It's rare that you can get away with calling a classic American car beautiful. Brash, perhaps; eye-catching, maybe; achingly cool, quite often. But beautiful? Hmm.
Thing is, to every rule there is an exception. And in this case, we think we've found it. Take a look at this 1963 Buick Riviera. Go on, we'll wait. Finished? Pretty, isn't it? From the shark nose to the demure hip kink to the simple, crisp tail, the original Riv' is a world away from the excess that normally typifies early 1960s American car design.
For proof, look at the 1959 Cadillac Deville - the classic big, pink Caddy that exemplifies classic American cars at their most profligate. Now remember that that car emerged just four years before the Buick. By comparison, the Riviera looks more like something that could have emerged from a European design house of the time.
That should come as no great surprise given that it was inspired by a Rolls Royce. Its designer, Bill Mitchell, told Hemmings Special Interest Autos in 1976: "I was over in England for the auto show and I happened to be coming out of the Claridges on a damp, foggy evening. Here was this Rolls parked out front. I looked at those corners and sharp angles and I thought 'My God, if that car were just a foot lower - there's our silhouette."
Mitchell - he of the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray that emerged the same year - had originally devised the car as a baby Cadillac, one ideally placed to revive the defunct La Salle brand; indeed, the tall, narrow grilles on the leading edges of the front wings that hide the indicators were supposed to imitate the grilles on 1930s La Salles.
But GM's top brass didn't go for the plan, and instead, Mitchell found a home for the design at Buick, which equipped the new model with its 330hp 6.6-litre Wildcat V8; a 350hp 7.0-litre version of the same engine was optional. Beneath the skin was a shorter, narrower frame than most Buicks, which meant that while the Riviera still weighed in at more than 1,800kg, it was actually relatively light for an American car of the period, giving it handling that was... well, if not exactly sporty, then perhaps a smidge less wallowy than its contemporaries.
This example comes comes with a welter of neat factory options, including air conditioning, cruise control and, most appealingly, Guide-Matic automatic dimming headlights, of the sort we discussed on these pages just a few weeks hence. It's fitted with the standard engine, giving it a 0-60 time of somewhere around the eight second mark - hardly a sluggard, then, so we doubt you'll mess the 7.0-litre. Then again, of course, if you're using a Riviera for traffic light derbies, you're rather missing the point.
Worth noting, too that according to the advert, it's undergone a comprehensive, bare-bones restoration to concours standard (and, to prove it, has gone on to win concours competitions), and has covered just 13,000 miles. All of which is further reason to avoid such loutish behaviour - as, indeed, is the price tag of £49,950.
But it'd be a crying shame to avoid using this car on the road entirely. Imagine the joy you'd get from cruising along with the windows down and the tunes up, catching reflections of that gorgeous silhouette in shop windows and enjoying the gentle burble and effortless grunt of that V8. Perhaps it's one to tuck away and save for high days, holidays and the occasional show, then, and hang the concours competitions - at least for a while, anyway.
However you choose to use it, though, his '63 Riv' has a singular appeal as a proper American classic full to bursting with V8 attitude, but one that's also, truly, a thing of beauty.
SPECIFICATION - BUICK RIVIERA
Engine: 6,571cc V8
Transmission: 2-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 330@4,400rpm
Torque (lb ft): 445@2,400rpm
First registered: 1963
Recorded mileage: 13,000
Price new: $4,333 (approx. £1,567; £31,195 adjusted for inflation)
Yours for: £49,950
See the original advert here.
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