Cheers or Jeers: 1981 Buick Riviera Diesel

Link: http://stcloud.craigslist.org/cto/3850146605.html

This is definitely a rare, collector car that has the potential to be restored the rest of the way and be worth over $10,000.00. It is in very good condition, runs great and has been owned by my grandfather for many years. It has an improved Goodrich 350 diesel engine in it with approximately 30,000 miles. The interior is near perfect with the exception of the headliner needing replacement. The pictures show there is very little rust on the entire car, it was always well taken care of and kept inside. The Leather on top is perfect. The Riviera also has a new alternator, new muffler and exhaust, new heater core, working air conditioning, power steering, power windows, seats, lights, factory radio, and airbag suspension.

Very cool, totally forgot they had built these.

A bit too much money for what it is and the condition... but not bad at about $1k cheaper.

Looks pretty beat and it is probably parked because that diesel engine broke down. There are very few 80s cars that I think are desirable. Aside from the high dollar rides, like the S-class, SL roadster or Ferrari F40, Porsche 959, etc, there wasn't much good going on that decade.

'80s SLs are built really cheap. One could do much better in product/investment. South of the 560, you are looking at 0-60 times around 12 seconds.

According to NADA, an '87 560SL, originally MSRP of $55K, is worth an average of $11K today. Frankly, you look the car over in person, and you won't think it's worth 1/2 that.

You want a good '80s car for collectibility/investment, get a Buick Grand National. GNX was 29K new, average retail today is 72K. That's one vehicle (and from the '80s too) that may have never averaged lower than it's MSRP, ever. Plus it'll blow a 560Sl into the weeds (on the straights & the curves).

I like this era Rivieras, never see them around anymore tho. I'd only look at a T-Type, tho.

There were only about 500 GNX's built though, that is a rare car. There are tons of SL's out there ranging from classic car to beater. Overall the 80s was a pretty weak car decade. Possibly the worst decade for cars, because the 50s and 60s had a lot of cool stuff, and even in the 70s, they still had muscle cars early on. In the 80s everything was boxy with lousy build quality and V8s had 150 hp.

Looks pretty beat and it is probably parked because that diesel engine broke down. There are very few 80s cars that I think are desirable. Aside from the high dollar rides, like the S-class, SL roadster or Ferrari F40, Porsche 959, etc, there wasn't much good going on that decade.

Actually, he implies, without using the proper terminology, that the diesel engine was replaced with the DX block model which was at the tail end of the diesel builds and used (still today) in replacements of earlier diesel 350s. The DX block engine has all the bugs worked out of them and are dead reliable.