Photo: Reat90 via CC
While Buick may be focusing solely on S(YOU)Vs right now, the brand has a long history of making sedans and coupes. One vehicle of the 80s that often gets missed among the list of iconic Buicks is the Reatta. Let’s take a look at this car that only lasted four years on the assembly line.
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A brief history
The first version of the Buick Reatta was created in 1986 at the Reatta Craft Center (now the Lansing Craft Center) in Lansing, Michigan. Two years later, the two-seater coupe was a production model with a 3.8-liter V6 under the hood. Buick introduced a convertible variant of the Reatta in 1990 along with the ability to add a CD player.
Photo: Alden Jewell via CC
- A portion of the Reatta was assembled by hand on an assembly line before robots took over.
- Just 21,751 models were sold from 1988-1991.
- A driver’s airbag wasn’t added to the Reatta until 1990.
- In its later years, the Reatta came with an owner’s folio, pen, tire gauge, flashlight, and a “Craftsman’s Log” showing the signatures of the supervisors for the car’s assembly.
- The next convertible from Buick wasn’t available until 2016 with the Cascada.
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Unfortunately, production of the Reatta ended on May 10, 1991. But we did get, quite possibly, the most ’80s of all car commercials when the coupe debuted — complete with a cringey jingle.
Morgan (they/them) has lived all over the USA and in Europe. Now residing just outside of Philly, Morgan often spends time spotting Canadian actors in film and television, testing their caffeine tolerance levels, and playing board games with their wife. See more articles by Morgan.
