Barris Villa Riviera

[Snake45]

The new issue of Car Kulture Deluxe (I got mine at Walmart) has a 5-page feature on this iconic custom Riviera, with many, many great color pics of the fully restored car. A must-have if you ever want to model the thing.

Also a nice feature on a B/FX '64 Falcon.

Not just rat rods, tats, and Betties this month.

[Misha]

The best feature are the photos of the rear end treatment. That has always been a mystery to me. Anyone have any idea as to the tailights that were used? I have a WIP for which I decided to have a Connie Kit in the back.

Cheers Misha

 

[Mark]

Taillights on the Villa Riviera (not in the kit, though) are '56 or '57 Rambler turn signals, turned upside down.  The 1:1 was a '63.  I've got one of those Petersen Publishing custom car "annuals" that includes several articles on various modifications done on that car.  Braze everything, then back up the Bondo truck!

[paul alflen]

 IS THIS THE CAR FROM THE MOVIE FOR" THOSE WHO THINK YOUNG?" IT HAD JAMES DARRIN IN IT. JUST SAW IT 10 DAYS AGO. CAN'T REMEMBER THE  CORRECT? MOVIE TITLE AND MY COPY OF HOT ROD DELUXE HASN'T COME YET! PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!

[oldnslow]

You mean these ?

[62rebel]

Not a lot of information on the real car out there, and I would love to build it correctly. 

[62rebel]

Rummaging through my parts bins, I managed to locate a few villa Riviera pieces, but they are hardly accurate. The grille, especially, is too thick in the bars, and without the extended hood and fenders, looks heavy.

[Mark]

Rummaging through my parts bins, I managed to locate a few villa Riviera pieces, but they are hardly accurate. The grille, especially, is too thick in the bars, and without the extended hood and fenders, looks heavy.

The parts only give it the look of the 1:1...the actual car had modifications like lengthened front fenders and radiused wheel openings that couldn't be duplicated in the kit while still offering a stock version.

[Misha]

Building a more accurate VR has been a long term goal for me that has been worked on over time. While I had mentioned that the rear treatment was a mystery until the recent coverage by HRDeluxe. I have lenghtened the front fenders and decided to do the same with the rear to balance the proportions. To make sense a Connie Kit was a logical approach, even if it is a diversion from the original plan. (I may rethink this and attempt to modify it to be more representative of the VR.) Also thinking of grafting a set of front wheel arches into the rear openings. Currently the length of my Riv matches the Monkeemobile. 

[Snake45]

 Currently the length of my Riv matches the Monkeemobile.

 

 

Funny you should say that. I'm thinking of building a custom Monkeemobile, and one thing I want to do is chop that ridiculously long front overhang back to more like the length of a '65 Riv.

(And I vote NO to a continental kit on your Villa. I don't think that anachronism would add a thing to the clean lines of this car. ).

[Misha]

Thanks Richard, I've been ruminating about that back end, not entirely happy with the direction. So now, with the new details available, it might be time to chop and dice ro come up with the actual rear end on the VR. It always helps to have a pair of fresh eyes! 

On the Monkeemobile a lot of the length is in the back, think I'd be looking there first to shorten it?

Cheers Misha

 

 

[Snake45]

On the Monkeemobile a lot of the length is in the back, think I'd be looking there first to shorten it?

Cheers Misha

 

 

Yup, planning to trim off a bunch of that overhang back there, too, back to stock-ish '66 GTO proportions.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Another dead thread I stumbled across...

Got to looking at the '65 Riv kit and the Barris custom, and digging through the net for build specifics on the real car...which I think is one of the best looking things Barris ever did.

The nose was lengthened about 6", and the tail about 5". That's only 6 and 5 millimetres respectively in 1/25 scale, so any more than that is going to wreck the proportions.

The nose droops a little too, and the fender tops are more crowned front-to-rear than stock.

Another major visual difference is the round wheel arches.

It's also kinda funny how so many folks say the first incarnation was cobbled together with chicken wire and a ton of bondo.

Period build photos show the work being done to what was then industry standard for a high-end custom...not Marcel DeLey quality coachbuilding for sure, but certainly not the horrible mess under the skins we're told repeatedly. The sheetmetal appears to be gas-welded, not brazed, which is still the way you do it if you know how to oxy-acetelyne weld and don't use Tig for whatever reason. 

                                                  

This is one smoking hot looking car...

And the car in white with the surfboard racks looks great too, is very nicely proportioned, and deserves an accurate model to be made...

                                                                    

 

[Casey]

[alan barton]

Nice photos Ace. The styling on that car was definitely one of his better efforts  but how do you reckon she would steer with those piecrust slicks on the front?  Ol' George, he never let function get in the way of bad looks! I recall there was also an Oakland AMBR winner with slicks on the front around that time also.

Cheers

Alan

[Ace-Garageguy]

5 hours ago, alan barton said:

...how do you reckon she would steer with those piecrust slicks on the front?       Ol' George, he never let function get in the way of bad looks! 

Good points.

The photo of the car in red certainly looks better (to me) with taller rubber that fills the wheel arches than the fade-painted version with lower aspect ratio tires.

I have found one of the more frustrating things to do, building models or real cars, has been to find exactly the right tires to get the overall look I want.

My guess is that ol' George's tire supplier only had the triple white stripes available on one size tire, so for simplicity he went with it...and I personally think the heavy tires on the front of the red version look too heavy too.

 

 

[Spex84]

I really dig the way those Rambler marker lights were used!  Now I'm trying to imagine what other cars they'd look good on.

[1930fordpickup]

On 7/30/2020 at 5:44 AM, alan barton said:

I recall there was also an Oakland AMBR winner with slicks on the front around that time also.

Cheers

Alan

Yes there was Alan. Wild Dream 

[1930fordpickup]

The side of the Villa Riviera looks like a 66 Cutlass to me.  

[larrygre]

Some pretty good video of the Villa Riviera can be found in an episode of The Outer Limits (original show) circa 1965.  The episode is entitled "The Duplicate Man."

Also featured in the episode is Barris' "Grecian" custom '47 Studebaker, mocked up as a futuristic police car.

 

Edited August 1, 2020 by larrygre

[Draggon]

I just this moment discovered that it had been painted blue at one point Here are a couple good stories on it. 

https://www.ckdeluxe.com/barris-villa-riviera/ 

https://kustomrama.com/wiki/George_Barris'_1963_Buick_Riviera_-_The_Villa_Riviera

[Ace-Garageguy]

^^^  Also apparent in the shot of the car in blue is why it benefits from the larger diameter tires (on the red incarnation) to visually offset the almost-too-much front and rear overhangs.

Proportion, line, and stance need to be paramount in every designer's mind...and unfortunately, the most we usually see is two out of three.

Sometimes, not even one...

                                           

 

[Joe Handley]

Wow, that looks way better in that blue with wire wheels than the Other iterations if it.

[250 Testa Rossa]

On 7/25/2020 at 7:23 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

Another dead thread I stumbled across...

Got to looking at the '65 Riv kit and the Barris custom, and digging through the net for build specifics on the real car...which I think is one of the best looking things Barris ever did.

The nose was lengthened about 6", and the tail about 5". That's only 6 and 5 millimetres respectively in 1/25 scale, so any more than that is going to wreck the proportions.

The nose droops a little too, and the fender tops are more crowned front-to-rear than stock.

Another major visual difference is the round wheel arches.

It's also kinda funny how so many folks say the first incarnation was cobbled together with chicken wire and a ton of bondo.

Period build photos show the work being done to what was then industry standard for a high-end custom...not Marcel DeLey quality coachbuilding for sure, but certainly not the horrible mess under the skins we're told repeatedly. The sheetmetal appears to be gas-welded, not brazed, which is still the way you do it if you know how to oxy-acetelyne weld and don't use Tig for whatever reason. 

                                                  

This is one smoking hot looking car...

And the car in white with the surfboard racks looks great too, is very nicely proportioned, and deserves an accurate model to be made...

                                                                    

 

When the nose and tail were lengthened, was it just the front fenders that were lengthened, or was it the entire nose? Also, was the entire rear of the car lengthened as well? 

[keyser]

Rear too. Second shot is rear fender fitting TL. I forget TL, maybe Chrysler? Someone knows here. Agree one o George’s best. Pearl white cool