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1964 Buick Riviera -68,000 actual miles. Incredible survivor! Largely original

Make: Buick
Model: Riviera
Type: Coupe
Year: 1964
Mileage: 68000
Color: Black
Engine: 425
Cylinders: 8
Fuel: Gasoline
Transmission: Automatic
Drive type: RWD
Interior color: Black
Drive side: Left-hand drive
Vehicle Title: Clear
Item location: Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

1964 Buick Riviera Additional Info:

I am offering my 1964 Riviera. It is an excellent driver and well sorted. I can assure you it is ready to take on any trip, even across country with no concern. This car has proven itself reliable on three Hot Rod Power Tour long hauls. If you know anything about the Long Haul, you know that it is a true test of your machine. Cars costing 10 times as much as mine were routinely broken down or overheating on the side of the road. This black beauty runs cool and has never overheated even during the most oppressive conditions.
I have owned this car for about 12 years. This is one of at least 20 1963-65 Rivieras that I have owned over the years. I have gradually been selling them off and I am now down to just three. I still have a small fleet of collector cars and need to just simplify my life. This has been my "Go To" car because I knew it would never let me down. This generation of Rivieras are awesome cars and I feel like this is the best all around Rivi that I've owned. It is nice and tight. It handles great and is smooth and sneaky fast.
I am the second owner of this jewel. The original owner was a very particular dentist in Chicago who loved this car and took good care of it until his passing. I purchased it from his son who was the executor of the estate. He said his father was so protective of this car that he never let the kids even ride in it. He said he never even drove it until his dad passed away. The good Dr. maintained the car whenever it needed it and was smart enough to have the car Ziebarted early in it's life.

Because of this preventative rust proofing, this car is largely rust free.There are only a couple quarter sized spots in the trunk floor and under the drivers seat on the cross brace. They are VERY minor and could be repaired easily and hidden under the carpet or trunk mat. The commonly rusted areas in these cars are the rear fender lips, lower rear quarter panels, rocker panels, front fender and hood lip. In this car they are all rust free.
I have owned some of the top Rivieras in the nation and they were fun to look at but no fun to take out unless you like babysitting. When you have an $80,000 AACA national award winning Rivi, you don't walk away from it. Your only driving is from the trailer to the grounds. The last three Rivieras that I have sold were $38,000, $28,000 and $28,500. I've sold several in the $10,000-$12,000 range but that was a long time ago and they were not as good as this one. I have enjoyed this one more than any I've owned.

So, a quick summary of this car...It is a respectable, numbers matching survivor that you can still drive. It has nice shine to the paint and is the original color but was painted sometime around 1970 and was an expensive job at the time but is now showing some use. If you are looking for a show car, you will want to factor in a new paint job. There are various door dings and touched up scratches here and there. Even with the paint flaws I get "Thumbs up" every time I drive it and the paint issues never bothered me enough to repaint it and stop using the car. This is one of my cars that I can still use for its' intended purpose without the constant worry of someone touching it. Consider this one a 5 footer.

If you are looking for a solid, reliable, classic car that will never go down in value, this one will be hard to beat. The 63-65 Riviera are always on the top ten best automotive designs of all time and the sinister double black combination accents the body perfectly. After owning all of the 63-65 models, I think the 64 is best. The 64 was the only year where they all had the big 425 Nailhead, the other years got 401's or in 63 you could special order a 425 but not many did. The 63 had the cast iron Dynaflow transmission which was only two speeds and super heavy. The 65 got clamshell headlights, but lost all the cool dash features and the iconic horseshoes on the flanks. The 65 was just too plain for my taste. Still a lot cooler that virtually anything else on the road at the time (unless you had a new 65 Corvette).

  • Under the hood is the legendary 425 Nailhead rated at 465 ft. lbs. of torque. It runs great and will light up BOTH of the tires if desired.
  • The optional Posi track rear end works as it was designed.
  • It has ice cold factory air and I just spent $1000 having the compressor rebuilt and refilled with R12.
  • I just had the complete drive shaft rebuilt at Inland Empire at a cost of over $800 with the shipping costs. It has all new U joints, CV joints and new carrier bearing. Any Riviera that you look at will need this soon if it has not been done already. Believe me!
  • I also had Lares rebuild the original steering box so the car drives nice and tight with no wandering or pulling. I replaced the rag joint while I had it apart.
  • It has a new master cylinder
  • It retains the original exhaust system including the original resonators. Only the rear transverse muffler needed replacement, so put a new one along with new tailpipes in the original configuration.
  • I had the original matching numbers Carter AFB carb restored and installed a new AC fuel pump.
  • It has a newly re-cored four row copper/brass Harrison radiator. All the belts and hoses are new also.
All of the work that I have done to the car is simply preventative maintenance and I was careful not to disturb the original markings or discard rare original parts.

Car is shown with a set of rare, vintage 1968 date coded American Sport Wheels which later became the popular Torq Thrust wheel. The Coker redlines have about 6,000 miles on them. If you don't appreciate the wheel set up, I can swap them out for a nice set of factory chrome Buick "road wheels" or the original black steel Kelsey Hayes wheels and factory hubcaps.

This car is 100% matching numbers and the engine has never been out of the car. There is dirt under the hood. It is the original dirt from being on the road for 55 years. I have owners manual and receipts for most of my work if I can find them.

Today I checked valuation for 64's on Hagerty.com and found average selling price of a #3 car at $22,200 and pricing for a #2 car at $37,000. There has been a distinct upward trend in values during 2018. As you can see from my photos and description, the car I'm offering is well above average and close to a #2 car. I know what these are worth and have sold many in the last few years. This car is priced to sell and the new owner will be one happy camper!

In closing, I want to invite any serious bidder to review my feedback and feel free to call me with any questions that they might have about this car. I can take some more pictures as weather permits. It is currently in my Indianapolis warehouse under cover but the lighting is poor. My work phone is 317-917-3211.Thanks for looking and good luck in your bidding. Bid early, often and bid to win. I can't tell you how many times that a bidder was sniped at the last minute and loses a great deal by just a few dollars. Car is for sale locally so I reserve the right to close bidding and withdraw the car at any time. After reserve is met, auction will continue to sale. y 2017Sep 2017Jan 2018May 2018Sep 2018$0$2,500$5,000$7,500$10,000$12,500$15,000$17,500$20,000