1990 build numbers

[NCReatta]

After receiving the jumbled info from Barney, I've sorted it all out into a readable form like I did with the '88 information Barney received. 

 

Some interesting color combos here. Hopefully this table transfers from Excel correctly. Might be a little hard to read. 

 

Thanks to Barney Eaton for converting the paper build sheets and passing it on.

 

Count of Full VIN     Color Body Style Trim Total

 

 

Black

Convertible

Gray 42     Gray16Way 38     Red 25     Red16Way 30     Tan 87     Tan16Way 85   

Convertible Total 307   

 

Coupe Blue 1     Gray 128     Gray16Way 74     Red 66     Red16Way 43     Tan 136     Tan16Way 82   

Coupe Total   530

Black Total     837

 

Blue 

Convertible Blue 66     Blue16Way 68     Gray 10     Gray16Way 8     Tan 1     Tan16Way 1   

Convertible Total 154   

 

Coupe Blue 222     Blue16Way 136     Gray 61     Gray16Way 34     Tan 4     Tan16Way 2  

Coupe Total   459 

Blue Total     613 

 

Burgundy 

Convertible Gray 3     Gray16Way 1     Red 27     Red16Way 22     Tan 28     Tan16Way 40   

Convertible Total 121   

 

Coupe Gray 31     Gray16Way 27     Red 468     Red16Way 66     Tan 104     Tan16Way 58   

Coupe Total   754 

Burgundy Total   875 

 

Driftwood 

Convertible Tan 30     Tan16Way 33   

Convertible Total 63   

 

Coupe Red 3     Red16Way 1     Tan 312     Tan16Way 44   

Coupe Total   360 

Driftwood Total   423 

 

Gray 

Convertible Blue 1     Gray 23     Gray16Way 14     Red16Way 2   

Convertible Total 40   

 

Coupe Blue 9     Gray 306     Gray16Way 87     Red 4     Red16Way 1     Tan 1   

Coupe Total   408 

Gray Total     448 

 

Red 

Convertible Gray 8     Gray16Way 16     Red 9     Red16Way 9     Tan 328     Tan16Way 316   

Convertible Total 686   

 

Coupe Gray 272     Gray16Way 46     Red 7     Red16Way 5     Tan 1282     Tan16Way 429  

Coupe Total   2041 

Red Total     2727 

 

Silver 

Convertible Blue 2     Blue16Way 2     Gray 26     Gray16Way 32     Red 3     Red16Way 1   

Convertible Total 66   

 

Coupe Blue 12     Blue16Way 7     Gray 461     Gray16Way 60     Red 20     Red16Way 15   

Coupe Total   575 

Silver Total     641 

 

White Convertible Blue 46     Blue16Way 50     Gray 27     Gray16Way 39     Red 247     Red16Way 218     Tan 44     Tan16Way 33     White/red16Way 65   

Convertible Total 769   

Coupe Blue 132     Blue16Way 57     Gray 75     Gray16Way 45     Red 617     Red16Way 123     Tan 83     Tan16Way 48     White/red16Way 1   

Coupe Total   1181 

White Total     1950         

 

Grand Total     8514

Edited October 11, 2015 by NCReatta (see edit history)

[Barney Eaton]

Thanks to Marck for sorting and posting the information on the 1990 Reattas.

Looking at the low production combinations, I went back to the master listing to verify the information.

After looking at the units with 4 or less made,  I did a verification and found three errors.

902675 that was listed as a black coupe with blue interior, actually has red interior

900020 a grey convertible listed with red 16 way seats, actually has a grey 16 way interior.

The white coupe listed with a red/white interior has a red standard interior.

[Blue90]

Thank you Barney and Marck.  It is very interesting to see all the color combinations.

S.

[Barney Eaton]

Good question so I checked it out.

All were coupes

903542  went to Flemington Buick in Flemington NJ ...standard seats

903604  went to Brewbaker Motors   Montgomery AL  standard seats

905243  went to Royer Buick   Harrisburg PA  16 way seat option

907343  went to Mary Ann Macgilliveray Buick in Flint...standard seats

 

That would indicate they were all ordered by dealers

Note that the master we are using to compile this data does not tell us everything, only the vin number, dealer name if it went to a dealer, exterior color, and interior order code.

The interior color coded tells us the color and if it had the 16 way seat option.   This list does not tell us any other option information.

[KDirk]

Just the inverse of the common red over saddle combo. Not sure how good it would look (picturing it in my mind and thinking... not so great) but then I am not a big fan of driftwood. I've seen silver over red and thought it pretty sharp, but I'm also not a huge fan of silver on a car either for some reason. Nor do I like blue interiors really but have seen silver over blue and actually thought it looked good.

Maybe my indifference for them is because both silver and champagne/gold (a.k.a. driftwood) are so common on cars (in general, not on Reattae). Of course, so is white and three of mine are white so what can I say to justify the fact I like that over silver or driftwood? A purely subjective matter of taste, that's all. I will say I think a car benefits from some contrast in interior versus exterior color. The monochrome cars (all burgundy, all blue, 1991 all red, 1990 driftwood over tan, and silver or pewter over grey) all seem to be lacking visual impact to my taste, or perhaps just too much of one color. I also can't get excited about white over light [90/91] grey for the same reason. A subdued exterior color needs a bold interior - or vice versa - by my way of thinking. Again, just a matter of taste and not a criticism of anyone's car.

In any event, my thanks to Marck for wrapping this up finally.

KD

[Barney Eaton]

You can do the math yourself and see the percentage of each color produced in 1990 from the numbers Marck posted.

 

Red    = 32%

White = 28%

Burgundy = 10.3 %

Black  = 10%

Silver  = 7.5%

Blue    = 7%

Grey  =  5%

Driftwood = 5%

I think this is the only year that Burgundy outsold Black.  Also note that some colors were much more prevalent on convertibles as a ration of the total color built.

Example 39% of all white cars were convertibles,  25% of Red cars were convertibles, but only 9% or Grey cars were convertibles.

[50Traveler]

This is an amazing compilation of info and should be chiseled in stone so it is never lost or forgotten.  Thank you.

Justin and his Maui blue starship

[KDirk]

Justin raises a good point. Information is easily lost to time as people move on and those who maintained the knowledge are no longer around to provide it for one reason or another. Is there a chance the final compiled data can be given to the the BCA to archive so that it should be available to anyone seeking it in the future if it cannot be located elsewhere? It is also easy for it to become lost in threads like this once it is off the first page of the forum so it seems like the BCA would be a logical and interested third party to maintain a hard copy of this data. Just a suggestion but one I think should be given serious consideration.

Also, maybe there should be a master thread (not neccessarily a sticky) published with the full and complete data now that it has been finished. Or host an .xls worksheet with it here and at Reatta.net so interested parties can download and print their own. The more people who have the data archived the better.

KDirk

[Barney Eaton]

I intend to get with Peter to see if he can put all the information on the Reatta site.

Edited October 27, 2015 by Barney Eaton (see edit history)

[KDirk]

Barney, that is good but I still think the BCA should maintain a copy as well. While I don't expect the Rdiv to go anywhere soon, and have no issue with posting it on the site, I really think a hard copy should be archived by the BCA. They already maintain a large collection of historic literature and marketing materials (many of which are used in Bugle feature articles) and since their mission is the preservation and appreciation of Buicks, it seems proper to me for them to have it as well.

KDirk

[Guest MrNova]

Mr Dirk, would you be referring to having the BCA keep the info or the Buick Heritage Alliance? If all # documentation is done for all 4 years, I would check into the Sloan keeping the info. i believe the Sloan would allow more secure storage and easier access to the data in the future.

[Barney Eaton]

My plan for a long time was to make CD's of the information and send them to places like the Sloan and Buick Archives.

The data is to the point that could happen......my problem.... that is above my ability.....

I could put them on a CD but it needs to be set-up where you can select the year you want to see when you open the CD.

Also they should have a nice label with a picture of a Reatta on the front for easy identification.

If someone here would like to volunteer to take on that project, I will work with you and see that the CD are sent out.

We might even send one to the Library of Congress.

[KDirk]

Barney,

I have serious concerns about the archival quality of a CD or DVD. The consumer grade media has demonstrated a tendency to exhibit "bit rot" over time as CD and DVD writable media are opto-chemical in nature and thus subject to not only being easily damaged but can loose data simply from sitting even if not used. I have seen this first hand multiple times with CDs I burned years ago suddenly having irrecoverable data errors and often in such cases if held up to a light one can see deterioration in the reflective substrate of the disc.

Bottom line, nothing beats a hard copy. Technology changes and formats are obsoleted. Think of all the moon mission data on 9 track computer tape reels that NASA once used and now if they need to read those tapes they have a problem. Where the machines to do so used to be ubiquitous at their labs and data centers, that stuff was largely chucked due to obsolescence and outright failure. Much money was spent to recover that data some years ago when they realized not only were there precious few machines left in existence to mount the tapes for reading (and those who knew how to repair the 40 year old machines were in short supply as well) but the tapes themselves suffer deterioration even in ideal storage conditions.

5.25" and 3.5" diskettes (floppies) were once common to the point of absurdity. Both are now obsolete formats and there isn't a computer sold new in the past 10+ years that is equipped with a floppy drive unless special ordered that way. CD's and DVD's wull remain common for some time to come but already they are largely supplanted by USB thumb drives and SD cards for storage and transport of large qunatities of data where one once would burn a disc for that purpose. Point being that they too will fade away as the cassette tape, 8-track, VHS and Beta all have and all within less than one lifetime. No electronic media is a safe bet for long term archival. If you can't hold it in your own hands and read it with nothing but your own two eyes, the risk of that data being lost due to damage or lack of proper equipment to put it in human readable form is always present.

We aren't talking about stuff that rises to the importance of the writngs of ancient Greek philosophers or the research of DaVinci here, but the reason we have those works to reference today is because someone (many someones) maintained and even hand duplicated those works on paper and ensured their content remained available for centuries, depsite poor storage methods, massive disruptions of civilization, wars and natural disasters.

Much of what we create now in terms of both culturally and scientifically significant information will probably not have nearly the survival rate that the similar things of long ago have enjoyed by virtue of being a disposable soceity and not bothering to maintain it properly in a form that doesn't rely completely on the technology of the day. There is also far more content created than can realistically be stored away for posterity so much of it is considered inconsequential and unworthy of saving; whether rightfully or not.

All of this is just a verbose way of saying: keep it simple.

Will also add that if the BCA is not the proper party for the repository of production data then maybe the Buick Heritage Alliance should be approached with an offer of this data in hard copy form. The latter strikes me as more of a museum of tangible historical items rather than a keeper of raw data, but I don't suppose it would be inapproprate to inquire if they would like to have a copy as well.

KDirk

[Canadian Poncho]

I am the owner of a silver convertible with red interior and 16 way seats. Am i reading this post correctly that there was only 1 built with this colour combination

[KDirk]

Silver with a burgundy interior convertible (1990 had burgundy, 1991 models offered flame red in place of burgundy)? If so, you are the proud owner of a true rarity. Is the top black? That would be a very sharp looking car if I may say, please post some pictures if possible.

KDirk

[Canadian Poncho]

Thanks for your reply. Yes the top is black. I had it on a tour with our local car club last weekend and then put it in storage for the winter as i wasn't going to be using it anymore this year so i can't get any pictures. I will look to see if i can find some and try and post them.

 

Mike

[KDirk]

Mike,

Thanks for the further info. Hope to see some pictures but understand storing it away for the season. I've done the same with my 91 convertible. One other question; are the side moldings black or silver? I'm partial to the color matched moldings myself but black probably looks good on silver with a black top.

KDirk

[Canadian Poncho]

Hi Kevin,

The side mouldings are black

 

Mike