Well,I thought I´d share what happened to me a couple of weeks ago... I always wanted a 65 Riviera , but I was always a Euro short or a minute late... usually both. But this time I was lucky. A spontaneous 1200 mile roadtrip to the Netherlands after an internet add I thought was Scam, brought me a insanly well built 65 Buick. It was one of the adds that are to good to be true... a frame off restored car for 11900 Euros. Scam, right? Anyway, I emailed the seller in the middle of the night on Friday and asked for a recall if the car was still for sale. To my surprise the sellers wife called me Saturday morning and gave me the info that they had got so much interest in the car that her husband is not sure if he should really sell the car... I said , oh well, just call me again if he decides to sell. I really didn´t believe they would call again, but they did Saturday evening. So off I went to the Netherlands , with a trailer borrowed from a friend I called late at night. I left at 11.30 pm after a long day of helping friends in Passau, a city that has been heavily flooded . What a mess a flood can cause. I drove until my eyes got heavy which was around 3.30 am and stopped for a nap . I had promised to be there on Sunday morning what meant a 600 mile one way drive through the night: But it was really worth it!! When I arrived I was welcomed by Gert, the builder and seller, and his wife. I was drooling and bouncing around the Riviera, like ok here´s your money, let´s load it! But Gert gave me the whole story. In 1988 he bought the Riviera in North Carolina as a rustfree low milage car and as soon as it arrived in the Netherlands he started to restore it. He tore it down, blasted the frame and body, rebuilt tranny , engine, you name it.Nothing has ever been welded on the car, everythings like or better than new. His goal was to get the car finished to their marriage in ´89 which he almost met. He didn´t have the time to install the door and trunk seals, to paint the steering wheel or wash it in time .After the marriage he parked the car in his garage and put a tarp on it... For almost 25 years!!! The cars still doesn´t have the steering wheel painted or the seals installed nor has it been washed in 25 years! I´m so overwhelmed I can´t really believe what I bought...so I will le the photos talk by themselves....here we go... I know I´m a lucky SOB, haahaha
Gert had a tear in his eye but he and his family are moving to the USA where he owns a property with another 65 Rivi on it... and a 57 BelAir convertible, a 62 Impala 409 Coupe, a Eldorado I forgot the year of , andandand, so he´ll come over it. He know he could get more money out of his car, but he rather wanted to see the car go to someone who really appriciated the car he built instead of moaning about missing weatherstripping or a used steering wheel, or dusty engine compartment just to try to knock another few bucks off of an already insanely unbelievable price. So he knocked of a few bucks by himself and overloaded my pickup with free spare parts including a spare 425 nailhead plus a lot more... I still have to look through all the boxesHe did an awesome job on this car, and I still can´t believe he choose me to own it... I really feel like all my lucky stars were in line and aiming at me that day... check out the last pic , the HAMB was there, too!
Rivs are awesome cars. My father has one. Tons of power. Drives like a dream. Sucks gas like a nightmare. You'd have to be a wealthy man to afford driving one in Europe with your expensive gasoline. Love that blue color.
Baumi, you really scored with that one! I looks just like the first one I ever drove back in the early '70's. The amount of work Gert put in it is priceless. I just bought myself one a few months ago. A '65 'survivor'; mostly original but not restored. I love the car, it's a pleasure to drive although as tjm73 stated it's not very economical. Do you have any plans in mind for it? Steve
Thanks for the compliments! Yes , I really feel lucky I got a nice car like this! I told everyone I won´t need a christmas present in the next 25 years.hahaha Of course I had the car out for a spin and a wash, ans she really feels like a brandnew car, the 425 really hauls ass. Gert told me about the little things he didn´t get around to fix, because he wanted the Rivi to be finished for his wedding in 1989. So he never found the time to install the weatherstriping and trunk seals, hook up the air condition, heater, dash, etcor paint the steering wheel. He bought the car in South Carolina in 1988 and drove all the way to LA. These tires were still on the car.No need to say they can´t handle what the 425 has to say .. The Rivi was rustfree from the beginning and all I have to do is fixing the little stuff... I started by restoring the dash. First I repaired an painted the steering wheel, fixed all the electrical issues and reset the odo to 000000. Here´s what I did so far....the dash is mostly plastic and had some little cracks, so I fixed them with epoxy super glue (TM) and painted the whole shebang. Everythings works now. I couldn´t hook up the air condition, because whether the dash or the ac is form a different car... But I´ll figure it out further down the road... the little yellow guy is a proud suvivor of the flood... he didn´t want to try my beer anyway
I also found a set of F78-15 Good Year custom power cushion polyglass bias plys... I just had to have them...just love bias plys. ...unfortunately the center caps are still missing, maybe Gert will find them eventually... I also checked the brakes, what can I say, everything like new. I noticed I slight drag to the left when I hit the brakes, nothing serious, only the primary shoe in the rear on the drivers side. Switched to the front, problem solved... I also ordered new vinyl set covers to replace the ones in the car, they are still nice but also starting to separate ... so I thought I ´d go for it. The carpet has been replaced in 89, but cut too short. So this will be done when I have the seats out for recovering. I have never done it before, but I´d like to triy it myself... What will I have to tackle to install the new seat covers? How hard is that to do?
Enjoyed the story behind the car and I agree it looks as though he did a nice job on the restoration. Enjoy it.
Thanks guys!BTW, Gert is the guy standing next to the Rivi on the trailer in one of the first pics. I think he really did great on the resto. I´m still in touch with him and keeping him updated. He´s still finding parts in his shop, haha
Great find. Cool looking , is that 64 interior and dash Gages. Looks like a 64 speedo . Is it a ST400 V P tranny.
Wow Baumi, what a beautiful Rivi! I've always loved those cars...and you got a hell of a deal...with a spare nailhead too! Don't sweat doing the seats. It looks like you're a pretty handy guy, I'm sure you'll have not problem. Just be sure to buy a set of hog ring pliers. It will make your life easier.
I noticed that's a 63 trunk , no 65 tri shield trunk emblem lock and the front clamshell trim looks bent to fit the fender ( 64 fenders) check the block numbers to see if it matches the vin on the inside driver door tag.
Yes , you´re right! Gert parted out a 63 and 64 and used parts he liked on this 65. I have got all the 65 dash parts. One clam shell frame was braoken, so he used on off a 64 I guess. I´m going to fix these little imperfections. But the big stuff was done well and you know Who wants to buy a finished car hahaha
you got it!, I have a 65 all original, but Im going custom lowrod. you can check out my pics. Welcome!
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