After appending the Riviera title to numerous vehicles through the Fifties, Buick lastly made the Riviera a mannequin in its personal proper for the 1963 mannequin yr. Seven extra generations of Buick’s rakish private luxurious coupe adopted over the subsequent 36 years, however just one ever had an oil-burning engine out there from the manufacturing unit. At this time’s Junkyard Gem is a type of vehicles, a vividly purple ’82 Riviera with 105 horses of Oldsmobile diesel energy underneath its hood, present in a Denver-area self-service boneyard just lately.
Beginning within the 1966 mannequin yr, the Riviera had been dwelling on the identical platform because the Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado, each of which featured radical front-wheel-drive powertrains that used longitudinal V8s powering the entrance wheels through sturdy chains. Nevertheless, regardless of the widespread platform, the Riviera alone stored the then-traditional front-engine/rear-drive setup, making it one thing of a company oddball for the subsequent 12 years.
Then Common Motors determined to downsize the Eldorado/Toronado platform for the 1979 mannequin yr, and the Riviera received these vehicles’ front-wheel-drive rig on the identical time.
Gross sales of the smaller Rivvy had been sturdy, little doubt due largely to sure geopolitical occasions that despatched fuel costs skyward and triggered gasoline rationing and fuel traces.
Again within the late Nineteen Seventies and early Nineteen Eighties, diesel gasoline was less expensive than gasoline in the USA. Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot had accomplished moderately effectively promoting diesel-engined vehicles right here through the Nineteen Seventies, and so Common Motors developed a diesel-burning model of the Oldsmobile 350-cubic-inch (5.7-liter) V8 engine. As was typical of naturally-aspirated automotive diesels of the time (each trendy automobile’s diesel engine is turbocharged), horsepower was depressing however torque was sturdy; the engine on this automobile was rated at 105 horses and 205 pound-feet.
The 5.7 diesel first confirmed up within the Riviera for the 1981 mannequin yr. The bottom engine was a 4.1-liter model of the Buick V6, whereas the oil-burning Olds price an additional $924 (about $3,206 in 2023 {dollars}). A snug and smooth-riding Riviera with a budget fill-up value and lengthy vary of diesel sounded nice, even in case you needed to line up with Freightliners and Peterbilts to get to a pump, however there have been issues. Oh, so many issues!
Oldsmobile’s 350 V8 had been round since 1968 and it had confirmed to be each dependable and highly effective. Oldsmobile’s engineers strengthened the 350’s block for diesel service, however they opted to avoid wasting on manufacturing prices by holding the gasoline engine’s cylinder head bolt amount and places. As a result of diesels run a lot larger compression ratios than gasoline-burners (on this case, the diesel Olds 350 had a 21.6:1 compression ratio whereas its gasoline counterparts had extra like 8:1), the stresses on head bolts had been correspondingly larger. Stretched and damaged head bolts adopted, with engine-destroying outcomes.
On prime of that, diesel gasoline of the period was of irregular high quality, and GM saved extra bucks by omitting a water separator from the gasoline system; this triggered diesel-powered GM vehicles to cough to a halt with miserable regularity. The Oldsmobile diesels rapidly earned a horrible popularity, and a tsunami of lawsuits washed over the corporate. In the meantime, Cadillac’s variable-displacement V8-6-4 engine was having extensively publicized troubles of its personal, and the brand new Chevrolet Quotation was within the headlines for recall after recall. It wasn’t a contented time for The Common.
When GM developed a V6 model of the 350, the 4.3 Diesel, it did not undergo from a lot of the flaws seen in its large brother. The harm had been accomplished, nonetheless, and the final yr for the Olds diesel engines was 1985 (not coincidentally, gasoline costs crashed round that point).
This automobile had some curiously futuristic bits and items that compensated considerably for the troublesome engine. These emblems on the padded landau prime used electroluminescent illumination, which regarded cool (I have been unsuccessful find one among these lamps in working situation throughout my junkyard travels, however I am not giving up).
These indicator lamps above the grille used fiber-optic cables for lighting. Later within the Nineteen Eighties, Buick would set up touchscreen shows (sourced from a provider of ATM machine {hardware}) in Rivieras.
The landau prime has been roasted by the Colorado solar, however in any other case this automobile is in pretty respectable situation. I discovered registration paperwork inside that confirmed it had been operational as just lately as a decade in the past, so its proprietor managed to maintain the diesel 350 working for a few years.
The purple paint would not seem to have been a manufacturing unit colour, however the high-quality portray of the door jambs and engine compartment point out {that a} good paint store did the respray.
The MSRP on this automobile with diesel V8 was $15,196, or about $52,721 in immediately’s cash. Air con, energy home windows and an AM/FM stereo radio had been all customary gear.
The unique proprietor’s handbook was nonetheless with the automobile.
Now with 10.9% APR financing!
In hindsight, the optionally available 3.8-liter turbocharged V6 engine looks as if the higher alternative than the diesel.
