70's-80's Future collectible Buicks

[JohnD1956]

That's certainly collectible Brian. And Dan's car is too. Here's a few more in my area from some non BCA members:

[Barney Eaton]

Reatta.... you knew I would eventually have something to say.

I do not disagree with any of the other Buicks listed, I just want you to know the Reatta

The original post said "collectable Buicks". If the Reatta does not meet that criteria, what does. Sure they are fairly recent cars, but the 1988 will be eligable for collectable tags in most states in 3 years.

I am not trying to "sell" anyone a Reatta, I want you to have the facts, then make your own decision.

First it was a limited production car. Ed Mertz said Buick wanted the rest of the automotive world to know about the quality of car Buick could build. It was never advertised as a "sports car", if fact Buick avoided that designation.

To get corporate approval for the Reatta (it was delayed once because Cadillac did not want it to compete with the Allante) it had to have 70% Riviera content.

So counting every nut and bolt, the Reatta does share lots of Riviera components, which is a good thing when you are looking for parts. However, not a panel of glass or external sheet metal is shared. Buick literature says that all body panels below the glass line are double side galvanize metal, then the entire body is submerged in undercoat. Rarely will you see a rusty Reatta and then only on cars that have spent their last 20+ years in the rust belt.

Paint..the Lansing Craft Centre had it's own state of the art paint shop, supervised daily by PPG, Reattas have one of the best if not the best paint of any GM car during that period.

Production 1988= 4,708, 1989= 7,009, 1990 = coupe = 6,383 conv, 2,132, 1991 =coupe 1,214, convertible =305* (only 238 were sold)

That is 21,751 total Reattas built in 4 model years, Crosley built more Station wagons in 1948 than the total Reatta build.

Cost, the Reatta was the most expensive Buick each year it was produced.

The 1988 listed for $25,000 and the 1991 convertible was $36,565. There were only three extra cost options (1) 16 way seat $680 (2) sunroof $895 (roughly 15% of the coupes had sunroofs (3) single disk CD player (90-91 only) $395

The Reatta weighed more than a Park Avenue... the book on Oldsmobiles says that over 50% of Reattas were registered to women.

The last two seat Buick built until the Reatta may have been the 1940 business coupe, some literature calls it a 2 seater but the club coupe with the same front seat is listed as a 5 passanger. Depending on your opinion, the real two seater that proceeded the Reatta may have been in the teens.

Now is the time to pick up a Reatta at bargin basement prices. Even the convertibles can be had at very attractive prices. New BCA member Jerry Courlson just purchased a 1990 convertible from the original owner with 41K miles and the price was around $8,000. Another steal was a 1990 Select Sixty convertible purchase out of Cincinnati by a BCA member in Springfield MO, that car again purchased from the original owner with 30K for about $8,500.

These low mileage cars appear weekly, but go fast. Someday we will all look back and say "I should have bought that car"

[JohnD1956]

Reatta's are definitely collectible. Lots of interesting info in that post Barney. Thanks!

[buick5563]

I had to reread three years of posts just to make sure Barney wasn't crazy. It IS kind of nuts that nobody has brought up the Reatta.

My favorite thing about the Reatta is the hand pinstriping (sorry, I don't know enough about them to know which years that occured). Very nice touch.

[DAVES89]

The hand painted pinstripe was all 4 years.

The Reatta is actually 2 different cars. The '88/89 have the "touch screen" which is like a tv screen with "soft Keys" that you can touch to get different info from, much like the new cars today.

The '90/91 went away from that feature and went back to an anolog dash with no touch screen.

The select 60 cars and the '91 convertables are the most desirable, but I will take the '89 as it has the afore mentioned touch screen as well as remote keyless entry [not an option on the '88].

Then you add the sequential tail light kit [the Reatta tailight has 13 bulbs, 6 of which are used for brake/directional] purchased aftermarket and the cool factor goes waaay up!

[Guest Fred_S]

OK this subject will continue as the younger folks seem to love the 78-87 Regals. They are well designed cars and have a wide engine choice over the years (not to mention what else will fit). Low riders and such will just increase and these cars will survive.

1974 through 1993 gives you 4 Riviera styles - all interesting, the Regals I mentioned, ANY Reatta, a bunch of turbo V6 variants, and some really comfy large cars too. There will be some good interest in these years in the future. Pick what you want now before prices take off, I did.

[Guest wildcat465]

Future collectables?

Maybe to mainstream.

Probably not to Corvette, Mustang, MOPAR muscle, Camaro, Belly Button Collectors.

But there are obviously fans to just about every Buick made in the 70' and 80's. I see wonderful examples at every Buick event I attend.

These are now collectables.

[NTX5467]

ONE thing which Barney didn't mention was that the Reatta was the "most handmade vehicle" from a United States Manufacturer at that time. The individual cars glided on carriers from one workstation to another rather than down a dedicated assembly line--guided by in-floor cables. FEW USA vehicles have ever had so much care lavished upon them during assembly as the Reattas did--period.

Considering what it cost to do all of the high-tech assembly provisions in the Reatta Craft Center, the in-house PPG facility, and other things, if all of those "non-traditional" costs were expensed out of gross profits of Reattas, Buick and GM would have lost money on Reatta vehicle built. But if some of these costs were covered by vendors wanting to sell their new technology and used the Reatta Craft Center as their R&D facility as other costs were spread out for things like Cavalier/Sunbird convertibles and SSRs, that's the ONLY way they could sell Reattas for the reasonably-upscale price they did.

Personally, if I was going to look for one, it'd be one of the later models, with the "normal" instrument panel. I just liked that set-up much better than the "spacey" and innovative touch screen. For in-the-driver's seat diagnostics, though, the touch screen models are without equal! Something for everybody!

In considering the '70s-'80s Buicks, it's amazing just how really nice they were, inside. I never did learn the name of the various styles and colors of "wood" (on the inside OR on the outside of the wagons), but it looked really good. I didn't know of any decode for them, either! Add in the F41-style suspension package and a real Buick V-8 (for the full size models, rather than the common Olds 307) and you'll have a car that you can enjoy and will also make others say "This is a BUICK??? I don't guess I ever saw one of these!"

Just some thoughts,

NTX5467

[Guest Redwind89]

NTX. I agree with you I love my F41 suspension package in my Lesabre T-type. Add that with the interior in it too,just great. We know that the Regal t-types, Gran Nationals, Gran Sports, and other t-types in the coming years will be collectible to us Buick guys and that's all that matters. And yes the Reattas too, sorry Barney

[Barney Eaton]

I did not chime in on (other than Reattas) Buicks because I like a lot of them. I have owned 3 "T" type LeSabres and loved the cars, always wanted to find one with low mileage.

Think about a "T" type LeSabre with a 3800 supercharged engine and now we are talking about a keeper. I like the old cars but also like A/C in Texas, so if I were to buy something like a '57 it must have air. I like my '39 but it is no fun to drive in Texas heat.

Someone has probably already mentioned the late rear drive Roadmaster wagons, again a Buick you can drive in comfort.

[Matt Harwood]

I spent the last year and a half working for a collector car dealer, and we got an awful lot of Grand Nationals, which rarely stuck around for long when they were priced right (mid- to high-$20s). No question that the GNs, GNXs, and T-Types were collector items and continue to show steady appreciation.

The one that caught my eye, however, was a real sleeper: A 1986 Regal with a 3.8 turbo but not a GN or GNX or even a T-Type, but a regular luxury model. I called it "Darth Vader's grandmother's car." Maroon with a padded landau top and opera lights, puffy tan leather bench seat and column shift, chrome bumpers, not blacked out, and every single option you could throw at the car (the sticker was 2 pages long and the base price of $12,XXX ballooned to $21,XXX with options!). It had like 5600 miles on it from new and was really nicely preserved. Priced about $8K below a comparable GN that wasn't nearly as nice, it was a bargain in my eyes.

It turns out that they only built like 1200 of these vs. over 20,000 Grand Nationals. The only giveaway was the hood bulge with the 3.8 LITRE SFI TURBO badge and the dual exhaust, which was painted black, not polished--nice! If it were mine, I would put a set of steel wheels with wire wheelcovers on it, maybe a set of drag radials, and go out and break some Camaro and Mustang owners' hearts.

So put my vote up for the oddballs that GM was still building at the time--cars that shouldn't exist, but did if someone got creative with the order sheet. Rare is one thing, but rare AND cool is what makes a collector piece in the long run.

[buick5563]

Welcome back Matt.

[Guest Thomas Lord]

3 Jakes . . . the LeSabre T-Type 2-drs are pretty rare cars. Nothing really special about them other than they were what they were.

When we were at the BCA National Meet in Flint, in '88, the show field had some black LeSabre coupes that had been used as some sort of pace cars at Daytona. A run of about 100 or so (?), but they were not really special (other than documentation of what they'd been used for) with cloth, bench seats.

NTX5467

The above meet is something I would have been giddy to be in attendance. And in outright awe.

The black coupes you saw were what I suspect to have been 1986 LeSabre Grand National models. Buick produced just 117 examples to 'homogulate' the rear quarter window block off panel for use in NASCAR Winston Cup. they were produced in one continuous run in December 1985. The VIN sequence numbers are consecutive.

Having said all that, I realize you may have learned about the LeSabre GN in the three years since you made that post.

I myself am a huge fan of the 87-89 LeSabre T-types. I've owned two '88s and an '89.

~Tom

[Thriller]

Welcome back Matt.

Indeed!

[Guest stephenemirra]

I have had, and wish I had space to own again because they will soon be collectible Buick's: 1982 Buick Century Limited two door Coupe (82-85 were the same), 1986 Buick Park Avenue two door Coupe (85-86 were the same), 1989 Buick Riviera (last year of the CRT, first year of the new body style). Any of these three cars would be almost free to buy now ($2 to $5k), but restore and hold on for ten years or so while you enjoy it along the way and you will have a unique classic Buick.