Bench Seats, Leather vs. Cloth

99Rivman wrote:

AA wrote:

Bench seats were an option from the factory (with column shift on the tree), but not many were ordered. I've seen pictures - some of our members have them.

Sorry Aaron but the cloth bench was standard from the factory when these first came out, adding the leather to the bench was an option, and the leather buckets were the next option. I think that changed in '97 and the buckets were standard and you couldn't get the bench any longer but I'm not sure about the year that it changed. You are right that there isn’t many out there but that is because most people went with the optional buckets.

David is correct about them being rare! I have a friend that has a blue one with the blue leather bench seat, I believe that and the supercharger was the only two options on his car. I have heard of one other member in the ROA that has one with the cloth bench but have never seen one.

I want his ashtray!!!

I've got a bench and I love it. I know that buckets are what most have, but every time I see a Riv with buckets it looks weird to me. Probably because the first Riv I've ever been in was mine.

I've seen a few of them was I was at the Buick dealer. I was like WTF!?

Yes, I've got one. They are rare, and for some reason it seems most all of them are blue like mine. Here's a few shots:

MINE




Saved this from an ad just because it was so weird to see cloth:


Incidentally, the Olds Aurora had no such option--so it was a weird case of the four-door version having a standard console and the coupe a standard column shift.

I was just at my junk yard and there was a '95 there that was blue, with leather blue interior, bench seat/column shift, AND supercharged. It was neat seeing a more rare car like that. Still pretty classy looking. Unfortunately the car was a pile of crap, but it was still there, and nifty.

Z-type wrote:

and nifty.

Mine has a gray leather bench and is supercharged.

Interesting seeing other ways that these cars were ordered...thanks for sharing!

Just bought this 96 with a column shift and bench seats,,,Is this car rare or just a base model.

It's very uncommon but if I remember it was the base model with the buckets and floor shifter being the most common. Also the bulk of rivieras are the 95s so any year after that they get rarer and rarer.

See this post - https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t6444-faq-how-rare-is-your-riviera-or-other-gm-car and lookup your vin to see what rare options yours has. Who knows, you might have something to trot across barret jackson in 20 or 30 years . Keep her clean!

FIREMANBOB wrote:

Just bought this 96 with a column shift and bench seats,,,Is this car rare or just a base model.

IIRC it was the base model, another thread on this site states very few were actually delivered.

That's extremely rare.

Does it have leather or cloth? Can you post some pics for us?

I parked next to a blue n/a '95 Riviera at my daughter's orthodontist appointment yesterday afternoon - it had some window stickers from a previous life in Florida, which is probably why it looked in as nice condition as it did. When I looked through the window, it was a blue leather split bench seat with column shift. When you're used to bucket seats with a console, column shift without a console sure looks different...

For those that have never seen the bench seat and cloth interior option, here are a few photos of a 95 with the red cloth interior:










A few more photos of the car are currently at the following CL ad:

http://billings.craigslist.org/cto/4105968258.html

Hell NO......

Ewww.

Lol velour used to be the luxury back then

My 1980 Olds 98 Regency had a very nice pillow tufted and embroidered burgundy velour interior. It was great, very comfortable and really good looking, very classy.

We had a 1981 Park Avenue and 1983 98 as well, both with leather seating, but the 1980 with velour was a lot more comfortable especially when really hot or cold outside, and definitely on long drives. One downside was that the velour acted like a lint-brush and would pull your clothes depending on which way you moved.

I don't know if I'd like this generation Riviera with a cloth interior though, especially since it is such a plain fabric, but then again it certainly would be "different"  

Cloth,bench,red........not me....haha...

And dont forget the piping around the headrest another added luxury

What? where?.....

I love those seats.

Actually Al, the "cloth bench" was "standard", no extra cost from '95-'97. The leather bench and leather buckets were the "options" for those years, they did away with the bench and the cloth as "standard" for '98 and '99 and just used leather buckets.

The following link takes you to the ROA Color and Trim Charts page, you can click on the year and see the trims available ...
http://rivowners.org/features/Ev_Stats/colortrim/

I have seen pictures of the cloth before but never seen one in person, I do have an ROA friend in SC that has one of them with a leather bench. It is a pretty low optioned Riv, has the supercharger and the leather on the bench seat and that is pretty much it!

id rather have the cloth than my hard old leather. i need to recover my seats!

....hahah I'd rather have my leather. I don't think these cars look good with cloth inside.No?....haha...

my leather is hard from years of someone before me not takin care of it. im going to try elephant wax on it sometime soon