reattadudes

go to a nearby GM dealer, and find out where the local delco distributor is. they will have many radios available that will fit right in the space, and plug right in with your plugs. I just put in a delco AM/FM with CD in our '90 coupe for $175.

Barney, our '90 driftwood coupe has one of these "blank" portfolios, with the craftsmens' log blank. do you suppose these may have been replacements ordered thru the parts department to replace missing portfolios? Mike

all '90 and '91 models came with the zippered portfolio, which contained the items Jerry mentioned, including a reatta-monogrammed note pad, and a road atlas. we are sold out of portfolios, and have a 20+ person waiting list for them. these were barely $100 last year, and now command a four-figure price. it definitely shows the renewed interst in this fantastic car, and how owners want their car to be totally complete. Mike

Bill, we would recommend Franklin Pontiac/Buick in Franklin. they service quite a few Reattas, and we sell them many parts. Paul Evans, the parts manager, is our contact there. Mike, buickreattaparts.com

we have a '90, 58,000 mile convertible here that had an engine fire. can't tell where it started, or if it was fuel or electrical in nature. the original owner told me she went into a restaurant for lunch, and did'nt know anything was wrong until the fire department came in looking for her. the hood was destroyed by the fire department using a saw to cut it open, and the front fenders are a little warped as well. but the fire department's quick response saved the rest of the car, and now it is giving its parts to keep other Reattas on the road. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Mark, I have a sunroof headliner shell here. email me back at reattadudes@aol.com thanks, Mike

1990-1991 convertibles did indeed have headliners. however, they are not color-keyed. all are black.

just go to barrett-jackson.com, do a search on "auction results", and key in 1990 Buick. car number is 172.1.

your best bet for any ASC service is to find an ASC distributor, probably in Baton Rouge or New Orleans. someone is going to have the gasket you're looking for. they are probably under "sunroofs" or "auto accessories" in the auto section of the yellow pages. I've had great luck in the past with ASC distributors repairing impossible to repair roofs, including an '81 Cadillac with an aftermarket sunroof with the sunroof motor in the trunk! just a suggestion if your roof is leaking; over 90% of the time its the drain tubes that are plugged, especially the rear ones, which get clogged with debris because the roof does'nt open far enough to expose them. drop the headliner, and pull off the tubes, and blow them out with compressed air. the rear ones usually drain just in front of the rear wheels.

our '90 red/saddle convertible with 142K miles sold on thursday night at 9:02 PM MST at Barrett-Jackson for $9,750. it was a little late in the evening, and they were'nt many retail buyers left. a dealer from Atlanta purchased it for a client. the auction staff was rather disappointed it did'nt bring more, as they were expecting 12-15K. the sale runs on a bell curve, with the "cheapest" cars on thursday and sunday, the more expensive cars on friday and saturday. for us, its not really about profit, but about raising the values of Reattas to where they belong. its very much like comps on a house...when your neighbor sells his house for 50K more than you thought it was worth, your house value goes with it, too. we want to see the values on Reattas rise substantially as well. the values will not rise if the "comp" is not substantiated; there is no better place on earth to substantiate a comp than Barrett-Jackson. as the commentators noted last night on the Speed channel, Barrett-Jackson sets the baseline prices on collector vehicles for the world for the rest of the year. we did'nt realize until after the car sold, but Barrett-Jackson only accepts about 10% of the auction applications it receives. quite an honor to be in that 10% with fine automobile! one of the best benefits of the auction, far beyond the sale of the car, were the contacts we made with other Reatta owners, over 100 on thursday alone. people from everywhere, even someone from France who has a Reatta. (sorry Barney, I did'nt get his VIN number) we counted six Reattas in the VIP parking lot alone. we met someone from Toronto who has perhaps one of the strangest color combinations on a Reatta, a maui blue/SADDLE/SADDLE convertible! it was apparently used by GM Canada for car shows in Canada, and then was sold to a dealer in Toronto. the gentleman who we were speaking to acquired it from this dealer recently. we're not giving up; we just acquired a '90 maui blue convertible with a white top and white leather. it has never been titled or registered, being the personal car of the original dealer, with only 49K southern-California driven miles. we will be taking this one to the Barrett-Jackson auction in West Palm Beach in April. the auction will be April 11-13, and will definitely be broadcast on the Speed channel. if anyone would like to see photos of the car that sold at Barrett-Jackson, just go to our website at www.buickreattaparts.com, and click on Barrett-Jackson auction results. thanks, Mike

some of the SAE and metric bolt patterns do interchange, but I don't know if this is one of them. the biggest problem you would have, even if the bolt patterns were the same, would be the Camaro wheels would not have the reverse offset that front wheel drive cars have. in other words, they would stick out too far. with reverse offset, the majority of the wheel is on the back side of the hub, not in front.

I certainly would'nt talk you out of dressing up your car, but the quality of the aftermarket wheel opening trim is abysmal. take a look at any '90s Lincoln Town Car, and it will have this same trim...now, get up close and REALLY look at it. it never fits well, it is always off-color, and the supposed rubber "gaskets" are always falling off, as they don't fit well. made this mistake on a new '93 DeVille, and thankfully, they came off as easily as they went on! I think the term "stainless" has a vastly different meaning in the third world countries where this stuff is made.

AMEN...I'LL SECOND THAT EMOTION! <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

any delco repair center should be able to handle this. the mechanism inside needs replacing (I don't have a clue WHAT mechanism). cost is around $250. just got one back, and it works perfectly.

am having a problem with the light in the front turn signal position of the front turn signal assembly not coming on with the parking lights. all other front lights glow, except for the corner where the turn signal light is. pulled the bulbs, and they are of the high-intensity type, and are not dual filament. this is a problem on both the left and right front sides, and the turn signals both work when activated. any suggestions?

when a repair shop has a AAA recommendation, it is a highly coveted item. after all, is'nt that why you called them in the first place? any complaints to AAA about one of their recommended facilities are thoroughly investigated. I would go back to the repair shop for some straight answers, and if they are not willing to make things right, file a complaint with AAA.

retail on a new windshield is $2489. they completed the final run of new windshields about four months ago. we have new windshields available for much less than that, and also have used windshields available. your installation cost seems very high, as we get them done here in Phoenix for $40. email us at www.buickreattaparts.com

I'm not sure on the Reatta, but most cars have a "pre-cat" just behind where the exhaust pipes come together, behind the engine.

may be a bad catalytic converter. they rattle at idle when the labrynth inside has come loose, and the sound disappears when the engine speed increases. the easiest way to check it is to turn off the engine, and shake the pipe near the converter. if it is bad, it will rattle. be careful not to burn yourself!

just some thoughts on the subject...traditionally, cars that become collectible were never very desirable when they were new, and the Reatta would be in this group. most people did not go to a Buick dealer to look for a two-seat sports/luxury car, and Reattas usually sat around for a while before they were sold. this same thing also happened with other cars, like the Shelby Mustangs, which many times sat for so long, they were re-titled as the next year's model. I can still remember when the Shelbys were new (I'm that old), and can still hear people saying "its just a Mustang!" a lot more people now are bowing at the Shelby altar than when these cars were new! cars that will take much longer to become collectible would include all the cars that everyone told you "would be really collectible", like the Grand National, the '76 Eldorado convertible, or any Trans AM. it becomes very difficult for any car to increase in value when the are 2,000 others available that are "still in wrapper", and no miles. enter the lowly Reatta, with dirt-cheap parts prices, (an Allante hood is $4000-6000) and production of just over 21,000 units, and a bulletproof drivetrain. now that many cars some thought looked like the Reatta ( a Skyhawk with hidden headlights, Mercury Capri) are long gone to the boneyard in the sky, many more people are noticing the Reatta. not many days pass for me (and I'm sure most of you) that I don't get constant compliments on my Reatta. and these are'nt all from kids, but many times from people who are driving cars that are far more expensive that the Reatta ever was. getting back to value: a car is worth what it brings, and this is most apparent at a stellar collector-car auction, not e-bay. there are two Reattas that are in the process of being registered at the Barrett-Jackson auction, in Scottsdale, Arizona. the auction is January 15-19, and will be simucast on SPEEDVISION. for those of you not familiar with Barrett-Jackson, it is the pre-eminent collector-car auction in the world, with sales averaging over 87%. you might want to check with their web site, barrettjackson.com, within the next week to see exactly when the Reattas will be on the block, and watch the auction from the comfort of your living room. Mike

Greg, we have these available. email at www.buickreattaparts.com thanks, Mike

we will have genuine Zebrano wood dash/console/door panel kits available very soon. these are laser-cut, and will be self-adhesive for easy installation. will be available for both early (88/89) and late (90/91) models. 90/91 will be available for both factory CD-equipped and non-CD equipped models. Zebrano is the same wood used in the Seville STS and Eldorado ETC. will post on the forum when they are ready. the early model kits will be available first. price has not been determined yet, will probably be less than $300.

the Teves brake system was also used on the Pontiac 6000 STE, and the Chrysler TC, and others. they also had the same problems the Reatta has.

I was speaking last week with one of our Buick dealer accounts in Tennessee, and he was reading some Kruse auction results to me...2 '91 Reatta convetibles sold , one with 22K miles sold for $28,000, and another with 20K miles sold for $30,000. I firmly believe that exceptional Reatta convertibles with fairly low miles will be bringing original MSRP (around $37,500) within two years, and exceptional, low mileage coupes will have values in the $10,000-15,000 range. as to concerning the '91 convertible that was reported to be the last one sold on the retail level (I'm sure GM kept the last one, or it was sold to a GM executive) history has shown these are worth substantially more than others. one very large caveat here: there MUST be complete documentation from General Motors! I categorize "substantially" in the minimum of 50% more than another '91 convertible, possibly more. as far as values go, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. in our travels to purchase cars for our business, buickreattaparts.com, we make it a point to visit every Buick dealer we see in the given area we are in, and you would be quite surprised at how many dealer principals and even employees still own Reattas. I have personally seen ELEVEN brand-new Reattas, 3 coupes and eight convertibles, which dealers still have in their possession in their personal collections. please bear in mind, we have only visited 682 dealers, so one can only imagine how many "new" Reattas are really out there. I will not reveal, at the dealers' request, exactly where they are, but how much would one of these new Reattas be worth?? I just got off the phone a short time ago with R.L. Polk and Company, the preeminent authorities on auto statistical information. and we will be commissioning them to provide statistical data concerning exactly what the present vehicle population of the Reatta is. it will be for the U.S. and Canada, and will also be broken down by state and province. I will see if they can provide a breakdown for the '90-'91 model years for coupe/convertible registrations as well. this will only concern vehicles which are still presently registered, and unfortunately, will not include vehicles registered outside the U.S. and Canada. I believe the Reattas abroad probably number at least several hundred, judging from the amount of merchandise we ship to them. I will post the results here on the forum where we receive them. should make for some very interesting reading. Mike

easiest and simplest thing to do: check around auto paint supply stores in your area and see who makes spray cans. the problem with buying a pre-made spray can is that you run the risk of the paint being old in the can, and may not spray properly. this color has'nt been used on vehicles in a long time. expect to pay about $14.00 for a large custom-made spray can.