General Motors styling boss Bill Mitchell had a taste for drama in automobile design, and few were more dramatic than the boat-tailed 1971 Buick Riviera.
The flamboyant styling of the 1971 Buick Riviera is formally credited to Jerry Hirshberg of the Buick advanced design studio (later, chief of design at Nissan) but the inspiration and driving force behind its radical look was GM design vice president Bill Mitchell. “It was his baby,” former GM design director David Holls told Collectible Automobile magazine in 1990. The ’63 Corvette Sting Ray was Mitchell’s favorite car, Holls explained. “He felt that cars were getting kind of ordinary and bland, and he wanted that kind of drama in a larger car.” The result, introduced on September 22, 1970, was the memorable ’71 Riviera.
Plans were originally laid to base the Riviera on the stretched-intermediate platform shared by the Chevy Monte Carlo and Pontiac Grand Prix. But in the end, the car got a full-size chassis with a 122-inch wheelbase and a full perimeter frame, discarding the cruciform frame used on previous Buick E-bodies. This GM studio model from April 1968 (above) exhibits all the key styling elements of the eventual production car in exaggerated form—note the deep checkmark line in the greenhouse and rear quarter panel.
Even in toned-down production form, the Boattail Riviera, as it shall forever be known, made a radical fashion statement. The giant two-door coupe was highly controversial even within the halls of the GM styling studios, but that was of no concern to Mitchell. At more than 218 inches, the Riverboat was nearly as long as a four-door LeSabre sedan, but without even a nod to packaging efficiency. The Riviera was above all an exercise in style.
The two-door hardtop, model 49400, was the only available body style, with a base price of $5,253, and while the standard equipment list was long, the list of available options was equally lengthy, including Cruise Master and GM’s vaunted thumbwheel Climate Control. One forward-looking $91 option was Max Trac, an early form of electronic traction control. Interior choices were many, all luxurious (below). Buyers who chose the bucket/console combination got a neat boat-throttle shift lever to command the standard Turbo-Hydramatic 400 transmission and 455 cubic-inch V8.
Despite the bombastic styling, or maybe because of it, the new Riviera was less than a sensation in the showrooms. Annual sales slipped to around 33,000 units in 1971, the worst year for Riviera to date, where they remained for 1972 as well. For ’73, the final year of the production cycle, the boattail styling was squared up and smoothed down a bit, in part to meet tougher federal impact standards, but sales remained planked in the 33,000 range. Mitchell’s boattail Riviera proved to be polarizing in the GM styling studios, polarizing in the Buick showrooms, and from what we hear around the campfire, the styling remains polarizing to this day. But for our part, we like it.
I think the Riv looks terrific, and the concept even more so. I remember the controversy and thought it misplaced. Many complained about banging the rear appendage, just as they did the nose on the contemporary Grand Prix.. I could blame their lack of parking skills but your description of the length does make it seem that it was hard to keep track of the ends.
While the 71-72 front ends looked better than the safety front bumper of the 73, I would rather have the 73 because of it’s flatter rear end which was more like the C2 Corvette. The 71-72 battering ram rear bumper is a hazard.
Still, I remember seeing one at a car show ( how you order a car, paint wheels etc. makes or breaks a car ) and it was red with parchment ( white) interior with those Wildcat wheels with a 1- 1/4 ” W/W tires and NO vinyl roof and this car was a show stopper.
Who wouldn’t want a full size stingray?
You know, something occurs to me…
Mitchell, to me, was the master of crisp, clean elegance… The 1960s at their best. In fact I’ve read some things about how the transition from Harley Earl’s to Mitchell’s leadership was somewhat stormy… Mitchell not being fond of all the late-’50s chrome and over-the-top in your face BIG look. There was some… conflict for sure… probably a good measure of “drama” as well. In the end, Earl I guess realized the times were changing, he was past his prime, and the baton was passed.
When I look at this car… I believe this is near the end of Mitchell’s reign, maybe even his “swan song”… and what occurs to me is…
This sure looks like Mitchell, while culminating his clean, elegant mastery, is also paying tribute to Harley Earl. Think of the “Y-job” and some of those ’50s Cadillac concepts that were Earl’s masterpieces… What say ye?
If you look at Mitchell’s last few luxury projects, you’ll see a boat-tail, and a Cord 810, and something like a vanden plan Princess, although we could argue what exact car the 1980 Seville looks like. The riv is the best of the 3, by a mile. An early 30’s design theme wonderfully executed in a 1970’s way. They had done several design studies with pontoon fenders and so forth leading up to this. Combining that tail with the fastback was the right touch.
When I first laid eyes on the 71 Riv, I was totally mesmerized. I knew we would never see this design ever again and I had to have one. After my military duty was over in the spring of 71, I went to the Buick dealer a couple of blocks away and I ordered one. I chose every option including the GS A9 option, except for the auto A/C which the salesman told me was junk right from the factory and the rim blow steering wheel. I still have this wonderful car to this day. It only has 21,000 original miles on it and it has never seen snow. It has always been garaged since the day I brought it home. We love going to car shows and it always draws a crowd .