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1989 Buick Reatta - Estate Sale


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What an ideal project car. Not a parts car IMO. Too bad there aren't more folks doing restorations. Look at it this way. Suppose this is circa 1980 and this is a 55-57 Chevy. Mom's stationwagon is paid off, Dad's commuter car is running OK and there is a 57 Chevy Bel Air for sale, non running, tattered interior, some rust and dents, non running 283 for $100. Dad wants it, mom says sure, at least I know where you will be. Commuter car gets parked in the driveway, in goes the Chevy to be dismantled, maybe a "custom" interior, Crager SS mags. Oil and antifreeze all over for a while. Now fast forward - here you have a modern day "57 Chevy" cost adjusted about the same price. Interior appears as if it needs nothing but cleaning and minor issues. Body needs sanded down, dings corrected (if any) and paint. Motor will need "gone through" etc, but cost adjusted it's about the same as a $100 57 Chevy in 1980. Any takers? Probably not, TOTALLY different time. Once all of these are parted out of the gene pool, no complaints.....

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I'd have to agree with Bryan. This one looks too nice yet to just be a parts car (unless the 9 years sitting around has made the engine non-functional) and even then the right buyer could drop in a replacement or rebuild it. Of course, the right buyer for a car that needs such work is not so easy to find, especially on short notice. Seems even harder to find for a Reatta.

Hopefully someone will buy it to fix up. Barring that, it should be sold for parts, rather than scrap. Not making any more of these, and parts supply will start to decline noticeably in the next few years as the herd gets culled of the marginal specimens.

KDirk

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I agree this would be a nice project car but I've got a 72 Chevelle & a 59 Edsel I don't have time and space for right now. And I have a line on a F100 that might get thrown into the mix.

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In my opinion, the key here is that nice interior and the lack of any body damage. Bad paint? eh, so what. I will say that the emphasis on "show car, trailer queens" level of restoration has had a negative impact on all restorations. Now, a fellow fears being laughed at for a so-so body paint job. But, I was at Home Depot yesterday and checked out their paint sprayers and they have decent HVLP sprayers that weren't available 10-15 years ago for the hobbyist, especially at $80-$100. I would hazard to guess that whatever we do today in terms of paint would be 10 x better then 30-40 yeara ago. The Reatta is not a huge car, and has a lot of glass. Meaning less paint and prep required. But it's a different story if the interior is all tattered. Then you talking high cost. As to the engine, the 3800 V6 can be rebuilt, a lot of fresh reliability parts can be installed if one does not do a complete rebuild. You want to talk about expensive? Any engine rebuild from the 30's to the 70's. Average cost to rebuild an older Buick V8 is probably $4000 to $7000 alone.

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