My Polo Green Reatta RPO options "rarity"?

[PaulP117]

Hey, Y'all! 

I recently have been putting a bit more elbow grease into figuring out where I'm gonna take my polo green 91' Reatta for the future as far as restoration goes, and I want to keep the car genuine to its factory specs and additions so i grabbed the RPO list from GM (The RPO list for my car will be posted for y'all to look at) since there's a few questions I had about things that I've noticed that are different on my green Reatta compared to every other green Reatta on the net that I've seen pictures of. The first thing I noticed is that my green reatta came from factory with black trim moldings (41Q) compared to the painted green moldings I've seen on every other green reatta. Is this option somewhat unique to have for a polo green reatta? Something i just haven't been able to figure out since there's so little pictures of them around. And then secondly i noticed my gold pinstripes aren't the factory design that every single other reatta I've seen have (minus the ones that don't have any stripes ofc). They are different in the sense that my stripes do not fade out and back at the middle of the door, mine go straight through the door. In my RPO list it says i have (YL6) which i understand means it would have came without stripes at all from the factory.? But the thing is that's strange about it, is the fact that i am almost 100% certain my Reatta has never had any after market stripes since the original owner who bought the car brand new before me is a family member of mine, and i did have very old but clear enough pictures of the car from when it was bought with the strange non-OEM pin stripes. Anyone have any theories on it? Does it make this reatta any more unique then the other 120 green reattas produced? 

[Y-JobFan]

The stripes were probably added by the dealer before he ever bought it.

 

[Barney Eaton]

To answer the first question about the side molding color. 

Black was the default color if the dealer did not check the box that would make the stripes body color.

This is true on all body colors,  so when you see Reattas of other exterior colors,  the molding could be black or body color.

The factory pinstripe was standard but the color needed to be selected by the ordering dealer.

Somewhere I have a 1991 Reatta order form that I will post when I find it. 

There were 7 pinstripe colors and the option to delete the pin stripe. 

There was no restriction on the order form as to the color you could order but it did suggest the pinstripe match the interior. 

In some cases that was not possible... since all Polo Green cars had tan interior I suspect 99% had a gold pinstripe but techniclaly

a red pinstripe could be ordered.   I am sure the Zone office would question that but if that is what the dealer/customer wanted they 

would probably let the order go thru.  

The Service Parts label for your car is located in the trunk on the right side of the spare tire well.  Take a picture of it and post it here and we 

can decode it for you.

[Barney Eaton]

Back from taking a neighbor to the airport........... 

Attached is an early 1991 order form.   note that Polo Green is not listed as a exterior color.   Pretty sure I have a later one that has the green listed. 

I am going to give you a challange to get the information on your own.    The problem is the link you need is presently down. 

He will be the steps and I suggest you create an Excel type file to log the information. 

Using the original Reatta database (on the link that is down) make a list of all the Polo Green cars (by vin number)

The file will have most of the information you are looking for and depending on your computer skills you might just download the Reatta database and just pick the green cars and make

a new file with them....  what you want to determine is the options or possible differences in the 120 cars. 

You Excel file should have the a column for the following .... vin, sunroof, CD, 16 way, side molding, and pinstripe.

The original database does not have the pinstripe color but does indicate if the car is known to have pinstripe delete.

Also the original database may be missing some information because we only entered what was sent to us. 

Now the clean up.... go to the Tom Benvie file for 1991 cars.    It contains information on all 1519 Reattas built and you can use it to fill in the blanks. 

The Benvie information looks like the cars Service Parts sticker.   so everything is in code. 

You can look at the 1991 order form for reference..... example if CA1 appears on the code list it indicates the car has a SUNROOF

55A = gold pinstripe

YL6 = pinstripe delete

41Q = black side molding

B84 = body color side molding (Service  Parts sticker would never contain both 41Q & B84)

 

When you complete the Excel sheet.  You can sort or add up the  columns and see how many Green cars had what options. 

It will be interesting to see if any have a pinstripe other than 55A

I will get you the link information as soon as it becomes available.

[PaulP117]

4 hours ago, Barney Eaton said:

To answer the first question about the side molding color. 

Black was the default color if the dealer did not check the box that would make the stripes body color.

This is true on all body colors,  so when you see Reattas of other exterior colors,  the molding could be black or body color.

The factory pinstripe was standard but the color needed to be selected by the ordering dealer.

Somewhere I have a 1991 Reatta order form that I will post when I find it. 

There were 7 pinstripe colors and the option to delete the pin stripe. 

There was no restriction on the order form as to the color you could order but it did suggest the pinstripe match the interior. 

In some cases that was not possible... since all Polo Green cars had tan interior I suspect 99% had a gold pinstripe but techniclaly

a red pinstripe could be ordered.   I am sure the Zone office would question that but if that is what the dealer/customer wanted they 

would probably let the order go thru.  

The Service Parts label for your car is located in the trunk on the right side of the spare tire well.  Take a picture of it and post it here and we 

can decode it for you.

Thanks for the info Barney! That does clear up the side molding question for me i think, it was just a very strange thing since i could not find a single picture of a green car without the green painted side molding anywhere. And posted below is the Service Parts label from the trunk well

[Barney Eaton]

 

The car has no extra cost options and is a pinstripe delete car.   The YL6 tells us that. 

A quick count of green cars shows only 8 had the YL6 option. 

By 1991 the dealers had figured out the order options and most cars were ordered with the molding body color. 

However some colors looked better with the black molding.... I think black molding on most colors made the car look

longer especially colors with a high contrast with the black .... like white and silver. 

It would take a deeper look to see how may no option cars also had pinstripe delete. 

 

I had a 1990 Select Sixty convertible that had a red pinstripe that was continuous like yours.   All Select Sixty cars had 

the pinstripe delete so I spent hours removing the pinstripe tape.  

[Barney Eaton]

	1G4EC13LXMB901424
	Vehicle:	REATTA 2 DR
	Year:	1991
	Build Date:	5/3/1991
	RPO	Item Description	Total Number
	UX1	RADIO,AM/FM STEREO,WEATHER,CASSETTE,EQUALIZER,ETR,INCLUDES CLOCK STEREO AM/FM W/CASS & EQLZR(UX1)	716
	YL6	ACCENT STRIPE COLOR(DELETE) YL6)	160
	1SA	PACKAGE-OPTION 01 (1SA)	1,506
	1SZ	PACKAGE OPTION- (1SZ)	1,478
	41Q	MOLDING COLOR,BLACK (41Q)	721
	48U	EXTERIOR COLOR,PRIMARY,DK YELLOW GREEN METALLIC (48U)	121
	66F	COVERING COLOR - FLOOR MAT, MED BEECHWOOD (66F)	707
	66I	INTERIOR TRIM,MEDIUM BEECHWOOD (66I)	707
	664	TRIM COMBINATION LEATHER, MED BEECHWOOD (664)	707
	669	SEAT BELT COLOR,MEDIUM BEECHWOOD (669)	707
	AR9	SEAT,FRONT BUCKET,DRIVER,PASSENGER,MANUAL RECLINING(EUROPEAN STYLE) MAN RECL FRT BKT ST,DELUXE(AR9)	908
	IP4	TRIM,INTERIOR DESIGN (IP4)	906
	NA5	EMISSION SYSTEM,FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS FEDERAL EMIS(NA5)	1,395
	PF4	WHEEL,16X7(ALUMINUM)(USED WITH TROFEO SPORT COUPE WL3) AL WHL(PF4)	1,473
	QPE   Do not pay much attention to the  far right column it is counting all Reatta build.	TIRE ALL- P215/60R16/N BL R/PE ST TL AL2 TIRE(QPE)	1,507

Edited March 18, 2023 by Barney Eaton (see edit history)

[PaulP117]

1 hour ago, Barney Eaton said:

 

The car has no extra cost options and is a pinstripe delete car.   The YL6 tells us that. 

A quick count of green cars shows only 8 had the YL6 option. 

By 1991 the dealers had figured out the order options and most cars were ordered with the molding body color. 

However some colors looked better with the black molding.... I think black molding on most colors made the car look

longer especially colors with a high contrast with the black .... like white and silver. 

It would take a deeper look to see how may no option cars also had pinstripe delete. 

 

I had a 1990 Select Sixty convertible that had a red pinstripe that was continuous like yours.   All Select Sixty cars had 

the pinstripe delete so I spent hours removing the pinstripe tape.  

That's really interesting actually, I had no idea that the no stripe build option for the green car count could be so low.  And about your select sixty having the continuous stripe as well, makes me wonder if that stripe was a single dealership specific option that the dealership chose to have added onto their reattas to stand out or something among everyone else. Either way, now knowing that about the striping i feel a lot better about actually removing my pin stripes as you did on your select sixty, because the years have been fairly kind to my paint thankfully so far but not the gold stripes (im fairly certain mine were added as stickers instead of being painted). Every time i wash my reatta i can see just a little bit of the stripes disappear each time so it wont hurt me knowing it just going back to factory spec haha 

[Barney Eaton]

GM had pinstripe decals available for collision repair but don't know if I have every seen a car with them applied. 

The originals were hand striped with a fixture at the factory. 

Most dealers replaced damaged pinstripes with pinstriping tape.   

If yours are tape (probably) you can carefully remove them and polish the surface.   There might be some slight paint 

fade .   In my case the tape came off fairly easily, but the adhesive was difficult to remove with damaging the paint or finish. 

Best info I have says you car has always been in the Illinois area,  my car came from Houston so it definitely was not the same dealer adding the stripes. 

[Barney Eaton]

Your Service parts label tells you lot about your car. 

48U is the green paint. 

at the bottom of the label are the paint codes if you want to purchase touch up paint. 

9806 would be the number to use if you were buying paint from a paint store. 

the little touch up bottles would be coded with the 48 number. 

those 66 numbers are for your tan floor mats, tan seat belts, etc

[PaulP117]

2 hours ago, Barney Eaton said:

Your Service parts label tells you lot about your car. 

48U is the green paint. 

at the bottom of the label are the paint codes if you want to purchase touch up paint. 

9806 would be the number to use if you were buying paint from a paint store. 

the little touch up bottles would be coded with the 48 number. 

those 66 numbers are for your tan floor mats, tan seat belts, etc

After i remove these pinstripes i think that's exactly my plan now, so all that is gonna come in handy! After 180,000 miles (miracle my trans didn't need to be rebuilt just yet) on this car I'm very impressed by how well GMs paint held up so far. The only places that i've been wanting to do touch ups on are rock chips on the front bumper ofc and chips on the headlight covers (driver side headlight cover may honestly need to be repainted fully, the paint there has gotten so thin) 

[minor4326]

@Barney Eaton Absolutely great info.! I'd love to see the latest order form that included Polo Green and presumably the optional radio. 

[Barney Eaton]

I found this order form dated 1/91 and it has the polo green listed. 

The radio option was U1H which was the standard radio with the single disc CD added

There is probably a later order form as white seats and white wheel do not show up on this order form. 

That is strange because the form is dated 1/91 but I have a Buick Product Information bulletin dated 2-26-90 

announcing they would be available on 1991 convertibles... white seats were $100  If ordered with 16 way 

they were $780

Some where I also have the bulletin announcing the availabity of the white wheel for $100 (only on white cars)

Of further interest.... the numbers on the far right of the Benvie list labeled "total number"  I am not sure where 

they came from and there was a web site that also listed these total numbers and i talked with them point out  errors. 

But if we use those number it says 160 Reattas in 1991 had the pinstripe delete option that is almost 9% and from my 

experience I think that is high.   Also the black side molding is listed as 720 units (remember all black cars would automatically 

have black molding) that number is 40% which also seems high for cars build in 1991.    

The way the data is listed in the 1991 (Benvie) list, the only way of counting any option is manually. 

[Y-JobFan]

20 hours ago, PaulP117 said:

That's really interesting actually, I had no idea that the no stripe build option for the green car count could be so low.  And about your select sixty having the continuous stripe as well, makes me wonder if that stripe was a single dealership specific option that the dealership chose to have added onto their reattas to stand out or something among everyone else. Either way, now knowing that about the striping i feel a lot better about actually removing my pin stripes as you did on your select sixty, because the years have been fairly kind to my paint thankfully so far but not the gold stripes (im fairly certain mine were added as stickers instead of being painted). Every time i wash my reatta i can see just a little bit of the stripes disappear each time so it wont hurt me knowing it just going back to factory spec haha 

I doubt it had anything to do with chosing the stripe to make it stand out, it was the cheapest quickest  easiest way to add a stripe and make a quick buck. It is also stylistically awful 

 

[padgett]

Of course if counting everything, my Judge is one of one.

[Barney Eaton]

You count everything .......  even the extra trunk light (if that was an option)

I learned a long time ago that being rare does not mean it is worth more..... I owned a Corvair (1964 rampside )

[padgett]

Agree, there is rare and then there is desirable. OTOH back in the day I special ordered a few GM cars that were green with a saddle interior. Know at least one was the only one built that way.

[Barney Eaton]

I am old enough to have custom ordered several cars. 

In small town America,  car dealers had very few new cars on their lot.    So the dealers were open 

to ordering cars since it was a sale and they had no $$ tied up in a vehicle sitting on the lot. 

Here are the ones I remember.....

(1) Spring of 1960 ... Corvair Monza coupe white with green interior and high output engine.. ordered the 4 speed but they were not available to the public until 1961

(2) 1964 Malibu SS  silver black interior  220hp small block and 4 speed

(3) 1967 Tempest Safari wagon  V8 automatic and my first air conditioned car (I had also moved to Kentucky and needed air) 

(4) 1973 Olds Cutlass Supreme Saloon  brown with tan interior one of the first 4 doors with bucket seats and one of the first with headlight dimmer on the turn signal. 

(5) 1982 Olds Toronado... did not actually order it but I call the zone office to find the car and options I wanted and found a dealer about 100 miles away that had it. 

Some of these cars might have been made in low numbers but that is water under the bridge. 

[Barney Eaton]

Here is the link to the Reatta database. 

https://vdoefx.com/reatta.net/

 

The original database is there plus the 1991 compiled by Tom Benvie.

Thanks to Tom Jenkins for all the years he maintained these databases