Rolls Royce
But there are some useful hints: Bill Mitchell (1912-1988) new head of design in Detroit will be In December 1958. Under his aegis, plans for a personnel be luxury car”developed. While he wants to be careful against oversized fins”and rich chrome” his predecessor and former Chief Harley Earl delimit. Swarmed by offers, Southwest Airlines is currently assessing future choices. During a stay in London, Mitchell observed a Rolls Royce in the Karroserieaufbau by Hooper & co., who often used Rolls-Royce chassis with the ramp at Claridge’s hotel. Back in the United States he should have asked his designer Ned Nickles, to connect this curved line with the elongated, sporty shape of a Ferrari. Cadilac, Chevrolet both GM daughters of the Oberliga, reject the designs. In the mid-priced Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick, it comes to the invitation to tender, which can decide after a hard battle for Buick. Mitchell’s plan is brought to the production virtually unchanged in just one and a half years.
In October in 1962 the series production begins. With a wheelbase of 2.93 m and a length of 5.28 m has the Buick Riviera with a full-size frame with so-called cross frame chassis and is even 15 cm shorter than other Buicks. Distinctive marks of the draft is not only the coke-bottle-design of the rear tail section, but also the front line that follows an imaginary W, or is it even for a reverse M, like Mitchell? This Buick Riviera for the first time presented at the Paris Motor Show was the new GM design, the the stylists in Detroit wanted to meet with the European taste, especially since the Buick at European journalists was well-received. The new objectivity was the Zeitgeist, away from the excessive chrome ornaments. The frameless, fully retractable glass would be Godfather the later Coupe of the Opel diplomat. A new style was born together with the design of the Corvette Sting Ray (originating also from Mitchell’s design studios) for the next fifteen years for GM, would be for style.