Informative Reatta Article

[stall]

Great story from Hagerty about the Reatta:

 

 https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/the-unlikely-birth-and-untimely-death-of-buicks-two-seat-reatta/?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20_June_5_Newsletter_NewDD

 

[Cargirl]

Very good read, thanks for posting. I bet a bit nervous when the first sentence of an article is not true but the rest of the piece made up for it. FYI - the first sentence : "Buick’s first and only two-seater was conceived more than a decade before its birth.  

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by Cargirl (see edit history)

[nic walker]

 

 

Thanks Stall, and Hi Cargirl !!!

 

I think a downright Dynamite article....where can one find, and buy just that issue of the magazine please?

Edited June 5, 2020 by nic walker (see edit history)

[nic walker]

I can never seem to set and or keep my member designation correctly.  I change it to enter a post with my original sign in data (the correct profile with several thousand posts), and the next and subsequent entries/posts  it reverts back to the one above...anyone have any suggestions please, and thanks,

 

Nic

[padgett]

You mean the model 10 or the series 45 speedsters ?

 

BTW you realize the link in the first post is for Hagerty but really goes to facebook ?

[stall]

5 hours ago, nic walker said:

 

 

Thanks Stall, and Hi Cargirl !!!

 

I think a downright Dynamite article....where can one find, and buy just that issue of the magazine please?

 

[Cargirl]

Buick two seater available at Volo.

 

https://www.volocars.com/vehicles/15021/1938-buick-special-series-40-business-coupe

Edited June 6, 2020 by Cargirl (see edit history)

[stall]

5 hours ago, nic walker said:

  The article is from Hagerty Insurance but I found it on Facebook.  My only quibble about the article is the "complex-Top-operation"  I've owned many convertibles and the Reatta's is by far the easiest to operate.  The writer must never have owned a British car. 

 

5 hours ago, nic walker said:

 

Thanks Stall, and Hi Cargirl !!!

 

I think a downright Dynamite article....where can one find, and buy just that issue of the magazine please?

 

[handmedownreatta]

i want those steering wheel controls on the prototype.

[Y-JobFan]

Once again to the naysayers, just how many cars from that era get as many feature articles as the Reatta? If there wasn’t interest in them or they were not on the radar there would be zip about them.  

[doity]

I just love the prototype interior, especially the vertical CD player.  Funny thing is just a few days ago I was thinking (after gazing at my circa 1985 Boombox with vertical CD player) just how great that would had made the interior look.  So futuristic looking especially with the other electronics that the Reatta had......real or imagined.

[padgett]

BTW the direct link is here

Interesting that the Trofeo got the color display.

Personally like the 88-89 steering wheel.

Have no problem reaching anything, don't need steering wheel controls (on my '90 Bonneville & 93 GTP you did need them).

Allante got a V-8 and for the first two years was slower than the Reatta & top was much harder to put up. Does have almost as many buttons as my CTS.

 

ps GM was not going to let anything be faster than a Corvette and the Fiero GT came close.

[Howard]

Thanks for posting the article.  I've owned many cars over the years and as I've said before, the Reatta was my favorite hands down.  The car was comfortable to drive and was spacious considering it's size.  At the gas pump, it usually generated favorable comments.  I owned my Reatta for about ten years before the engine bit the dust.  While the car was a constant money pit, oddly enough I never had issues with the electronic dash, it was a pleasure to drive.  I still miss it.

[handmedownreatta]

i often find myself looking for the volume control instead of the road.

[Ronnie]

If we are going to wish for things we would like GM to have included in the Reatta -  I would like to have a '90 instrument panel as well as a touch screen in my Reatta.

[padgett]

That way you could see the instruments twice.

[B Jake Moran]

On 6/6/2020 at 1:55 AM, Y-JobFan said:

Once again to the naysayers, just how many cars from that era get as many feature articles as the Reatta? If there wasn’t interest in them or they were not on the radar there would be zip about them.  

Nope don’t agree. These puff pieces in fact are a disgrace. I guess they are intended to point out certain cars as collectible but they need to do their due diligence in the real world, which they won’t.  Fantasyland. Read these words before I get deleted. 
 

it was a nice article. But Hagerty should just outsource it to Hemings and others so a new but very similar article does not show up in 6 months.  

Edited June 7, 2020 by B Jake Moran (see edit history)

[padgett]

Do you have any idea how hard it is for nitch magazines to find someone who is both knowlegable and can write in proper English ? Back when I was writing, I had no problem placing everything I wrote though when had a monthly column sometimes had to strain to find a subject. I thought it a decent piece probably by a younger person (these daze everyone is a yonker). The photographs were interesting. As to the CD, in the 80s cassettes were still king and Delco Radio did not produce any CDs until the '90 model year. And then they were less than reliable. Thirty years on CDs last just long enough to put on my phone. Today I have handsfree in all of my cars and cassette adapters work well but CD are just a slot for a mag mount.

 

My 88 will probably be in my estate sale but was far from a perfect car. Biggest issue was power but that was not Buick's fault rather the THM440T4/4T60 trans that was at its torque limit. Cadillac got a "strengthened" version called the F7 but was still limited to 5 hp more than the Reatta despite a 4100 V8 for the Allante. A more robust version (4T60HO) was available in 1989 for the Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo 3.1 but even that requires computerized throttle back on shifts to keep from scattering all over the pavement. (Turbo Regals and Grand Nationals were RWD). Cadillac used this improvement to open the 4100 up to a 4.5 or 200hp in '89. Buick didn't.

 

Thing is in 1970 two lane highways were the rule and a "passing gear" was essential. By the '80s, the Interstate was near complete and the NMSL (55) was in place. People who bought a Reatta were more interested in MPG in cruise than sheer speed. Those who were bought Fiero GTs and Corvettes. What the Reatta did was to eat long distances on 87 PON, with A Whole Bunch (c) of luggage, and in A/Ced silence.

[Y-JobFan]

21 hours ago, B Jake Moran said:

Nope don’t agree. These puff pieces in fact are a disgrace. I guess they are intended to point out certain cars as collectible but they need to do their due diligence in the real world, which they won’t.  Fantasyland. Read these words before I get deleted. 
 

it was a nice article. But Hagerty should just outsource it to Hemings and others so a new but very similar article does not show up in 6 months.  

Wouldn’t expect you would of thought any differently.  For the life of me I can’t figure out why you are even here. 

[Y-JobFan]

On 6/6/2020 at 7:39 PM, Ronnie said:

If we are going to wish for things we would like GM to have included in the Reatta -  I would like to have a '90 instrument panel as well as a touch screen in my Reatta.

I miss the touch screen in my 90’s, of course in the conv it would probably be useless unless they had some kind of hood over it. I wish they had heated seats as well. The 16 way seats and CD should have been standard in a car at that price point as well. 

[padgett]

The bean counters wouldn't stretch to a 7" wheel and you want a CD (GM across the line got CDs in 90) ?

[Y-JobFan]

1 hour ago, padgett said:

The bean counters wouldn't stretch to a 7" wheel and you want a CD (GM across the line got CDs in 90) ?

Was mentioning items that should have been included at that price point, when you think about it, a 90 convertible was more than a 90 Cadillac Fleetwood.  Another item the Reatta is missing that should have been included was a carpeted trunk as it's competitors all had.  

[padgett]

Huh ? My trunks have been carpetted.

[Cargirl]

All mine had carpet too. 

[Y-JobFan]

I am talking color keyed carpet made out of the same as I inside 

[padgett]

You want egg in your beer ?

[Y-JobFan]

For close $37K yes

 

[Ronnie]

11 minutes ago, Y-JobFan said:

For close $37K yes

 

For the price all the Reattas sold for you would expect to at least get a cup holder but you had to wait until '91 for that.  I guess GM was saving the color matched trunk carpet for the '92 Reatta.  I would have settled for gray speckled paint in the trunk if they had installed the SC 3800 in a Reatta like they should have.

[Y-JobFan]

Maybe a Reatta T-Type with a SC 3800 would have been nice, but there is more than adequate power for It’s initial and intended market as a Blvd cruiser And for what 95% of the original buyers desired. It was respectable performance in its day and similar to its rivals.  None of it’s rivals were true sports cars. The retro Thunderbirds made the same mistake by cutting content corners that the competition offered but still coming in a a premium price. Sometimes it’s the little things, imagine a customer opening the trunk of a TC and seeing the beautiful lined trunk and then opening the Reatta’s and seeing run of the mill grey trunk padding. I liken the Reatta at the time as putting on a Tux and forgetting the cuff links for the completed package. The bean counters hurt the Reatta sales without doubt. I enjoy the Reatta’s comfortable ease that it delivers on the road, I would have looked at other options had I wanted a sports car, the trade off for performance at the time came at a cost, and that was comfortable ease. I guess I can see and enjoy the Reatta for a what it was supposed to be And not feel the need to do so-called “upgrades” To make it something it was never intended to be, to me the joy of owning a car is enjoying the car for exactly what it is and I never alter any of my collection with anything that it couldn’t have come from the factory with. 

[padgett]

I remember some caars of the day (Chrysler LeBaron) that I wondered if they would make it across an intersection. 0-60 was "today" and the NMSL (55) was in effect. Guess we should be glad they cruise so well at 70 today. BTW the cupholder was intro'd in 90 but is why many travel cups have reduced diameter bottoms (and still don't fit). I use a Euro-JR adjustable velcroed to the ashtray lid.

[Barney Eaton]

The writer of that article (Gary Witzenburg) work for Buick on the Reatta project back when they were being built.

He has both first hand info and connections to get info from people that were directly associated with different functions .

I always look for articles by Gary.... he also writes for Collectable Automobile

[padgett]

+1 on Gary being a professional writer.

As Oscar Wilde once said "The only thing worse than being in the papers is not being in the papers". Any print inches are good.