Buick Riviera

The Buick Riviera is a personal luxury car which went through 9 generations from 1963 to 1999. The Corgi is the first generation car. As General Motors' first entry into the personal luxury car market segment, the Riviera was highly praised by automotive journalists upon its debut. It was a ground-up design on a new GM E platform debuting for the 1963 model year and was also Buick's first unique Riviera model, the name having previously used as a trim option on the Buick Roadmaster

I read somewhere that in the US Buicks were seen as stodgy & posh, a bit like Rovers were in the UK back in the sixties, Rovers never looked like this. It is a very nice looking car and the fore & aft Trans-o-Lites really add to the fun, the pictures below of the Trans-o-Lites in operation were taken by my friend Duncan Rodgers. In 2012 I visited a fellow collector in Australia who owns one of these in 1:1 full size and it is an impressive car in the metal. He also has a Toronado, a Fairlane and a Chrysler Imperial - lovely.

The Corgi Buick Riviera was produced from 1964 to 1968. It features Trans-O-Lite head and tail lamps and a plastic tow hook. Wheels can be wire spokes, cast spokes or spun hubs. Colours are metallic gold, blue or blue/green or non-metallic gloss pale blue. Cars with cast spokes get the best prices. You will also find it in a gift set with a boat and trailer, GS31.

GS31 was in the range from 1964 to 1968 and a complete one with all the box and packaging will cost a lot of cash, the set below sold on Little Wheels in February 2021 for £300. There is an error in the Great Book of Corgi Pocket Book which has the boat as the Glastron, it is the Dolphin boat in this set - I think the Glastron boat goes with the later Oldsmobile Toronado