The day my 1963 Riviera arrived on its trailer is still one of the best days in my life, but that doesn’t stop me from looking at other first-generation Rivieras for sale, such as this 1964 model on eBay in Danville, California. It’s advertised as having new tires, brakes, battery, and a ten-year-old paint job in a “beautiful dark blue metallic,” but it has “noisy lifters that should be replaced.” How much will that affect its value?
The seller says that the engine noise is reflected in the car’s reserve, which is “$11,000 below market value,” but which source that comes from is not mentioned. Still, many Riviera fans call the 1964 model their favorite, as it retains the 1963’s original styling but replaces the Turbine Drive transmission with the new three-speed Super Turbine 400. Also, the 340-horsepower 425-cubic-inch Nailhead was standard in 1964, so in terms of drivetrains, you had arguably the best package standard. Power steering and brakes were also standard, and someone upgraded the master cylinder to a dual-circuit unit, a fairly common modification. Apparently, this car’s factory air conditioning has been replaced with Vintage Air (that works).
Regarding the lifters: Nailheads are unique engines, and they tend to “stick” valves when they’ve been sitting around too long (or have a tank of old gas). My car had two broken rocker arms when I bought it, and it sounded for all the world like bad lifters. The eBay ad doesn’t mention if the seller’s done any investigation of the engine noise, but when an engine is tapping, you have to be ready for anything. Broken rocker arms would be an easier job unless the valve tips have been damaged (as mine were); then, the heads are coming off. If it is indeed lifters, they are available from a couple good sources (as are rocker arms and valves), and you don’t even need to drain the antifreeze to replace them, unless you also decide to replace the camshaft.
This Riviera also has the optional deluxe interior, which includes fancier door panels with wood veneer trim. That trim also extended to the console for 1964 (for 1963, it was covered with black crinkle vinyl), and the simulated wood steering wheel was newly optional for 1964, too. This car has power windows and a power driver’s seat, all of which are working. The white interior looks nice with what appears to be a Diplomat Blue exterior, but the vinyl seems to be showing a bit of age.
So is the wood veneer on the console, but replacements are readily available from Clark’s Corvair (of all places) in Massachusetts. The climate controls have been modified (perhaps as a part of the Vintage Air system?) and could use a little sprucing up, and the radio itself appears to be missing.
From what I’ve observed, Rivieras seemed to resist rust better than most of their contemporaries, but they’re just cars made out of metal, so anything’s possible. This car, however, looks completely solid based on the undercarriage pictures provided in the ad. The (standard) dual exhaust system is also new.
For potential Riviera watchers, you can see a few of the 1964 model’s “tells” from this angle, the “Riviera” badge on the trunk lid (replacing block B-U-I-C-K letters) and stylized “R’s” on the taillights. There’s also a standup hood ornament up front.
There’s no denying that buying a car with engine problems is a gamble; you might end up with a repair that takes you a day or two, but there’s also a chance that you’ll be pulling a camshaft. Regardless, it’s probably going to be cheaper than applying a paint job as nice as this one seems to be, so you make your choice and hope things work out. Who’s willing to take a chance on this beautiful Riviera?
Note: It looks like the seller ended this auction early, which is not too uncommon on eBay.
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Looks like it already sold, too far for us to fetch anyways. Someone bought a nice looking car.
While not Chevy 350 simple it is (almost) universally true that mechanical work is easier, cheaper and more predictable than body work. It looks like someone snagged themselves a nice project car with a good upside.
Danville, right where my office is.
A Nailhead with clattery valves? I’ve been there. When I bought my ’66 it idled rough and had a pronounced ” lifter tap.” I hoped that a dose of a “miracle in a can” might clear that up, but my hope was in vain.The engine apparently had a couple of burned valves. I pulled the heads and delivered them to an untried machine shop for a valve job, something that I’d done to several motors before this. I had been using a machine shop in Fremont for years, but went with this local shop that I had no relationship with. This shop didn’t know what they were doing, they din’t usually work on old American V8s, and didn’t do the job correctly. I assumed that the heads were fine (they were clean and nicely painted) and I assembled the engine, which led to a string of wrong assumptions, all costly, until I swapped in a good junkyard engine. It appears that the shop cut too much metal off when they surfaced the heads and failed to check the heights of the valve tips after they cut the seats. The sound that I heard after assembling the engine was a couple of valves hitting the pistons!
The moral of the story is that it’s important to find a knowledgeable and experienced shop to do machine or repair work. Especially before knowingly buying a car that needs engine work. I used an untried shop and paid the price. There aren’t as many independent automotive machine shops around as in the old Days. Most engines last for 200,000 miles and few see rebuilding.
I would still love to have a first gen Riviera, but I don’t love them enough to pay the price.
Nailheads have their rocker arms on a shaft and these usually remain in usable condition for a couple of rebuilds.
A real beauty in this dark blue .
I’d not pay $11,000.00 for one in good running shape but I also know how great these were when everything is tip top .
-Nate
I would pull the engine and have it rebuilt. Preserve history and enjoy it.