Holiday Musings… 1971 Pierce-Arrow

Back in the early Sixties GM’s VP of Design, Bill Mitchell modified the new for 1963 Buick Riviera to create a show car called the Silver Arrow.

Buick Riviera Silver Arrow I (1963)

He did it again in the early Seventies based on the 1971-3 Riviera, now called the Silver Arrow III.

Buick Riviera Silver Arrow III (1972)

Particularly with the latter, the name, color and fastback design suggest that Mitchell had Pierce-Arrow’s Silver Arrow show car in mind. Which got me thinking… what might a Pierce-Arrow revived by GM have looked like, and why might GM have undertaken such a project?

On the question of why, there was arguably precedence in the early Seventies, Stutz having been reborn as a heavily modified Pontiac Grand Prix and personal coupes were all the rage. In Dearborn, the Lincoln Continental Mark series had been reborn in 1969 using the body shell of the Thunderbird, to great success.

Of course, Cadillac had Eldorado but I wonder if Mitchell thought there was room for something else, a genuine style leader. Not that he was actually thinking of resurrecting Pierce – we may never know – but he certainly envisioned a special car in a rarified space, and Riviera was how he communicated his thoughts. Which directs us to the question of what. Like the T-Bird/Mark sharing scheme, borrowing heavily from the new boat-tail Riviera could have allowed a wonderful Pierce to materialize with minimal investment, with good payback coming from high pricing even at low volumes.

Here are a few image work-ups suggesting one approach to differentiation with Riv. Up front the only changes needed might have been with the fascia and gill. At the rear, a smaller backlight together with fender skirts would have closed in the body, improving surface flow and lending an air of privacy and richness. For the deck, rear bumper and tail lights the ’73 Riviera had a different design than the ’71-72 and could have easily served as Riviera’s design for all three years, Pierce using the ’71-72 Riviera design exclusively.

Inside, Pierce could have carried the highest possible level of craftsmanship that GM could produce in volume, retaining Riv’s I/P structure and shape but offering its own instrumentation and materials, exquisitely executed.

Would the car have taken sales from Cadillac? Probably minimally given its wild design and high price. As to what dealer base it would have used… perhaps Oldsmobile?