This 1962 Electra 225 Riviera sees a fair bit of the street here in Melbourne and I’ve managed to capture it on multiple occasions. I’ve also managed to meet its owner, who it turns out piloted half a Honda Z360 in the 1986 film Malcolm.
The earliest reference I can find to a Buick Riviera is this 1940 concept by Richard Arbib, who was then consulting at Art and Colour under Harley Earl, before moving on to Penney and AMC.
It came just after the Y-Job, when Earl was using Buick to parade his most daring around Grosse Pointe. The cowled wheels seem semi-feasible, but from the get-go the brief appeared to involve a pillarless turret.
In 1949 it was one of the first hardtops on the market.
Initially a senior two-door, before the name was also distributed amongst short and long wheelbase Buick four-door hardtops in the years following.
From 1959 the name was restricted to the top of the line Buick four-door hardtop only.
The Electra 225 Riviera shared its roofline with the six-window Cadillac hardtop; with no other GM marque permitted to use it.
At $4448 the 1962 Riviera was the most expensive Buick.
Despite this, it was also the second most popular Electra 225 body with more than 15,000 units produced.
The cheapest Cadillac six window was $5213, and the Olds version introduced the year before was $4118. The Buick was the most restrained of the three. Quieter prestige.
1962 was also Buick’s best year in sales since 1956, and styling had something to do with it.
The roof’s fast and straight rear pillar was well echoed by the lower body’s trailing edge, a much cleaner treatment than the past few years.
The straight-through bodyside accents enhanced the shape’s dynamism superbly. Being able to capture our CC during different times of the year really brings these qualities out.
It’s a CC in the best sense of the term – pretty much original and still regularly used.
Survivor class has become the class to join in classic car circles. I get it, but sometimes the obsession can get a bit, well, obsessive.
This lovely beast isn’t a survivor so much as a thriver.
Since purchase, Paul has only replaced the tyres. He’s not a factory chalk mark original air in the tyres kind of owner – he just lucked onto a very, very presentable example that gives him no trouble.
He’s even avoided the temptation of warming up its 325 hp 401, despite the fact he also has a taste for restomods.
Paul is great for a chat about cars.
Get him onto bikes, and at some point he might tell you about the time he worked on the movie Malcolm. It’s an Australian classic, thanks in part to the quirky contraptions built by David Parker, who co-directed the film with Nadia Tass.
Best gag was the splitting Honda, but the producers couldn’t find anyone capable of piloting the half bodies.
Rounds of stunt riders were brought in, invariably resulting in a damaged prop that had to be fixed and fixed again.
Paul got the call and met the production team at a house in Maribyrnong.
The prop was quite literally a Honda Z360 body split in half, with each chassis rail retained. A 90cc Honda engine was mounted at rear, and a narrow steering bar had the hand throttle attached. And there were no brakes. After positioning shotbags to balance the body, Paul slid into the seat.
He received a push-start, then gunned it as soon as they let go.
The half-body remained upright, and Paul summoned enough command of this demi-car to end his first trip in a figure-of-eight.
David Parker threw his script in the air, shouting ‘We can finish the film!’
And here he is in action.
1962 was the last year the name Riviera meant an Electra 225 body style.
For 1963 the six-light hardtop was now called the Buick Electra 225 4-Door Sedan, while the four-light hardtop was called the Buick Electra 225 4-Door Hardtop.
That was the year the name returned to two-door configuration, for a special body Cadillac had rejected.
With thanks to Paul Chase
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Further Reading
1953 Buick Super Riviera vs.1953 Buick Special Riviera by Aaron65
1959 Buick Electra 225 by Rich Baron
1961 Buick Electra 225 Convertible by Joseph Dennis
Very nice post, Don. Malcolm is a film of immense charm. Very quirky, very low-key, very Melbourne of 40 years ago (gulp, 40!).
I’d be a bit squeamish about driving such a sweet but immense object from the left in a RHD country, but I’m guessing that if Paul could get half a Honda to look credibly driveable, he’d have no problem with that.
I really enjoyed Malcolm, and I wondered how they did that scene. The title character, played by Colin Friels, is so socially clueless, but that’s the point.
One of these days I’ll have to see Don’s Party.
You might want to also have a look for The Big Steal. Same production team, with Jaguar as the plot’s focus. And Orson Krennic playing cute with Claudia Karvan.
Geoff Mullens Motors, oh how I remember yards like that back in the day.
Steve Bisley playing Gordon Farkas, used car salesman. Absolute role of his career.
Minor detail: Given the plume of blue smoke trailing behind (and the sound track of what sounds like a 2-stroke engine), I’d guess it was a two stroke engine and not a Honda 90 engine.
Melbourne had a garment district?
Historically, that was Flinders Lane.
We called them “six winder Cadillacs” here in Kentucky and by extension occasionally the Buicks.
The “225” had a longer trunk (Cadillac body?) for I believe the 59 only…after that they were all called “Deuce” by the Black community who wisely spent their $1600 on a nearly new, no-trouble-ever Buick rather than on the VW with no heater that Whites punished themselves with.
The first time I’d heard an Electra 225 referred to as a “Deuce” was in Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “My Hooptie”. More often a “Deuce” is a 1932 Ford roadster, as in the Beach Boys’ “Little Deuce Coupe” or local hero Danny Gatton’s album “Cruisin’ Deuces”. Not sure if this is just a white-people thing or universal.
I heard them being referred to as Deuce-and-a-Quarters no later than in the Seventies.
I’ve always liked the 1959-60 four-window hardtop cantilever-roof design better than the more ordinary six-window hardtop version of both Buicks and Cadillacs, and though that roof treatment works better with the crisper 1961-62 styling, the rear quarter C pillar window that doesn’t roll down with the others spoils the look some for me.
I didn’t know Richard Arbib ever worked at General Motors. Like Raymond Loewy and Brooks Stevens, Arbib was a general-purpose industrial designer who sometimes worked on cars, in this case most notably the polarizing final Nash-based Hudsons. But I’d venture he’s more famous for designing watches than cars. Nonetheless I’m very impressed with his 1940 concept Riviera. He pretty much nailed the proportions of a late ’50s through early ’70s car, save for the pontoon fenders and that little hood bulge (although a few cars had the latter design affectation).
Lol, I’ve often seen pre-Civic Hondas described as more like two motorcycles stuck together than a car, but Malcolm makes that literal.
For some it was more satisfying to work across industries, rather than just on cars. He certainly had fun with watches. Here’s something he might have been doing for himself – Dorade.
Well that looks like a nice pastiche of big mostly-GM coupes, partiularly the Eldo, Toro, Imperial, some boattail Riv and a hint of T-Bird Nobody back then imagined we’d all be driving shapeless tall grey boxes a few decades forth. But Arbib still had his pulse on the future, at least getting the paint colors right.
Plus a touch of first gen Barracuda
Definately prefer the classier 1962 to the pointy-front fendered 1961.
A fine old sled.
During my perpatetic era in the early ’70s, there was a guy who shared a house I lived in briefly who had one of these. It was just an elder;y barge he picked up from some old folks, and was in pretty good shape, especially the interior. I rode in it a couple of times; the rear seat was a very nice place to be, given the quality upholstery and plenty of leg room.
I’m not a big fan of the restyle for ’62; it’s a bit dulled down from ’61. And I especially like the ’61 base Electra 4-door hardtop with the flying wing roof and that big wrap-around window.
Such lovely understated elegance .
“Deuce” has been coopted many times since the ’32 Ford Roadster Hot Rods way back when .
For me a “Deuce and a Quarter” will always be a troop transport truck .
-Nate
I’m a big fan of the 6 window Riviera hardtop. Here’s a pic of my 61! Although I like the 62 – 64, I like the 61 best – admittedly, I’m biased since my family had a 61 when I was a little guy! Lots of style, character and comfort!
A good looking car. I also like the “four-window” hardtops that GM produced those years. Clean, “sheer” styling, as Bill Mitchell called it. Much more modern than what Chrysler was offering, particularly in 1961 through 1962.
My Grandfather Bought a New 61 Electra 225 6 window. He traded his 57 Cadillac in on it. He usually got a new Cadillac every two years, but was put off by the styling of the 59. In 61, he got a better deal on the Electra, and traded for a new one every 2 years until he passed in 71.
I always liked the 62 Buick, and have from the time I was a little kid. There was something about those wide, symmetrical taillights that appealed to me.
And you have to admire GM of the early 60s who would offer two different 4 door hardtops in the same line when other companies were lucky to get one of them.
Like Paul, I prefer the ’61. The ’62’s fender end/headlight treatment just looks odd, unfortunate.
That said, I love this roofline. Such a change from 21st century cars in which we hide away behind small windows, and need cameras to see out!
Great article! It seems like for years, understated elegance was part of Buick’s mission statement, compared even with high-zoot Oldsmobiles. Quiet(er) money. And thanks so for referencing “Malcolm”. I may need to check that out. Terrific photography, as per usual.
Richard Arbib was a great industrial designer who worked for many top clients. He also designed Hamilton mid-century modern watches!
Don fwiw about 40 years ago in Australia I owned this exact same model, a ‘62 Electra 225 Riviera six-light.
This was in Newcastle NSW and I presume mine was converted to R/H/D from new? It was then still in quite reasonable condition despite its age. The paintwork was original albeit badly frosted and similar in colour to that distinctive Jewel Green metallic hue often seen on Holden’s ‘62 EJ Premier.
I bought it cheap for AUD $1k with virtually no brakes, although it otherwise went well. However I didn’t keep it for long, as at the time I owned a very tidy ‘65 Riviera ‘keeper’ in that same silver hue as your pictured ‘’63 example.
I can’t recall if the Sedan likewise featured factory air, but I do remember being impressed by its electric-everything equipment, including the power (swivel) opening for those rearmost quarter vent windows!
You mean like this?
Yes Don you nailed it!
Thank you. It seems the correct name for this intense Holden colour is Wimmera Green, and you’d recall the matching interior was similarly espectacular (see below).
However the badly faded duco of my ’62 Electra was, on reflection (sic), a milder shade. It’s four decades ago now but I think “Buick Aquamarine” as illustrated in my following post is likely more akin.
As you’d know, Buick used to be a relatively popular marque downunder, especially pre-war, and much respected. For trivia my father learnt to drive in his grandfather’s huge black 1934 Series 90, purchased new in Melbourne.
Back in the day I recall seeing a few post-war Buicks lumbering about. I think Holden assembled them c/k/d (?) but iirc GM-H ceased cataloguing the brand after the straight-eight’s demise. From then on, any sold-new Buicks were hereabouts exceptionally rare, including my green ’62 behemoth. Btw the Riviera Coupe I had was originally sold by the big Holden dealer Suttons Motors and apparently it was one of only five ’65 Rivs retailed new in Australia. I was advised that the price they (Suttons) sold it for was “slightly less than the cheapest Rolls Royce”.
.
You mean that, like this?
Don I think it was slightly less luridly intense than Holden’s fantabulous Warrigal Green.
Although heavily faded the paint on my ‘62 was, on reflection (sic), likely “Buick Aquamarine” seen below
(courtesy of uniquecarsandparts.com)