Reatta models

[Barney Eaton 1,418]

There have been discussion about models of the Reatta and most owners are familiar with the large red plastic Reatta model.   Those are on Ebay most of the time.

Last week at the OK City meet I had some discussion with Buick parts vendors that had various Buick model cars and one had one of the Pewter Reatta models.

He also had a model that few have seen.   It is slightly larger than the pewter Reatta model but painted silver and detailed.   I discovered the model several years ago when

a fellow in my town contacted me and mentioned he worked on the early Reatta prototypes with Hawtal - Whiting in England.   at the conclusion of the development, Hawtal -Whiting

gave these models to the GM/Buick people that worked with them on the program.

Here are some photos of the Hawtal -Whiting model and a pewter Reatta model is in some of the pictures for size comparison.   Note the Hawtal -Whiting model is very detailed...even

has a red pinstripe and center in the hub caps.    Note that the model with the dark base has a presentation plaque showing it was given the Hugh Bolan....the one the vendor had in

OK City has a lighter wood base and the plaque is missing.     Also the one that Hugh has is in better condition... I am pretty sure the Hawtal - Whiting model is much rarer than the pewter

model but we do not know how many or either were made.

Now that I have all the pictures together,  the car on the dark base looks silver....the car on the lighter base looks driftwood colored...

Edited June 18, 2019 by Barney Eaton (see edit history)

[Zank_Frappa 0]

Interesting that you posted this right now, I just saw mention of these somewhere and got the idea to make something similar by super-detailing one of the common 1:24 models... we'll see how that goes.

[ChrisWhewell 97]

Oh, cool !   But I have to admit based on the title of the posting, I was expecting babes in bikini's posing with a Reatta....     hahaha

[Booreatta 181]

I see the pewter was for sale for 550.00 did it have the wood stand  did the hawtal car have a price  did either car sell

[Barney Eaton 1,418]

The model in the picture did have the base with the standard ID plate........I had a long conversation with the seller and informed him there were pewter models made with "Select Sixty" and "Pacesetter" ID plates and I send him photos.

He did not seem to be interested in selling the Hawtal car and knew nothing about it because the ID plate was missing....the only clue was a label on the bottom with someone in England name.

[Barney Eaton 1,418]

The June 2019 post above about the model made in England......  I just did a search for Ian Pickering, the name on the label and got a hit.

He is a model maker and did the models for Hawtal Whiting..... from the web site I found, see the excerpt below .

 

In 1984 Ian produced a 1:32 Buick Reatta for Hawtal Whiting, a company who had designed and developed prototypes for General Motors of the full size car. He made 100 or so models to be produced and presented to various people involved in the development of this car. These were mounted on a base with the name of the recipient on them. Ian recalls the names changing as various people were sacked and others replaced them. It was of interest that joins in the brass body pattern mirrored those on the full size car; a detail pointed out to Ian by their engineering director.

 

Now if we could just find more details on the smaller pewter model.

Edited July 28, 2020 by Barney Eaton (see edit history)

[Cargirl 199]

Those are very interesting models 👍

[NCReatta 208]

I recent acquired another of the Hawtal Whiting models from a guy who was also involved in the tooling side of the project pre-production. Unfortunately over the past 30+ years, mine has had it's mirrors liberated from the body, but it is otherwise complete and in good shape. I would love to find info on how many of these were produced, but like the pewter models, I fear we may never know the answer. 

 

He also had some other interesting items that I bought from him such as the Cross pen and pencil set, and some tie tacs that he had produced by the company that originally made the hood emblems. Very different from any other one I've seen. 

 

 

[NCReatta 208]

Also I noticed on the bottom of mine it said "Made by Ian Pickering". A brief google search yielded this tidbit 

"In 1984 Ian produced a 1:32 Buick Reatta for Hawtal Whiting, a company who had designed and developed prototypes for General Motors of the full size car. He made 100 or so models to be produced and presented to various people involved in the development of this car. These were mounted on a base with the name of the recipient on them. Ian recalls the names changing as various people were sacked and others replaced them. It was of interest that joins in the brass body pattern mirrored those on the full size car; a detail pointed out to Ian by their engineering director"

[Y-JobFan 209]

So what are these going for now?

 

[Barney Eaton 1,418]

I have not seen one for sale for some time.....  the value should be higher if you have the walnut base. 

[Y-JobFan 209]

I just stole one for $75 

[Barney Eaton 1,418]

Any chance it has a number on the muffler?

[DAVES89 859]

Mine is #003 and it has the base that says "Limited Edition 1988  Commemorative Replica" on it. Any idea of value?

[Barney Eaton 1,418]

It is worth more than $75

We believe that only the Select Sixty and Pacesetter models had a number......how they got mixed is anyones guess. 

Possibly at a lunch when employees were showing off their models (not knowing there was a number on some) the model

did not get back on its original base.

There have been a few show up without a base....those just lost their base somehow. 

I would think a pewter model is worth at least $250 many have been for sale at higher prices.  The last one I saw was at the OK City meet and the vendor was asking $550.  he took it home. 

[DAVES89 859]

I remember that guy. I talked him down to $450.00 and two front brake rotors thrown in. Marck from East Coast Reatta told me that was still too much. Bought a different one later for less then $300.00.

 Is the #003 significant?

[padgett 2,258]

Only to someone who gets to the bottom of things.

[Barney Eaton 1,418]

Various people that have spent time trying to document the model, tend to believe that 001 thru 060 would have been meant

for the ones for the Select Sixty dealers. 

Next would be the 100 Pacesetter awards.... we don't know it they started at 061 and went to 161  OR did they start at 100 and go to 200.

the problem being there are so few show up with numbers on the muffler it is difficult to build a database that will clear up the question.

The remaining models would not have a number.... 

If all the models had a number, we would be better able to estimate the total number made. 

[Y-JobFan 209]

On 2/2/2021 at 8:51 AM, Barney Eaton said:

Any chance it has a number on the muffler?

it does not 

[Y-JobFan 209]

The quality and weight are surprising on these, the base in my opinion doesn't fit the quality of the pewter Reatta'

[Y-JobFan 209]

wow, I think the one i just got is getting listed