More than a few years ago, I had been semi-voluntarily vacuumed into the guilty TV pleasures that were the early seasons of “America’s Next Top Model” and, once my resistance faded, I went quite willingly.
Initially, the appeal of the concept and execution of the show eluded me almost completely. I simply wasn’t impressed by the first commercials I had seen. In fact, I hadn’t watched a single, new episode until maybe three years into the series, when cable music channel VH1 was concurrently airing reruns of the first several seasons (or “cycles”, in the parlance of the show). Early in ANTM’s run, it had seemed completely plausible (with steadily diminishing believability) that contestants could become, minimally, starlets in the worlds of fashion and media. Ultimately and on a positive note, there have been a few breakout, mainstream successes over the life of this show, among winners and non-winners alike.
I followed the show regularly for a few years, and yes, I have my favorite contestants. I even had the incredible experience about a year ago to Facetime with one of my all-time faves. During an eve-of-spring vacation outing in Detroit (one of my favorite U.S. cities) last March, I became acquainted, unknowingly, with this contestant’s cousin on a fluke meeting. After I asked the cousin, based on his last name, if he was related to her, he then left the room, called her, returned, and then put me on the phone with her. (This beautiful, vivacious free spirit should have won her season, in my opinion.)
When I think about which of these contestants I liked the best and why, it often comes down to them, as individuals, having made some sort of unique and memorable impression. This was usually through their cadence of speech, strongly expressed views, and/or through their physical features that, while attractive, were unconventional in some way.
The world is full of attractive people, with something / someone for every type and persuasion. Regardless of how one may feel about oneself inside – absent one’s own issues, there is going to be someone out there who digs the way one looks, even if one doesn’t. Blessed are those who can own their so-called quirks, love themselves, and project that self-love (and, thus, love of others) out into the world. We’ve all come in contact with someone (male or female) who, while physically attractive on the outside, self-sabotaged their own outer beauty by lacking self-confidence, projecting insecurity, or being inauthentic. Each of us has also met someone who, while he or she may not have been the hottest thing we’ve ever seen, had us asking ourselves why we found him or her so alluring. It may sound cliché, but it’s often true: authentic beauty radiates from the inside out.
The 1971 – ’73 “boattail” Riviera is one of the realest, most authentic cars of its era that I can think of. Only a car built in my own scrappy, blunt, survive-and-thrive hometown of Flint, Michigan could project this car’s apparent aura of “this-is-how-I-look-and-I-don’t-care-what-you-think”. Recently, I had written and posted an essay here at CC about how a ’62 Plymouth Valiant was visually “doing too much”, with too many incongruous lines, curves, shapes, etc. in its exterior styling. I’d say this ’73 Riviera could be Exhibit B of this same idea, but in a completely different (and, to me, positive) way.
While the lines of that ’62 Valiant strike me as being a bit schizophrenic, there’s a quiet, solid, dignified gravity to the lines of this ’73 Riv, especially within the context of its setting beneath the CTA “L” Loop tracks. One of 34,000 ’73 Rivieras originally assembled in the Vehicle City, no one is going to mistake it for any other personal luxury car, period. When I had originally photographed this car about six years ago, I hadn’t noticed the “GS” badges on the front fenders. This package included an upgraded 455-cubic inch V8 (with either 260 or 270 hp, up from 250 on the standard 455) and a suspension package (along with a few other mechanical goodies that I’m not really that qualified to write about), all at a relatively cheap price which was considered a bargain at the time for what one got – something around $200 (around $1,100 / adjusted). Base prices for ’73 (before many necessary options) started at $5,221 – about $30,000 in 2019.
Cars equipped with the GS package that year reportedly numbered fewer than 2,000, though I could not find concurrence on the exact number. I must also opine that though the rear styling of the ’73 Riviera was toned down somewhat compared to that of the preceding two model years, the ’73 Riv was still a very distinctive and (to me) handsome-looking car. I like the horizontally-bisected taillamp clusters, and centering the license plate within the rear bumper was a change for the better.
Obviousness is not quality I place a premium on, and I can appreciate topics and objects that provoke debate. The polarizing design of these Rivieras (sales actually fell from 37,300 units in 1970 to 33,800 for the all-new ’71s) is just another reason why I love them. They’re not everyone’s cuppa, but not everybody has to like everything. I like that Chief Designer Bill Mitchell and his team had reinvented Riviera styling for this generation into something that was bold, brash, and eminently memorable.
Downtown, the Loop, Chicago, Illinois.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013.
I think it shows how confident GM was in the last 60s and early 70s that they’d effectively put a sketch into production.
I’d hardly describe the creation of the boat tail Riviera as “put(ting) a sketch into production”. I suggest you read this which will explain the process a bit better:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1971-buick-riviera-bill-mitchells-pointy-dead-end/
It also reflects GM’s over-confidence (or hubris), as the ’71 Riviera has some pretty major design flaws from certain angles. And of course it was pretty much a failure on the market.
Very extravagant and gorgeous. Definitely putting form before function…like a sketch.
Great piece on a stunning car, Joseph. Didn’t the 1973 Riviera use the same or similar dash board and gauge cluster as the Electra 225? I turned 21 in 1973 and I will always remember the 1973 full size GM cars for 4 new standard features: exhaust gas recirculation systems, the 5 mph front bumper, the 2.5 mph rear bumper and the 10SI Delcotron alternator with the solid state internal voltage regulator. The 1973 GM intermediates also got the same 4 features as well as standard front disc brakes.
The dashboard was almost identical to its B body and C body siblings…The are in front of the passenger was slightly concave as opposed to being flat in the LeSabre and Electra…My parents had a 72 Estate Wagon that shared this basic dashboard design
Gorgeous, gorgeous cars, definitely in my short list of cars I want to own, though I’d rather have a small bumper ’71-72.
I get that its a polarizing design though, especially when less-controversial-styled Monte Carlos and Grand Prixes were also available, but Rivieras weren’t meant to be for everyone either.
When it came to great looking cars, GM really had it together back then.
Yes, from the conservative Monte Carlo and GP to the far more “out there” Toro, Riv and Eldorado, GM had something for almost everyone in the personal luxury field.
I was a kid in the early ‘70’s when these Rivieras came out, and I liked them. There was just nothing else like it on the road, and it was quite different from anything we would have owned so I knew better than to ask my dad to check one out (though he did bring home a nice ‘73 Impala coupe). There’s a ‘71 Riviera in decent shape near us in Toronto that I see out during the summer. Always nice to see something you liked as a kid still on the road.
Dman63, your comment about being a kid when these cars were new just reminded me of one of my favorite childhood Matchbox cars! Actually, it wasn’t even technically mine… it was my older brother’s, but it was green boattail Riv with a white, molded plastic interior. I may have to search eBay for one, but then again maybe not. I have enough stuff.
I just recently ran across re-runs(?) of the TV show Due South which features a 71 or 72 Riviera quite prominently. Watching the show (again) I am struck by the use of that particular car by a Chicago cop who dressed like a Miami Vice wannabe. Was this a gift from an older relative or did this guy actually go looking for this car?
The car in the show is quite good looking in it’s medium green but for chasing down suspected bad guys that size must have been a handicap.
As an aside, I saw a “final” generation Riviera just a week ago, it’s red paint looking like it hadn’t been polished in decades.
I always end up learning new things on this site – I do not recall ever having heard about the show “Due South” – and now I feel like cuing up some episodes on YouTube, if that’s possible.
I thought the final Rivieras were a fine way to end that tradition. I still find them quite striking.
A wonderful read this morning.
In addition to these being self-confident, another descriptor might be defiant. Not defiant in a bad way, but defiance perhaps based on self-confidence.
One can almost hear the exhaust burble of that 455 echoing off all the buildings in the background, a blip of the accelerator changing the tone. Of course, with this being Chicago were so many take off with their foot on the floorboard, the exhaust note would be even more interesting when the secondaries of that Quadrajet open.
Jason, thank you so much. What came to mind when I was originally photographing this car (and similarly to when I had previously photographed other big, old cars in the Loop district) was how slightly paranoid I would be with maneuvering a car the size of this Riviera through downtown traffic.
What I love about old cars is that they’re such a multisensory experience. You referenced the sound of the 455 and exhaust note. There’s the sense of sound, sight, and smell – and also touch, if one happens to be the driver.
Back in the day I thought the ’71-’73 Riviera would have looked even better with thin rectangular headlights (which came along later but after the demise of the boat tail). I even drew such a car in 6th grade geography class one day. I was bored; my teacher was not impressed.
I believe I was inspired by the Green Hornet’s Imperial. Perhaps a boat tail Riv (painted a VERY dark green) is what Britt Reid would have driven himself on Kato’s day off.
My 1972 Silver Arrow IV – rectangular framed headlights.
Very nice, Mr. Prince. Thanks for posting
+2 – What a beautiful treasure, Bill!
The 71 and 72 were so much more attractive, especially with the forward leading front end similar to what BMW would use in their “shark” 6 series coupes.
Although the 71 and 72 did have detail differences, the easiest way to discern them from each other is the trunk mounted louvers that were on virtually all 71 GM cars for thei flow through ventilation.
Joe, based upon your long history of great pics, I think you could have been an art director on a 70s detective series. The early 70s mood in these images is strong. Love these photos.
I was a big fan of the boat tail Riv’s styling for long time. Unfortunately, I find them a bit gaudy now. In fact, the proportions and styling flourishes remind me a bit of the early 60s Dodge Lancer as discussed in your article from a couple weeks ago. Almost what an early 70s Caprice and a Lancer might look like if they had an offspring. 🙂
I found these really needed the Buick road wheels to look their best.
There was a Canadian crime drama series from the mid 1990s called ‘Due South’ that took place in Chicago. I think it was carried by CBS in the US. It paired a Canadian Mountie with a Chicago detective solving crimes in the Windy City. The detective drove a ’71 boat tail, that was shown often, and added to the appeal of the show.
https://youtu.be/_Ml7uNyNs3E?t=221
Many apologies to Howard Kerr, who commented above on the series ‘Due South. I remember the show from the time (1995), and how often the Riv was used for stunts. I know the program was meant to be mostly tongue-in-cheek, but I found it too corny to watch regularly at the time.
Speaking of which, there was a short-lived 2016 show called “Second Chance”, in which a billionaire bio-engineer brings a dead sheriff back to life and back to his youth. The sheriff/main character (played by Robert Kazinsky) drives a customized 1971-72 Buick Riviera…the same sort of car he would have driven in the heyday of his first life.
https://www.imcdb.org/v886272.html
Due South was the first thing I thought of when I saw this. I seem to recall it may have been a co-production with the BBC, so was originally shown on Canada and the UK but not USA.
One of my (ridiculous) pet hates is cop shows in which the main character drives a classic at work. Inspector Morse’s Jag and Burt Reynolds’ Camaro in “Cop and a Half” spring to mind.
Detective Vecchio’s Riviera managed to stay immaculate despite being pressed into police service all year round in Chicago. I think there were two or three cars in the story, as the car was blown up at least once, which I guess might be an acknowledgement from the producers that it doesn’t make sense.
My wife is watching a Netflix series called “Sex Education” which is making my OCD flare up for all kinds of reasons. People are daily driving Allegros!
One of the dumbest drive a classic at work cop shows had to be ” Vegas”. It was on in the late 70’s. The main character drove around doing cop stuff in a 57 T-bird convertible and his living room is where he parked it when not on duty. Nothing like losing all of the air-conditioning in the house when the garage door is opened and then filling the house with good old fashioned leaded gas exhaust and bugs.
As a Canadian, I have to be honest, I generally found the show unwatchable at the time. Though it was well-written and generally well regarded, I found the way they portrayed the main character as the Hollywood stereotype of an RCMP Mountie too phony and patronizing. Wearing his formal red dress uniform all the time, with his dog at his side? Even if it was meant as a silly running gag. Though the show aired in Canada, it seemed to be pandering too much to stereotypes, I guess hoping to draw appeal in other countries. I knew the RCMP loved the show, as it was free wholesome advertising!
I always think of Due South when I see these boat tail Rivs. I used to watch that show semi regularly. For CanCon I thought it was pretty good for the time. I always took the stereotypes that were shown as to be taken tongue in cheek. I lost interest in the show when they changed the actor that play Ray Vecchio.
I recall reading an article about the show at the time. I think they wanted some sort of muscle car but used the Riv instead because it had lots of power and they were cheap. They went through several cars in the series. The Buick was Ray Vecchios pride and joy in the show and I believe he “replaced” it with another just like it when it was blown up on the show. If I recall, there was some good CCs in that show.
There are several crime series on BBC, and shown on PBS, where the Detective Chief Inspector drives a Jaguar. From what I have read in British car magazines and from watching a few of these series sporadically, a Jaguar was THE car for an Inspector that had “made it” or was on the cusp….so to speak.
If you watch the series that was the prequel of sorts, to Inspector Morse, you see that his boss drove a Jaguar but made Morse chauffeur him around. I imagine Morse thought enough of the car and his friend to emulate him when he was given his own car.
And for the time frame that Inspector Morse started in, his Jaguar wasn’t yet a classic.
In the Morse TV series of the 90s, he’s driving a 60s Jag, which is a nonsense. Even if he owned his own modern car, he’d be driving one issued by the police force.
Daniel, thank you so much, and also for that link to that episode of “Due South”! I had just finished mentioning in response to Howard Kerr’s comment above that I felt like looking up an episode – but you already did that work for me. Much appreciated!
Your photo of this beautiful Riviera in Chicago, somehow reminded me that Leo Durocher, one time manager of my NL team, the Chicago Cubs, drove a Riviera, I think perhaps a bit earlier vintage, say a new 1966. Don’t ask me how I remember that. Apparently someone plowed in to the back of his car on Lakeshore Drive on the way to a game at Wrigley Field.
I love this gen of Riviera, but the ’73 works less so for me because of the big front bumper.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this Riv considered an E-body? Same as Toronado and Eldorado? Does that make it the only GM chassis to be offered in FWD and RWD simultaneously?
Evan, the restyled front of the ’73 works for me, but not those giant bumper guards. I genuinely like the refining of this basic look up front for the ’74 models. About 7 or 8 years ago, I saw a gold ’74 Riviera at the big Back To The Bricks car show in Flint, and it made a believer out of me.
You also bring up a great point about the E-Body platform supporting both FWD and RWD at the same time. I was hoping someone in the know would respond to your question, but I think you may be right – this E platform was probably the last one from GM to support both FWD and RWD cars. (Anyone?)
I like the ’73 Rivs the best, and the big front bumper looks way better then Ford’s blocky add ons. I don’t care that it’s fashionable to dislike big bumpers in car message boards.
I think of the ’73 in chase scene from movie “Thunderbolt & Lightfoot”, takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
Gorgeous pictures Joe. This may have been GM’s very last examples of its styling swagger that dated back to the early 1950s. The 71 Riviera truly looked like nothing else on the road. Although I was not a GM kid when these came out, I was a fan of the look.
I would see one in real life, some older neighbors of my childhood best friend had a 71 or 72 in dark brown with those great Buick wheels. I used to enjoy looking at the car when it was in the owner’s driveway.
These might have been the ragged edge of GM design before everything started to pull back for the “sensible 70s”. The 74 Riv may have been the first evidence of that trip back to the real world, and the 77 B body line was when it really took hold.
The 1974 model lost the boat tail because Buick’s General Manager at the time – Lee Mays – hated it, and pushed to have it removed. His efforts did not bear fruit until the 1974 model.
While sales in 1974 and 1975 were obviously hampered by the first gas shortage and resulting sharp recession, Riviera sales didn’t bounce back in 1976, if I recall correctly.
As someone once noted, the 1971-73 models were polarizing. People either loved them or disliked them. The 1974-76 models were not polarizing. Everyone really disliked them.
The 74’s looked like “plucked chickens”, to borrow from Virgil Exner, 😉
I really loved these as a kid. They were so distinctive looking and graceful. In an era when most cars were plug ugly, with strange, bloated proportions, weird scallops and flourishes, tiny greenhouses and tiny rear windows on two door cars, or covered with ugly plastic, GM really hit the styling mark on these. It’s funny, but the Barracuda which looks somewhat similar never struck me in the same way. That Boattail was so different compared with everything else, but it was also done well. Hard to believe the company which could make this could also produce the 1992 Buick Skylark 21 years later, which was certainly . . . different.
These were originally destined for the A body but to cut costs they were made off of the B Body platform so the proportions are not quite what was intended. I think it would have made more sense on the A body, but Buick did a good job with it. The designer, Jerry Hirschberg, went on to style a number of remarkable cars at Nissan/Infiniti including the J30.
After a smashing debut in 1965, and then this follow up, which looks nothing at all like the 1965 and is not its spiritual heir at all, the Riviera would go on to a couple of extremely forgettable designs, then the 1979-1985, then the woeful 86, then the let’s do the Lexus-suppository-look 1995. GM must have decided that multiple personality disorder/schizophrenia had made the Thunderbird and cougar successful so let’s copy that trait for the Riviera. There are a few nameplates which have been applied to vastly dissimilar cars, and Riviera is definitely one of them.
As usual, your shots create a very strong mood and setting. I always look forward to them.
Thank you so much, Paul.
Joseph Dennis post and photos: Check.
Chicago location: Check.
Boat tail Riviera: Check.
Well, that it, guys, I’m done for the day. I’ll be out of the office if anyone needs anything. 🙂
CJC, thanks – and on another note, sometimes (especially on Mondays), I wish I had the power to grant early dismissal! LOL
I like the dip-hipped flamboyance of the ’71, partly because the sheer gigantism and that prow-face are counterbalanced by thin A-pillars and no B-pillars at all, for a very dainty glasshouse indeed. And there’s a touch of old glamour about the re-emergence of a bonnet raised above the guards, narrowing to the front, though in a darker mood, it’s also a bit Bufori or Excalibar-esque. As, perhaps, is the gaudy whole.
But this ’73 monster? GM was itself a giant. It knew 5mph bumpers were coming. It surely had the tech capability to integrate things a little, particularly where the imposition of the straight-across frontal girder here makes the front of the car some dowdy square-chinned mask quite unrelated to the rest.
I’m not sure this gen of Riv ever had inner beauty – though character, yes – but my lordy, this was uglified more than somewhat. The ’71 would, surely, be saying to it, “What on oith is you wearing that grid-iron mask for, George?” – a Buick kinda has to be George or Norm or something familiar but now unused – and what’s the poor bastard gonna answer? “Guvmint made me, Irv.”? Sheesh.
Great piece, Mr D, and great moody art in your photos, as so often.
I’m always fascinated by the rear quarter glass in these. Not only the shape when you look at the car from the side, but the curvature as the boattail narrows. The fluid resolution of the surfaces from bodyside to roof to trunk is stunning. Organic, even.
I remember how stunned I was when I first saw a photo of one in a magazine feature on the new American cars for 1971, it was just so different, so wild. For me it still elicits that sensation – unmistakably, breathtakingly different. In a good way – to my sense of aesthetics, anyway.
Never copied, never imitated. Gold.
The photos – particularly the fourth one – really capture the essence of this car.
These were certainly attention-getting cars, although the safety bumpers detract from the overall design, particularly in the front. The 1971-72 models, with their forward-slanting front end and dramatic rear bumpers, seem like a Motorama design brought to life. The 1973 model, with its hefty bumpers, diluted this effect.
One of the car magazines tested a 1973 Riviera GS model, and recorded all of 5-6 mpg. That was tough to swallow even before the first gas shortage (which didn’t happen until the 1974 model year was underway).
What I remember is that this generation of Riviera (and Eldorado and Toronado) didn’t have a long shelf life, thanks to changing customer tastes and national events. The gas shortage, the 1975 1/2 Cadillac Seville and increasing popularity of Mercedes-Benz and Volvo among the well-to-do made these seem like bloated anachronisms fairly quickly.
I noticed in the fifth photo that the Riv also offered vinyl seating with a faux texture printed in the surface. It may have been a new process offered around the time, as I’ve seen it applied on other cars from that era as well. Including the ’71-’73 Mustang. Can’t say I was a fan of this attempt to make vinyl in leather-likes shades, look more like leather. I found it looked chintzy. Especially as it became overused in other products that featured vinyl surfaces.
As tacky as 50s design could be, the brougham era of the early 70s sure gave it a challenge. I have a couple very early grade school class photos from ’73 to ’75 where every last person in the pic is wearing polyester.
You can see how bad the vinyl ‘leather-print’ texture looks in this ’72 Mustang shot below.
“As tacky as 50s design could be, the brougham era of the early 70s sure gave it a challenge.”
I get your point, but you have to remember that, at the time, neither style when current was “tacky”.
It’s like defining “camp” as it relates. Camp is often a style overdone on purpose either to mock or celebrate it, or more likely, do both at once.
The 50s had a distinct style, as did the 70s. One was flash, chrome, and fins, the other was padded, tufted, and overwrought. In their time, the look was coveted. In the present, we see it as tacky when compared to today’s style, but the kabuki look faces are going to be considered silly and dated.
The ’74-’78 Rivs are nearly forgotten, like “plucked chickens”. Never see any at local car shows.
The ’79 brought some style, with downsizing to boot.
And, yes, we all know what happened in 1986 MY.
I’ve noticed this same faux-antiqued vinyl finish on many cars. Indeed, the slightly splotchy appearance is used on Detroit’s leathers of the time as well.
What I’ve noticed is that the dye job can easily be detected in photos. But in real life, the variations in the finish seems to disappear very effectively.
Put me down firmly in the “love it” camp on boattail Riv’s. Nice article, you’re really going through your archives lately! As a bonus, I got to learn more than I ever knew about about America’s Next Top Model:)
Great pics of the Riviera lurking under the “eL”!
I always liked the boattails. The ‘72 is my favorite boattail Riviera, the dashboard still uses the machine turned finish around the instruments and it lacks those stupid vents on the trunk. All 71-73 Rivieras (and the Toronado) uses the unique door handle from the ‘69-‘72 Grand Prix.
It’s too bad GM didn’t have a smaller, one of kind platform for the E bodies.
Ang Lee’s 1997 film “The Ice Storm” is worth checking out, it is set in 1973 in upper middle class CT. Sigourney Weaver’s character drives a Country Squire while Kevin Kline’s character has a beautiful blue ‘72 boattail Riviera – perfect vehicles for the time & place.
I recall seeing one of these in the flesh for the first time and just staring at it for for what seemed like hours. I still don’t know if I like it or hate it, but it was sure different. No cookie cutter car here. GM’s arrogance and hubris has been deservingly chronicled here at CC, but on occasion that attitude resulted in some interesting, albeit risky cars. This is one of them.
Thanks so much, everyone. To Jon7190’s point, I took these pictures quite a while ago (six years), so as with the ’72 Toronado I had featured last Monday, I wonder if this car is still on the road, and if so, what kind of condition it’s in. This Riviera stopped me in my tracks after work the day I had seen it. It has such a presence.
To Paul N.’s point in the boattail Riviera article he linked in his comments above there are definitely some wonky angles on these cars, but most of them work for me. These always just seemed so exotic to me. I was glad I was able to write this one up.
Any list of 10 Ugliest Cars needs to have one of these on it.
I think these are pure charisma. Every night they should be parked behind red theatre curtains and unveiled every morning like it’s the first time, with spotlights and Pink Floyd concert laser beams and an announcer saying
“Are you not ENTERTAINED?”
Great read and amazing photography as always Joseph! I have long had a soft spot for these Rivs, although I prefer the 71 to 72s. I always forget how large these cars are until I see one in person. They are massive cars. It’s too bad they didn’t use the A-body platform as I think the proportions would have been nicer and the size more manageable. Regardless, I still love these Buicks.
There is an older gentleman in town that has had a 73 since new. He’s got to be in his 80s and I am not sure if the car gets any use anymore. It used to sit under a carport and was in very nice original shape. I haven’t seen it in some time so I am not sure if it sold or he moved it elsewhere.
My choice would be the 71/72 front end with the 73’s tail.
Who, am I kidding? My choice of a boattail Riv is always going to be the “Rivision”.
Flipper,
Wow that works! Very cool.
Wow! I had never heard of the “Rivision” before now… based on a ’64 (I had to look it up just now). Incredible.
Somewhere in the files of C&D or MT is a cartoon of one of these cars, in which the rear window is removed to allow for a single seat, with a helm from an ocean yacht racer, with which to pilot this great old boat. I cannot unsee it.
Outstanding. I think I have to look for this one.