Regalization

Congratulations on the purchase of your Sterling Silver Reatta convertible. Your Reatta's body plate will not look like the body plate photo above. By 1990, the body plate changed to a very simple flat plate with a stamped sequence of five numbers. The numbers do not match any part of your VIN. There is no other data on the plate. The plate is very difficult to find and view - it is directly behind the passenger-side headlight bucket. There is a representation of this simple plate on page 14 of the book: All 1988-1991 Buick Reatta Colors, Codes & Quantities. Considering that, in 1990, there were 769 Arctic White convertibles and 686 Bright Red convertibles, you have a quite rare Reatta convertible color: There were only 66 units of 13U Sterling Silver Metallic built in 1990. Frank Sinatra Jr owned a Gunmetal Gray 1990 Reatta convertible (VIN 3270). And he owned a Sterling Silver 1991 Reatta convertible - the last one built (VIN 0610). You're in good company.

Nice find, BGL. With the sunroof, that's a fairly rare color combination. (The VIN is actually LB906343) For 1990, there were only 530 units of RPO 41U Black Reatta coupes built. However, there were only 70 units built as Black with RPO 664 Saddle and the RPO CA1 Sunroof. There is a lot more information about Reattas in my book All 1988-1991 Buick Reatta Colors, Codes & Quantities. Best, Robert

(Hey, the new Forum! Looks good – thank you!) Well, I mentioned that I liked exterior paint color and interior color information. Allow me to bore you…. Buick records indicate that seven 1988 Reattas left Lansing with order code 14 Black Metallic paint (GM paint code WA8767).

Cool info. Now, Cargirl, is that GM car show on the 17th of this month in Van Nuys? If so, I can make it early for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, I’m moving and I’m taking possession of the keys that afternoon. Of course, everyone on the Reatta Forum is invited to help me move.

Barney Eaton is our man for the database. I have no intention of usurping anyone's work here. I like GM products. I have a soft spot not only for Reattas, but also Allantes, Corvettes, XLRs, and Camaros. I enjoy being a car enthusiast. I like passing on little tidbits of information. Some people might scoff at such triviality, but, to me, it makes the hobby interesting. It is a great hobby we have chosen. I am a rookie to this site, and accept my rookie status, but I do know quite a bit about late 1980s and early 1990s GM production, what codes they used, etc. My main interest is color - both exterior and interior colors, actually, anything with a glob of paint on it. I especially like the fantastic bright and bold exterior paint colors used in the late 1960s and early 1970s! We are in this together. I do not want the passage of time to erode the happy specifics of our chosen hobby. The more hidden information we dig up, the more satisfying it is to own our car.

I’m happy to help. (Nice photo of the wheel!)

I am excited to say that Cargirl (Brenda) here on this site has one of the convertibles! Cargirl has one of the convertibles with the Flame Red interior and the N60 white wheels. That’s a rare one, Brenda!

Thanks for the images of the "Sueded Pigskin Care Package" and the Buick letter. Very cool stuff. Primary source documents cannot be argued with! Robert

If this tan/suede is original, it is deep into production. The ad says it is a one owner car. http://www.mychoicemotors.com/1988_Buick_Reatta_Burbank_IL_251870434.veh#

From the Reatta.net database, there were seven early 1988 Reattas that were shipped to AGIP, USA, New York. All of those seven 1988 cars had VINs below VIN 0092. What was AGIP? Thoughts?

So the window sticker really was incorrect, as far as the order code is concerned - thanks for running Compnine, Tom! (I wonder how many were printed incorrectly?)

Thanks, Barney, I wish it was my car! But, no, it's one of two sample window stickers posted on reatta.net.

Not including the 1988 early pilot car cloth seats (18x, 19x), I am led to believe that the order codes for all Reatta seats were as follows (please correct me if I am wrong): 98x = optional 16-way power driver seat 99x = standard power seats (driver & passenger, both six-way) x = 1 for Blue, 3 for Gray, 6 for Saddle, etc. I have seen several window stickers that follow this code format. However, there is a 1990 window sticker (courtesy of Reatta.net) that seems to have an error: The sticker shows 996 as a 16-way seat. Shouldn’t it be 986? Was this an error? Or did codes change over the course of four production years? Does anyone know if this was a common error? (Please excuse my interest in trivial details!) Robert

Barney: I am close to Santa Monica - I'd be happy to help. Could she email me? Brenda: I'll try to make it! Best, Robert

Cargirl: Where and what day in May is that LA GM/Reatta show? Thanks!

Nice find Barney! I'm wondering if a Reatta towed that BBQ trailer to the event?