The Buick Reatta was an Eighties oddball, even by GM’s standards. Essentially it is a shrunken version of the Buick Riviera that was built by hand between 1989 and 1991. Originally planned to be a sports coupe that fell in line with Buick’s recent performance revival (the Grand Nationals and LeSabre T-types), the Reatta was put into production right about the time that GM brass decided that Buick needed to maintain a “mature image” and not mess about with this hot-rodding tomfoolery, so it got saddled with the corporate 3.8 V6, an automatic trans, and enough electronics to give an aircraft electrician nightmares for months.
Then, they took said coupe, handed it off to PPG and let it pace the 1989 Indy 500. Good call.
This particular Reatta is a one-of-one in the ultimate sense: ChampCar, the sponsor of the Indycar series, somehow got this particular Buick with a one-off body, shot it in PPG “Root Beer”, and used the car for pace car duties and to provide “executive rides” around the track. Considering normal Reattas were electronically limited to 125 mph, we hope someone at least defeated the limiter. In the trunk is a severely overkill fuel cell system and dual batteries.
This Reatta is currently on eBay for $35,000 (click here for listing), which, considering the history, low mileage (11,851), condition and exclusivity, would be worth it to a collector. As for us, we’ll wait until the Chevrolet XT-2 Pace Truck concept goes up for sale.
Kenny Bernstein’s Funny Car was a Reatta. Remember seeing a photo of the roof folding in at speed. Guess it was a bit thin : )
The 1989 Indy 500 Pace Car was a Turbo Trans Am, not this Reatta.
This is one of several cars that would have been used for taking VIPs for rides during Indycar events throughout the entire season back when PPG was the series title sponsor. Seller is not claiming that the car is the Indy 500 pace car for that year.
What an ugly car. We could buy this and the 120,000 El Camino and have two of the most worthless overpriced vehicles on earth. My neighbor has a red one with 18,000 on the clock just sits in the garage. He wont sell it either because he hates the car. Says it was the worst car he ever bought and had nothing but trouble with it. Says he’s leaving it in his will to the person he dislikes the most. He is quite a funny guy.