Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Meet my "new" '97 Riviera.

In the CL listing, the color was identified as "brown." ???

In a classified listing in the back of the Riview, a seller described this color as
 "Platinum Beige Metallic" That is a more precise description.
The interior leather is taupe.

The car sounded pretty good when I found it on CraigsList. I could only rely on the verbal description, as there weren't any pictures posted in the initial listing. 

What was very impressive and especially appealing, was the very low mileage for the age, just over 81,500 miles on a 26 year old car!

It seems the seller bought the car in January of this year. He told me that it had previously belonged to an  older person, and had spent several years in garage storage. 

Buick Cascada convertible circa 2017.
The name comes from a Buick concept car.

The current seller was also an older gentleman, about a decade older than me. I guess that he decided that he didn't really want to deal with the problems, or finding the parts that it needed. He had a late model Buick Cascada convertible next to the Riv in his garage. Maybe this newer car was the path of least resistance that he followed? If so, I can't say that I blame him.

The seller told me that he priced it low, because he really wanted it gone. It wasn't that he didn't like the car, but that he needed the room in the garage. He had stated in the listing that he would trade for a smaller car. He had a lot of trouble getting out of the Riv, because he couldn't open the long doors enough to make egress easy. A common problem with big coupes. 

Initially, the listing didn't have any photos attached to it, but the car sounded good, and the price was listed at 2,945.00, a real throwback. I knew what the car looked like, I'm somewhat familiar with the last generation Riviera. I had read all about them in Car and Driver, and other magazines. I had even test driven one about fifteen years ago. Although I was not particularly impressed at the time. 

I'd been a member of the ROA, the Riviera Owners Association, even before the '95 Riviera was released, I'd seen it featured in the club magazine. 

I've been thinking that I needed to get another Riv, it's been over ten years since I owned my last '66. I wanted to get involved in club activities, and I'd feel kind of dumb showing up to events in my Mustang! 

I was looking for something that fit my Vintage Lite criteria. A car that I could massage back into acceptable condition, no rebuilding or repainting. Just an application of TLC and fixing the hopefully, little faults. 

I'd also seen a '77 Riv on CL that looked pretty good, I had owned a '77 Coupe de Ville and I thought that it would be similar. The price was in the right range.

There was also a '70 available on CL, it looked good, but had been painted in black primer. It was past the budget busting end of my range at 10,000 dollars. 

For a time I had entertained the thought that maybe, just maybe, I should finally get the first gen I've always wanted. A good idea except that those run anywhere from 20-35,000 bucks for a nice one. I'd really like one, but I don't want to put that kind of money into a hobby car. So maybe a "project?" Again?

I'd promised my Wife, (and myself!) that I'd sworn off projects! 

I started looking through the ROA classifieds looking for a suitable project. You know, something priced around three grand. That would only buy a rough, non running car. But I didn't really need good paint, or shiny chrome, or a nice interior. Just a straight, complete, mostly rust free car.

So, I had three possibilities.

The red '77, the silver '97, and some kind of 60's project. 

Truth be told, I really didn't want another second Gen, and I couldn't get too excited by the somewhat plain '77.

The '97 got my attention, the price certainly was right, the miles were right, but the car was located in Fresno! No picture! I tried to contact the seller through the CL link. First, I sent an e-mail, then a phone call, leaving a message, and then another e-mail. There were no responses. I had lots of questions. The color was listed as brown, I didn't recall seeing any brown Rivieras in magazines. What kind of shape was the body and interior in? 

A  week went by, there was nothing. All I could do but wait, and look through my old Riviews, looking for stories on the '95-'97 models. We went out of town one weekend, I figured that if it was meant to be, things would work out.

I clicked back on the CL ad every day and now saw that there were now two pictures posted. The color looked like silver to me, and the car looked to be in good shape, at least on the left side. Then I got a call from the seller, who answered a few of my questions. I asked if I could go see the car the next day, and he agreed. He told me that he'd had a lot of calls and e-mails, but he seldom checked his e-mails. He was surprised that there were inquiries from as far away as San Rafael, even from San Diego. I told him that I was from San Jose, and that I could go see the car tomorrow. He told me that he had a local inquiry, and that if that didn't go through, to call him at 10:30 the next morning.  He would hold the car for me.

This is when having a truck comes in handy.

Or a Navigator. I wanted to try towing something with the Lincoln.

Hello Dolly!
(Old person's reference!)

I drove out to Fresno the next morning during a 100+ degree hot spell that had hit all of Northern Calif. I called the seller once I was enroute. The car looked as good as I'd hoped, especially the right side which didn't have a picture displayed. It started right up, the seller gave me a bit of backstory. He told me that the HVAC didn't work, and the right window didn't go down. There were a couple of small dings as well as a small dent in front of the left rear wheel. The left front fender trim was missing. So was the inner fender liner! There was no owner's manual in the car, and he had only one key and the remote. As it turns out. he'd had it smogged only a couple of months before, along with an oil change. He'd also replaced the left rear tire since he'd had a flat. I suppose that the tire was too old for a shop to repair. I took it for a test drive around his condo complex and it seemed to be okay. I wasn't going to haggle over the price, I told him that I'd take it! 

We had a nice conversation was we filled out the paperwork. I still had a week to register it in my name without getting another smog test. 

We went outside in the now 102 degree sun to load the car on the dolly. 

Front wheel drive cars are easy to tow, since they can be towed on a dolly. The rear wheels aren't connected to the power train, so there's no need to disconnect a drive shaft. Initially, I had placed the gear selector in neutral. It wasn't until I stopped to check the loading before I entered the freeway, that I realized that the transmission should be in Park, which would also keep the wheels more securely on the dolly.

It was a hot day (over 100 degrees) combined with blazing sunlight, while I had loaded up the car with the seller giving me some direction. It was loaded a bit to one side, but I didn't think that would be a problem. A bigger problem was the turnbuckle for the wheel strap was located too far to the right, and the strap angled off from the top of the wheel. The opposite turnbuckle seemed to be located properly. 

I decided that it was a good idea to stop and check the car and dolly before I entered the freeway. I stopped in the parking lot of a gas station and unloaded the car to reposition it. That meant kneeling down on the hot pavement, lowering the dolly's ramps, and undoing the safety chains and wheel straps. I pulled out a rubber floor mat from the Nav and used it to protect my knees from the heat. 

It took two tries to get the car loaded properly, but the wheel strap just didn't fit, it was still at an angle. It had worked itself off the top of the tire in just the couple of miles that I'd driven it so far. Why was the turnbuckle positioned like that? I checked the right side and found that the turnbuckle was on a sliding mount that could be adjusted for the proper location. I tried to move the left side and it was stuck all the way to the right. I couldn't move it by hand. I retrieved the lug wrench from the Riv and banged on the turnbuckle and it freed up and was easily moved to the proper position. 

It was so hot! I had parked where there was some shade from a small  tree, and took occasional breaks in the shade. I was concerned that I might pass out from heat exhaustion! After I loaded the car I went inside the market and bought a big soda. I sat in the Nav with a/c on trying to cool down. Before I left I went back to give everything another once over. That's when I put the transmission in "Park" and applied the parking brake, this way I didn't have to leave the ignition in the "on" position. 

I was ready to go when I looked under the car and saw that I'd left the loading ramps extended! It would have been awfully noisy if I'd driven off like that! I called my Wife to let her know that I was on my way home from Fresno. My poor Wife, I was not in the mood for an extended conversation and I was pretty abrupt. I was quite tired. It's easy to forget things and to make mistakes when the heat combines with fatigue, so it's a good thing that I double checked my work! 

Home again. Mileage while towing was an average of 16 mpg.
It's much easier to unload a car from a dolly.

I took it pretty easy on the drive home, keeping it at 60-65 mph. I didn't need any drama, just a safe drive home. It was 102 degrees on the drive out of Fresno, but got cooler as I approached home. Driving over the Pacheco Pass was without incident, but I kept my speed in check on the twisty downhill descent approaching the Casa de Fruta. The rig was very stable and I was passed by all kinds of trailers and campers, and even another truck towing a car on a dolly. The Navigator had no problem maintaining freeway speeds going uphill, unlike my V6 F150. Even without trailer brakes, the Nav had no trouble stopping, it is rated at 8,000 lbs, towing capacity, and this load was only about half of that. But tail gating is for suckers. I arrived home tired but happy, and it was easy to unload the car by myself. But dinner came first!

My new car was home, safe and sound, and I had a story to tell about it.

And that, is just another episode of the Car Guy's life!