Bill Mitchell's Rivi

There is a general love-fest for Buick Riviera's over at the Jalopy Journal...

Rightly so.
The Riviera just might be the highest watermark left by GM.

Bill Mitchell was, by accounts, inspired by euro luxury and performance touring cars. He took the sharpest automotive designers on a trek through his visions.

Of course, there are concessions when one transitions from the design process to the production process. Vision and practicality collide.

The Riviera that anybody could buy (for a pricey $5000 in 1963 money) was a beautiful design.

But it is not what we see here.
That is Bill Mitchell's Riviera.
He bought one new, off the line, and had it customized to his vision of what it should be.



Here is a stocker for comparison.

Mitchell's gets a revised grill, slight chop with the windshield layed back, more pronounced scoopy things and maybe is just slightly more pointly in the hood fender lines.


It is interesting to see what the visionary would change in their own work, for their own eyes...