On a recent Sunday, I ran across this Reatta coupe, that two-seat Buick “Allante” halo car of the late ’80s and early ’90s. I always liked these things, and this one was cherry. But, as I’m sure you’ve figured out from the title, I was interested in whether it had the vaunted touchscreen.
The odds were in my favor, as it seems more Reattas than Rivieras had them, though I did do a CC on an ’89 Riv that had it–and still worked, according to the owner.
I parked, walked across the street, and–bingo!–it indeed did have it. No one was around, so the question of it working remains unanswered.
GM in the ’80s had a lot of interesting technology like this, but the touchscreens on these cars, with their CTR displays, were not the most robust, and replacement of the unit was a fair chunk of change, even for the well-to-do owners who bought these cars new. They did, however, preview the future in in-car finger-smeared radio and HVAC technology–for better or worse.
For more on the Reatta, its CC can be found here.
Perfect timing Tom, I believe the wheels on the Reatta are the same ones as on the LeSabre T-Type except the centers have a cover for the hidden lugnuts instead of exposed as on the T…
A convertible Reatta would be nice, but the coupe just does not interest me.
I have been waiting for the right time to wright about my 77 skylark for a while now(I am not sure if you have had a cc on that yet or not)but you can not find many 231 skylarks out there with one owner&346 k miles original&still running on stock engine&trans.if there is any interest out there I will be happy to write about it.here is a photo.
Click on the “contact us” section of the blog and send in your article and tell Paul that you want to publish it as a “My Curbside Classic”.
Those are my favorite kinds of articles Slamak, would love to read it.
Your car looks great. The black wall tires mean business and remind me of the Nova sheriffs’ cars out here. Those things sounded really mean and remained in service forever.
The Skylark was always so distinctive and I thought GM did a terrific job translating that styling to the X-body cars where Skylark was best looking.
So sad to see how it ended up, totally confused.
Siamak, there hasn’t been a CC on the Skylark yet (but cousins Omega and Noza have had CCs).
Just think between your Buick and my Buick there is over 600k.
Another good example of GM trying harder with Buick division. My friends and I were amused about how it was Buick Craft Centre, not Center.
Whenever I stumble across a Reatta in the wild it always seem to be in remarkable condition, like this one. I bet many are still kept by their original owners.
The exterior styling looks fresh but looking at the pics I am reminded how long it took GM to move away from the hard square shapes inside. The interior of the ’92 Seville was a bit derivative but did modern things up nicely.
The seats in this car look lovely.
The CC Effect is in full force – saw one yesterday. Looked a bit tatty, though, contrary to your experience. Of course, this *is* the Middle West, though, salt belt and all that.
From a distance the best way to spot the GCC dash is the square top, the non GCC cars have a more curved dash top, there were more Rivieras with the GCC well, because the Riviera had the GCC for 2 more years than the Reatta had it, since the Rivy came out in 1986 and the Reatta in 1988. They never made a convertible Reatta with the GCC because it would totally wash out in the sunlight with the top down.
Did the Riv and Reatta ever get the color screen like the Trofeo? I’ve only ever seen the green-style screen on the Buicks.
Nope, only the monochrome one, when Buick dropped theirs, Oldsmobile picked it up with COLOR, and they had it as an option, contrary to Buick, where it was standard, unitl the end of the Toronados,
It goes without saying that you should buy the best condition of any car, with that said, the Reatta is an exceptional vehicle. Not only does it include most of the robust Buick equipment, like the 3.8 V6 and 440T4, but it was assembled at a special assembly line in Lansing. The vehicles were practically hand built fit and finish was impeccable. If you are looking for an attractive car like that they are a very good value.
88-89s do not have airbags and have the touch screens. 88s are especially interesting because early models have suede interiors that were prone to soiling easily. They switched to all leather towards the end of the 88 model year.
Original name was Reatta Craft Centre then became known as Lansing Craft Centre.
A very un-appreciated car these are. There are several around here – in red and white. I just saw one yesterday.
A nice car with or without a touch screen!
The most special Reatta of all is the Select Sixty, they were custom made for the 60 largest Buick dealers in the US, it was only for them, you couldn’t buy one as a civilian, over time, there have been a few that have come up for sale here and there, the Select 60 cars were triple while roadsters with matching while wheels and a red dash.
Never heard of that one. Very cool, reminds me of the ’76 Bicentennial Eldo.
Siamak please do a CC on your 77 Skylark as soon as possible, with a timeline about the repairs done on the car, (milage when repair done and cost of repair) , I would like to do an economic study on constant dollar basis on your Buick, I need also your purchase price option list and routine maintenance cost starting from 1977.
I appreciate if you can recall your milage on a yearly basis, from 0.000 in 1977 to 346.000
in 2013The result will be cost of ownership/mile for an average late 70’s car if kept for 36 Years .
I dated a girl in high school who had a black one with maroon interior. I believe it was an 88. The last time I saw her she still had it. I was impressed that she had kept it even though it was a fairly old car (8 years) when we graduated.
Fun times in that car.
One of these days when I come across my pics, I will do a CC on my old Skylark. Those of you that are part of The Brougham Society saw a pic of it the other day.
BTW, this Reatta is really nice!
Always liked the look of these, but somehow the roof and pillars appear like they should have been black, giving it a bit of a bubble top effect!
To me the Reatta was a good looking and good driving car. People bashed the fact it had the same trans and engine(3800) as regular production GM cars(like Lesabre etc) BUT that to me was good because parts are easy to find. Some folks bashed the fact it looked like the Buick Riv but that meant the electronic gauge cluster(which fails just like the CRT) and the CRT could be sourced from the Riv. The nice thing about these cars was the leather portfolio that came with them
I got a chance as an apprentice tech at a Buick dealer to drive a 1989 Reatta for a week to test out electronic gremlins. It was a nice car and was nice riding. It was the first 2 seater that I drove that did not feel like I was driving a bath tub(Vette, Miata etc)
I have been looking for a good example of a Reatta. But alas there none around as folks like to keep them
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