My new to me 1997 Buick Riviera Supercharged coupe

Hi all, have recently imported this into Australia and now sorting it for compliance for LHD historic registration. Not easy but if I wanna drive it

Had been searching for six months with a set criteria, originally for a ‘98 but when this came up on an alert…. Rest is history. Noel Bayne at Route 65 Car sales was very helpful and made the international transaction straight forward. What I found on their internet advert was what I received in Australia.

With 10,800miles on the odometer, Tis almost a new car. Photos or it never happened!
Rodney

Very nice clean car!

Congratulations!

Welcome! Definitely a lovely car that I bet you don't see many of in Australia!

Jack the R wrote:

Welcome!  Definitely a lovely car that I bet you don't see many of in Australia!

Thank you Jack. It was only this year the authorities in our State changed the law reducing the age of vehicles on LHD conditional historic registration from 30years to 25. That is the reason I started looking as I knew it could be driven NOW!

I know of only a 1995 SC in Victoria (across the border) but there are others looking to import the eighth generation cars soon.

Being the last of the Riviera they are significant part of the Buick history.

At present mine could be the only ‘97 in Australia, but I think they will pop up in the near future.

Cheers
Rodney

Hard to believe there is demand for the 8th gen Riviera in Australia when there's so little concern for it in America.

Jack the R wrote:

Hard to believe there is demand for the 8th gen Riviera in Australia when there's so little concern for it in America.

Problem we have is our strict laws in that we cannot import asbestos or vehicles containing asbestos. Any parts such as brakes, clutches, sound proofing etc must be removed before it lands here. So enthusiasts are either leaning toward the cars that are already here or import later models that have zero asbestos.

I researched and found the US stopped using the material well before my 1997 was manufactured but still had to sign a declaration stating there was zero asbestos in the Riviera.

But also there is a shift by younger enthusiasts toward the high performance Japanese products.

And I think that over time the US market will start to  take notice of these last generation Buicks. Remember it took some time before the first generation Riviera became sort after and now good examples are fetching stupid money.

That’s my take on it!

And some more photos.

I'll never understand the fetish for Japanese cars. I don't think any of them were better than the same year Corvette, which has remained affordable in the U.S. Some of the Japanese luxury cars, like the Acura Vigor or Infiniti J30, are better than the Riviera in the sense of being RWD. After watching this video on the LS400 though --



- I can't place it above the Riviera as a used, old car I'd have to service. It may have been better as a new lease, but to own in 2023, forget it! I can't even see the alternator on that car. On the Riv it's so easy to get at. We've got some weirdness but I've been able to handle it as an untrained, occasional mechanic.

Your car is in insanely good condition underneath! Well played!

albertj wrote:

Your car is in insanely good condition underneath!  Well played!

Thank you. One of the reasons I jumped on it right away. So more pics.

Do you plan to keep the low rider rims?

Jack the R wrote:

Do you plan to keep the low rider rims?

Certainly do, they really add some bling. And the Vogue tyres look very smart, something you don’t see down under.

Apparently the gold caps flash in the sunlight as they turn according to a friend who followed us home when picking it up.

Plus the seller never included the original rims.

Am a big fan of the wires, what I had on my last Riviera.

I have those same 'winter mats' in my '97... With such a virgin car did the original carpeted mats not come with it?

Hi Mark,

The original mats are underneath, in OK condition but not pristine.

Thinking I might like to get some made up in a darker brown carpet to replace these winter mats. We don’t encounter snow or ice here and the need for these type of HD mats is not necessary. But they keep the OEM ones clean for now.

Thinking they would add a bit more contrast to the mono colour scheme interior

On another note am going to change the transmission fluid to Dexron VI and replace the filter, however there are sooooo many alternatives available for the filter. The handbook doesn’t suggest any service schedule except 50,000miles under severe conditions but the fluid may well be 25years old

Looking on this forum I don’t see any recommendations, so would be interested to know what filter brands you have used in the past and what your suggestions might be.

There is a good write up here on how to change it out but not what people are using.


Also I see people are using the AC PF52 oil filter but from what I can gather, it appears there is not much difference to the AC PF47 that the owners handbook suggests.

Originally I thought it was the older style Buick/GM oil filter AC PF7??? which is a much longer filter used on the Nailhead Buick engines etc but it is still a short stubby unit.

Currently am using Ryco Z154ST designed for synthetic oils and can use a standard Ryco Z154, both cross reference to the AC PF52 and AC PF47.

Can you shed any light on this?
Rodney

RodneyRiviera wrote:

Hi Mark,

The original mats are underneath, in OK condition but not pristine.

Thinking I might like to get some made up in a darker brown carpet to replace these winter mats. We don’t encounter snow or ice here and the need for these type of HD mats is not necessary. But they keep the OEM ones clean for now.

Thinking they would add a bit more contrast to the mono colour scheme interior

On another note am going to change the transmission fluid to Dexron VI and replace the filter, however there are sooooo many alternatives available for the filter. The handbook doesn’t suggest any service schedule except 50,000miles under severe conditions but the fluid may well be 25years old

Looking on this forum I don’t see any recommendations, so would be interested to know what filter brands you have used in the past and what your suggestions might be.

There is a good write up here on how to change it out but not what people are using.


Also I see people are using the AC PF52 oil filter but from what I can gather, it appears there is not much difference to the AC PF47 that the owners handbook suggests.

Originally I thought it was the older style Buick/GM oil filter AC PF7??? which is a much longer filter used on the Nailhead Buick engines etc but it is still a short stubby unit.

Currently am using Ryco Z154ST designed for synthetic oils and can use a standard Ryco Z154, both cross reference to the AC PF52 and AC PF47.

Can you shed any light on this?
Rodney

Don't worry too hard about the transmission filter. I suspect there are only really a few variants. I got the Delco filters which are made by Champ, I think, when the dealer changed my fluid. They are made for the lowest price point that will yield good performance. When getting them myself I'd get a WIX kit of filter and gasket (sold by NAPA as their own brand) or Raybestos filter.

I used the PF52 filters for oil because I used Mobil1 and had measured oil wear/depletion -- found that I only needed to change oil every 10-12000 miles. Changing it at 3000 actually increased wear metals found in the oil. Testing it at 3-6-9-12 thou. What would happen is that if you changed at 3 and then again after another 3 wear metals would go up. if you changed at 3 and left it in (testing every 3 thou) wear metals didn't really show up increasingly until 12. So I would not change before 9 thou and would not run to 12 thou before changing. Bear in mind I drove my Riviera *a lot* (totaling over 409,000 miles). The point of this as concerns filter is that over the longer interval the pf52 does not load as fast as the pf47. Period. For a 3-6 thou interval I would probably just use the pf47. In my area the Delco filters were, frankly, cheap (web order or from a store), even though they contain a blended synthetic media (!) that seems to work just fine with synthetic oil. Wix makes well-built filters, they vary pretty much only in the media from the low line to the high line.

Hey Rodney,

Albert & I are sorta' on the same page here.  Check the bottom of my signature for my oil/filter recommendations.  The NAPA filters are made by WIX, but there may be a different first digit which is why I only listed 4 numbers plus the XP - and/or Gold vs Platinum, etc.

Not sure about availability down under, but I've been using those filters and that Mobil 1 for a decade...
Mark

Eldo wrote:

Hey Rodney,

Albert & I are sorta' on the same page here.  Check the bottom of my signature for my oil/filter recommendations.  The NAPA filters are made by WIX, but there may be a different first digit which is why I only listed 4 numbers plus the XP - and/or Gold vs Platinum, etc.

Not sure about availability down under, but I've been using those filters and that Mobil 1 for a decade...
Mark

Good info there, Mike!