Tuesday, February 5, 2008

1966 Riviera / Toronado

Here's an interesting mock-up showing a 1966 Riviera passenger side and Toronado driver side. I will paste the description given for this.......This photo shows GM's "Body Development" studio in 1963. The gentleman immediately to the right of the vertical angle (post) in the center of the photo is Paul Gillan, head of Advanced Studios, to his right the other gentleman in the suit is Joe Shamanski, boss of the Body Development Studio. None of the other men are designers, they are technical stylists, engineers, and related support staff. Several are from Fisher Body, a division of GM at that time that built all of the cars from the firewall rearward. Each division (Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac) built everything from there forward, including the engines and drive trains. The Toronado (driver's half of the full size clay model) was GM's first front wheel drive automobile although it shared body components with the Buick Riviera, which remained rear wheel drive.... It was discussed for a while about the Riviera being front-drive but was rejected.

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