Guest IMSAkid Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 (edited) Whats up guys my names Rick I'm 23. Today me and my father just bought a 1990 Buick Reatta convertible. I have been into 2 seaters for a number of years now. I have owned countless Fiero's including an 84 IMSA promo fiero and an 88 engine swapped turbo formula (still own them) I also have a 2006 solstice as a daily driver. Well my dad has been looking for an older 2 seater for a while now. We have been looking at Fiero's, Allante's, And Reatta's.Now my dad is a bigger guy so while he could get in and out of the Fiero he had trouble doing so. all the allante's we looked at were either 4.9's or beat up northstar's. My dads preference was a convertible but all the Reatta convertibles were way out of our price range. Well my dad happened to stumble upon this little number on craigslist the other day we immeditley contacted the seller and went to DE that day and bought it. Its not perfect but it has it where it counts. it needs a new top paint work on the rear bumper and headlight motors. It only has 65K miles on it and also has the 16 way power seat option. it runs and drives like it was brand new and my father is very happy with it. He is 60 and has had a rough past 10 years including a divorce 3 16 year old kids and a very recent bypass surgery, He has always liked the Reatta and said he wanted one so we went out and got him a winner. heres some pics Edited February 22, 2011 by IMSAkid (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wws944 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Welcome! Looks really nice. I am sure your dad will be very happy with it. Of interest, it looks like someone did the Delco ignition upgrade on it.Don't sweat the headlight motors. Probably just disintegrated rollers in the gearbox. They go bad from age as much as use. Easy DIY fixes with parts from any of several members of this forum. See the 'Reatta Resources' sticky thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Might want to check the brake fluid level, it looks high and since you have to pump the brakes 25 times with key off before checking, it is easy to overfill. Also several people have new convertible tops for sale. Welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCReatta Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Welcome! Very nice find! I wish my convertible had 16-ways! Grey seems to be a hard color to find in 16-ways.. I am not making a statement, but just MHO here... I would order my top from Mike Rukavina at BuickReattaParts.com. He has a custom pattern that is far better than anything else out there. It takes a little while, (like 6-8 weeks), but it's worth it in the end. I have one on order for my vert, a grey Haartz cloth top with glass window, and it should be here next week. I've heard many stories of satisfaction about Mike's tops. But don't expect it to be there quickly... your top is made to order.On your headlight problem, I suggest you check out Kingsley Baker at ReattaSpecialtyParts.com. I've used him for headlight motor rebuild kits. Very easy to do them with his kit. Kingsley also has convertible sun-visor clips, there's a good chance that at least one of yours is broken.There are others that have the headlight kits, but I have not used them before. I'm just giving you my humble opinion on what I've used before.Be sure to check out the Reatta Resources thread at the top of the main Reatta page. Lots of good info there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney Eaton Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Welcome to the Reatta discussion. There are years of experience here and plenty of opinions. Check Ronnies site as well as Reatta Data Page for links to information. Doing a Search on this site for various subjects will probably keep you reading for hours. there is probably nothing about a Reatta that has not been covered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IMSAkid Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Thank you for the warm welcome guys. Its great to see there is still a helpful place to turn to for this car. I'm a part of the Fiero community as well and to my surprise they still have a huge following. look forward to learning about this Reatta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Welcome to the forum!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReattaTType Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Welcome to the forum, I too am in my early 20s and it is great seeing the younger crowd getting interested in Reattas. I have an 88 supercharged Reatta and a 90 Reatta coupe. Alike what you said about your father, my father has had a rough time as well with divorce and a hernia operation. I'm currently working on fixing up my 90 to give to my father as I see him looking at it every once in a while, I know he wants it. A hobby car is excellent as an escape when the hard times kick in. Great to hear he found his convertible. If you are anywhere near Detroit, the Woodward Dream Cruise is an excellent event to cruise with family. I drove my dad there in the 88 but he has never had anything to bring. This year I hope to have the 90 up and running so that I can surprise him before Woodward. Good luck with the vert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Richard D Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 A friend of mine who used to drive in GTP bought the IMSA sanctioning corp. back in the 1990s and even though he got Ferrari to build an IMSA car and bought many hours of TV time to broadcast races on ESPN and Speed Channel he was unable to make it work and sold it several years later. I had one of the first Fiero's with the 2.5 L. farm tractor engine that only caught fire twice, went through five A/C compressors and 3 or 4 ECMs, GM finally bought the car back for testing and dismantling. Still like the later Fieros. I think mine was one of the first 200 built for sale. WELCOME TO THE CLUB!Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCReatta Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Welcome to the forum, I too am in my early 20s and it is great seeing the younger crowd getting interested in Reattas. Forgot to mention that I'm 16.. Our "younger crowd" is growing bigger!! Just wait, you're going to buy one yourself soon after you start playing with, and driving your father's.. they're addictive.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booreatta Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Welcome to the Reatta forum. You don't say where you live but the Reatta Division of the Buick Club of America is very active and a lot of members are on this site. I would like to direct you to the Buick Club of America at Buick Club of America - BCA - Welcome and the Reatta site also at Reatta Division of the Buick Club of America. You can also send you VIN number to the Reatta Data Page site as there is a data base there to track Reattas. You should also entertain joining the BCA and the Reatta Division. I think a lot of us started out with Fiereos, I still have mine, it just hasn't been of the road for several years. It seems like we are getting a lot of younger members of this forum and the Reatta club.Enjoy your rideChuck Kerlsbooreatta@cox.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IMSAkid Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Forgot to mention that I'm 16.. Our "younger crowd" is growing bigger!! Just wait, you're going to buy one yourself soon after you start playing with, and driving your father's.. they're addictive.. Haha way ahead of you. I already want one but my dad says i have to either sell my IMSA or my Formula to get one.... so piece of GM history or Stupid ridiculous insanily fast....And getting rid of the solstice is out of the question.. I'll talk him into it though. I want a coupe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IMSAkid Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Welcome to the Reatta forum. You don't say where you live but the Reatta Division of the Buick Club of America is very active and a lot of members are on this site. I would like to direct you to the Buick Club of America at Buick Club of America - BCA - Welcome and the Reatta site also at Reatta Division of the Buick Club of America. You can also send you VIN number to the Reatta Data Page site as there is a data base there to track Reattas. You should also entertain joining the BCA and the Reatta Division. I think a lot of us started out with Fiereos, I still have mine, it just hasn't been of the road for several years. It seems like we are getting a lot of younger members of this forum and the Reatta club.Enjoy your rideChuck Kerlsbooreatta@cox.netI have to set up my profile but I'm from pa. And Fieros are an addiction. I have owned 7 of them over the past 3 years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Yaros Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Some of you may recall that I am an Allante owner who lurks here. Just saw this post, mentioning the 16-way seat. Please, tell me that is a typo. My Allante sure does not have that many seat config opitions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89REATTAJIM Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Some of you may recall that I am an Allante owner who lurks here. Just saw this post, mentioning the 16-way seat. Please, tell me that is a typo. My Allante sure does not have that many seat config opitions!They were/are called 16 way by Buick. I can't remember anyone being able to name the 16 functions. Just for info, what were the Allante seats advertised as?..... Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCReatta Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 They were/are called 16 way by Buick. I can't remember anyone being able to name the 16 functions. Just for info, what were the Allante seats advertised as?..... JimThey're more like 14-way seats... i don't know why they were called 16-ways..There's the standard 8 functions: front, back, up, down, front tilt [both directions], and back tilt [both directions]. Then the option was to have a small pod on the driver's seat that controlled: Lumbar, thigh support, and a power recline [recline was manual on the standard seats].The passenger side seat was only given the power recline. But the Riviera had an optional driver AND passenger side 16-way seat. Some Reatta owners have taken those and put them in their Reatta.EDIT:I just remembered that some prototype seats may have had power side bolsters. Or "wings" in the seat backs. maybe that's it..?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCReatta Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Haha way ahead of you. I already want one but my dad says i have to either sell my IMSA or my Formula to get one.... so piece of GM history or Stupid ridiculous insanily fast....And getting rid of the solstice is out of the question.. I'll talk him into it though. I want a coupe.Sell the piece of GM history IMHO.. You can probably get a lot for it, and get you a really nice coupe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mc_Reatta Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 The 15th function of the seat was to give the purchaser of this option status and bragging rights over the mere mortals who didn't get it.The 16th function of this seat option was to .......drum role please........make more profit for GM, and to reduce the size of the buyer's bank account even more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Richard D Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 I read somewhere, Popular Mechanics? That the 16 way included power head rest. Never saw one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Thought it was supposed to be power headrests. Have a Fiero GT but always wanted a Fomula with the Getrag. Have had five in all, four with titles. First was an 84 automatic with aluminum 13" wheels. Had the GM recall - bigger oil filter and remarked dipstick. Was totaled twice before it gave up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rawja Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 "16-Way" seats were an exclusive feature of the 'T-Type' '86 Riviera on who's platform our cars are based. The '86 Rivi 'T-Type' sported "Power Comfort" 16-way leather and suede bucket seats with reversible seat cushions for BOTH front passengers. The '86 model really did have 16-way seats by the way, which is the origin of Buick's mis-labeling of the Reatta's 12-way seats as 16-way (87-88 Riviera 'T-Types' had 12-ways). In addition to the additional thigh/lumbar/recline features that we have on the Reatta's optional seat, the '86 "T" had power operated thigh-squeezing side bolsters on the seats' base and power operated headrests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mc_Reatta Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 So one of the missing functions was not the rumored mother-in-law ejection seat option ala James Bond then. I thought that I had heard that the NTSB had disapproved this option just before the cars release and this is why the 16 way nomenclature did not catch up to reality. Probably why we also didn't get offered the smoke screen, oil slick and revolving license plate mount options either. :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Yaros Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 They were/are called 16 way by Buick. I can't remember anyone being able to name the 16 functions. Just for info, what were the Allante seats advertised as?..... JimThe Allante only has 10-way seats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raleets Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Makes me want to race out to the garage and fire up the '91 vert w/16 way seats and count all the functions Good grief, I have too much time on my hands Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYBobP Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I remember the 16-way seat conversation coming up at the Buick dealer meeting in 1990. The headrest manually going up and down were supposed to be the added functions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rawja Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I just got home from picking up a cheap '93 Cadillac Sixty Special. Has, get this: 22-way seats?!? I only screwed around with 'em for about 2 minutes, but really, it's too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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