64 Riviera

I've been watching and finally found one for very little money with a decent frame, the Wildcat 465, and only a $75 flatbed ride from home.

I've got the 96 in a good position to sell, and would do so the first of the year, once this 64 is running.

I'm looking for anyone that knows of any caveats to this year that would keep me from spending my weekends under this one as opposed to the 96.

Any input is much appreciated.

I used to have a '64 425. It was several years ago but I still remember tackeling every point on that car to keep it running. I have a bunch of lit and mags that may come in handy too. Let me know if I can help out at all. Another source would be to join the ROA. Lots and lots of info and contacts with them...

Will do, thanks a ton

I bought it. Wish me luck

engine donor:
https://2img.net/h/i113.photobucket.com/albums/n220/dude_050/Riviera/car039.jpg

She's beautiful! Mine was initially silvermist blue with a standard black interior but someone painted the car black before I got it. Mine had the Ralley rims on it too. Good luck with the resto. I would love to come see it when you get done. My two sons were only 3 and 4 when I had mine but both remember it and it was by far-and-away their favorit car and have been hounding me to get another. Maybe after the purchase of a '71...

Just thinking back on mine, it was so rusted out, I rested my feet on the exhaust when I drove. Nice ventilation during summer (no AC) but sucked when it rained or snowed. Water kept blowing up through the floorboards! Gas tank was so rusted I could only fill it up with about 10gal and kept two 5gal fuel containers in the trunk whenever I took a trip (longer than 30mi). I had aviation gass (100LL) available to me at the time so I wound sump 10 gal each day for a 27mi drive each way... If you want to make $500 real quick, let me know. Starting to get nostalgic...

haha, let me cuss at it for a while before asking...

You said your planning to use this as a daily driver by the beginning of the year.
Not to be a buzzkill but you got your work cut out for you.
Good luck and love the car. Great Year.
Can't wait to see her up and running.

Looks like a good project car. I agree with joining up with the ROA, and you can also get online help on their forum on the AACA site: http://forums.aaca.org/f177/

It looks like its all there.
More pics when you get a chance please.

Bert

Rickw wrote:

You said your planning to use this as a daily driver by the beginning of the year.
Not to be a buzzkill but you got your work cut out for you.
Good luck and love the car. Great Year.
Can't wait to see her up and running.

yeah, we're rethinking this as we speak. We currently have 2 running vehicles - 96 riv and a 99 chrysler concorde.
My wife wants to dump the concorde in the spring and keep the riviera, which is really great news for me. I have hated keeping that Chrysler running over the last couple years.

the nailhead is at the machine shop getting cleaned honed and planed. I found a donor body on hamb:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=455502&highlight=64+riviera

it's due here in a wek or so. I had the seller take about a million pictures of various parts of the body and frame, so I'm hoping it's in pretty decent shape.

Also have a look on www.v8buick.com They have a forum on Nailheads, and some very knowledgeable guys.

Thanks Larry, I'm still in lurk mode over there.

Well, pard, that is gonna be a looong project.... and as long as you go into it with that mind set, you will do alright,,,, the hardest repair will be the rust damage to the trunk floors and the inside floors and around the cowl area... that is the way it was with the 65 skylark GS that I am currently redoing....
Dont mess around with it,,,, just take it apart and sandblast it and go from there.... dont do like I did once and sandblast the inside of the car with the instruments still in the dash,,,, bad mistake... put the small parts in baggies with labels and then put the bags in some of those stackable tubs that you get from Wal mart.... Clarks Corvair has upholstry stuff for them....
hope this helps some,
Doc

thanks for the advice, Doc. I found a donor body in the california desert that's on its way in. I stripped this one, sent the block into the machine shop and had the rust hauled off.
thanks for the nailhead write-up too.

arrived today. Machine shop called and said my nailhead was ready for pickup also.

That's going to be sweet,nice build...

today:
sanded/painted engine compartment:


ground and coated the floorpans.
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Looking good

nailhead came home this week, painted it:



trunk after:

weatherstripping will be here wednesday

picking up a few tools and starting the engine rebuild this week

What's up with the fluorescent green engine.???

I wanted a fluorescent green engine, I really can't say much more than that.

That's cool. I can appreciate that.!!

I just needed to take another hit, I'm good now.

What color have you got planned for the exterior of the car.???