JalopyBob

Jon, have you looked at the $1000 Reatta on Craigslist in Lombard? It is a decent car for the money.

CD's are getting to be almost as obsolete as cassettes and 8 tracks. An iPod is so easy to use in the Reatta, and no cables or installation needed. With wireless FM the iPod is the remote. Just don't leave it laying on the seat when you leave the car.

Congrats! I hope that you will enjoy the 91. What color is it?

There is a black 89 Reatta on the Chicago Craigslist for $1200. It looks like a decent car, with 139000 miles. Might be worth the trip for this car at this price. It couldn't hurt to look.

If you go to Reatta.net you can sign up to access and download the factory service manual for your Reatta. It will be in one of the electrical diagnosis sections. There is a lot of data there, and takes a while to download all of the individual sections, but is well worth the effort.

Mine are still black and the body color is Claret Red, a nice shade of burgundy, so they look fine with that color. If I had a lighter color paint I would want the mirrors to match the paint though.

When I was in the 8th grade, my dad bought a new 65-1/2 Skylark Gran Sport. I thought that it was the coolest car in the world except that it had that wall of lights in the back. I installed a J.C. Whitney aftermarket sequential kit in 1966, so it truly was the coolest car in the world. Dad traded the Gran Sport in on a new 68 Electra Limited. He said that it was to keep me alive and off the street in the Gran Sport. He had to take me to the dealer to retrieve my sequential kit. I put the kit on a well used 61 Impala, after changing the back up lights to tail lights. I think that when Spring comes around,that my 90 Reatta will become just as cool as the Gran Sport and the Impala were.

It is a nice color combo, same as mine. Unless it has a zillion miles it looks like a nice car for the money.

Greg, when you use the STS 1 sequencer on the Reatta, how many bulbs does it light up with each sequence?

Hopefully the GM board will get some sense and oust Rick Wagoner and replace him with a real "car guy".

OK since this old post has been revived. Current cars are... 1990 Buick Reatta 54000 miles 1968 Dodge Charger R/T 440 1962 Corvette 327/340 owned for 30 years.

This car has been way over restored. A car with the history that this one has should have been left as close to original as possible. I will not pick it apart here, but there are signs of a "hurry up job" with this restoration. It would have been much more interesting in its original state. The pushbutton shifter, rectangular steering wheel, luminescent gauge pods, and rocket ship tail lights sure are cool though.

It looks like a nice sunny day here, maybe one of the last good days to take the Reatta for a ride before the snow and salt season gets here.

For now it will be a weekend car, just for fun. This car has never seen Winter, and I will continue that tradition. In a few weeks it will take a nap until spring.

This morning I was reading the local paper while eating breakfast and saw the ad for a 1990 Reatta coupe with 54000 miles. So I called and the owner had bought it in 1991 and has kept it in beautiful condition. It is a dark burgundy color outside with the matching burgundy interior. I had previously looked at several Reatta's that were not kept up well, but this one was like looking at a really nice 3 year old used car. So I drove it home and so far like it very much. Tomorrow I will take a photo of it and see if I can figure out how to post it here. I really hope that this is a keeper.

Barney, are you aware that your 39 "Reatta" was the first car with the shifter on the column and the first car with turn signals? Yours looks like a beauty, but if it were mine, I would lose the spotlights and the sidemount. They are neat things to have, but break up the lines of the car and those front fenders will look great unadorned. 39 Buick coupes are one of my very favorite cars, I had mine from 72-95, and would love to find another. How about a nice pair of red Reatta power seats inside to match the red wheels on the outside? :-)

The highway maps available at no charge from each states welcome center are usually very reliable. They are easy to read and understand. Using GPS and or Nav just "dumbs you down" for your own real navigation skills. If a map is sitting on your car seat, no one will break in to get it. Try leaving that GPS in plain view.

Looking for a neutral leather drivers side front seat for the 50th Anniversary Olds 88. This is a 60/40 seat. The seat back broke at the recliner rods and no parts seem to be available. The car only has 64000 miles. Located near Chicago. Somebody has to have this seat. Will sell the car if I cant find the seat. Thanks.

How many smiles per gallon do these things get? Way cooler than the Visible V8 model that I built as a kid.

Dave@Moon stated that the profit to the manufacturer is never more than 1%. Dave look at it from this perspective. Why would you go through all of the trouble to manufacture any product for a profit of 1% or less when you could put your money in to CD's and earn 3 or 4 or 5 times more with no investment or effort? No business works on a 1% profit and survives, unless it is being subsidized from an outside source.

This engine should be red. It is more of a muted red. Not a bright red, and not orange red like a chevy. If you take a basic red model paint and mix a few drops of maroon or black in, that should get you close.

More info on this story was in the local newspaper this morning. Lattof accepted a GM buyout. In most cases if a dealer does not accept the buyout they are squeezed out of business by GM. With a corporate partner like this, who needs enemies. I am 57 years old and have owned 56 cars mostly Buicks and Corvette's. I am starting to look for my 57th, but right now I have had about a belly full of GM's antics. They may have lost a lifetime customer.

Well it has happened again. Yesterday Lattof Chevrolet in Arlington Heights IL announced to its employees that they will be closing in about 2 weeks and that the property will be sold. I bought my last new car there 2 years ago, and my son worked there as well. If you can not sell Chevrolets in Middle America and make a living, something is seriously wrong. This was a 3 generations of the same family dealer with 76 years of history. This was a good dealer. If we do not buy American, it wont be long before we are no longer American. How sad.

Within the last month we have witnessed the closing of Napleton Buick Cadillac Pontiac in Park Ridge IL, and just last week Joe Mitchell Buick in Mt. Prospect IL closed after a run of 96 years. GM killed Oldsmobile, and Buick and Pontiac are dying a slow ugly death. GM has killed the best engine that they have ever produced in the 3800. They are producing Buicks that nobody except the Chinese want to drive. There is a saying that desperate times call for desperate measures. How truly sad that Buick and GM just don't get it. There is also a time proven slogan attributed to J.L. Kraft founder of Kraft Foods. "You can't sell out of an empty wagon". Too bad his ghost cant come around and takeover Buick. Bring me a Buick version of the Chevy Volt, or a cool Riviera or Reatta. Bring me SOMETHING! Oh, and a place to buy it too.

I wish that I had a slide scanner. I have a slide of my son standing on the drivers seat of my 62 Corvette "steering" taken when he was about 2 years old. I let him drive it for the first time when he was 15. I let him drive it by himself with his girlfriend when he was 19. He is 22 now and does not know it yet, but the car will be his 25th birthday gift, with the stipulation that he keep it and pass it down to his son when he is 25. I would like to be around to see those pictures.