There’s nothing quite like a boat-tail Riviera. Whether you are a fan or not of the Bill Mitchell-influenced design that Jerry Hirshberg penned for the third generation of Buick’s big coupe, you have to credit GM for going with such a bold design. With a Sting Ray-esque shape from the rear window to the point of the tail, it looked sporty, and at the front end…well, it was pointy there, too. In between those two points was the GM E-body platform, the same as you’d find under the Cadillac Eldorado and the Oldsmobile Toronado. The third-gen Riv wasn’t supposed to be on the E-platform originally…it was supposed to be on the A-platform mid-size instead. Whether you can agree or not with the shape, at least Buick felt the need to keep the 455ci V8 under the hood. This was, after all, a massive two-ton luxury liner that was supposed to be able to dance on it’s toes when asked to.
With the ever-honest Bud Lindemann narrating along, you’ll see the Buick get put through the classic Car and Track paces…which is to say, it gets beat on like the cheap rental car that came with walk-away insurance. With the engine white-hot, brakes smoking, and tires little more than rubbery gumballs by the time the test is over, there is no doubt that the Riviera has been put through it’s paces. It might have been a stuffed and fluffed machine, but that huge pedal on the right could still make a bit of noise and a ton of tire smoke when called upon.
