Wheels Galleries

John Betzer's beautiful 1969 Buick Riviera Gran Sport was intended to be a daily driver to replace a stolen car. But over the last 16 years or so, it has evolved into an award-winning show car with some serious styling and performance upgrades.

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Mike Berry / Mike Berry

The big Buick rides on adjustable air bags at all four corners, giving it a super-low profile at rest. It's fitted with huge Boyd Coddington 20" wheels in front, with 22" versions in back, all shod in high-performance Nitto rubber.

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Mike Berry / Mike Berry

Originally an all-green car, Betzer's Buick retains the optional factory bench seat and upholstery, but a custom forest green cloth top replaced the original vinyl roof and the body now glows with Cool Vanilla paint.

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Mike Berry / Mike Berry

The stock dash layout is retained, but a pod of three auxiliary gauges have been added to the top of the dash, another pair of gauges fitted to the A-pillar and a tach attached to the instrument panel. The Air Ride Technologies air bag controls are neatly fitted into the back of the fold-down bench seat armrest.

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Mike Berry / Mike Berry

At first glance, what appear to be bucket seats is actually a factory-option bench seat covered in original green vinyl paneled upholstery.

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Mike Berry / Mike Berry

The factory rear seats mirror the front seating area and really didn't need any modification to look like a show car interior.

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Mike Berry / Mike Berry

The Buick came equipped with optional cornering lights. Betzer laid out the contrasting orange and lime green painted pin stripes that flow along the Riviera's flanks.

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Mike Berry / Mike Berry

Monstrous 22-inch Boyd Coddington Blasters tuck neatly up inside the Riviera's rear wheel wells. Magnaflow mufflers send deep bass sound waves out through the rectangular exhaust tips just ahead of the rear wheels.

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Mike Berry / Mike Berry

The distinctive lines of the '69 Riviera are accentuated by the custom striping and the green cloth roof covering, which extends down over a vent panel below the sloping rear window.

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Mike Berry / Mike Berry

Subtle touches, like the hand-painted Riviera emblem, done in orange and white to complement the striping, abound on Betzer's Buick.

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Mike Berry / Mike Berry

One of the more practical changes Betzer made is under the hood, where the retractable headlights are now driven by linear electric motors, instead of the touchy old vacuum-operated motors.

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Mike Berry / Mike Berry

Power is provided by an extensively reworked 455 cubic inch Buick V-8 bored out to 462 cubic inches. With headers, a custom-built carb and a performance camshaft, the engine has been dyno-certified at 507 horsepower and 540 foot-pounds of torque.

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Mike Berry / Mike Berry

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