My Favorite Ride: This car is a 1967 Buick Riviera, really
I spent a lot of time examining photos and vintage advertising promotions, and relied on reader input, before determining the Buick Riviera I wrote about recently was made in 1966.
I was pretty confident, producing this headline: "Yep, that's a rare 1966 Buick Riviera."
Nope, it's not. It's a 1967.
I started to suspect a possible misidentification when an irate reader left a voicemail message accusing me of disparaging the Riviera and being unworthy of writing about cars, Buicks or any other make.
He clearly is not a regular reader, because fans know I don't claim to be an expert in the automotive world. I've made known, several times during My Favorite Ride's more than 20 years, that I actually don't know much about cars.
More: My Favorite Ride: Believe it or not, this 1966 Olds Delta 88 used to be a parade car
Yet, thankfully, people stay with me and keep on reading. I keep on learning.
While we're on the subject of mistakes, let me correct a few other recent errors. Back in April, I wrote about a sand rail and said it was powered by a water-cooled engine from a 1972 Volkswagen.
Close. David DeVore, who has a 1974 VW Karmann Ghia, set me straight. "A 1972 VW is not water cooled. All those little suitcase engines were air cooled."
And, I recently called a 1967 Chevrolet pickup an S-10 model. It's really a C-10; 1982 was the first year for the Chevy S-10.
Back to the Riviera.
Further research clued me in to a few differences between the '66 and '67 models. In 1966, the Rivera had what was called a Nailhead V8, replaced the next year with a 430-cubic-inch big block eight-cylinder engine. I hadn't looked under the hood, but wouldn't have known one from the other.
The car weighed 14 pounds more in 1967 than the previous year — 4,420 pounds — but I didn't put it on scales.
The lock post on the interior door panels is farther back on the 1966 model. And the newer version had government-mandated safety measures the '66 version lacked, nothing I would know to look for.
But I missed two cosmetic differences that would have solved the mystery. One is the 1967 addition of a horizontal chrome grille bar stretching over the flip-up headlight doors and parking lights.
The other, so simple: the 1966 chrome identifier on the hood, the internet claims, has the word "Riviera" in printed letters and on the 1967, it's written in cursive script. Like on the front of this car.
Carl Vandurmen of Martinsville owns the car. He called me after some friends told him they'd seen a picture of it in the newspaper from a cruise-in and knew I was seeking the owner.
He wasn't mad that I had been a year off. "The '66 and '67 Rivieras are basically the same car," the Buick lover said.
Vandurmen had his eye on the classic the past four years, all that time trying to coax the owner to sell. He had seen pictures of the car and knew the man had owned it 11 years. It's hard to sell a car you love, and the answer was always no.
Until a few months ago when Vandurmen saw the old Riviera parked at the man's workplace.
He stopped. "Did you drive the car to work today to sell it to me?" he joked. "No, and I probably won't be selling it," was the response. Vandurmen made him an offer anyway, then left.
"A few days later he texted me and said he was ready to sell, and to come and get the car. I went straight to Bedford and drove it home."
When I first saw his new Riviera, the paint was fading and the body had a some dents, scratches and rust. It's since had body work, a new coat of paint and has been to seven or eight car shows.
I drove up to Martinsville to get another look and take some pictures in an attempt to right my most recent wrong, and regain my car credibility.
A week off for My Favorite Ride
I'm taking a week off, but My Favorite Ride will return.
Have a story to tell about a car or truck? Contact My Favorite Ride reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: My Favorite Ride: This is a 1967 Buick Riviera, really
