The Enigma Of The Buick Reatta

[doity]

I drive 300 plus miles daily on my job. I have been doing this for 7 or 8 years now, and I have seen a total of 1 Buick Reatta(s) during that time. At the same time I can look on craigslist at any given time and there are always 3 or more Reatta's for sale. How can this be explained?

I know in my case I only drive mine during the warm months as I have another car and I use my work vehicle to go between work and home. But you would think that I would see a few being on the highway so much. Does anyone else experience this? Are they all sitting in a garage or driveway somewhere?

[handmedownreatta]

some people have stored them thinking they would go up in value.since they never did now they are trying to get rid of them because of other bills.other people never drive them because they are expensive to fix.

[NCReatta]

Or they think they're expensive to fix. When, in fact, if you know the right people, they're not hard, and not too expensive to fix.

I used to see quite a few around. but it seems, since I bought my '89, it's like they all went into hiding.

[matthewlawe]

Just because you don't 'em doesn't mean they're not out there....

My drive from California to Florida 12 years ago I saw perhaps a

half dozen. I take 4 or 5 driving trips each summer(driving the

back roads and visiting the small towns east of the Mississippi

and have always seen 1 or 2. In this area, New Smyrna Beach,

at my last count, are about 10 or 11 which I see periodically.

Strangely, I did not see one Reatta on my driving trip to California

and back just recently.

Just last week I saw an '89 Red/Tan parked along the Halifax

river with a for sale sign on it.

[padgett]

Guess it just depends. Agree fewer are daily drivers like mine any more, doesn't mean they are not out there just that they do not have the same driving patterns you do.

Repair is not difficult, just different. I do my own work for two reasons:

1) do not trust anyone else

2) takes too much time to go elsewhere (why I change my own oil).

True, other than simple stuff in millions of other BOPs, most parts are north of a century now and some (ABS sensors) are getting harder to find. But no-one has been motivated (yet) to find substitutes.

Orlando metro has about a million people and I have seen four other Reattas, often ones that are for sale. Several times have helped people get them on the road again. Usually something simple. True I rarely see another on the road but that is part of the appeal.

Here the usual non-drive issue is that the a/c is broken, unless you have a 'vert or roof vent, the air circulation is not great and does tend to get warm here (100 days of summer are now past and in the other 265 glorious days now).

Right now they are still just cars to most people. Four on the local CL are mostly parts cars they want too much money for, one with multiple advts.

[Reattatude]

There are a lot of Reatta out on the roads - I didnt see hardly any for a long time and then a whole lot of them. The odds of seeing them regularly are fairly slim but it depends on where you live and the time of year.

[Guest gotitright]

In my small area, I regularly see 1 or 2 at least monthly. 1 is a 90 'vert, nice, the other is a black?, ratty.

[johnemac]

Lets see...there are three red ones including mine, a claret, a black , and my blue in my town fifty miles north of KC. There is also a brain cancer cluster associated with the town.

[KDirk]

It is funny, there are at least 4 I know of in relative close proximity to where I live, say inside a 8 mile radius. I seldom see any of them on the road, but just last week a blue 89 drove right up the street where I live right about dusk, recognized the tail lamp easily from probably 100 feet away.

I have to think that many of these cars are kept off the road in poor weather, or are brought out on "special" occasions. I do drive my 91 somewhat routinely, but with two cars I try to split the time between them. Even then, I don't put that many miles on either car since I live close to work, and drive a company vehicle during work hours.

Only once have I been driving side by side with another Reatta, happened completely by chance. I wish that would happen a bit more often, I like to see them on the road still.

KDirk

[handmedownreatta]

ive only seen two since i got mine.

[wws944]

Since I've been paying attention, august 2009, I have seen exactly two on the road. One is Kits car, and the other was one parked in a parking lot. And this is Silicon Valley - where one sees lots of nice cars. (Should note a few that have made their way to the local Pick N Pulls too.)

The guys in the local BCA chapter seem to know very little about them. But they did tell me about someone up in Marin who at one time had over a dozen. They think he passed away, so the collection has probably been broken up.

[Guest steveskyhawk]

I see 5 in the wrecking yard for every one I see on the street.

[jonlabree]

Boy, They must be junking them in California like crazy...

Why, Weather bad?

[Guest squiretom]

there is a 90 vert in my subdivision , an 88 that visits my mechanic , one for sale at clermont ford another at a dealer in mascotte with 250 k miles that runs sweet, a maui blue in the villages and of course mine

go figure

[Guest Richard D]

When I was looking for mine,Feb- April 2009 all the ones in the S.Florida Craigs List were in bad shape. It ran but now all it needs is a fuel pump was a common alleged problem, along with AC compressors missing and blank IPCs, a lot of body rash. I found this one in Sarasota.

[Guest steveskyhawk]

Boy, They must be junking them in California like crazy...

Why, Weather bad?

__________________

The weather here was beautiful here today. Found a complete 91 in a yard today. It was that maroon color with tan interior. The only thing wrong with it was severe UV damage. That color doesn't hold up well. Got lots of good parts and will go back tomorrow to finish it off. This is the first one i'd seen in a month

[padgett]

Every year Buick sponsored the Bay Hill Golf tourney in south Orlando and during the Reatta years everyone and their uncle got one to use during the tourney. These then got dumped on Florida Buick dealers as used cars. This is why there are so many around here.

The issue is that many people also retire to Florida and bring the last new car they bought along so you can find both zero rust cars that never left central Florida and ones with differeing amounts that came from elsewhere.

Also second and third owners tend to leave cars out which is not good for the paint, rubber, or window tinting.

As a consequence, rust free ones are around ranging from very nice to daily drives as well as others.

Might also mention you find upper body and round windows rust in cars that spent a lot of time outside within five miles of the coast - east coast moreso than west - and this applies all the way up north (have seen pitted gearshift levers on cars in Myrtle Beach). Fortunately Orlando is over 50 miles from salt water.

Really the only place in the US I have found with ideal weather is Marina Del Rey but it is already overpopulated and over taxed.

Here the COLA is low, rust non-existant, and everthing has A/C. Texas has some places like that but am a Floridian.

As to CL, most of what is there is junque but occasionally the gem comes through and you need to move quickly or is gone. The black 'vert was like that and I really had no business buying but was in better shape than the white car when I bought it & did not want to see it get decked out with neon. Besides I had an extra license plate.

[Guest Richard D]

I use mine as a daily driver, have only one garage space (live in a condo) so the Skylark vert gets to live inside. Even though I had to go to Sarasota to buy it ($1,800.00) I think it is very nice, daily driver or not.

[raleets]

If you want to view Reattas frequently come to Genesee County (Flint), MI.

In the local BCA Chapter there are at least 10, including my '91 floptop.

I also see lots of others tooling around on a regular basis. Amazingly, some of them during Michigan winters. Go figure!!

Of the 10 in the local Chapter, 7 are convertibles, including 3 '91's.

Fertile grounds for Reatta sightings!!!

Cheers,

Bob

[Guest Double M]

Out here on car crazy Long Island, I have seen only one so far since getting mine, also a daily driver, in September 2010.

It was a Blue one, faded & sad looking with its bumper valance hanging but motoring along.

[padgett]

Is typical. In the 80's, my '70 Judge was a gas guzzling $600 car. In the 90s it was a curiosity, only in this century has it gained any value.

Really like things the way they are since are my daily drivers and parts, even weird ones like the CRT, are plentiful.

For me, wandering in a junk yard is relaxation.

[handmedownreatta]

i often see cars in the junkyard i would have bought in an instant if i had known they were for sale.it amazes me what some people will allow to be scrapped.

[Guest Richard D]

i often see cars in the junkyard i would have bought in an instant if i had known they were for sale.it amazes me what some people will allow to be scrapped.

I agree! In the one U- pick yard we have left in Miami there is one section fenced off that has some nice 60 & 70s drivers that are off limits. I bet they go to auctions. When I ask about one of them I was told not for sale, my english not good.

[Guest tomt]

There was a story that while many went to FL., quite a few ended up in TX as the car of many ladies. I was told that mine started that way.

Tom t.

[Guest Double M]

I wrote something about this "enigma" in the main section called "The New Classics". While many thought it was a debate on the meaning of the word classic. What I was talking about is just what this thread is talking about... How some cars have a period of time where they are not valued like the Judge GTO mentioned previously. One eras's curiosity become the next generation's saught after "classic" or whatever you want to call it.

Our Reattas already are headed in that direction. But this is a critical time for them and many will be lost as their "Collectible status" lingers in limbo a few more years and there value will be at its lowest. This is the time where the daily drivers get traded in or junked in favor of the newer cars. It is easier for the non-hobyist/collector/enthusiast to simply trade away a car that has harder to find parts and requires special repair procedures to age or obsolelnce.

The Reatta is in "the Zone" right now, not quite old enough to be officially considered a classic or to get a historical plate (in NY at 25 years + 1 day). Back in 1970, dealers were trying to practically give away Superbirds, today they command 6 figures. How much will our Reattas be worth? What other cars that are around todat that nobody currenttly takes seriously will be the GTO, Superbird or Shelby of Tommorow? Time will tell...

[padgett]

Can think of quite a few offhand but a good example is the 55-57 Thunderbird. Was more luxury than sports when new and when the four place '58 came out sales took off. In the '60s, were something a middle-class family would give to a daughter on graduation (Merc 190SL was the same). Today they are desirable.

Think what happened is many collectors are just sitting on things now. Was watching the KC Mecom auction on Discovery and many were No Sales in the teens and twenties.

Another 89 showed up on the CL today for $1200 with hood and headlamp damage. These seem to be going for the $400-$500 range right now when they sell. One factor here is that when a car is "totaled", often with not much damage, the ins. company will get a salvage ($7) rather than a regular ($70) title which makes it much more difficult to put back on the street.

There are ways...but not for the someone who does not know how to work the system. Should mention that there are two kinds of salvage titles - Salvage-rebuilbable which is merely difficult and salvage-certificate of destruction (COD) which means you have to start with three documented cars & mix-n-match. You really do not want to go there.

Meanwhile, in many parts of the country, rust is starting to take a toll and once started, is very hard to remove, odo mnumbers are increasing and while it is still possible to find one that is both rust-free and under 100k, it is getting more difficult.