Continue to clean until the vent is lint free. The next potential culprit is dirty cylinders, and again, the plan is to try to flush them clean. Try explaining that to your late-’90s self. Both the Strato Bench and optional bucket seats could be ordered with extra-cost headrests and recliners. Neither Gran Sport package included bucket seats. Two other significant 1969 changes included giving buyers a choice of no-cost bucket seats as an alternative to the standard bench, and the addition of standard front shoulder harnesses. In addition, two benches became available: a standard version with a conventional 50/50 split, and an optional Strato Bench, with a center armrest. Those were a separate option, and unless one specifically ordered them the Gran Sport came with an armrest bench and column shifter, same as the regular Buick Rivieras. Otherwise, though, everything remained basically the same as before. The Buick Riviera’s wheelcovers were later picked up by Chevrolet and used on the 1967-1975 Corvette and Caprice: same vanes but different spinners. That was followed by the Continental Mark III in mid-1968, a rejuvenated Pontiac Grand Prix in 1969, and the Chevrolet Monte Carlo for 1970. Even so, the Buick Riviera kept its sales momentum, and actually outsold the Thunderbird that year.

However, by 1970 the bloom was off the rose, and all Buicks, including the Buick Riviera, took a dip in sales. It’s been nearly 30 years since General Motors’ experiment with the EV1, an electric vehicle (EV) that was leased to a select group of customers between 1996 and 1999. Today, you can walk into nearly any car dealership and have your choice of fully electric vehicles, including affordable compact cars and performance-oriented trucks and SUVs. Electric cars are cool. At a time when American cars were getting heavier by the year, when muscle reigned supreme, and when the old nailhead couldn’t be pumped any higher, Flint decided to design and produce a brand-new family of Buick V-8s. The 1967 Buick Riviera’s standard brakes remained 12-inch drums, the fronts again clad in aluminum but now with 90 fins instead of the 45 from 1966. Vented discs became available optionally for the first time in 1967 ($78.74), and the rear drums remained cast iron. That engine had been introduced as a 322 in 1953 and had been reworked time and again. The 1967 Buick Riviera, while it looked virtually identical to the 1966 (save for a grille and taillight touch-up), used an entirely different engine.

Buick Rivieras from 1966 through 1970 remained basically the same, but there were some important changes along the way. The latter consisted of changes in suspension geometry that made the car track better, especially under conditions like strong side winds. The simpler of the two cost $175.56 and included fender and dashboard monograms, a chromed air cleaner, cast aluminum rocker covers, whitewall or red-stripe 8.45 x 15 Goodyear Power Cushion tires, 3.42:1 Positraction rear axle, and heavy-duty suspension. For 1966, the Buick Riviera offered two Gran Sport packages. What two items can get you back into a car you locked yourself out of? Used in a well-used kitchen, we found that we only needed to get out a manual floor cleaner every couple of weeks or so, and that was mostly to get right into the edges where the robot can’t reach. While digging my old posts about web development, I’ve found a few bits here and there that I’d forgotten about. So there was very little to distract the eye from the total sculpture. There was visual appeal and impact in just the shape itself, a purity and simplicity that needed — and fortunately got — virtually no ornamentation.

In several well-documented instances, gases deployed by front-line troops blew back onto their own trenches – giving a literalist tinge to the term “blowback,” now used to describe the unintended consequences of an intelligence operation. Buick’s design chief, Dave Holls, facelifted the 1968 Buick Riviera, giving the front a more massive look, with a center-divided grille more in keeping with that year’s other Buicks. The new engine started out for 1967 at 430 cid (and 360 horsepower), only five cubic inches bigger than the 1966 425. In addition, it was also produced in a downsized 400-cid version and, for 1970, bored out to become the 455. More about that one in a moment. Thoughtful touches inside the 1966 Buick Riviera included door pulls molded into, and all the way along the plastic door panels. Cover with a plastic cap, and leave on for a half hour. The cleaning process is easy and can be done by anyone looking for the best way to clean boots.