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Historical article: Reatta, born in 1982


Cargirl

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I really love the fiberglass mock up. The roof line is much better than the production model and the front end is more aerodynamic as well. The thing I really liked about this article is it answers a question we have pondered on this forum, why didn't they have a convertible available in 1988. Now I finally know why  :)

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That one article does not tell the entire story....

The entire Reatta program was delayed by Cadillac because they did not want the Reatta to compete with their much higher priced Allante.   At one of the Reatta Div roundtables we were told the early development work was put into storage,

until Buick could get approval to proceed (so that the Reatta would be released AFTER the Allante.)    We were also told the convertible was not scheduled to release until the CRT dash was changed.....with the top down you could not see (read) the CRT.

Since the Reatta used the Riviera dash, they both had to make the change.

One interesting story was how the car was marketed......lots of hype, press, etc before it was released in 1988,  the Reatta had its own multi page brochure and because of the exposure and late start of production the 1988 model was on allotment to dealers.

But, after the initial fireworks, Buick virtually stopped promoting the Reatta.   We were told the marketing budget went to almost nothing, the Reatta was just a page or two in the Buick showroom brochure.

Also the early plan was for the car to be nicely equipped but it would have cloth interior and wire wheel hubcaps, I suspect ABS would have been an option but was not standard,  but at the last minute, everything changed and the car was loaded with equipment. 

There is evidence that several early cars were produced with cloth seats.....which were changed to leather if that car went out to the marketplace.    In the beginning, the 16 way seat was the only option.....the sunroof did not become an option until about half way thru the 4708 cars built.  

More trivia........the optional seat does not have 16 movements....."16 way seat" was a Riviera option and in some parts books called the "Hoover" seat.....it had a power headrest but the headrest part did not make it to the Reatta but marketing carried over the name.

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2 minutes ago, Barney Eaton said:

 

More trivia........the optional seat does not have 16 movements....."16 way seat" was a Riviera option and in some parts books called the "Hoover" seat.....it had a power headrest but the headrest part did not make it to the Reatta but marketing carried over the name.

 

The true 16 way seats I've seen in Rivieras have "wings" on the seat bottom bolsters that move those in and out. Not power headrests. Power head rests were more of a Cadillac thing. 

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4 minutes ago, Barney Eaton said:

From the good book of Buick parts  "E" car.

Item #2 appears to be a headrest motor.

hoover 1.jpg

hoover 2.jpg

It does appear that way, but I have seen at least 3 Rivieras with the wings. Maybe it was an 87 change? I'll have to dig my parts book out.

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I've been to a number of yards and while I have seen the wings in Rivs [and Trofeos] I have never seen motorized head rests. I have seen cloth 16 way seats in a Riv but they were Gray so I passed on them. They were in great shape but at the time I didn't have a use for them.

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Interesting to note that the power headrest motor and some related components of that portion of the seat have no part number assigned, and were officially listed in the book as "N.S.", or not serviced. So if it died, you were outta luck unless you could scavenge them from a salvage yard car. Rather strange to see that those were not serviceable parts. Must have been something to do with the vendor that provided them as a complete assembly and portions thereof were not supplied to GM SPO and thus not available to purchase. Would kind of suck if/when it broke and you couldn't fix the power headrest. 

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