makemann's '99 Riviera

Thought I would start a thread on my car. Some basic history about it: From '03 to '08 I owned this beautiful black/gray '98 Riviera.

It was in near perfect shape when I sold it in Aug '08 for this '09 Ford Mustang Bullitt.

I loved my Mustang, but while mountain biking I broke five different bones in my left leg and foot and as a result could not drive a manual, so I bought this '99 white/gray in November 2012 with 46,500 miles. I figured I'd keep it until I healed, but I've kept it as my daily driver.

Here's how it looked when I first bought it:


This morning I took some time to shoot a few exterior shots of my basically stock '99 Riviera. I've swapped out the 12-spoke wheels that originally came with our supercharged version for the 15-spoke non-supercharged edition--I just like the old school look of these better.

Taken at the Riviera Condos on Inkster Rd north of Warren Rd. I pass this on the way to work and always thought it would be a good shoot location. Didn't turn out as well as my mind's eye, but here it is nonetheless.


Taken on Franklin St east of St Aubin in Detroit.

Same location:






Eastern Market in Detroit.


W Grand Blvd in front of the old General Motors Headquarters building.


I've posted the following interior shots in another post, but thought I'd put it in the Showroom. I removed the faux wood accents and replaced it with black leather around the radio surround and the center dash.

Inspiration:

My take on the original:








Hopefully, more to come later.

nice pics!
Sorry about the injury, but the Riv should help the healing process.
Looks great.
Jbird

Great cars...

jbird wrote:

nice pics!
Sorry about the injury, but the Riv should help the healing process.
Looks great.
Jbird

Thanks. I'm still feeling the effects of the breaks in my foot. Sucks getting old! But I'm slowly getting back into riding.

stan wrote:

Great cars...

Thanks Stan.

What's that shift knob?

Cool pics. Too bad Detroit is such a giant shit-hole. Hope you had your gun with you! lol

KnottyEagle wrote:

What's that shift knob?

It is a Momo Automatico aluminum shift knob. http://www.momousa.com/tuning/shift-knobs/automaticosilver.html

Abaddon wrote:

Cool pics. Too bad Detroit is such a giant shit-hole. Hope you had your gun with you! lol

It really is in bad shape. I did not feel comfortable looking for locations. Had two guys come up to me asking if I wanted to sell the Riv to them and one more asking for 75 cents. It was pretty quiet early Sunday morning.

Ha! EARLY Sunday morning is definitely the "best" time to go driving around Detroit, if any.
There's so much old architecture to see. It's just all surrounded by ghetto though. Really is a shame.

We should met at the Heidelburg Project and take some pics.....I'd be willing to do that on a Sunday morning

Abaddon wrote:

Ha! EARLY Sunday morning is definitely the "best" time to go driving around Detroit, if any.
There's so much old architecture to see. It's just all surrounded by ghetto though. Really is a shame.

We should met at the Heidelburg Project and take some pics.....I'd be willing to do that on a Sunday morning

I'm game! If the weather holds up this Sunday, shoot me a pm and I'll meet you there.

Max, ya gonna take the Riv.................... or the porsche?

charlieRobinson wrote:

Max, ya gonna take the Riv.................... or the porsche?

Ha! I try not to cross east of I-275 with the 911.