Amazing! Look at this 90 Reatta up for auction on eBay

[Guest ReattaFan1]

It's up in Machesney Park, IL. Check it out! At the time of this post the auction was up to $5249.00 and reserve not yet met. The buy it now is set at $7999.00 If the car hadn't been driven in salt and everything works I bet it's worth every penny.

Buick : Reatta - eBay (item 370466051619 end time Dec-22-10 12:29:02 PST)

Edited December 17, 2010 by ReattaFan1
type error (see edit history)

[NCReatta]

Underside might have some rust though.. check out the picture of the muffler. pretty rusty. But that comes with just driving it in the rain too. Sure flashy!

[bwarren]

Looks like a decent color match and repair was made on the driver’s door arm rest. Mine may be needing something like that soon. Nice paint for being original. Sharp car!

[Guest ReattaFan1]

I didn't catch that. Yeah, I see it now. I guess I was blinded by everything else. That engine compartment is so clean you can eat off it.

[NCReatta]

I would 1. ask quite a bit more, 2. have replaced the door panel, and 3. not be selling it on eBay if I were that seller.

If they had put just a little more time and money into it (and mean a very little), they could easily get 11k+.

[Guest corey wasut]

I found this jewel on a Kijiji ad in Manitoba~ silver 88 coupe with 3300 miles, original owner car! click the link to view it...its a beautiful car!

1988 Buick Reatta Coupe - Manitoba Cars For Sale - Kijiji Manitoba Canada.

[Thriller]

I'd posted that on the buy / sell forum last night...since it is here, if anyone wants a visual, I can provide it, acknowledging that I have little expertise in these cars, in spite of the number I have seen.

[Barney Eaton]

I think the Buy Now price is a little high for a 70K mile car. The sellers have put a lot of effort in detailing and hype to sell this car. Most sellers are willing to take a few pictures and try and sell their car.

If this car was not "spit" shined, they might have a difficult time getting $5,000

The big unknown is underneath. 70K in Illinois could equate to some driving in snow conditions, although 70K divided by 20 years is only 3,500 miles per year. It may have been used at a second home only in the summer.

Also what will the buyer do with it? If you are buying it as a driver, paying $8,000 is steep, there have been 1990 convertibles with less miles sell for the same price.

I know of a 1990 convertible that was purchased less than a year ago and recently sold at a profit of about $4,000.

[Vincent Vega]

Spit shined? This is obviously a full detail. A very good one at that.

[Ronnie]

I agree with Barney. There is a lot of glossy shine provided by careful placement of lights and a lot of hype in the advertisement text such as, "This Reatta is a prime example of near perfect 2-Seat Buick and could possible be the cleanest Buick Reatta available anywhere today.", which we all know is non-sense. If the seller really believed that himself he would have corrected defects like the driver's door panel, the rust underneath, the missing horn button and would have reinstalled the factory radio.

The advertisement is targeting the people out there who know little about Reattas but have decided they are going to buy one... NOW. I'm surprised that the bid is that high already with three days still left until the auction ends. I wouldn't expect it to go much higher but you never know about bids on eBay... When two strong willed individuals get into a bidding war the sky is the limit. To me it is a nice daily driver that has been run through a detail shop but it's nothing to pay big bucks for.

Just my opinion about the eBay ad. I know nothing about this car or the seller.

Edited December 19, 2010 by Ronnie (see edit history)

[NCReatta]

I agree with Ronnie. If the seller had done little things like fixed the horn button, bought a new door panel, put the radio in and such, it could be worth the asking price, or more.

I'm still in the learning phase here, and do not consider myself a professional on these cars by any means. But I think, with a little work, this car could be worth what the man is asking.

prices are wacko on eBay. A man contacted me in October, asking me if I'd like to but his '89 white over burgundy with over 250k miles. He offered to deliver it. After a few weeks of emails, he finally sent me some pictures. Any thing that was metal was shot. rust everywhere. The fenders and bumpers were ok, as well as the lights, and interior. I made him a low-ball offer for what I though I could juice out of it in the way of parts, and still make a profit. about $150, plus $100 gas to deliver it to me. Instead of turning it down, he simply ignored me, never ever responded. About a week and a half later, the car pops up on eBay with a starting bid or $300. a week later, the car sells for $420. Whoever paid that much for that car made a big mistake in my opinion. The car was simply not worth that. To me at least.

Just a glimpse of how nutty eBay prices are.

I personally would never buy a car on eBay. its hard to contact the seller to get more pictures of what you want (such as the underside), and you can just never tell much about how a car runs and drives. And a lot of the time, the people that sell their cars on ebay know they have something different and unique, but they don't really know what it is. They'll go read the Wikipedia article, but they never do much research.

Just my 2 cents.

[Thriller]

I personally would never buy a car on eBay. its hard to contact the seller to get more pictures of what you want (such as the underside), and you can just never tell much about how a car runs and drives. And a lot of the time, the people that sell their cars on ebay know they have something different and unique, but they don't really know what it is. They'll go read the Wikipedia article, but they never do much research.

I've bought 4 cars on eBay now. I am happy with two of the purchases. The reason? Those two cars were local - the one I knew and had a very high opinion of. The other I went to see it and they wound up ending the auction early with my high bid. I think knowing that the car would find a good Buick home helped them out. Both of those also turned out to be very good deals. I think part of that is that the cars were north of the border and a lot of folks aren't interested in finding out what is involved in importing them. The two that I wasn't happy with were both misleading, if not involving outright lying on the part of the seller.

I would buy through eBay again, but if the car is at a distance, I would find a BCA member who is willing to inspect the car on my behalf, just to make sure it is accurately described.

[DAVES89]

Not to steal this post, but I am starting to think that we as a forum are contributing to hold the prices of our cars down. My winter Reatta has 220,000 miles on the odometer. This mileage represents the body mileage as the engine/tranny has about half that [110,000 miles].

Last January I was involved in a minor fender bender that caused me to replace the hood, trim piece between the headlights, as well as both cornering lamps. The estimate for repairs was $2900.00 which the insurance company happily paid without totaling my car. That means that my car is still worth between $3500.00 and $4000.00 [at least in the insurance company's eyes].

Has anyone looked at what other makes of cars are selling for, of our aproximate vintage? I see $1500.00 to $2000.00 and many of them are still rolling pieces of junk.

I think we should be talking up our values as these cars are both interesting and now becoming rare as well.

[NCReatta]

I've bought 4 cars on eBay now. I am happy with two of the purchases. The reason? Those two cars were local - the one I knew and had a very high opinion of. The other I went to see it and they wound up ending the auction early with my high bid. I think knowing that the car would find a good Buick home helped them out. Both of those also turned out to be very good deals. I think part of that is that the cars were north of the border and a lot of folks aren't interested in finding out what is involved in importing them. The two that I wasn't happy with were both misleading, if not involving outright lying on the part of the seller.

I would buy through eBay again, but if the car is at a distance, I would find a BCA member who is willing to inspect the car on my behalf, just to make sure it is accurately described.

That is exactly my point. Most of the time, cars aren't near by, and you're relying on the honesty (or lack thereof) of the seller. If the car was close by, or I could get someone I trust to look at the car, then yes, I would buy a car on eBay. But otherwise, I don't trust people enough to accurately describe their car. Especially if it's a car like the Reatta where most people don't know really what they have, where the weak spots are, and what's supposed to work.

[NYBobP]

Am thinking about putting the red convertible up for sale. Better condition, approx same amount of miles, same price. Going to wait for the Spring thaw first before I pull it out from under the covers.

[NCReatta]

Not to steal this post, but I am starting to think that we as a forum are contributing to hold the prices of our cars down. My winter Reatta has 220,000 miles on the odometer. This mileage represents the body mileage as the engine/tranny has about half that [110,000 miles].

Last January I was involved in a minor fender bender that caused me to replace the hood, trim piece between the headlights, as well as both cornering lamps. The estimate for repairs was $2900.00 which the insurance company happily paid without totaling my car. That means that my car is still worth between $3500.00 and $4000.00 [at least in the insurance company's eyes].

Has anyone looked at what other makes of cars are selling for, of our aproximate vintage? I see $1500.00 to $2000.00 and many of them are still rolling pieces of junk.

I think we should be talking up our values as these cars are both interesting and now becoming rare as well.

I agree with Dave. Personally, my '89 is pretty high miles (140k) but it's been taken care of. The original paint is in excellent shape, the interior is great -not rips, tears, or fading- it runs good, and almost everything works like it should. If I were to sell my car, I would put about a $4000 price on it.

So many people are disagreeing on what the prices should be. Most value books degrade our cars also. They're good in some respects, like my NADA book says that an '88 Reatta is worth: LOW: $2800 AVERAGE: $4900 HIGH: $8150.

But the numbers for the '90, which there are more of, are higher: LOW: $2950 AVERAGE: $5100 HIGH: $8450. And interestingly, the convertibles- of which there are less of than the '88s are placed no more than $400 above the '90 coupe. All very strange...

Taking into consideration the fact that quite a few get crushed and parted every year, the numbers are decreasing rapidly. I think there needs to be a table made up that changes quarterly that gives a very realistic estimate of what a car is worth. It should be based not off of guesses, and estimations, but real sales. What similar cars have sold for in the past couple years.

In considering this '90 vert, I've been tossed around with prices. Some nice, low milage convertibles have sold for around 7 or 8k, while there are 3 in the months Bugle (2 being SSs) that have a price upwards of $14k.

Just my 2 cents.

[Guest ReattaFan1]

I too wish I had that kind of money to throw around, but I sure love these cars. Like you guys I'd be leery about getting a car off eBay. Marck,it sounds like you have a pretty nice car there. I wish I had the money to find one in grate shape, and the original paint would be a plus. Not having much cash flow I thought I'd get a fixer upper and rebuild it the best I could. The car I bought I only gave 500 for it. The pic here in my profile is as the car sat in the sale ad. I knew what I was getting into when I got it. For example it was a northern car from KY (nothing really bad. Just a little surface rust. No holes or anything) , some minor front end collision damage, slipping trans, flaking clear coat, dirty faded interior. You have an idea, it truly should have been crushed. Most people would have thought it barely even had any value as a parts car. I honestly started to regret buying it later after getting laid off. But now having the time out of work I though just cleaning and tinkering couldn't hurt. Now it's beginning to resemble a nice car. You all sharing your experiences along with the repair documents on reatta.net has been a BIG help.

Edited December 20, 2010 by ReattaFan1 (see edit history)

[NCReatta]

I bought my car for $300. Deals come along, and you've just gotta wait for them. When I bought my car, it was a mess. The rear glass had been smashed by a large pine limb, and hence, a lot of moisture had gotten into the car, resulting in a mess of an interior. I've put a LOT of time, and a good bit of money into it. The car was from Michigan, and had a good bit of rust in both wheel wells. passenger side had a whole about the size of your thumb where the rust had eaten though. I sand blasted the rust out, filled it with bondo, and rebuilt the fender with fiberglass. it looks almost all the way right, but not all the way.

I've done major cleaning, including removing the seats, removing the carpet, cleaning the seats (Gojo works great), and cleaning every spot of mildew out of the carpet. I've replaced the CRT, rebuilt the headlight motors, and fixed some minor front end damage. The PO had run into a power pole and screwed up the front bumper. I replaced the bumper, unfortunately with a Maui blue one, so I had to paint it. but that wasn't too bad. I also had to fix some pretty major brake problems (the line going to the back was rusted though). I figure I've got about $2700 in it now.

Attached are some before and after pictures

I think you car has some good potential. The only thing that really catches my eye in your list is the slipping tranny. that's not an easy, or particularly cheap fix. If there's no damage to the base coat, you might could just have it shot again with clear, that's not too expensive.

Keep us posted on your progress!

[padgett]

Sounds about right, figure $3500-$5500 for a driver coupe. Can pay more for a nice one or less and fix things but the total will probably wind up around the same. Are still exceptional deals out there but not as many as there were.

When I look at a car I take pictures and usually more of the bottom than the top. Displayed on the computer the camera sees a lot that I would miss.

I can fix almost anything except pretty hence an abhorrance of rust. Just my opinion though.

[Guest ReattaFan1]

I see the same car from over a month is back up for auction on eBay. I guess it didn't meet the reserve price. Buick : Reatta - eBay (item 370473512371 end time Jan-18-11 14:25:09 PST)

[NCReatta]

They're advertising the the wrong place. They need to put this car in Hemmings. Wasn't in the latest issue.

if they'd just do the less than $500 of repairs to make it a immaculate car, and advertise it in the correct place, they'd eventually have a buyer that would pay over their asking price.

[handmedownreatta]

0-60 in eight seconds?

[Guest ReattaFan1]

0-60 in eight seconds?

This other site says 8.8 seconds Buick 0-60 Times & Buick Quarter Mile Times | Buick Regal, Century, Grand National 0-60, LeSabre, Riviera, Skylark and New Buick Lucerne 0 to 60 stats!

[Guest NEMO]

This car looks like it has been given a coat of OIL wiped all over it, Then put the BRITE lights on around it and add a little photo shop,cut and paste.

[Rawja]

What NEMO said, X2.