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Buick sold a front-drive, supercharged personal luxury coupe from 1995 through 1999, and most people have quietly stopped thinking about it. This two-owner 1998 Buick Riviera is live on Hemmings Auctions in Hendersonville, North Carolina, with 115,372 miles on the odometer, a black repaint, and a high bid of $2,750 as of Tuesday morning, Nov. 3. The Hemmings page showed the bid still below reserve, with roughly three days left on the clock.
The Riviera name goes back further than you think
Buick introduced the Riviera as its own model for 1963, and it was GM's first entry in the personal luxury segment. The badge itself is older: it first appeared in 1949 on a two-door pillarless hardtop version of the Roadmaster, the same nameplate that rode on this 1940 Buick Roadmaster Sport Phaeton we covered last week. By the 1990s the Riviera had long since moved to front-wheel drive, and for 1994 it skipped a model year entirely.
The eighth-generation car returned for 1995 on GM's G platform, which it shared with the Oldsmobile Aurora, the sedan we looked at in our piece on the final Auroras. It grew to a 113.8-inch wheelbase and about 207 inches in length, and its flowing, curvy body looked nothing like the boxier Buicks that came before it.
A supercharged 3800 under the hood
The part that gets forgotten is what was under the hood. The Riviera used GM's 3800 Series II V6, and in supercharged form it was the car's performance option. Hemmings notes that this Eaton-blown 3.8-liter was rated at 240 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque when new, and it is paired here with a 4T65E-HD four-speed automatic. Published figures for the car put 0-60 mph at under seven seconds and the quarter mile at about 15.5 seconds. By 1998, every Riviera came with the supercharged engine.
Why Buick's coupe disappeared
The Riviera's sales told the story. Production figures list 41,422 cars for 1995 and just 1,956 for the 1999 model year, the last one. The final 200 were sold as Silver Arrow editions with silver paint and trim. GM ended the car without a replacement as demand for big coupes dried up, and the name has only returned on concept cars, in 2007 and 2013.
It is the same kind of orphan as the AMG-powered Crossfire SRT-6: a well-engineered car from a brand that no longer builds anything like it, in a segment that has largely vanished from showrooms.
What the seller says about this one
According to the listing, the seller's father bought the car in 2005, and the seller is helping him sell it. The seller says it has always been garaged and well maintained. The black paint is not original: the seller says the exterior was stripped to bare metal and repainted in 2007 after the original clearcoat lost its luster. A clean CARFAX report is included, and Hemmings lists two previous owners.
Recent work reported in the listing includes new spark plugs, belts, supercharger oil, and a fuel filter. The front struts and rear shocks were replaced, followed by an alignment. The car rides on Mastercraft tires and the stock 16-inch chromed aluminum wheels. Inside is gray leather with mild wear, mostly on the driver's seat, and power windows, locks, and seats.
The listing is upfront about the flaws. It notes a few minor chips and scratches in the paint, creases in the driver's seat, mild carpet discoloration, and shifter trim that is starting to delaminate. The cassette player does not work, and a tape is stuck in it. The seller says the car will be sold on a clean North Carolina title in his father's name. Hemmings adds a 5% buyer's fee and notes that it has not verified the listing's accuracy, so a close look in person is the smart move.
The auction is set to close later this week. If you want to bid, the full listing and photo gallery are on Hemmings.
