So in keeping with my post above about liking to draw vehicles, this morning I saw a poor photoshop or AI rendering of what a 1972 Buick Riviera 4-door would look like and it bugged me.
Now, as a bit of an explainer, the early 1970's Buick Riviera was to me one of the most beautiful cars made since the 1950's. It was a large two-door luxury car, a "Personal Luxury Coupe" as the segment was called back in the day, and it only existed to look good. Cars in this segment include the Ford Thunderbird, Lincoln Mark III/IV/V, Chevy Monte Carlo, Oldsmobile Toronado, Cadillac El Dorado, and even such imports as the Mercedes 280 SEC and BMW 635CSi. They were not meant to be fast or practical, they were built for style and luxury, and the Riviera, with its unique "Boat Tail" design (a callback to 1930's Auburn Speedsters and Cord Boat Tail") was the best looking of the lot, in my opinion. They were large and in charge.
So here is what a stock 1972 Riviera would look like. This angle showcases the "boat tail" look.
Now, for the most part, these Personal Luxury Coupes did not have four-door versions. Family practicality was generally left to the more mainstream LTD's, Impalas, Coronets, Furys, and in the case of luxury marques, the Continental, Town Car, Fleetwood, and Imperial (though these cars all had two door versions too, but they were never as stylish as the dedicated coupes).
Somebody, somewhere, decided to either photoshop or get AI to create a four-door version of the Riviera, and this is the image that set me off. This rendering, in my opinion, is an absolute mess. The roof line is terrible, the back end is just weird, and I don't even know where to begin with that rear window, other than to say it is just plain wrong. If you look closely at it, it couldn't even work on a car. Here it is:
I will admit it freely: I could not use photoshop to save my life. I have never used the program, and would never claim to be able to manipulate a photograph. But though I can't use Photoshop, I can draw. And so I decided I needed to right this wrong. If Buick were to make a four door version of their most stylish car they would have tried to preserve that style, and so that's how I envisioned this "Crew Cab" Riviera:
