Buick Reatta There First

* “Running With a Younger Crowd” [Feb. 4], an account of Buick’s plan to burnish its image among the “younger, hipper” crowd, defies belief.

Why? Wholly omitted is Buick’s attempt to do just that with its beautiful Reatta, built 1987-91 as a handcrafted hardtop (1987-89) and a handcrafted and handsome convertible (1990-91).

Less than 2,500 of the hardtops were made annually and only 325 of the immaculately sculptured ’91 convertible--”It’s not a car; it’s an aphrodisiac.” Very appealing to the hip.

Why discontinued? Corporate decision-making at its worse, but at least the automotively astute among us have become the proud owners of a well-nigh custom-made classic.

On July 6, 1992, this proud owner received from Buick’s Reatta Craft Centre in Lansing, Mich., a personalized brass nameplate stating that my remarkable Reatta had been “handcrafted expressly for John Carl Brogdon.”

JOHN CARL BROGDON

Culver City