FWD Vehicles, Monte Carlo and Riviera

Question

Ok, my dad said Monte Carlo's and Rivieras have always been FWD. but i see youtube videos of rwd drive ones all over. does anybody know what years are which wheel drive?

Answer 1

Monte Carlo and Rivs were rear wheal from their inception to the mid to late 80's after that FWD.

Answer 2

Yes, 1988 was the last year for the rear wheel drive Monte Carlo (which had been rear wheel drive since its introduction as a 1970 model), and also the last year that it was a truly good looking car. Monte Carlo styling was at its pinnacle with the Monte Carlo SS from that era, but even the standard model's lines were crisp and clean and just very "right" in a way that makes the current and recent Montes look bulbous and ungainly by comparison.

Your father is to be forgiven for his confusion regarding the Riviera. Although 1979 was the first year for the front wheel drive Riviera, the model had shared its basic bodyshell with the front wheel drive Oldsmobile Toronado since 1966 and the front wheel drive Cadillac El Dorado since 1967.

Normally when a group of GM cars have the same sheet metal, you just assume the various GM divisions are selling the same vehicle, with Pontiac putting their grille and badge on one, Buick putting it's grille and emblems on another, and so on.

A Pontiac Firebird might have had an actual Pontiac motor back then, while Chevy's version, the Camaro, would come with a Chevrolet motor, but they were still essentially identical cars with nearly identical specs and technologies, made to seem distinct because their styling and trim levels were different.

So Buick did something kind of unusual, in that they took the basic FWD Toronado/El Dorado body-shell GM gave them, and stuck a RWD chassis under it. This meant they couldn't reap the cost saving benefits that would have come with sharing research and development, technologies, parts, and manufacturing processes with the Riviera's corporate cousins, so I'm sure the decision to equip the car with a whole different chassis was not a decision that Buick made lightly.

They did this, probably, out of respect for the mystique which surrounded their first-generation Riviera, which had been hailed as a styling masterpiece when it debuted in 1963. The Riviera had been regarded as quite sporty compared to other luxury models, and Buick would have risked diluting its image as a true driver's car if it had eliminated its RWD configuration.

By 1979, however, fuel economy was king, and the poor Riviera had spent most of the decade as an awkwardly styled cream puff, so there was really no downside to finally jumping on the FWD bandwagon.

PS: Regarding which years were RWD, if you want to get technical about it, there had actually been RWD Rivieras since 1949, but the name had always signified an optional, pilarless hardtop body style on an existing model. So, for example, you could get a Buick Roadmaster Riviera, Super Riviera, Century Riviera, or Buick Special Riviera, all of which were RWD. 1963 was the first year that "Riviera" became a unique car model, as opposed to a style of body offered on other models.