What a pairing we have here. For some reason, I would never think of these having almost anything in common except for technically being “fastbacks”. The Marlin is a classic first generation (meaning when this body style first came back in style in the ’60s) fastback, meaning it was grafted on an existing sedan body, not unlike the gen1 Charger. Sadly, the 1965 Marlin did not pull it off; not even remotely, as I made it painfully clear here.
The “boat tail” Riviera, from 1971, is a very different animal indeed, as its tapering fastback is hardly grafted on, and looks fab from some angles, but not so much from certain angles, where its hips protrude awkwardly. My take on it is here.
Aha! There’s also a Cadillac hiding behind them. Quite the little get-together. No fastbacks on it, once it shed its delicious tail from 1948-1949. I’ll take one of those over either of these any day. Sadly, we’ve never written up any 1948-1949 Cadillac. Now that’s a serious omission on our part.
Curiously, neither car looks like a fastback in the initial photo.
I’m not a fan of the boattail Riv. IMO, it and the second-generation bustleback Seville are Bill Mitchell’s only styling missteps.
Swearin’ ta Gawd, my ’71 Riv GS didn’t look THAT big and long and wide to me in 1980.
At least the Riviera looks as if it was designed from the start to be a fastback coupe. Poor Marlin, neither fish nor fowl… No, that expression doesn’t work here… Let me see, how about “too many cooks spoil the soup”.
That is a great pairing! Only needs a 63-67 Corvette coupe to complete the set .
For the record, I’m a big fan of boattail Rivs. A nice 71 or 72 is on my list of dream cars to own someday.
Subject Riviera is a ’72 if the grille is correct. Such a lovely machine.
was designed to be on the A-Special chassis (with Monte Carlo & Grand Prix). Was sized up to the B-body, unfortunately. The angle of the side windows and rear widows was also changed.
Wish Bill Mitchell had made a demo on the A-Special platform, he used this car and his daily driver for a few years.
Never realized the concept car was “Silver Arrow III”….That was the name for Pierce Arrow’s last and most stylistically progressive car…The Silver Arrow
Same thing happened with the Marlin, the prototype (called Rambler Tarpon) was based on the American but management insisted it be upsized to the Classic bodyshell for production, causing it to miss the ponycar market.
Granted, it would’ve missed that too just as the Barracuda did because neither would’ve had the Ford Mustang’s long hood/short deck proportions. If only McNamara had still been around to lock the Mustang into carrying over the Falcon’s dash-to-axle dimensions and wheelbase unchanged.
Sizing aside, the Tarpon’s detailing was much better, and the car was much prettier than the Marlin.
another view of Buick Silver Arrow II
Looking at that Riviera all over again for the first time. Seriously I just noticed that the designers reached back in time and tweaked the famous Buick Sweepspear in the Riv’s design. I just had not noticed how the contours along the side of the Riv replaced the original chrome strip. With credit to GM Authority……..
Sweepspear: a curved trim line running almost the length of the car. The original Sweepspear was a chrome-plated steel strip which began level over the front wheel, gently curved down across the front fender and door, dove nearly to the rocker panel just ahead of the rear wheel, then flared up and over the rear wheel before leveling off again into a straight run back to the tail-light.
In fact i also see the Sweepspear on the Opel based Regal although it’s much more subtle than this early 70s Riviera.
The boattail tends to dominate the attention, but it’s often overlooked that the design of the sides of the Riviera was also quite dramatic. Definitely a sweepspear motif in the shape.
I’ve also noticed that on the Regal/Century colonades, as well as some modern Buicks as you mention.
Last year I happened to see a Boattail Riviera while driving with my daughter. Despite her age (she’s 10), she extremely astute when it comes to design.
She loved the Riviera’s appearance, and started rattling off things she admired about it: the exciting-looking front, the side windowline, the color (it was red), how low it seemed, etc. She never mentioned the back. I thought that was fascinating… a critique of the Boattail Riviera without discussing the tail. And I agree with her, the rest of the car is pretty darn neat.
I’m a sucker for an unloved AMC, even if its an unsuccessful design. I’d give that Marlin a home, but I cannot abide the fake wire wheels.
The wire wheel covers – complete with spinners – were a factory option for 1965.
The upright chunkiness of the first-gen Marlin reminds me of the second-gen Scion tC.
Buick for me, but in a lighter colour
In Bill Mitchell’s heyday, AMC simply could not compete with GM’s styling. The closest they came IMO was with the very clean 63 Classic/Ambassador and 64 American.
The ’71 Riviera always reminded me of a Corvette that had been restyled by Salvador Dali. I’ve always thought it was a totally ugly automobile that could not hold a candle to the first generation Rivieras; they were some much better looking and beautifully understated.
The poor Marlin is the automotive equivalent of a fifty something with a bad comb over who was trying to look hip by wearing bell bottoms and a pasley shirt. Everybody laughed the poor guy off the stage, the same thing happened with the Marlin.
+1