ALL YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT HOW THE REATTA GOT ITS NAME

[NYBobP]

I received another e-mail from Ed Mertz, Buick's GM during the Reatta years. It's a response to asking Lynn Salata and Jay Qualman about how the name came about. This is really interesting and should put any other theories to rest.

Hi Ed and Jay –

About the Reatta naming process…

I’ve said many times that everyone involved with the Reatta program claims it as “their car”. You may have seen that yourself – so many connected to the project took a personal interest and invested him/herself personally! In some ways this is also true of the naming process. The answer to “Who named it?” can vary with the timeframe. Dave North could say he named it because the word Reata was submitted by him in the first place. Lloyd Reuss could take credit because he allowed Buick to put a name on it before PPG approval. And Don Hackworth could say he named it because he gave the final approval before production. Or Roger Smith could say he named it because it would never have come to be without his approval. And a long list of persons were involved at various stages in between.

I have been the individual most credited with naming the Reatta. Perhaps because of my position and responsibility at that precise time in the concept’s development, I did have the most influence over the naming process.

I had first proposed that a name be given the concept rather than just the GM 33 designation. This was a “sales ploy”, really – I had wanted the concept to feel “real” to those helping to develop the 2-place concept … and to corporate management when we returned once again for concept approval. Resources were very tight from the start. Our earlier concept had been given to Cadillac, and our work at developing another 2-place concept required moonlighting and stolen time for most. I wanted to stir up support and even “fervor” in those whose input was required. A first step was to design a specific GM33 logo – and, when resources couldn’t be allocated to that end, I asked my husband John (an artist) to design one for us. We put the logo on everything! And I saw how this logo seemed to make the program more concrete, credible, and “believable” to the organization – it helped to muster more time, attention, and focus for individuals whose input was needed for the concept development and each stage of divisional approval. A name, I realized, would take that a step further. And, concurrent with our divisional desire to have a full sized clay model to make our 2-place concept more “tangible”, I wanted a real name on that clay – to make the “GM33 concept” more “concrete”.

With that, Jay and I began pouring over names and asked many others for their input. I had met with Dave North, inviting Design Staff input – and he later gave me a list of about ten names – one was his suggestion of “Reata” (a variation of the Spanish word riata). After a long deliberation, I chose Reata as the best choice and explained to Jay what I liked about it: the letter “R” linking it to its “host vehicle” Riveria and to our successful Regal line… making it a good fit in our name lineup. Also Reata sounded “fresh”, “unique”, and “prestigious” – attributes we wanted to reflect for the vehicle itself. As Jay explains, we also considered the advantages of having a name that was unfamiliar and created specifically for the car.

I had Design Staff mock up the nameplate design; and I took that design along with 3 or 4 other names/designs to our research clinics to get the market’s input.

Later, I added the second “t” when some executives pronounced “Reata” just like the woman’s name “Rita”. The spelling, Reatta, was approved within Buick for our use on the clay model and within the PPG presentation I presented to Roger Smith for concept approval.

One thing to note is that my choice of “Reatta” was as a nameplate for the concept approval process. I was naming a concept at this point. -- That was the project at hand: to get corporate approval for our Buick 2-Passenger. If, instead, we had set out to name the final product, the naming process may well have taken a very different path. As it turned out, I was very pleased (but also a bit surprised) when Buick management chose to retain the name for the final vehicle – but that had not been my original purpose. Incidentally, long after Roger Smith approved our Reatta concept, there was an Engineering proposal suggesting we consider other names. In a lengthy discernment during a Planning Meeting, it was decided to keep the Reatta name as we proceeded toward production and marketing. I think that we had called the car “Reatta” for such a long time that nearly everyone was comfortable with its “fit”. (That also verified Jay’s premise and our research that a “car makes a name” not the other way around.)

Ed, you also asked about Mr. Sinatra’s comment regarding Scepter as an alternative name. – I don’t recall that being a serious consideration. Among the top contenders, the closest name to Scepter was Spectrum – it was one that we had researched initially along with Reata, and it was later used by Chevrolet. (As I recall, another top contender at the time was “Allegro” – but when the Cadillac 2-passenger was named Alante’, the “Allegro” name was quickly discarded. For concept approval, we needed to distance ourselves from the Cadillac offering – even in name.)

There is also a history we could trace of Reatta with and without an accent mark in the name – but that is another story! At the end, any consideration of carrying an accent over the name was also discarded when the Alante’ brandished one.

Now, about Reatta rhyming with Salata – Well, that was more happenstance than plan! After the nameplate was situated on our clay model, one of the clay-modelers teased that Reatta sounded like Salata. And as Jay mentioned, I have shared with Reatta audiences that I liked that! But it really hadn’t been a conscious reason for choosing it in the first place! Was it a subliminal force – who can say?!

–I’ll continue to reflect on the Reatta name history, and if other details surface once I’m home, I’ll let you know.

Lynn L. Salata

And so there you have it.

[Roadster90]

Thanks Bob

Copied, pasted, printed, and a wonderful added addition to my other Reatta memorabilia....

Nic

[Booreatta]

Great job Bob, now that you have Lynn as a good contact ask her about that Pewter Model. I would bet that she might have some information. Her memory of the name is great. Thanks

Chuck Kerls

Booreatta

[Barney Eaton]

This may be part of the history. I purchased two of these brass Reatta scripts off Ebay last year in a batch of other brass logo's for Cadillacs. I would like to believe they were early CNC parts that were made to go on prototype cars. They are 1/8 inch thick brass and have no bosses on the back for attachment. They are the same size as the production parts that appear on the cars.

I suspect they would have been sent out to be plated and attached to early Reattas.