The 'Riviera' name first appeared on a top of the range Buick in 1949. Buick, along with Cadillac and Oldsmobile introduced a new hardtop style 2-door body which looked like a convertible with the roof up, but the roof was not convertible (British cars already had 'Fixed Head Coupe' styles). The 1949 Buick Roadmaster Riviera Coupe was the start of this badge for Buick. Buick introduced a 2-door hardtop body in 1951 on all its models which was entitled 'Riviera', and from 1955 a new 4-door pillarless coupe model was also given the 'Riviera' badge. Confusingly Buick also had Riviera 4-door sedan options from 1951 to 1953. The 'Riviera' badge declined in use from 1959 to 1963, restricted to a single top of the range six-window Buick coupe which shared its body with Cadillac. However, at the 1962 Auto Show Buick decided to launch a brand new model to compete against the Ford Thunderbird and this was given the badge 'Buick Riviera'.