The boattail Riviera represents the difficult ending of an era, and a passing of the baton. What started as a revolutionary concept with the 1958 Thunderbird, the four-passenger luxury coupe became the standard bearers for American design innovation in the sixties. And although late to respond, GM elevated the class to timeless elegance in the 1963 Riviera, as well as the Grand Prix, Starfire, Toronado and Eldorado. Now the magic seemed to slip away, but not without a final struggle to regain its former glory. But the times were changing away from the bold, brash Mitchell look, and the Lincoln Mark III had already defined the genre’s new faux-classic look for the seventies. Although the boattail made quite a splash in the automotive pond, its ripples quickly died away, and GM had to pass the baton back to Ford. The boattail Riviera: the swansong of the GM Golden Era, or just a big, ugly duckling?
The 1971 Riviera was a bold effort by GM styling head Bill Mitchell to recapture the magic that seemed to permeate GM so effortlessly in the sixties. The result was controversial and flawed, but its hulking and brash shape has certainly enriched our streets. For me, CC is about the visual thrill of rediscovering the unique shapes and designs of the past, no matter how imperfect, and the boattail Riviera certainly does that as well or better than any other car in my collection. It’s certainly a car worth stopping for.
Bill Mitchell’s younger days and early career was steeped in the classic cars of the twenties and thirties. And he endlessly looked to them for inspiration. The crisp and sharp lines of the ’63 Riviera, and the awkward 1980 Seville were inspired by the razor-edge lines of the British coach-builder Hooper. And of course, the boattail speedsters of the classic era informed the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray’s tail. With this new Riviera, Mitchell again reached to the past, including his own earlier designs.
To understand the ’71 Riviera’s design and execution challenges in greater detail, Ate Up With Motor has a fine article on its tortured birth. The ’71 Riviera was originally planned to join the Grand Prix and Monte Carlo on the smaller A-Special platform. And the first sketches by John Houlihan (above) were based on that assumption. But when Buick’s new General Manager Lee Mays saw what was planned, he refused to spend the money on the new body shell, forcing the boattail design to be upscaled to share as much of the body of 1971 full-sized LeSabre/Centurion as possible. The final design was largely the work of Jerry Hirshberg.
Clearly, and understandably, something of the original scale and intent got lost in the translation, from the prow-like beak, to the compromise of using the LeSabre’s front greenhouse, and the challenge in blending it with the tapered rear end. The way it came out, there are certain inconsistencies in transitions as well as some awkward angles, especially the transition from the low rear window back, and the rear hips from certain angles are just all wrong. This is a car like many movie stars: it begs to be shot from certain angles, and not others. This one is not the good one.
Although the front end may have come out a bit flatter than originally conceived, I do find it to be a very handsome face nevertheless. It just screams Bill Mitchell era, and in the best way possible. It looks most like the ’71 Cadillac, which is a bit ironic, since the first ’63 Riviera was intended to be a Cadillac/LaSalle. It evokes a number of GM designs during the golden era, and as much as anything about this car, it represents a swan song: by 1973, five mph bumpers ruined it forever, and that whole era of beautiful faces. This face is saying: take a good look, because you’ll never see anything quite like it again.
The side sweep that starts at the front fenders and carries down across the sides was a Buick trademark for ages. But its use here is questionable, given the difficult transition it has to make into those exaggerated hips.
The new Riviera was not greeted enthusiastically. Sales actually dropped from its dull and boring predecessor. Within a couple of years, the boat tail was gone, replaced by perhaps one of the dreariest Rivieras ever, still using the same front end, but with a very conventional roof and a decidedly conventional but ugly rear end.
The Riviera was a huge car for being a “personal coupe”. The ’73 version with its new bumper stretched just shy of the 225 inches that the giant Electra used to crow about. And it weighed around 5,000 lbs when equipped in the usual fashion. One of the more disappointing aspects of this generation was the ever declining loss of interior quality. While the ’63 had an interior to drool over, this Riviera shares the ever-cheaper interior of its LeSabre/Centurion stablemates. Nothing to make one feel special sitting in here, except perhaps the view out the back window.
Let’s just take in a few more angles; each of them has plenty of visual interest.
From this direction, it’s clear that a fair amount of the originally intended prow made it into the final design. And under that expanse of hood sat Buick’s biggest and best 455 cubic inch V8, rated at 330 hp (gross) in 1971, and 250 hp (net) for ’72 and ’73. The GS package included a slightly higher rating on the big V8; 345 gross/270 net. Plenty of torque for the job at hand, but don’t even ask about fuel economy. These were the rock-bottom years, when single digits were the norm, and anything in the teens was something to brag about.
This angle again is an awkward one for the big boattail: those hips look fine in profile, but in conjunction with the narrowing tail, they stick out in a way that only a true lover of these cars or big-hipped women can appreciate. And there are plenty of those (in both categories). Boattails have an enthusiastic fan club, and thanks to them, we can look forward to seeing these around for a long time to come.
It was a bittersweet ending to GM’s big car golden era. And although Ford had quite a run with its popular big Lincoln Marks, they really weren’t stylistically significant, except for ushering in the vulgar baroque blow-out of the mid seventies and the ghastly Super-Fly/Bugazzi era. The Riviera struggled along in several stages of mediocrity, until it found a reasonably happy mid-life in the fairly handsome downsized 1979-1985 incarnation. By 1986, it was a shrunken shadow of its former self, headed for its inevitable axe. All things must end.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
Where to begin when discussing the third-generation Riviera? I’ve occasionally thought of them as Buick’s “Magnificent Mistake.” Strikingly, they seem to enjoy a generally far better reputation now than they did when new, though opinion had whipsawed over the last fifty years. Perhaps this new affection is because they are from a time when design swung for the fences, instead of being modified to death by committee. With this improved reputation and their undeniable distinctiveness comes increased interest—and rising prices half a century later.
Make no mistake about it, this car was huge. Would have done much better on the smaller, A-special platform. Kudos the GM for trying something bold and different, but bold and different cars seldom do well in the marketplace. Polarizing designs have strong adherents, but also equally strong detractors.
You’re right on several levels here Paul ;
I’d never want to own such a huge boat however I have always seen the inherent beauty in these .
Please remember that in 1971 given the choice Americans would always buy the very biggest automobile they could afford .
I’ll never understand this as I always buy to serve a purpose but that’s how it was then and IMO this car did it’s job well .
In 1971 I was still paying .32 CENTS the gallon for gasoline to power my raggedy old VW # 117, the (fake) gas shortage was just around the corner .
-Nate
minor improvements on the original design, although it would look better with the front of the top chopped 2″ or 3″ – but my car is original and that was out of the question.
My 1972 Riviera Silver Arrow IV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqV_q_w9a2c
Tail lights flashing – ran out of gas!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsRXQhJwQfQ
Before some additional modifications including the original blue top.
A ’72 Rivieria is one of several Buick collector cars I’ve owned over the years. For me it was all about the flamboyant looks. The always perfect Buick “Rallye” wheels served this car very well.
As noted, the interior was straight LeSabre. I got impression quickly drilled into my feelings about the car on the drive home from Denver. Bench seat, black vinyl and crank windows – boring. Earlier I had owned a ’72 LeSabre and I felt on that drive I was back to a driving it again (though I did like the 455 over the prior car’s 350). I never loved the boattail and sold it after a few years.
Instead of having a Bunky Beak, the boat tailed Riviera has a Bunky Butt.
As a kid, I was totally enamoured by these cars, being my favourite of the era,
I had a ’71, an interesting car, my anti Yuppie statement. It drove more like a Coupe de Ville than a big muscle car. Like my ’66. my 71 had a nice interior; full power assists, dual cowl dash, with machine turned panels, bucket seats and console. Seats were diamond panel pearl white vinyl. The interior lost a lot of it’s appeal after ’71, and the bigger bumpers ruined the styling.
I wouldn’t buy another one, but I’m glad that I had one for a while.
I don’t see the awkward angles, to me there is always something cool to attract the eye away, one of my favourite big GM cars. the vinyl roof would have to go, now that does add awkwardness.
The 1972 Buick Riviera Silver Arrow III concept was initiated by Bill Mitchell and introduced at the 1972 Detroit Auto Show in November 1971. Unlike the Silver Arrow I and the Silver Arrow II, the Silver Arrow III was based on the mid-point of its generation—an unusual decision and perhaps a response to the challenges that the third-generation Riviera faced regarding its styling. One can undoubtedly hear Mitchell stating that this was more like what he had been trying to do with the production 1971 Riviera.
Like its two predecessors, Silver Arrow III was based on a production Riviera. The most obvious modification was redesigned quarter windows, which gave the roof a striking cantilevered look that had been in some of the original and smaller third-generation styling prototypes. Other notable changes from stock included a slightly lower roofline and an added set of tungsten-halogen headlamps designed for freeway driving. Details included taillights above the rear window with turn signal with emergency flasher functionality built-in and a four-wheel anti-skid system.
Inside, the Silver Arrow III’s equipment included plush, silver leather upholstery (Mitchell’s preferences in this area remained consistent throughout his tenure) highlighted with black piping. Aids to driver comfort included adjustable brake and accelerator pedals and a tilt and telescopic steering wheel. Because of these features, no horizontal adjustment was needed for the driver’s seat. When I last checked, Silver Arrow III was part of the GM Heritage Center’s collection.
The boattail Riviera is a car I have wavered on drastically, between hideous and the coolest thing in the world and right now I’m in the latter mindset. When put into the context of the parting directions of this market favoring the Lincoln Mark direction of baroque ostentatiousness the Riviera still held onto that flame that was there in the 58 Tbird and all the big 60s PLCs that followed… that they weren’t dynamically sporty, but they were so cool looking even sporty cars emulated their looks!(think about it, both the amustang and Cougar have elements of flairbirds in them, and the 67-69 F bodies clearly are cribbing the Rivieras coke bottle lines. 68-72 A body coupes across the board imitated the Toronado)
The Boattail is a challenging car, because to me it really is too big (and I say that normally liking bigger cars), it’s not in my dream garage, but taken in isolation it really is the last truly stunning PLC that isn’t reliant on formality and ornamentation. It’s successor is in my opinion one of the dreariest cars of the 70s, not because it was the worst but because it was simply average, it may as well have been a Lesabre for how much it just looks like everything else of the era, and what a horrific fate for a car that initially pushed the envelope, even if it was a bit of a flop.
Not a “fav”. Looks rather good in this color, combo. The interior color is “curious”, though.
Was the leaking trunk, seal ironed out by “72”?
Like the Marlin which got grafted onto the wrong size platform, the Riv could have looked better in a scaled down version.
But that’s like saying Dolly Parton would have been a better singer if her dimensions had changed…
I was a widdle kid when this gorgeous car was birthed, and I can remember the first sighting of one I made- it was startling, it was emotional, it was like nothing else, then or now! I remember riding in a later one, with one of the ladies at church, and thinking ‘This is NICE’, and it was! This one had no vinyl top, which was an improvement- still don’t see where the invective comes from- but I also like the Aztec, ànd the Pacer!
Imagine what might (or might not) have been had they made the first year a split window.
Say what you will, but these’boat tail’ Rivieras DO have presence. As far as the ‘personal luxury’ concept is concerned, in my humble opinion the first personal luxury car has to be the Cord 810 and 812 phaetons ans sport models, even if they were never referred to as such.
I think it looks good. It looks different. Yea, ‘maybe’ that ONE pic shown looking toward back side is a little off, but when do you see that view and not take in the whole thing?
Whatever one thinks of this gen. design, I think it’s many times better looking than ANY Rivs that follow.
The 1965 and then 1971,72 Rivie ra,s are my favorite Buick’s. I am a huge Bill Mitchell fan. I am a 70 year old Cadillac man, however if I were rich I would make room for one of these in a New York minute. This is my 1968 Cadillac