Introduction / Overview:
HouseOspeed’s 1965 Buick Riviera.
THE DEVIL’S DOLLHOUSE
The are basically two types of rides in this world. The ones you proudly bring home to mother, and then, of course, there’s the other kind -- the type you stealthily roll to the curb in with the engine killed and leave tucked in the shadows when you pick up your date.
The HouseOspeed-built 1965 Riviera falls squarely into the second camp. Once you’ve ridden in it, you’ll understand why.
Simply put, interior is swimmin’ in women. Vintage pin-up girls, to precise, the work of a man named Peter Drieben, whose sexy illustrations graced the covers of fifties stag magazines with titles like Whisper, Titter and Eyeful.
The stock headliner has given way to black angel hair, and grey glitter vinyl and orange piping on the seats to match the interior motif. The stitching is the handiwork of Fat Lucky’s Sean Johnstun, now the head upholstery guru at the Austin Speed Shop.
But lest you think that the pin-up girl interior is the entire story, let’s take a moment to touch on a few of the car’s other mods. The 401 nailhead was rebuilt to original specs, and fitted with period-correct Offenhauser accessories, Jet Hot coated stock exhaust manifolds and a throaty dual aluminized exhaust set-up with custom tips. Before returning to its rightful place bttween the front fenders, the Riviera’s rebuilt nailhead was color-matched to car’s colors and the spaghetti of factory wiring was cleaned up and tied down.
To keep tabs on the mechanicals, Mooneyes gauges were brought into the upper center console where the FM radio originally resided. Meanwhile, an upgraded sound system was buried beneath the seats and speakers strategically stashed throughout the interior.
A remore joystick now operates the entire system remotely.
To help the little ladies keep their cool, aVintage Air AC system was installed, and the car’s suspension was put closer to purgatory by way of an Air Ride suspension, originally installed by Gary Howard several years ago and since been thoroughly updated by John Henson of DB Rodz and Miniz.
. The car’s gunmetal grey metallic paint was laid on by Horace Joseph while a mixture of flames, scallops and freestyle pin-striping were laid down by the Frank Palmer (who else?).
Originally purchased in California, the Riviera surrendered the its original black and yellow California plates after the Day family’s relocation to Texas. Shortly after arriving inTexas, I stumbled upon a pair of vintage 65 Texas plates that were too good to pass up. The three numbers on the plate that caught my attention? “666”. It was these plates, in fact, that inspired the car’s nickname.
Today, the Devil’s Dollhouse can be found slinking around the streets of Austin, Texas when not rolling into car shows to help promote Cameron’s hot-rod related businesses, HouseOspeed.com and Hotrodshiftknob.com.
One can’t help but wonder if Cameron’s teenage sons will be borrowing his Riviera for their prom dates. If they do, one thing will be made infinitely clear. They had better remember to park it in the shadows.
