Himafagy

Flickr member cmanmt got us all excited when he submitted pix of his 1995 Buick Riviera. These are pretty, luxurious and quick. 1995 was the first year of this bodystyle, and it set the media atwitter when it debuted. GM went out on a limb with the the 1995 Riviera's styling. The previous-generation Riv had started life as a stubby little thing, and while it eventually got more graceful hindquarters, it was still pretty conservatively styled. It was a car that featured the "over 50" set in its advertising, so you know who the target demo for that one was. For the 9th (and sadly final) generation of the Riviera, caution was thrown to the wind. These were big cars, long, with lines that polarized people in to love it or hate it camps. The shape is definitely swoopy, and the style was seemingly inspired by Bill Mitchell's fine work for the General. The looks have certainly aged well, so these Rivs still turn heads out on the road today. The lucky ones that got thesupercharged 3800 could turn out some quick sprints, too.


More after the jump.


cmanmt has done extensive upkeep to this mint-looking example of a cruising machine for a badmuthashutchamouth. The great thing about the Riviera is that it's got all that swaggering American styling on top of GM's excellentG platform. The G platform was extremely sturdy and was originally developed for theOldsmobile Aurora. The Riviera was a less expensive Aurora that was more on the "personal luxury" tip. When GM does lux, they do it old school - big plush seats, power everything, loads of sound deadening, you know, your Father's Oldsmobile. With the huffer sitting atop the already-torquey 3800, there's 220-plus horsepower at the command of your right foot. If you're really creative, the G platform lives on as the Buick Lucerne with V8 power. Hmmm. Honestly though, with a Riv, it's not about brute force, it's about STYLE. Sure, it won't embarass itself when it needs to hustle, but just park it and look at it. Dig that crease that runs front to rear at the top of the fenders, through the doors and blends into the rear quarters. Style in the 90's was sometimes a misnomer, but the last generation of Riv's doesn't fall into that category.

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