I Might be Rejoining the Reatta Ranks

[ol' yeller]

Saturday I am going to look at a '90 Coupe. If it is anywhere close to the description, I'll be back among my Reatta brothers. I had a '90 Coupe a couple of years ago so I do know what to look out for. I ran a Carfax and found no issues there. I needed something to get around in that got better mileage than my V10 F250 and yet still has class. When I found this one it seemed like it was meant to be. I will run the brake test and check out the other big Reatta problem areas. The seller claims the A/C needs a charge but I am figuring there are other problems with it as they just don't lose a charge without a leak somewhere. I may have to knock off a couple bucks just in case. The only other problem he stated was a slow passenger window. I replaced the motor in my last Reatta so I know that drill. I also found the VIN number in the data base. If I do buy it, how do I update the info? If it all works out, I'll be sending in my membership dues again. I guess I'm kinda pumped. Thanks for listening.

[gr8scott]

Hope you rejoin the Reatta Brotherhood. To update the VIN data base, go to:

http://www.reatta.net/

and click on the E-mail link to Barney. Provide your data and Barney will do the rest.

[ol' yeller]

Well, now I'm pretty disappointed. The car was ridden hard and put away wet. I couldn't justify buying it so I guess I'll have to keep looking. They are pretty hard to find here in the Northwest. At least for a nice car at a good price. I bought my first out of Chicago. It seems they are pretty plentiful there, Ohio and Florida, all too far for me. Oh well.

[KDirk]

Ol' Yeller,

Sorry to hear about the disappointing condition of this car. I went through the same thing. I spent 9 months looking for a good clean coupe that wouldn't require massive work before I could actually enjoy it.

I had several false starts, and looked at a few that were either cheap but moderately to very rough, or grossly overpriced. At the time, one local Buick dealer had a 90 coupe that was maybe a 5 or 6 on the 10 scale priced at just under $10,000 with almost 100K on the clock. It also was not the color I was looking for.

Anyway, just when I was about to give up for a while, I found the one I bought advertised online. Only thing is, it was about 300 miles away. I along with my two brothers drove to the dealer, checked it out and drove it home the same day.

Yes, it still needed work to get it right (and I am still working on it as time and money are available) but it was worth the wait.

Obviously, patience and determination are key. I tend to lack the former which made my search that much more frustrating. You are right that there is a large concentration of Reattae in the midwest as well as in CA and FL. Seem to be a fair number in Canada as well from what I can tell.

I am in St. Louis, MO, so I was fairly close to a decent number of cars for sale if I was willing to look (and travel to pick up) in a 300-400 mile radius.

All I can say is good luck, and keep looking. That is the approach that finally put me in one.

KDirk

[ol' yeller]

I'll keep looking. Most of the ones I find have well over 150K on them which is too high for me. They also seem to all want over $6K for them. My first Reatta is for sale right now. It now has 110K on it which isn't too bad. He repainted it and it appears to be a decent job. The interior is getting pretty worn and the car was originally from the Chicago area. It did have some rust issues but I am sure the cosmetic ones were repaired prior to the repaint. It is the noncosmetic rust that has me worried. He is asking $6K for it but I feel that it is probably a $3-3.5K car so we are too far apart. I feel somewhat justified in my pricing as he has had the car for sale for well over a year now with no offers. It is burgandy in color. I would take just about any color except meybe white. I'd love to find a Maui Blue one.

[sweet6]

Ol yeller,

I sent you a PM.