Richard Zocchi Takes Bold '59 Buick Styling A Step Further
more
|
When it comes to choosing a custom car project, it's hard to go wrong with a 1959 model anything. American auto design reached a zenith of bizarre styling that year, fueled by heated competition, aeronautical influences, and the nation's race to space. Fins grew bigger, bodies longer and wider, and
more
|
Cool as they are, there are many reasons not to build '63-65 Rivieras these days. Much like '49-51 Mercs, you can argue that the best ones have already been built, and attempting to one-up prior examples will just ruin the car's natural good looks. Furthermore, those clean, Bill Mitchell-penned fact
more
|
It's a bit ironic that many low-priced cars from the '50s and '60s now demand more money than their higher-class counterparts. Current prices on early '60s Chevys, for example, are typically higher-often much higher-than those of more upscale Buicks, or even Cadillacs, of the same era.
more
|
The art of crafting a low-buck, high-impact custom seems to have been lost in this era of six-figure machines assembled on television by celebrity car builders. Take a look at Jeff Early's bold '55 Buick Special, however, and you'll become a born-again believer in homebuilt hot rods.
more
|
Few '60s cars have the universal appeal of the 1963-65 Buick Riviera. Resto purists and automotive design critics have long hailed its crisp, "factory custom" styling. Likewise, hot rodders know that few rides make more natural mild customs-just shave a few emblems, adjust the stance, spray on a tas
more
|
It's a bit ironic that many low-priced cars from the '50s and '60s now demand more money than their higher-class counterparts. Current prices on early '60s Chevys, for example, are typically higher-often much higher-than those of more upscale Buicks, or even Cadillacs, of the same era.
more
|
Few cars make more natural mild customs than '50s-era Buicks. These big, bold cruisers have always had just a little extra style and panache than common, everyday Chevys and Fords. Beyond that, their relative scarcity today makes them all the more distinctive when plunked down in the midst of such a
more
|
From the beginning, Buick's Riviera was a bit of a throwback. Relying as much, if not more, on style than performance, it swam upstream as the horsepower-focused musclecar wars took off in the mid-1960s. Still, the marque's unique blend of crisp, European-infl
more
|
For cars that many consider to be factory customs, 1963-'65 Buick Rivieras still get a lot of attention from customizers. A few attempts at improving or enhancing the factory's crisp, clean lines actually succeed. Others ... well, let's just say they're not so
more
|
Sometimes, subtlety speaks volumes. In the case of Mike O'Brien's Buick Riviera from Burbank, California, it's making its point loud and clear thanks to a vibrant coating of candy pagan gold. Other than a simple shave and cleanup (plus the addition of airbags,
more
|
The best mild customs often don't look like customs at all. Instead they look like cars that should have rolled off the assembly line. They should look like the simple, fluid creations automotive designers envisioned before marketing departments got involved a
more
|
Custom rods have evolved over the years from poodle-skirt '50s-inspired kustoms and Pro Street Cadillacs into a mixture of the edgy '50s primer look, the mild-custom '60s look, and high-tech billet machines. There is a whole movement to do it the way "they" did it back in the day. This means scourin
more
|
Scott Holton/Kustom City Signal Hill, CaliforniaFor a lot of guys out there, the building of a car is where it's at; the finished product is sometimes icing on the cake that they're probably not even hungry for anymore. Then there's the rest of us who just can't wait for a project to get done so we
more
|
If you've been around car guys for any period of time at all you've heard this at least a thousand times. "Oh yeah, I can get this really solid, running, creampuff of a car for a song. I'm just going to detail it, put a set of nice swap meet wheels on it and have me a blast running it down the highw
more
|
W ell. . .okay, possibly there can actually be too many cooks in some instances, but not if they're all practicing professionals as in this case. Leo Donnelly, of Anaheim, was first in the kitchen, taking a '50 Buick four-door woodie wagon and turning it into a two-door with longer doors from a stee
more
|
Check out this classic 1963 Buick Riviera.
more
|
Check out the newest model a 1961 Buick Invicta.
more
|
Okay. . .you're right, it's a lowrider-all right? Now I'll be the first to admit that CRM doesn't generally follow lowirding, as it's yet another subgenre of the hot rodding hobby, just as are pro-street Camaros and Mustangs. However, when we find one this superbly crafted, with the only thing actua
more
|