Homeless in Vancouver: Buick Riviera, a beautifully ugly American car

Before image editing software—before Photoshop and distortion filters like Warp and Ripple and Twirl—people used cars to change their images.

The above image was edited using the rear bumper of a 1970s-vintage Buick Riviera.

If looks could kill

This third-generation Buick Riviera, made between 1971 and 1973, is a very dramatic sight especially if you see it from the back, thanks to its remarkable “boat-tail”.

Personally, I think the front end is dull by comparison—not just to the back end but also compared to the front end styling of the first- and second-generation Rivieras.

Yet all the newer cars around it look timid beside the Riviera.

That’s probably because, unlike the Riviera and its contemporaries, all modern cars are designed, as much as possible, not to be killing machines.

This Riviera isn’t about coddling either pedestrians or cyclists—or the driver for that matter—he knew the risks. Other cars? Bring it on! This car says compromise is for sissies!

And calling the back end a “boat-tail”? This is an early 1970s Detroit luxury automobile; it’s 18 feet long and over six-and-a-half feet wide—over a foot longer than a Cadillac Escalade (though slightly lighter). It’s all boat—a luxury yacht in fact.

This car is arrogant, bold, and powerful—not to mention gluttonously wasteful; a perfect reflection of the United States before the OPEC oil embargo crisis of 1974.

I guess I admire its honesty.