Buick is the oldest automotive brand in the United States and one of the oldest in the world.
David Buick, Buick Motor Co.’s founder, produced the first Buick in 1899 and incorporated his company in 1903. William Durant became a controlling investor in Buick and formed General Motors in 1908 with Buick becoming the first General Motors brand. By this time, Buick was the largest automotive manufacturer in the world. David Buick sold his interest in his company in 1906 and was a very wealthy man but died 25 years later with just modest means.
In the General Motors lineup, Buick was one notch below Cadillac and one above Oldsmobile. Buick has built some beautiful cars over its long history, and many would agree that the Buick Riviera was their greatest achievement. The Riviera is a personal luxury car produced by Buick from 1963 to 1999 except for 1994. The Riviera name had been used as early as 1949 as a Buick series name but not as a distinctive body shell.
The name “Riviera” is Italian for “coast” and was selected probably to suggest the luxurious French Riviera, the affluent crowd that visits there and how good those people would look driving a Buick Riviera. There have been eight generations of Buick Riviera with 1,127,261 of them produced during the model’s 36-year run. To me, though, the first two generations (1963-1965 and 1966-1970) were really Buick Rivieras and the rest were just nice Buick hardtops or convertibles.
The second generation of Buick Rivieras, which we’re featuring today, was redesigned for the 1966 model year. It was a little longer and wider than the previous model year and weighed about 200 pounds more. The front vent windows, a General Motors invention, were gone, and it had cleverly hidden headlights behind the grille.
Inside there was a choice of bucket seats or a bench seat as standard equipment so Riviera could be sold as a six-passenger car for the first time. As an option, there was a Strato-bench seat with an armrest or Strato-bucket seats and a floor shifter with a storage compartment. Reclining passenger seats were a new option.
Starting with the 1967 model year, some mandated safety equipment was new, like the energy-absorbing steering column, nonprotruding control knobs and four-way hazard lights. More changes showed up for the 1968 model year, including side marker lights and shoulder belts for the outboard occupants built after Jan. 1, 1968. A new sales record for the Riviera was set with 49,284 units sold.
This issue’s featured vehicle is a 1968 Buick Riviera GS owned by David Gavazza, an Orinda resident. Gavazza’s father bought the car new from Herrera Buick, a very prestigious dealer in downtown Oakland, and it was the only new car he ever owned. The owner believes his father saved up a long time to pay about $7,200 in cash for the car (about $65,000 in today’s dollars). The car now has 78,000 miles on it and has always been garaged.
This Riviera has a 430-cubic-inch V8 engine rated at 360 horsepower with a three-speed TH-400 automatic transmission. Naturally, it has all the luxury items of its day, like power steering, power brakes, power windows, left and right power seats, a power antenna, an AM/FM Delco stereo, chrome road wheels and air conditioning.
It’s a pretty big two-door hardtop sitting on a 119-inch wheelbase and stretching to 17.6 feet. The car is all original, including the maroon paint and white vinyl roof as well as the beautiful white leather interior. The owner is not sure of the car’s market value but estimates it at less than $70,000.
Gavazza has no specific plans for the car and will probably just pass it on to his kids — that is unless someone comes along and wants this gorgeous car more than he thinks his kids would enjoy it.
Have an interesting vehicle? Email Dave at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To read more of his columns or see more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.