Moving Reatta prototype convertible

[Rawja]

Put me down for $100. Mailing it out with my RDiv renewal today.

[Kingsley]

Roger - thanks very much for your support of this project - it is certainly appreciated by everyone and a reflection of your respect for the Reatta automobile and the activities that accompany it.

[Kingsley]

Ronnie - thanks for your participation and suggestion involving the Reatta parts vendors in making contributions to this cause. So as a measure of my support from that perspective, my contribution has been increased by $100.

Any undertaking like this must have an element of mirth. To that end, I recall the joke about a diverse gender and nationality mixed group of mountain hikers who were viciously attacked by a male and female bear. The group was anguished and distraught and was trying to pinpoint precisely what happened. Finally, one of the survivors said "I think the Czech is in the male".

Ed - my second check is in the mail.

Should this post be offensive to anyone, express thyself and I will save the wheat and delete the chaff!

[Ronnie]

Kingsley, my meager donation pales in comparison to the time and money you have donated to this project. Thanks for everything you're doing to try and save this car. I hope the museum gives the car the attention and work it will need once it is in their hands. I hope it doesn't get sold off for cash as has been said sometimes happens to cars donated to museums.

[Kingsley]

Ronnie, thanks. I think the comments previously expressed by me in post 46 pretty well lay out principles that will preclude any actions to the contrary by the recipient. Any commitment that falls significantly short of what I have outlined will have a definite impact on everything and I, personally speaking, have little wiggle room on this. The Board make wish to make their comments on this also.

Also, if I have not sent my personal thanks to each Donor, I send my apologies and hope that it will be accepted.

I should also mention that, while my time can be limited on occasion, I am considerably more free than most folks and have greater opportunity read the Forum posts and to pound these keys! Sometimes to the point that even I get tired of myself. Somehow, lightness strikes again and even my wife does not like it!

Having said that, there is no lightness in my commitment and that of others in our approach to this project.

[Jim]

I fully concur with Ronnie on kudos to Kingsley for all he has done on this project and what is left to do.
I wanted to send my contribution in Kingsleys name for this reason and for others but also felt, like Ronnie pointed out, that ALL the vendors, not just myself and Marck, should contribute to this endeavor.

Thank you Kingsley and Barney and anyone else doing the leg work.

I would like to remind, this is not a solely Reatta division project and you do not have to be a member of the Reatta division to get involved. The shipping money is being handled by the Reatta division but preserving the car is for the good of all Reatta owners and those who like the Reatta. I will probably never get to see the car. I am envious of our California members who will be able to.

[DAVES89]

I sell parts [or should I say give parts] however I will donate $50.00 towards the cause. [Check is going out today].
How about all of us who have come on line and recieved FREE advice that save us $100.00s in repairs?
That should be worth SOMETHING...

[padgett]

Check is on way. IM'd Ed.

Heck if you need a place to put it I'll find one. Sure any of a number of others would do the same.

Think simplest answer to make roadable would be a hardtop. Allante maybe ?

Legal opinion would be advisable but know of several states where a title would be possible though a quit claim from GM would help.

[Booreatta]

I sell parts [or should I say give parts] however I will donate $50.00 towards the cause. [Check is going out today].
How about all of us who have come on line and recieved FREE advice that save us $100.00s in repairs?
That should be worth SOMETHING...

Dave you are 100% correct. The money that most members of the discussion group has saved must amount to a TON of bucks. What with Barney, Ronnie, Jim, Padgett and all of the parts vendors an awful lot of money is saved to keep our cars running. I know that Ronnie has challanged all parts vendors to send a check, but I will take it one step further. If you have used the free advise on the discussion, take the time to send a check. If everyone who has used this forum sends a check today we will reach our goal this weekend.
Lets all make it happen
Chuck Kerls

[farnelle]

As of 3/8/12 at 8:00PM EST I have received or had pledged a total of $1,238.00 from 18 donors. That puts us over half way. Great Job!!!!

Ed

[89Reatta]

Make that $1,338 total! Please put me down for $100. I have learned so much from the great members on this forum over the last 18 months to improve my car, to me this is a very small payback. I am not a member of the BCA so this is my small way of saying "thanks."

Cody

[Kingsley]

Roger McCrone (reattas.com), the fellow who purchased all of Speedway's parts inventory called to say that he is in for $200 and mailing a check today.

What is it now, $1538 or so?

[farnelle]

ARE WE THROUGH HERE? I have not had any new commitments for that past couple of days. At some point soon I will announce the end of the drive to solicit funds for this project so I do not have to be concerned about what to do with any excess funds. However, we are not there yet. There is time to jump in.

Ed

[Ronnie]

Aren't you closing the bank a little early? Maybe some folks haven't been in a hurry to get their donation in due to your previous statement quoted below. It lead me to believe it was a long term project. How much has been raised as of today, Saturday March 10th?

OK, the bank is officially open. I will collect all donations received over the next several weeks. All checks received to help move the prototype, will not be cashed until all arrangements have been finalized. I will post the total received on this thread once a week until we reach the $1,900 goal starting next Saturday March 10th.

[farnelle]

I did not say the bank was closed. I said "at some point soon" I would announce the end. The last sentence encouraged folks to help get us to the goal. Total pledges so far are $1,588 although I do not have all the money in hand.

[KDirk]

Ed,

I have my check for $60 going out today (finally - have been sidetracked all week) along with my RDiv renewal.

KDirk

[Booreatta]

I did not say the bank was closed. I said "at some point soon" I would announce the end. The last sentence encouraged folks to help get us to the goal. Total pledges so far are $1,588 although I do not have all the money in hand.

If I remember correctly there was also a motion on the table from Nancy Eaton for the RDiv to pay the bill to move the car. I dont know if the officers ever voted on that or not. The other few bucks might have to come from there. When you have time why dont you post the names of the folks who donated just dont post the amounts. the person that sent just a few bucks are as important who sent big checks.
Set a date and close the bank. That will set the deadline.
Ed thanks for taking care of this
Chuck Kerls
booreatta@cox.net

[tempest6cyl]

BJM, yes there are items on this car that make it unique, as a prototype, and even as a production car.

-Pull down motors, odd because there's no top, and they weren't added until 91.
-Odd shaped 3rd brake light.

While not mentioned in your post, the power pull downs were in the header on this car and not in the tonneau, correct ?
The CHMSL was off the Corvette at the time. Initially the whole housing was going to be used on the Reatta but it set 'on' the surface. Eventually styling won and a new housing that blended into the tonneau outer skin was developed.

[Barney Eaton]

Tempest........ without close inspection it is not obvious that this car had a different header.
Attached is a photo that Kingsley posted that is the best header shot. The header on this car looks different from production but I have not done a comparison.
Does not really matter because this car does not have a top.

I did notice it does not have a Reatta type radio, some of you may notice some other differences.

[padgett]

Interesting. Radio appears to be from an early 80's big Buick (think I've seen that model before) & something is going on at the top of the HVAC thingie that does not look rite. Console looks like for a CD which is not there.

[blue72beetle]

Is this the power pull down motor? I photographed this as it looks nothing like the storage compartment in my '90.

[tempest6cyl]

Barney, I agree that the placement of the pull downs doesn't matter for this cars function but, I am still curious where they were for refreshing my own memories and maybe adding to the groups general interest of the Reatta and it's development. Blue beetle mentioned that the car had pull downs yet, I don't see them in photos of the inside and outside of the tonneau, the eventual production location. That got me wondering what he had seen. One of the other shots from Kingsley's photobucket files shows the header receiver at a closer range which possibly shows a larger hole in the trim plate for clearance to the revolving receiver. ASC was developing power pull downs before the Reatta program showed up and was trying to sell them to any program that came in the door. Their existence on this car would tell me this car came from them and was not something Buick had made on their own. Plus, I think we did look at initially putting them in the header but the package caused the header to be larger than wanted. The other thing I noted in the pictures was the absence of the underbody rail caps. These were some of the first parts added in the program so I'm sure this car was not an engineering prototype. I'm still convinced that this was one of the showcars made by ASC for Buick and the autoshow circuit.

[tempest6cyl]

Is this the power pull down motor? I photographed this as it looks nothing like the storage compartment in my '90.

No. It reminds me of the decklid release solenoid. You couldn't tell if it was attached to the tonneau release could you ?

[KDirk]

The device in the photo posted just above (with the blue wiring hanging down) is definitely a solenoid. In fact, it rather looks like a fuel door release solenoid. Perhaps this part was re-purposed for prototyping on the 'vert?

And, the radio _could_ be a Cadillac or Buick base radio from an earlier model year, it does have the silver inlays on the two knobs. Cannot tell much detail from the picture that shows it. Are there any additional pictures available? I'm also wondering if this had a fully functional SIR (air bag) system. Obviously, the bag has been removed, but did they graft in the Sir module and sensors, or was this just for looks being that it was built from an 88 and the interior was swapped?

Very curious...

KDirk

[wws944]

The stereo is definitely looks like the base cassette unit from late '80s/early '90s big Buicks. Nothing special. The HVAC controller also looks normal.



Tempest: Do you happen to recall how many of these show cars were built?