The Buick Riviera, once a stand-alone model, traded more often than not on visual drama to draw in customers. The most unique, exquisite of Buicks offerings for the better part of the 1960’s offered opulence and decadence in a nearly bespoke as possible package for a mass production car.
Although this worked brilliantly for the first generation cars, it made life incrementally tougher on the 2nd generation cars as the market moved away from the most premium personal coupes towards everyday luxury offerings like the Pontiac Grand Prix and Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Change was afoot for all three of General Motor’s most princely private spaces, but the Riviera would continue to make the most splendid splash at trying things sporting and different.
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The Oldsmobile Ninety Eight had made a career of stating “why buy a Cadillac?” The distance between what the Oldsmobile offered at a 25-30% discount over a comparable edition of The Standard Of The World often made the Ninety Eight seem like the most sensible sensation in the Near-Luxury field.
Given the lawsuits and safety concerns about their fuel tanks; its often forgotten these days that the Ford Pinto was a rousing success for Ford in the Early 70’s. Upon introduction the frolicsome combination of sprite, plucky nature and a reasonable entry price made the Ford Pinto seemingly like the answer to the onslaught of Subcompact imports flooding the American Automotive Market.
The epitome of leviathan bulk during the excessive “Me” decade of the 1970’s can be exemplified by the bulk of full-sized offerings from all Detroit Brands. You can’t point a finger at any American Manufacturer without blaming the other for producing some of the most blatantly wasteful automobiles of all time, decidedly at the wrong time when it comes to market conditions.
Cadillac, for better or worse, really knew how to do things “big.” By 1976, they were the last Domestic US brand standing with an in house convertible on the sales floor. Following the departure of the slightly smaller General Motors B-body convertibles in Chevy through Buick flavors at the end of 1975, Cadillac had the market all its own.
Dynamic Drive 