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The '73 Buick Riviera GS Shows Why 'Class' and 'Style' Are Better Than Raw Muscle Power

General Motors was a late bloomer in the personal luxury sector, having mandated its high-end division Buick to cut a slab of Ford's Thunderbird monopoly. Unfortunately for the Biggest of the Big Three, it took eight years to deliver a car that would match the T-Bird (in public perception, if not in anything else).
1973 Buick Riviera GS 45 photos
Photo: YouTube/Lou Costabile
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In 1963, Buick hatched the Riviera, a beautiful car in its own right, with a strong GM-unlike styling language that garnered vast appreciation and equal portions of criticism. More importantly for Buick, it attracted buyers – over 112,000 from 1963 to 1965 – and stole the show the Blue Oval initially put on.

By the late 60s, however, things went south for the Riviera, with sales nosediving in 1970. Despite rolling out more than 37,000 units for that model year, GM's coin counters reported a slash downfall from the nearly-53,000 figure of 1969.

"A change is needed," murmured the white collars in the upper offices from Michigan. They wanted to see a change but not break the bank over it. Leave it to Bill Mitchell - VP of Design - to make it happen. The head stylist of General Motors drastically reshaped the Riviera, using cues from one of his early-60s sweethearts, the Sting Ray Corvette of 1963. The faux vee-butted rear window on the `73 Riviera is a subtle hint at that classic second-generation sportscar legend.

1973 Buick Riviera GS
Photo: YouTube/Lou Costabile
In a money-restricted attempt to revive the Riviera, the stylists gave the refreshed automobile a fast(er)-looking stance. Buick touted the "aerodynamic styling. Longer. Wider. Daring new design. The 1971 Riviera is motion-sculptured, giving an image of movement even when standing still. In a word: excitement."

An acquired taste indeed, as the speedboat tail of the Sting Ray – ideally suited on the small sportscar – wasn't to everyone's appeal in 1971, when the new profile emerged under the Riviera emblem. In fact, Bill Mitchell himself had second thoughts about the approach.

"What hurt the boattail was to widen it. It got so wide, a speedboat became a tugboat," Mitchell acidly remarked when looking back at the third-generation Riviera. Found in `71-`73 models, the boattail and several other visual alterations made the already-long Buick (223.4 in / 5,674 mm) seem even more outstretched.

1973 Buick Riviera GS
Photo: YouTube/Lou Costabile
This impression particularly affected the 1973 version, partly due to newly-introduced federal regulations regarding the impact-absorbing bumper. In an attempt to visually counteract the overall increase in size - and to satisfy a broader mass of critics - the controversial boattail feature was edulcorated.

The third-gen Buick Riviera divided the gearhead auditorium with its uncompromising profile – some accused it of being "the most controversial piece of styling since the batwing job of 1959." But it wasn't all just about the automobile's garment. As the old saying goes – you don't see the outside of a car when you're driving it.

Buick made a "personal luxury" vehicle, first and foremost. It was critical to live up to its corporate name in technical superiority. The Riviera was the first GM-made car to feature the new "AccuDrive" front suspension.

1973 Buick Riviera GS Sales Brochure
Photo: oldcarbrochures.org
"The best directional stability ever experienced in an automobile" is how the engineers described their invention. They weren't off at all. The mechanical wizards from Detroit made the camber thrust effect work in their favor rather than try to counteract it. (In elementary-school English, "camber thrust" is the side force generated when a rolling wheel leans - or "cambers" to a side).

Buick cleverly used simple physics and lowered the lower control arm's inner pivot while raising the upper control arm's inner pivot. As motoring journalists noted when testing the new feature, "because of this relocation, when the wheel moved over an undulation, it tipped outward at the top, instead of inward, providing an opposing force. The two forces would effectively cancel each other out, keeping the car on a more nearly straight path."

The '73 Buick Riviera had the smooth ride of all its predecessors and a massive engine – the monster 455 CID (7.5-liter) torque ogre had first been fitted on the previous generation model in 1970. For the "speedboat tail," it was the only powertrain offered, mated to the three-speed TH-400 automatic – the sole transmission installed.

1973 Buick Riviera GS
Photo: YouTube/Lou Costabile
Buick had already introduced the GS 455 to handle the "muscle car" element on GM's behalf. Consequently, the Riviera wasn't a buttoned-up gymnast performance-wise. Even more so in 1973, when a misfortunate series of incidents and coincidences collided to close the curtain on the Golden Era. The emissions regulations power-censoring, the adoption of a new power-reporting system, and the oil embargo.

So it's little wonder there aren't many 1973 Buick Riviera roaming about in 2023. However, when one shows up, the show is on. The owner of this survivor example only certifies what other happy owners say – watch the video, courtesy of Lou Costabile, the classics headhunter.

Still, a dismal illusion of thrilling road action was left: the Grand Sport package. Not many Rivieras received this GS handling upgrade – out of a total production of 34,080, only 3,933 came equipped with the GS. For the sake of statistics, we'll mention that a further 1,234 Rivieras had the range-topping "Stage 1" power-lifting add-on.

1973 Buick Riviera GS
Photo: YouTube/Lou Costabile
Large personal luxury cars weren't famed for (stellar) track dominance – even if the big engine might imply otherwise. With a gutted compression ratio – to run the less-pollutant low-octane fuel – the power output of the mighty four-barrel-carbureted 7.5-liter V8 was a 250-net hp (254 PS).

It would explain (in part) why the sales brochures quietly omitted to put these numbers on paper (take a look at some examples in the gallery). The drop in absolute values was a psychological infringement for any buyer.

Torque figures were slightly more encouraging, at 375 lb-ft (509 Nm). An acceleration test from the day returned a 0-60 mph time of 8.4 seconds. It would have argued in favor of the Riviera, but mileage was one major drawback. Buick's big-blocks were heavy drinkers – between 8 and 11 mpg (20 to 30 liters/100 km). And the sudden oil crisis made it all the worse.

1973 Buick Riviera GS
Photo: YouTube/Lou Costabile
The GS in our story is a full-blown banner-bearing GS, meaning it carries the handling package, a recalibrated Turbo 400 transmission, H78 x 15 whitewall radial tires, front fender badges, and rear sway bar. That's on the outside: power steering, power brakes (12-inch / 300 mm discs up front), power windows, power seats, air conditioning, or the computer-controlled stability – Buick-exclusive, it was advertised as MaxTrac.

A series of sensors were installed on the driver-side front rotor and another between the transmission case and the speedometer cable. A mini-computer, about the size of a pack of cigarettes, was mounted behind the passenger-side kick panel. It compared the inputs from the two sensors, and when the rear-wheel rotational speed was over 10% higher than at the front wheels, it cut out the ignition.

It was a primitive ancestor of nowadays electronically-governed stability aids. It kept the Riviera from fishtailing on slippery surfaces – mostly on snow. It wasn't a trend-setting gadget – about 5% of the cars were installed with the computer-powered option. Buick only offered the MaxTrac for two years due to poor customer recipience.

Speaking of innovations, a new solenoid-actuated throttle stop prevented the V8 from dieseling by shutting off the air intake. Another cool feature of the Riviera was the self-leveling rear suspension. An engine-driven compressor would inflate a pair of pneumatic bellows on top of the shock absorbers. This enabled the car to maintain a level stance regardless of its load distribution.

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About the author: Razvan Calin
Razvan Calin profile photo

After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads.
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