[north]

Another 69 has found its way into my garage last month, a 69 Bonneville Brougham 4 door hardtop. You guys might have seen it last fall on eBay.

The good:
Heavily equipped with 31 factory options
100% original paint, top and interior with mint interior and Cordova top
zero rust or dents or accidents
60,000 miles
numbers match
runs well
All original paperwork accounted for
one owner
cheap

The bad:
paint is too far gone for rescue
grubby engine bay
color scheme
not driven for 30 years and it shows

The last point is the weird combo of Expresso Brown, black Cordova top and green interior! I have the order contract from the dealer when he ordered it and a few things went wrong between the dealer and the plant build. First is that he ordered a gold interior but that was impossible because there was no gold interior available with the Brougham (despite the fact that the sales brochure shows an 2 page painting of a car with one), they also installed a black top even though the dark brown top was ordered.

Another assembly mistake is that the car was built without power locks despite them being ordered.

[north]

Power train is the typical 428-360, TH400 and 3.08 open. One neat option is the instant-aire pump and its all there and functional.

[63 Pontiac]

Great Find! Do all the necessary maintenance and that would be a daily driver for me. I could even live with the odd ball color combo.

got any more pics?

[David Brown]

Did it come with the Custom Sport Steering Wheel or did you add it. It looks brand new! I am ready to refinish my original. Unusual to find a complete Instant-Aire. Mine came with it, but when I bought the car in 1979, other than the engine brackets and connector, everything was missing. My good luck at a Daytona Speedway show, I asked one of the very few Pontiac vendors if he had any Instant-Aire parts. He was amazed that anyone even knew what that was. He had 2 complete NOS setups at his house. I bought one of them for the paltry sum of $250 back in the early 90s.

[hoosierGP]

It might be an odd color combination but it works! It's definitely period correct. Really a nice looking car and should be a great ride. Good find! I like it.

[north]

The Instant Aire is really complete, even the tube and retaining bracket are in the trunk. The only thing missing on the car is the spare tire (I found a NOS rim on eBay last week).

I just put on the woodwheel, its an original one with the original grain and paint but i think someone cleared over it, probably to preserve it. I've had it for years.

The mats front and rear are original which is neat since green (and gold) ones are not reproduced.

The dashpad is like new but like all these 69-70 B cars it has the dash bezel from hell with the bezel that warps or cracks (the early ones warp and the later ones which had a metal support added cracked) along with the aluminum dash trim plate that buckles, and lifts.

One thing is the combination of skirts and wire wheel covers is how frigging close the center cap is to the skirt, you can see where one side has slight scuff marks on the centercap. Fresh control arm bushings are a must!

[David Brown]

From the pictures, the color combination looks fine to me. Nice, well optioned land yacht.

[north]

The trick is to keep the windows up, it tones down the green. I always talk about changing colors but in the end they all stay their factory color when repainted.

There was a 69 GTO RAIV automatic hardtop for sale years ago in British Columbia (I think it is for sale in Ontario now). The car was triple green (midnight or Verdoro, not sure) but when I spoke to the original owner he told me the car was ordered and built Brown-green-green but the buyer reneged on the deal when he saw it. The combination of that color scheme and the high price of the RAIV option resulted in the car still being for sale new in 1971. The dealer finally gave up and painted it green and sold it to this guy without telling him that they had changed the color, he told me he only found out about it years later when he noticed brown paint in the jams under the peeling green (he thought the brown was a primer.

[north]

Forgot to add to the bad list that the nose is borderline un-repairable so I'm looking for a decent one.

[Ben M.]

That's a great car. I agree, I'd leave it as-is and drive it around town. I did the same to my '73 despite everyone telling me it needs to be painted. Old faded and worn (but original) paint I'd much rather have than primer or shiny new expensive paint.

Originally Posted by north

Another assembly mistake is that the car was built without power locks despite them being ordered.

You would think the dealer would have made that right by adding them when the car came in.

Originally Posted by north

Forgot to add to the bad list that the nose is borderline un-repairable so I'm looking for a decent one.

The big reason why I'm not sure I'll ever own a '69. That nose hasn't aged well over the years and finding nice ones is very difficult.

[north]

Yup $300-500 for a fixable nose. I don't know what car dealers are like your way but everyone I've ever dealt with is a slippery crook looking to screw you at every turn. They probably charged him for the locks even if they weren't installed.

Seriously though it would be a huge job to install power locks after the fact, all four doors opened up, dash pad off, seat and rug removed etc

[blubomber]

I just took the vacuum power door locks out of a '69 Catalina wagon last month. It wasn't bad but then again we weren't being delicate with the door panels (they were shot to begin with) and I just cut the hose rather than try to salvage all the original hose. Biggest pain was working the "S" hook off the connector hole on the latch inside the door.

[blubomber]

With the Bonneville though you would need low volume switches (Cadillac style) to use in the switch plate on the arm rest extension. The holes are already there on the underside but you'd have to cut out the square hole to fit the switch thru. For some goofy reason the Bonneville and GP pieces were different.

This would easily be half a day, maybe a full day project to install the door lock system. And of course there is the vacuum tank to mount on the front of the inner fender that you have to loosen up the front 1/4 panel to be able to drill the holes for the screws. Lots of work. Of course for an option freak like me I'd joyfully go down that rabbit hole. :-)

[SD455DJ]

North, That is a very nice score. I like the big 4-door hardtops and I would leave it as is and enjoy it. Here's mine, but it is a stripper car comparitively...only options were an AM radio and cordova top.

[Pontiac Derek]

Man i want i want i want !!!!!!!!!!
Awesome Find!!!
I would Love to have that and fix it up!
Good job!

[77 TRASHCAN]

Disc brakes?

[MikeNoun]

Originally Posted by SD455DJ

North, That is a very nice score. I like the big 4-door hardtops and I would leave it as is and enjoy it. Here's mine, but it is a stripper car comparitively...only options were an AM radio and cordova top.

Rolling off the assembly line.



Mike

[SD455DJ]

Mike, very cool assembly line shot. I've not seen that one before. Thanks for posting it.

North, do you have the PHS, window sticker, and or build sheet for your Brougham? I'd love to see all she was equipped with. I love the color combination, it exudes the '60's. She should move along pretty well even with the small valve 428 coupled with the 3.08's.

Dennis

[blubomber]

don't be fooled by the label "small valve" heads. The #46 head valves were bigger than the valves used on 421's from '61-'66 and had better breathing characteristics. I had no trouble breaking the tires loose with my similarly equipped Bonneville, even at 5,000 lbs. (Car + full tank of gas + me)

[SD455DJ]

Originally Posted by blubomber

don't be fooled by the label "small valve" heads. The #46 head valves were bigger than the valves used on 421's from '61-'66 and had better breathing characteristics. I had no trouble breaking the tires loose with my similarly equipped Bonneville, even at 5,000 lbs. (Car + full tank of gas + me)

Blubomber, I'm with you about these big small valve motors. I have a 70 Bonneville YH 360 hp 455 engine with its stock #15 small valve heads that is .030 over at 9.95 compression, 2802 Summit cam, factory intake, Q-jet, and log manifolds that dynoed at 390 hp and 510 lbft torque through 2-1/2" head pipes. It impressed everyone at the dyno that day. A similarly built 428 would probably hp the same but with a little less torque.

Dennis