Brakes soon at the end
Suspension comfort with shortcomings
Superior engine and gearbox
Silky smooth ...
... but thirsty
Measured driving performance

Estimated reading time: 9min

Preview (beginning of the article)

The Buick Riviera is the General Motors counterpart to the Ford Thunderbird. Anyone familiar with the Thunderbird can roughly imagine what to expect: not a sports car, but a two-door, four-seater coupé of huge dimensions with a huge and powerful engine. The Riviera has a 6.6-liter engine (a V8, of course) with 319 SAE horsepower. These cars differ from the large saloons in roughly the same way that Mercedes coupés differ from their parent models - they have a sporty character without having different driving characteristics. Europeans who come close to a Buick Riviera are initially intimidated by the enormous size of the car. The shape of the two-door coupé, which we are quite familiar with and accustomed to up to Mercedes dimensions, has been increased to gigantic proportions here. We already wondered why a coupé had to be so big in the Thunderbird, and the Riviera looks even more monumental, especially in dark blue like our test car.

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