The First owner bought it in late '64 with vertually no options. (PHS documented!) I swear the only choice this guy made was whether to buy the car or not! So he drove it for 30 years (the last 12 years, 83-95 the car was only driven 12,000 miles) and then it was sold it to a Pontiac enthusiast.
How it looked when I got it home.
I purchased this car in June 1996 from a really cool guy named John. See his website here:www.vanishingpt.com
He owned the car (along with 5 others) and kept it for only 8-9 months and had put only 600 miles on it. He bought a custom car cover for it, which I got to keep.
Anyhow, I've loved this car (almost) every moment I've owned it. I drove it on Power Tour in 1998, and in the Sept. 1999 issue of Hot Rod Magazine, they decided to publish it in the Reader's Rides section telling everyone I "threatened" to be on power tour next time... BUT I HAD ALREADY GONE! It's ok guys, I don't hold it against you. Not everyone gets to have their car in a world-renown magazine! :-)
Before and After the bodywork/paint job in November 1997.
65 Bonneville Specs:
Bonneville since 1957-The Evolution.
The Pontiac Bonneville originally appeared in 1957 as a Limited edition series based upon the Star Chief. It was only available as a convertible and only 630 were built as well as two prototypes.
Click on the thumbnails for larger views.
The only engine available in these models was a Rochester Mechanical Fuel Injected 347cid V-8. With it's 10.25:1 compression, it produced an estimated 315hp @ 4800 rpm.
Too bad the car weighed nearly 4300 pounds!
The price of one of these beauties new in '57 was $5780; over twice the price of a base Star Chief at $2839.
In 1958 (My second favorite year-pic coming soon) the Bonneville became a line of it's own, with more than just one convertible body style; adding a 2-dr "sport coupe" to the line up.
Price also came down to only $3586 for the Convertible, but As the engine got bigger, it lost power.
Base Bonnie powerplant was a 370 cid V-8 with 10:1 compression topped with a Carter AFB 4barrel producing a dismal 285hp if you ordered it with an auto tranny.
1958 is also the first year for the Tri-Power options.
Here's a show-winning 1959 Bonnie ragtop at the Santa Barbara Concours DeElegance.
221.7 in. long
79.5 in. wide
4090 lbs (from PHS documentation)
389 Pontiac 4BBL V-8 producing 325 HP @4600 RPM and 428 Ft. Lbs. (Stock)
6-seater (mine has 4 lap belts, the rear ones were installed in 1967)
only 44,030 2-dr Bonnies were built in '65. That's less than the amount of the more desireable Grand Prix at 57,881 built.
Facts about MY Bonneville!
Engine Specs:
Engine is mostly stock,
Cam specs: Original cam, 273/289 duration, .407 lift with 1.5 ratio rockers
Mallory Breakerless Coversion. (No more points! YA-HOO!)
Acell supercoil and 8.8mm wires
10.5 Compression Ratio
143,000 Miles on Unrebuilt Engine and TH400 Tranny
1965 was the first year that the TH400 was used in Pontiacs. The TH400 was first used in Cadillacs in 1964.
Original open 10 bolt rear 2.56 gears.
The Luxurious Bonneville underwent the yearly body style changes, and in 1959 received the 389 I know so well.
The horsepower started at 300 in 1959 in the automatic and Peaked in 1965 at 325. This is not including the Tri-power options of course, these are the base engines.
If you ordered a 65 Bonnie with Tri-Power and a 421, you would be pounding out 376 Horses which got even the Bonneville moving pretty quickly.
A 65 Catalina 2+2 with this engine did 0-60 in 7.2 seconds and the 1/4 mile in 15.5 while testing in 1965.
