![]() With the R2 a supercharger was added which increased the rating to 285 horses. Studebaker offered not two but three different V8 engines, named R1, R2 and R3 the standard R1 was rated at 240 horsepower. The Riviera had a 325 horsepower 401 cubic inch Nailhead V8 under the bonnet a 340 horsepower 425 cubic inch version could be ordered as an option.Īn interesting fact about these Buick V8s is that they were used to assist the starting up of the jet engines of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spyplane a so-called start cart with two V8 engines on board revved the jets up to about 3000 Rpm after which they could be fired up completely. The Thunderbird was powered by a 390 cubic inch V8 delivering 300 horsepower, with a 340 horsepower version optionally available. The Avanti’s front and rear wheel centres are 109 inches apart a result of the more compact base of its underpinnings.Īs one would expect, all three offered a standard V8 engine. The Ford has a wheelbase of 113 inches while the Buick’s is 4 inches longer. Under the skin, the Thunderbirds shared a cowl and windshield with the Lincoln Continental they were also built on the same assembly line in the Wixom, Michigan factory.ĭimensionally, the Thunderbird and Riviera were reasonably close. The projectile look Thunderbird was first introduced for the 1961 model year, and apart from a character line added to its previously smooth flanks, some trim shuffling and a change from a generator to an alternator, it had not changed much. It was not until the 1963 model year that the Thunderbird was confronted with some serious competition: the Buick Riviera and the Studebaker Avanti. At least for the first decade, personal luxury cars were usually, with a few exceptions, intermediate sized, seating four to five. Brooks Stevens cleverly facelifted the old Loewy/Burke Studebaker Hawk to create the 1962 Gran Turismo Hawk. Pontiac had its answer of sorts for the 1962 model year with the Grand Prix, but in essence this was a sporty version of the regular full-size Pontiac. It would take a few years for the competition to react. Ford would be proven right in changing course nonetheless, because sales of the new and larger Thunderbird immediately increased by a sizeable margin the 1958 model sold more than the previous two model years together, and this in a recession year. There is a fairly general consensus that Ford was the first to introduce the genre with the first four-seater Thunderbird of 1958.Įven though the 1955-1957 two-seater Thunderbirds were only a few years old, they already had created a strong following and many customers lamented the fattening up of the Square Bird with the loss of its two-seat configuration at the time. The personal luxury car is a uniquely American phenomenon its closest cousin in concept would have been the European GT, but this transatlantic specimen was a larger, softer (but on a straight piece of road not necessarily slower) breed. This page regarding power windows from my 1965 Riviera owner’s manual give some allusion to what I’m taking about.Analysing three different takes on the personal luxury car of 1963. ![]() ![]() It never had a model or trim designation, and I’ve never seen documentation on its price.Įven this comprehensive review does not list this feature among the car’s options, but the car does have it based on the photo of the window switches in the montage. There has always been very little documentation on the top interior. If you had the optional power driver’s seat, the controls for that also moved to the armrest. ![]() In my ’65 Riviera, that also meant you got copious real wood trim on the door cards and the rear seat side cards, The full length armrest included a very cool second interior door release lever that allows rear seat passengers to easily let themselves exit the car. Moving up to the top trim gave you a full length door armrest console and standard power window switches on the armrest. Options like power window switches were mounted flat on the door card, like most GM cars except for top luxury trims in the C and D body range. The base interior was nice, probably about the level of Buick’s mid trim full-size Wildcat model. One of the quirks, if you will, of the first gen Riviera was that they were available with two fairly distinct interiors that had some impact on how special you might regard this car to be – especially if you were shopping with the expectations of somebody in 1964. ![]()
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