Howard

Watch your email. I sent a number of photos to you.

Randy, I do like the convertible, but to be honest, if I got another Reatta, I think I would still opt for another 89. It will be a while before I will be able to get another "toy". However, if I decide to sell my 56 Mark II, I would have enough money to sink into a replacement for my good friend.

Jim, thanks for the heads up. My area was hit with Hurricane Ike and my home sustained some damage. Until I know what the insurance pays and does not pay, I'll be watching my pennies. Thanks again.

Well, after slightly more than ten years of ownership, I drove my Reatta, for the last time, on to the trailer of fellow forum member, Alex. As some of you may recall, for whatever the reason, the Reatta's engine bearings were shot and while at the repair shop, a hit and run driver smashed the driver's door. Frankly, I have stayed away from the forum since that time. However since my car did find a great new home with a fellow Texan who will make her road worthy again, I will be dropping by the forum from time to time to check things out. Someday I hope to own another 89, but for the time being I'm just going to offer whatever little bit of knowledge I have to other current and future Reatta owners.

Alex. Wow that was fast!!!!!!! The Silver Reatta pictured is my old friend of ten years. Alex just picked up the car from me yesterday. I'm glad to see he is already trying to get the car back on the road. I'm pleased that the car went to another Reatta fan and fellow forum member. I've always said everyone on this forum are a great bunch of folks and it was a pleasure to meet Alex yesterday. Best of luck with the car that was my favorite vehicle I've ever owned.

In response to some of the comments: Robert, thanks for the link to the 89. I already had already viewed the car. It appears great. I'm not too keen on the Dodge wheels or the painted Buick lettering, but the owner says he has the correct wheels. His price, for such a nice, low mileage car seems in reason. Of course, it's many, many, many miles away from me. Until my insurance company gives me an idea as to what they are going to do, I just have to wait. When I purchased my 89 in 98, I had, in addition to my regular job, two part time jobs. I had much more money to play with than I do now. The insurance settlement is key as to what I can do. My insurance company has already asked a number of questions as to the nature of the accident and who owns the shop. An adjuster has yet to see my car however. I'm sure they will be looking into whatever avenue as to not have to pay the claim themselves. The owner offered no insurance information. He only said he was sorry and that was about it. If fact, he seems somewhat POed when I asked to use the phone to report the accident. Needless to say, I asked that my car be put back together, which they did, and I drove it home. It is now safely in my garage. Actually, I more angry at the driver who hit the car and drove off. The Reatta is a pretty hefty car. I hope whatever the SOB was driving is torn up! My guess is that the fool did not have any insurance, or money for that matter. Texas requires everyone to have insurance, but I would say many people don't have any coverage in force. I do plan to save my shop manual and owner's portfolio. The floormats, the passenger side still looks pristine. The drivers side is starting to show some ware as you would expect a 155,000 mile car to have. I know I'm going to have to fight the insurance company regardless of which one I have to deal with, so Tom thanks for the heads up on your ad.

I'm very sad to say that my beloved Reatta, which I've owed for almost 10 years, is now "toast". To say I'm sick about it, is an understatement. For those of you who have followed my posts, you may recall that I've had a number of issues with my car for the last three years. The most recent has been a sudden and unexplained loss of fuel mileage. The mileage was so poor, that I had not driven the car since February. Tuesday, I happen to run into the owner of a shop who had fixed my car in the past. I had trust in him, because he was able to solve a problem in a few hours, that another shop was not able to fix in six months! I told him the car was having issues and he told me to drop it by his shop. He said he not charge me just to look at it. I dropped the car by his shop. Actually, it is a mile away from my home. He said he would call me. The next day, he called and told me he had something to show me. When I arrived, my car was on the lift, with it oil pan off. There were metal shavings all in the oil pan. In looking up at the engine, I could see tiny pieces of metal hanging off one of the crank bearings. Frankly, the car had been making a noise. But I thought the noise was being caused by an exhaust pipe hanger that had broken a few months ago. Now that I hear the noise, I can now tell it has been coming out of the engine the whole time! As to why the failure happened, I have no idea. I was quoted a price of $4300 for a rebuilt engine with a 3/36 warranty. I almost dropped to the floor at that figure. I told him there was no way I could afford that at this time. He said he would get back with me with a price of a used engine. He said, the price should be about half that cost. If you think the story is bad now, just wait! The next day he called me and told me to sit down. I thought at that point, the price of the used engine was much higher than he had told me. Boy was I wrong. He stated that my car had been parked on his lot. A car turned the corner at high speed, skidded on to his lot, hit my Reatta and drove off. Of course no one was able to provide any information about the moron who hit my car!!!!! The driver's door is now caved in, plus the drivers window is busted out. The glass having scuffed the leather on the driver's seat. The door will not open, so I can't tell how much if any damage has been done to the inner door area. If there is any good news to this story is that over the years I have always had full coverage insurance. I would guess the car will be totaled out. I would have never guess my car would have ended like this. I really don't expect to get enough money out of the deal to replace my car with another Reatta. Very sad. I have written Jim Finn about an engine and door just in case I want to fix the car. At this time I want to thank Ronnie, who was trying to help me solve my fuel problem via PM's. Larry, thank you so much for the injectors you sent to me a few months ago. You did not have to do that. To all of you guys that have helped me over the years, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Shortly, it appears I will no longer be a Reatta owner. I will check back on the forum from time to time. Again thanks to everyone.

Like Vincent mentioned, that must have been a Buick dealer option. The picture represents the second Reatta I've seen with that rack. The first one I saw, was in Houston, Texas several years ago. The car was not in the best of condition which made the rack look even worse.

Bobby: There could be other factors at work than just a bad coil pack and ICM. By the way did you replace the coil pack? Some other items to inspect, the spark plug wires and plugs. If they look old and otherwise worn, replace them. It's not too pricey and half of the plugs are easy to do. The other half next to the firewall, get ready to cuss. It can never hurt to have a fresh set of plugs. Other problems could be sensor issues, bad or dirty injectors. The list goes on. Check the plug wires and plugs first.

Just a little more info. The ICM is indeed below the coil pack. However, while the coil pack and the ICM are two different components, the two are connected together by a number of wires. These wires can be seen when the two parts are separated. Just note where each wire goes before removing the connections. As an aside. If you are replacing the ICM, I would go ahead and replace the coil pack as well.

Here is the link to the first part of the article. There were several others done on this topic around the same time. http://forums.aaca.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=3&Number=135972&Searchpage=1&Main=33982&Words=automobile+quarterly+Howard&topic=0&Search=true#Post135972

I think the article you are refering to is in Automobile Quarterly Vol 28 No 2. The article has two pictures posted of a FWD turbocharged prototype and a 245hp RWD that states it was derived from the Regal Grand National. The article does mention supercharging, but does not state the any Reatta prototypes were built. Several years ago, myself and another member transcribed the entire AQ article. I have not tried to find it through search, but by searching my posts (Howard) and go back several years, you might come across it.

I live in Texas. I've been driving since 1968. No accidents or tickets, ever. There are three cars on my policy. 2006 Toyota Solara Convertible, 1989 Reatta, and a 1956 Continental Mark II. The Toyota and the Buick are fully covered, the Mark has liability only. I pay $1156.00 per year.

Welcome. One of the great things about the Reatta is its interior size. Most people who get in my car for the first time comment on how big the interior is. The trunk is no mini either, considering the overall size of the car.

Welcome aboard! I suppose you have had your battery checked for dead cells. Many times a battery will appear OK till a load is put on it, such as starting. The clicking you hear is the starter relay. That clicking sound is a classic sound of a failing battery. However, our Reattas are not simple cars, so other issues can be at play. First, be sure to check that the battery terminals are clean and very tight. Even a slight dirty or loose connection can cause the problems your are having. Make sure the battery cables are in good condition. If in doubt, replace them. They don't cost that much and by replacing them, it's one less thing to have to worry about in the future. Also, on the inner top of the right fender there is a black box that was wires going to and from it. Those black boxes are ground connections. Open the boxes up and make sure the connection is tight and clean. Others may have some ideas, but it really sounds like to me there is a battery or ground issue. Keep us informed. Again, welcome.

I have a feeling that the leak is coming from the windshield. I would remove the black molding that is at the bottom of the windshield. I think it is just attached by screws. Check to see if anything looks amiss at the bottom of the glass. I would check in the bottom corner of the glass. Water may be entering the car from that source. Just a thought.

Welcome. Nice looking Reatta. The headlights are a common problem and can be repaired using a kit from Barney Eaton. The first headlight repair will take you a while to do. The second, will go much faster since you learned all the in and outs on the first one. A bunch of great people here to help you solve problems and answer question. You will enjoy your new Reatta!

I purchased my Reatta in Aug of 1998. The car had just turned over to 80,000. The ICM was already leaking a green goo. I replaced both the coil pack and the ICM. The harmonic balancer started falling apart at about 150,000. That was replaced. The CPS sensor failed later in the day when I brought the car home. The CPS was replaced, only to fail again two weeks later. Both the harmonic balancer and CPS were replaced yet again to correct the problem.

No thanks on the IBM , I still have my 1967 Smith Corona Electra 210! I use it from time to time, still works great. It took me through high school and college. I've used it so much that some of the paint is worn in places. I did master the slide rule too. If someone put a gun to my head today, I don't think I could remember just how it works.

I've watched this thread with interest. I'm one of the senior members here, both in age (more than a half century) and membership, going on nine years. Frankly, I've not noticed a change in tone at all. I have, for the most part, always found everyone here very helpful. While I enjoy Reatta's, I like cars in general, and as such, belong to other automotive forums. The Reatta forum hands down is the best that I've seen! Not only in helpfulness, but in general good will. To be honest, in all the years I've been a member here, there has been only one person that really rubbed me the wrong way. I've not seen this member post in a very long time, so I'm with hope he moved on to other forums. As pointed out in one of the above posts, the forum becomes a little social at times. I for one don't see a problem with that as long as the Reatta mission is not lost. I see nothing wrong with wishing a member Happy Birthday or to issue a holiday greeting from time to time. I remember some years ago, my mom passed away and within hours of her death, my aunt died too. Our good friend to the North, Robert, took time out to offer his sympathy as did others on the forum. Something that made me feel a little better and I shall never forget their kind gesture. One member even sent me some fuel injectors trying to help solve a problem I was having. He would not take any money! Now that's social. As to the spelling issues. It's possible that some of the errors are not spelling problems, but typing mistakes. I learned to type in Junior High on a non electric Underwood! Yes boys and girls computers have not always been around. Later in the school year, we got 10 IBM Selectrics, the one with the ball, A and B students got to have first shot at them. Yep, I got to use one of the IBMs. However, many people just don't know how to type or do so poorly. While misspelled words may be harder to make out, they don't bother me a lot. What does, is incomplete information. An example, "My speedometer does not work, what's wrong". Well, what model is the Reatta in question? Just what is the speedometer doing or not doing? It's hard to help someone without all the facts. Also, I'm not phased by the some question being asked over and over. If I had a dollar for each question about dash lights on an 89, I could retire. Yes, there is a search function, but new members may not know about it. Or, they may have looked at it and found it confusing. In summary, the Reatta forum is one of the best I've found. Great people with huge amounts of information. Lets hope our little corner of the web stays like this for a long time.

Ronnie, you did a great job designing your site. I really saw no reason why anyone would have objected to it since it was Reatta related. I thought it was a great service,

Do the power window and mirror controls light up? If so, thats good news. That means that the inverter that powers the transmission selector, window control and mirror is functional. The wire that handles the power to all those items, if I recall, is a thin white one. All the connections need to be tight and clean among them. If there is some interruption in the circuit, none of those things will light, much like the Christmas Tree lights of yore. The transmission selector is a common failed part. Very easy to replace. Jim Finn may have a working unit. If the inverter is bad, I'm sure Jim could find one of those for you too.

Being a Mac person, I was able to get the site on Safari, but none of the links seem to work, like for Photos, Forum ect.

Welcome aboard! The best part about owning a Reatta is that no one else has one. Rarely will you see another. I don't know about you, but having something no one else has, always makes me feel good. There are a great bunch of folks here to help you with your car when the need arises. As an aside, I have ties older than you LOL!!!!

As Jim pointed out in the above posts, dealer auctions will not touch a car with a salvage title. The same is true for a dealership. I know, I worked at them for almost 25 years. If you plan to buy this car, make sure that this is the car you want to own for a very long time. Understand when it comes time to sell it, you will have more trouble doing so than a car with a "good" title. I would also check with your insurance company. If you plan to have the car insured for anything other than your state's needed coverage, be sure your insurance company will underwrite the additional coverage. Insurance companies as a rule will not insure a car with comp/collision that has a salvage title. I have heard of some instances that they will not provide any coverage. Before handing over the money, make sure you can get your new purchase insured.