My 88 Reatta Story

[Dashmaster]

 

 

My story starts in 2004 when we were looking for cars for my Daughter. Our insurance agent and a friend of theirs contacted us about a 1992 Saturn sedan that their mother had. We went to look at it and when there I had a conversation with the owners and told them I worked on my own cars and such. We bought the Saturn. The 1988 Reatta was in the garage. She said it was her Baby, She bought it new.

 

Got a call in 2010  from the owner and asked if I would be interested in the Reatta, I said I will come and look at it but said I was not sure if I had the money to purchase it since there were lots of other things going on. I had never seen a Reatta up close and knew nothing about the cars. I did see this Forum had lots of information on it.  

Went to see it. The Reatta was no longer a Garage Queen, been sitting in the driveway for some time.

 

Battery was dead, so I could not check anything out. She said I will give you the car if you promise not to junk it and part it out. ( She was a forum user and a DIV member).  I said OK I would take it. Arrived next week with tow dolly and battery. Installed battery, started right up and CRT was working. Loaded it up and took to my father’s house to store it until I could work on it.  While unloading off the dolly, a rusty brake line burst and the  Teves system pumped out all the brake fluid on my dad’s asphalt driveway. Car sat there for about 2 years in this state.

2011 Loaded the car onto a dolly and transported it home. Before staring to work on it I would start it from time to time, knowing it was low on gas I added some from gas can. Did not think that it might have had pre-ethanol gas in it.  Ran for awhile then stopped. Cranked no start.

 

Now I had a car with no brakes and would not run. I figured I would start on the rusty brake lines.

Broken brake line was at the rear regulator and hard to access.  I figured it was easier to remove the whole rear suspension. Since there was lots of surface rust on most everything back there I could clean everything up, Drop Gas Tank and service the fuel pump and tank. Once it was out I found the rear shocks were shot. task was now to replace anything bad, sand paint with POR15 and re-assemble. New shocks, bushings, new brake lines including flex lines. Repaired rusty gas line.  Cleaned and repainted the rusty heat shields.

 

Work Stopped here until 2012.   Many Life Changes during this time period.

 

Car was reassembled and moved to my current home in 2014.  Now in a Garage, work continued rear to front.

I have worked on just about everything on the car. Too many things to list.  

 

My 88 Reatta returned to the Road in fall of 2014, once on the road it presented more things to repair.

 

2015, Continue to fix or replace anything bad, got it running good. Then had  some issues, a random misfire sidelined it for a couple months. I almost sold it, I was very frustrated after all the work I had in it and going over this problem 3 or 4 times to fix it. Finally did and it has been Reliable since.  Attended several shows at the end of the year.

 

2016 Running good, Reliable and Great Driver. Attended many shows and events,  I had a great time meeting people and talking about the Reatta.   Notified the Original owner that I would have the car at the Rockville Car show, so she could see it again. Her family came out and She was in tears seeing it again after all these years.

 

2017 Nothing much was needed, drove car to Shows and events, it was my backup when my truck had issues. Very Reliable all year, Had to take it out in snow once and one of the coldest days when my truck was out of service.  Drivers seat upper side split open at the seams, There is a broken wire in there.

 

2018 Started another year of Just enjoying the car.  Car is no longer my backup for my work commute.

Attended the Spring Auto Fair Reatta Rally my 3^rd year, Planed other events. It was way to hot for one then the rain moved in. Have only had one good dry day in 12 weeks or so and took it to a Cars and Coffee.

 

I now have more money in the car than it is worth, all of it was to make the car reliable, and safe. No money has been needed for the car since fall of 2015. I now have a Reliable, Unique, Fun Car to drive, take to shows and events, Cars and Coffee.  I still need to fix the paint, and re-dye the carpet in the rear area. And the car will be about perfect.  I have kept a line item budget on the car so I know exactly what I have in it and what has been replaced or worked on and when.  

 The enjoyment the car brings, offsets the costs incurred making it road worthy, but this is for each person to decide if you are thinking of restoring one.  Costs add up quick specially if the car needs paint.

 

This car would be in s scrap yard if not for this the Forum full of knowledgeable helpful members and users, ROJ,  The Reatta Store, Parts Vendors,  and my Car background in Car repair and 12 electrical.

 

I would guess the Original owners picked the right person to get the car.

 

I have a 1 in 46 car. White Blue with Standard seats. Not many people can say that.

 

This is my Reatta Story, How about posting yours!

Edited September 27, 2018 by Dashmaster (see edit history)

[Ronnie]

Great story! I really enjoyed reading it.  I wish more people would post stories like this.