1988 Reatta PPG Pace Car

[Barney Eaton]

I have had a front on picture of this cars for several years but no other information. Today an email informed me of an auction disposing of Champ Car property and guess what.... the Reatta will be auctioned.

Go to this site...

http://www.njgallivan.com/auction_detail.php?ID=383972&v=d#vDetail

near the top there is a link for photos.

Anyone know how to make the picture larger?

[Ronnie]

Let me know if you need more photos.

[Guest F14CRAZY]

Awful color, but NX2000 would dig the body kit (and so do I)

[jonlabree]

Yes, Where can we get one??

[D-a-n-i-e-l]

I like the body kit, but I really like the all chrome wheels

[Guest F14CRAZY]

I was thinking earlier when I was working, if it was by PPG, wouldn't be a really cool color like their color changing Mystic instead of this uninspiring coating?

[Ronnie]

My first impression when looking at it is that it is a Salt Flats racer. I guess the wheels look to me like the full moon hubcaps some of the Salt Flats racers once used.

I think I like the looks of the stock Reatta better.

[Richard S]

So what do these things tend to go for?

[Booreatta]

Barney I think that you should buy this car, and make sure you put it in the data base.

[Lucky91]

I wonder if it has a stock engine or maybe a supercharged? With it being a pace car and with the mods it has maybe they put in the supercharged engine they were monkeying with at that time. Notice the dual pipes coming out the rear.

Wishful thinking,

Mike

[Dales90]

Back in the late 70's, before the 78 turbo-charged engine hit the market place, one of my business aquaintances had a son who was a Buick engine designer or engineer, and I was allowed to guess that turbo-charging was on it's way.

It came up again when the Riv was a pace car for 83, and the requirement by the race commission was that the pace car had to be able to attain a certain very fast speed.

That meant dual turbo-chargers on the 83, and may mean supercharged on this baby. Yes, nice to dream.

[Guest imported_barra]

In 1977 or probably 1978 a Buick Regal was pace car at Indianapolis and the turbocharger was added to the V-6 so it would accelerate from 90 to 120 mph quickly coming out of the the first turn, allowing the race cars literally to get up to speed. It also introduced the attempts made to reduce the lag time between pushing on the accelerator and the car's responding to the input.

[Rawja]

If you like the wheels, they're from the Allante and STS of that vintage, though they weren't available in chrome back then.

[Lucky91]

OK, I guess I didn't scroll down enough. On the link Barney provided if you scroll down it gives a description of the vehicles and other items that are to be auctioned. It lists the Reatta as an '88 with a 3.8 LTR V6. Says nothing about a turbo charger but who knows. Again, one can only dream. What I did find interesting, and have placed a call to find out, that alot of the vehicles listed, including the Reatta, state that it has a "Fuel Cell." Are these vehicles running off of a "Fuel Cell?" If so what kind of fuel cell? Hydrogen? It sparked my curiosity enough to place a call to find out. I was told someone would get back to me with an answer. If they call back I'll let you know.

Mike

[Guest MauiWowee]

Mike, what they are talking about is a spill-proof tank, required on all race cars. It has nothing to do with alternate fuels.

fuel cells

[Lucky91]

Thanks Maui. Shows you how much I know about racing.

Mike

[Barney Eaton]

I sent a message to the auction company and ask about the engine. They said it was modified as described in the auction listing (a standard statement when they don't know what was done)

I also ask about it being street legal....

The cars are not presently titled and they are exploring that issue.

[Guest imported_barra]

Has any reserve price been posted?

[Lucky91]

I got a response from Matt Gallivan yesterday. Below was his response.

Mike,

The Reatta comes with a 3.8 3800 stock engine. The fuel cell is located in the truck with the fire suppression system. The engine is stock. As far as being street legal, every state has different ideas of what street legal. It has turn signals, headlights, brake lights, etc. as a normal car would. It has a VIN tag. At this time we can not say that it is titled or not, and whether it can be registered and plated or not. This may be a question for your local BMV. If you have any more questions feel free to e-mail me.

Matt Gallivan

Project Manager

317-698-8508

[Guest wayne2reattas]

Does anyone have a guess as to what they think it might sell for?

[Barney Eaton]

If I thought it would go for a bargin price, I would have my airline tickets to Indy now.

Being realistic, there will be racing fans there to get a piece of history, even if they don't know what a Reatta is.

I suspect the car will sell for more than a similar 1988 Reatta with only 12,000 miles.

There will also be speculators there that are also looking for a bargin so they can hype the car(s) and sell them at one of the high-powered auctions.

I would not be supprised if it goes for $20,000 (maybe more)

And we still don't know if it can be titled as a street legal car. At the very least, I'll bet the exhaust has been modified and the catalic converter removed. That would not past inspection in most states.

[Guest F14CRAZY]

This is Michigan, the motor capital of the world. We can do whatever we flippin want with our cars

[Guest TommyH]

You can ask for emissions exemption in most states, that I know of, for rare, and custom vehicles.

[Guest F14CRAZY]

Legal or not, a 3800 in good shape should pass emissions WITHOUT a functioning cat, but you'd still need to have one in place (they can't tell if it's hollowed out or not...)

[Guest Guyver280Z]

The headrests are installed backwards....

[Vincent Vega]

They are faster that way.

[Ronnie]

After wind tunnel testing Mickey Thompson found that his Ford Pinto funny car would have been more aerodynamic if he had turned the body around backwards. Could that be the case with the Reatta? If so the seats may be in backwards and they may have driven the car in reverse around the track. That would explain why some people were saying a rear wheel drive Reatta was made.

[Guest spyhunter2k]

I think the PPG car looks sweet, and is pretty much the look that I'm going for with my car--smoothed with no chrome on the bumbers.

[DTakas]

-----

Edited January 2, 2019 by DTakas (see edit history)

[Guest spyhunter2k]

Too many projects = none get done. Also, the custom front springs I have never quite brought it down to match the rear, and with over 200k on the odometer and it starting to smoke I started questioning how much more I would put into the car.

I've pretty much decided that I will have one more go with the custom spring company and have them make another set. I've just been too busy at work to remember to call them. One day you'll see an update out of the blue on both the lowering and bumper projects, just can't say how soon.

I can tell you one thing that would really light a fire under my backside to invest more time into the Reatta--someone publishing a nice, step-by-step guide for doing the Series II S/C swap complete with parts list. With the engine on borrowed time, I'd like to know that I can convert it to S/C when it finally kicks. I don't want to put another 165hp na in... I'm not enough of a mechanic to be able to struggle my way through it, especially since the Reatta is my daily driver. For that matter, a full write-up on a Northstar conversion would do wonders as well...

[Guest F14CRAZY]

I would love to do a 6 speed/Series II "how to" but my technical and engineering expertise is not perfect...there's a re things that others would question. Custom cutting of the body, parts, it's an awful mess. I would have to do it a few times with an "engineer" present to approve of my work. The best I can do is my project thread but its really just there to give others an idea of what they have to do, or at least some inspiration

[padgett]

Thoughts - if the people in the pace car wore helmets, the headrests in the stock position would have you looking at the horn button.

Second "The Reatta comes with a 3.8 3800 stock engine." this does not say that it is the same engine that was in the car when used as a pace car. Often that is a "special" engine the factory keeps and replaces with a stock engine when the car is sold.

[Barney Eaton]

The following are comments from Ed Mertz, Buick General Manager during that time. He attached comments from Randy.

I couldn't find anyone that remembered this specific vehicle. However, several remembered that PPG did one-off show/pace cars from time to time, so I expect the vehicle is legit. It is thought that probably PPG consulted with Design Staff on color choice, but that was about the extent of it.

The following is from Randy Wightman.

Ed

Hi Ed,

I don't remember this vehicle. I discussed it with Don Cantleberry and while he didn't remember the car either, he did remember that PPG supplied pace cars occasionally-particularly around Grand Prix time in Detroit- and did so without much involvement from the manufacturer.

Randy

----------------------------------------------------------

Until someone looks at the car, we will not know if the engine is stock or modified. I suspect at the very least, the catalytic converter has been removed and the exhaust improved. Otherwise, the stock Reatta would probably be able to run fast enough to pace the races.

[Barney Eaton]

This auction is today and I am going to be away from my computer. It will be interesting to see the selling price.

[Guest EDBSO]

$7,500 no title

[Barney Eaton]

Is there a link where they report all the sales?

$7,500 is a bargin price for a 12K car, but if you can't drive it, the price seems high.

How long will it take the buyer to work out a title deal and we will see it at a high dollar auction?

[Roadster90]

All the buyer has to do is go though the motions and apply for a mechanics or storage lien.....used to take about a month start to finish in Virginia.

[Autotrend]

These photos do this car no justice. The paint is gorgeous on this car and the interier is immaculate. This car also has the pace lights with it. This car also has a <span style="font-style: italic">kill switch, fire bottles, crowd control siren, <span style="font-weight: bold">racing fuel cell</span></span>. These cars obviously had no money spared on them.

This car was bought from someone who bought it at the auction and is now for sale, along with many other of the PPG Pace Cars. The number is (631) 957-3901. They have a few other of the pace cars as well.

[Autotrend]

The cars can also be titled. Already checked into.

[Tax Man]

I saw the picture of this pace car and i remembered this article I found on the internet. Just wondering if anyone else saw this or if anyone owns and drives this Reatta. I don't know how to post the picture but this is the address:

http://www.lesabret-type.com/TurboProto.html

p.s. I want one of those body kits too!