The Second Riv - '95 Burgundy

This is the second Riviera that we have purchased. It is a burgundy '95. I have a showroom page for mine, a 98, which I love. I have done numerous things to it. My dad purchased this two weeks ago from a fellow in Ohio. It has 30,000 miles on it and was never driven in the rain or snow. When we picked it up, it was rather dirty inside and also was somewhat dirty on the outside. We have not got around to actually detailing the car, but I will in the next few months if my hands don't freeze off.

It is supercharged and the only problem that I have noticed is the rust on the mufflers and exhast tips. The exhaust has been painted flat black.

We are keeping this car stock except for a wood dash kit, which is in the mail. Regardless, the paint on the car still looks very deep (deeper than my green Riv), which is extremely surprising after 13+ years. The wheels also have center caps with a gold-colored R in the middle. Here are some pics:



A view from my 98 looking on:

Very nice! God how I love that rich, red interior...

A little more info please - SC or NA? Options, besides those rare "chromed base wheels"?

Also, I gotta' give you props for balls: I admit that a low-mileage car like that is probably irresistible, but now you get to learn all about Series I, too...

Nice. Love the deep cherry color!

And you called that dirty, you should see mine.
Nice Find.!!!!!!
Don't put portholes on it, please.

Pristine. Love the paint.

Eldo: It is Supercharged. Totally forgot to mention that. I'm so used to the 98 where there was no option (at least I think there was no option...)

Rick: It was actually washed a few days before these pics so it wasn't dirty. It did, though, have a bunch of road salt all on the sides from the long journey home during a snowstorm up in Pittsburgh. I felt so bad taking it out in snow for the first time in over 13 years! And I definately will not put the fake portholes on it. I would love to take them off of my 98 but I'm not sure if doing so would take some paint with it :/

hit the stick ons with a heat gun a low heat. it wont affect the paint.

robotennis61 wrote:

hit the stick ons with a heat gun a low heat. it wont affect the paint.

That's probably a safe idea. It's well worth a try, unless you're planning on selling the car in Tijuana...

ZEP wrote:

Eldo: It is Supercharged. Totally forgot to mention that. I'm so used to the 98 where there was no option (at least I think there was no option...)
/

Well then, you also have the rare opportunity to compare the Series I & Series II L67 performance side by side...

I have used a hairdryer on low to get some emblems off another car before and it worked fine so I may try tomorrow. Even if it does take some paint off, it'd give me an excuse for a new paint job!

Eldo: I like the 98's feel much more, even though it has ~110k more miles than the other. It feels smoother and a bit more refined. Regardless, I'm not complaining at all about either!

ZEP wrote:

I have used a hairdryer on low to get some emblems off another car before and it worked fine so I may try tomorrow. Even if it does take some paint off, it'd give me an excuse for a new paint job!

THAT'S the spirit!

Quote :

Eldo: I like the 98's feel much more, even though it has ~110k more miles than the other. It feels smoother and a bit more refined. Regardless, I'm not complaining at all about either!

Having a Series I NA and a Series II SC, I agree with you wholeheartedly... Hey, that's why they made the 10-best-engines list for the S2!

Oh, and before I forget to nag anymore, add the '95's goodies to your Sig!!
Actually, I'm curious about that... Was the Traction Control & CD player standard in '95? Also, I'm assuming that this one has a console, not a bench...

AA wrote:

Nice. Love the deep cherry color!

Congratulations on the second Riv

What's better than one Riv?

Love it. Looks great!!!

Zach,
In addition to using a hair dryer to soften up the adhesive under the emblems, I also run some tooth floss back and forth under them to separate them from the body panel...really minimizes any adverse impact on the body paint.

In 1997, the suspension was upgraded on the Riviera (one of a few improvements) so you should feel a marked improvement in the ride of your 98 over your 95.

Ship,
Do you know just what was changed to increase the suspension's capabilities.

Rick,
I read this on wikipedia when I had my '96 & '97 Rivieras:

Quote: "1996 brought an increase in power on the supercharged versions to 240 hp (179 kW) and 280 ft·lbf (380 N·m). 18,036 Rivieras were manufactured for 1996.

1997 saw revisions to the suspension which lightened the car and gave it more nimble handling, and also an upgraded 4T65E-HD transmission featuring a larger 258 mm torque converter and heavy-duty gearbox. 18,827 were made for 1997.

For 1998, the 240 hp (180 kW) supercharged V6 became standard. GM's OnStar service was added as an option, and a few interior changes were made. 10,953 units were produced for 1998."

Doesn't really explain much about the suspension upgrade...

Thanks

Awesome ride(s)!

How did you find it?

Bert

Ship wrote:

Rick,
I read this on wikipedia when I had my '96 & '97 Rivieras:

Quote: "1996 brought an increase in power on the supercharged versions to 240 hp (179 kW) and 280 ft·lbf (380 N·m). 18,036 Rivieras were manufactured for 1996.

1997 saw revisions to the suspension which lightened the car and gave it more nimble handling, and also an upgraded 4T65E-HD transmission featuring a larger 258 mm torque converter and heavy-duty gearbox. 18,827 were made for 1997.

For 1998, the 240 hp (180 kW) supercharged V6 became standard. GM's OnStar service was added as an option, and a few interior changes were made. 10,953 units were produced for 1998."

Doesn't really explain much about the suspension upgrade...

Probably just the cast aluminum control arms and lighter, failure-prone springs...

Ship: I actually just got back in from the garage and got the fake portholes off of the passenger side. I just used a hairdryer, some bug & tar remover, and a cloth and they came off with no problem. I have heard about the method you mentioned and I'll try it with the others to see which is less of a pain. And the suspension in the 98 feels much smoother than the 95 but maybe it's just because I'm so accustomed to the 98. Regardless, I need new springs on the 95 at some point. Maybe after I'm done spending for Christmas.

ibmoses: Thanks, and I found the car using caranddriver.com's used car search function. It was really helpful.

Anyway, I got my dash kit in to the car today. It looks pretty good with the red interior (it is "red" faux wood). We're having a big snow storm come through tonight so I won't be doing much else to it for a while.

Very nice! Red interiors are awesome. There ought to be a law to bring them back.

I'm interested in the wheels, too. Looks like the factory units, chromed. There was no chrome factory option in '95, so I'm guessing the former owner had them done.

I'd like to do that. Did you by any chance get any info on how much it cost, etc? And are those the factory centers? I don't see the R emblem. Since the standard ones are plastic, I've had my doubts about how well they'd hold the chrome finish.

Riv95SC wrote:

Very nice! Red interiors are awesome. There ought to be a law to bring them back.

YES!!

Quote :

I'm interested in the wheels, too. Looks like the factory units, chromed. There was no chrome factory option in '95, so I'm guessing the former owner had them done.

I'd like to do that. Did you by any chance get any info on how much it cost, etc? And are those the factory centers? I don't see the R emblem. Since the standard ones are plastic, I've had my doubts about how well they'd hold the chrome finish.

The "R" is there, but it's in gold... you can see it in the 2nd photo. I don't know if it was factory or dealer, but I've seen one other Riv with the same treatment...

very nice car

Thanks! My dad will be bringing it to the ROA meet this month, just gotta clean some things up and paint the exhaust and it should (hopefully) look much better than it did back then.

Glad to hear there will be a few other RivPerformance members at the ROA Meet

Thanks, we're really looking forward to it! I'm hoping I can resolve this cam sensor code on mine, which is causing it to have really low gas mileage, so that I can bring it too!