96 Riviera with wood dash...

[mjdecker]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1997-BUICK-...1QQcmdZViewItem



Despite of the common "guppy face" name, I've always loved the last gen Rivera all around on the exterior and while the interior I thought was quite nice, I thought it was a bit bland and lacking something.

This car could be a possibility of being my next car and if that's the case one thing I have considered doing is maybe installing a wood dash. After seeing some of these pics on that auction I'm not so sure any more. Perhaps one with black or beige (definately not blue!) leather and a darker wood it might stand out a bit more.

Any thoughts?

[zoomtm]

The last Riviera needed wood...but that is too much. Just here and there would be acceptable. But I would love to have one of those :). Edited December 30, 2005 by zoomtm

[Satty]

I like the Riv, it was well-styled, but the interior looks like it came straight from 1983 and that wood makes it worse.

[wildcat]

My thoughts? That this should NOT be in the discussion of "Current Buick Models."

[HarleyEarl]

I was in one recently and you are right, it's a bit bland, but nicely styled. The wood helps, but it's too much of it. Are there any metal kits? How about just using wood on the consol and the centre of the dash...carrying the eye up. You would have the warmth of the wood without overwhelming the interior.

[Sixty8panther]

This stick-on wood trim would look much better on a tan interior versus gray... I wonder if XP715 saw this?

[HarleyEarl]

Another thing, if you have a grey interior, I'd go with a dark reddish toned wood or very light colored wood and not the one above...it's too orange toned. It would look better in the tan interior.

[razoredge]

I've always loved the last gen Rivera all around on the exterior and while the interior I thought was quite nice, I thought it was a bit bland and lacking something.

This car could be a possibility of being my next car and if that's the case one thing I have considered doing is maybe installing a wood dash. After seeing some of these pics on that auction I'm not so sure any more. Perhaps one with black or beige (definately not blue!) leather and a darker wood it might stand out a bit more.

Any thoughts?

[post="65283"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

We were looking at a Black Riv that had this or a similar wood kit. Myself, Im really quite a wood guy, all the way around so I like it but this kit really is alot of wood. Its a multi piece kit so it could be applied differently. Im not sure whats available for grains and tones but Harley had some good thoughts. One could always get crafty and make some of their own panels out of whatever veneer suits their fancy. You can also go to metal suppliers and purchase many types of thin sheet as well. Brush aluminum, polished aluminum, brushed stainless, polished stainless.

Other thoughts

This does belong on this location in this Buick section and this Buick owner and lover fully approves

I did not know you could find this kind of interior in 1983

[XP715]

That's part of a factory option package known as a "prestige package" that was offered on these cars from '96 to '99 in pretty limited numbers. I own a '96 Riviera myself that's Bright White Diamond Metallic over taupe and I think the dash and interior appointments are just fine without the prestige package (just a faux wood bezel around the radio/climate control unit and the shifter as opposed to the whole dash), not to say that this looks bad. It just looks better on some colors as opposed to others; taupe would probably look the best, or a dark color with the darker wood offered on their burgundy interior. And I'm definitely in agreement with you on the Dark Adriatic interior; yuck! I went and looked at a Light Adriatic Metallic '95 at the beginning of the summer with this interior in it and I'd have to say it's the worst of any colors offered in these cars. But as far as a prestige package car is concerned, I certainly wouldn't turn one down if it was offered at the right price. I think these are wonderful cars and would buy another one in about half a second if my hands weren't full with this one and my '79 Cadillac already. Good luck to you if you end up buying it; it'd be nice to have a fellow last generation Riviera owner on the forums!

Here's mine if you feel like checking it out:

1996 Buick Riviera

[mjdecker]

I took it in photoshop for a bit and IMO, black leather with a mahagony wood trim ooks best. What i think would make it even better is if the wood trim were all along that thin paneling through the center air vents rather than around the gauges and across.