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#22
Jalopies / Re: New favorite YouTube chann...
Last post by FoMoJo - April 13, 2024, 09:35:39 AM
Cool car interiors...


When cars were distinctive.
#23
General Automotive / Re: Cars named after places wh...
Last post by Madman - April 12, 2024, 09:47:07 PM



Part 25: Buick Riviera


Riviera.  A name that evokes images of white-sand beaches, Mediterranean breezes, opulent resorts, and members of the rich and famous jet-set.  The name is usually associated with the southeastern coast of France and the Northwestern coast of Italy.  Other regions around the world have tried to lay claim the Riviera name.  The coasts of Spain, Portugal, and even Lake Geneva in Switzerland have all tired to co-opt the Riviera name to boost the allure of their own beaches.  Some pretty unlikely locales have even tried to bask in the glow of the Riviera mystique by borrowing the name for their own stretch of coastal real estate.  The Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, the South coast of England, and the Baltic Sea shoreline of Latvia have all at one time or another rebranded their respective stretches of seaside tourist traps as a "Riviera."  Let's not forget America's very own "Redneck Riviera" on the Gulf of Mexico.

For the purposes of this thread, however, I'm going to stick to the "original" Rivieras of France and Italy.

Buick certainly found the name Riviera quite appealing, too.  Before it became a model in its own right, Buick applied the Riviera moniker to luxury-edition, pillarless hardtop versions of various Buick models from 1949 through 1962.  The Riviera finally came into its own in 1963 as a large two-door "Personal Luxury" car.  This theme continued throughout eight generations of car models through 1999, with the exception of a one-year gap in 1994, between the seventh and final eighth generation model.

I won't go through all the changes and redesigns of the Riviera over the course of its production.  Suffice to say that any iteration of the Buick Riviera would look ridiculously out of place on the French or Italian coasts.  Almost as ridiculous as a morbidly obese European man wearing a Speedo would look on any American beach!  Proof that not everything that looks appropriate on one side of the Atlantic can blend-in on the other side.


#24
General Automotive / Re: The Craigslist/eBay/AutoTr...
Last post by RomanChariot - April 12, 2024, 10:15:03 AM
When I was shopping for replacement wheels for my truck I saw a lot of ads for wheels with old cracking tires stating plenty of tread left. The tread is useless if the sidewalls split open going down the road.
#25
General Automotive / Re: The Craigslist/eBay/AutoTr...
Last post by AutobahnSHO - April 11, 2024, 03:21:54 PM
Quote from: MrH on April 11, 2024, 12:17:33 PM"The tires are fine" and they're almost 10 years old are incompatible.

:thumbsup:   definitely.
#26
The Garage / Re: Rattle can paint job
Last post by AutobahnSHO - April 11, 2024, 03:20:34 PM
Whatever happened with the fenderz???
#27
The Big Guys / FORDS
Last post by AutobahnSHO - April 11, 2024, 03:16:18 PM
Ford had 144k trucks built but waiting to ship because there was some kind of issue with hardware so they did a software update then shipped them out.

They spent $4.8 billion last year on warranty work (including picking our Maverick up from the house and dropping it back off TWICE because they ordered the wrong rear strut the first time).

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/ford-to-send-144-000-trucks-to-north-american-dealers/ar-BB1ltcrW?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=deb9ffde719c41799285c43b4bd681a4&ei=16
#28
General Automotive / Re: The Craigslist/eBay/AutoTr...
Last post by MrH - April 11, 2024, 12:17:33 PM
"The tires are fine" and they're almost 10 years old are incompatible.
#29
General Automotive / Re: Next Car(s)?
Last post by giant_mtb - April 11, 2024, 08:21:49 AM
hah, Half those buttons were for the keypad for the built-in phone thing. Technology! I've got a Mercedes ML that I detail once a year, it's like a 2010 and still has all the chiclet buttons. I imagine they moved past that with their next generations shortly after that...smartphones were already a thing. The keypad phone buttons right on the dash just look oddly ancient now.
#30
General Automotive / Re: Next Car(s)?
Last post by Morris Minor - April 11, 2024, 07:16:11 AM
Quote from: MrH on April 10, 2024, 08:15:13 AMOccam's Razor is outlawed in Germany.
:lol: We had a late-aughts Mercedes CLK at one stage. It was wall-to-wall indecipherable chiclet buttons, dozens and dozens of them. Completely unusable. They've carried that tradition into the touchscreen era.