[38speedtwin]

Hey Guys,

I recently decided to part ways with this project, and have had several people ask how and why I did this to the car. I figured I'd put a little of the info up here, since I had repeated interest...

So I picked this car up a few years ago, when I decided that I wanted a big 2 door as a decent looking daily driver. The car had been rear ended on the left hand side and had been repaired with some nice metal work. When it came to me, it was in black primer and had no tail lights in it. I also received it without any of the side Bonneville trim. The floors were decent (originally a California car), but the trunk seal was long gone and with the resulting water, the pans were pretty much missing.

I picked up some replacement pans, and started getting those in place, and I asked a friend of mine to throw a paint job on it. The plan was to get it painted and on the road, and then pick at the rest of it as I drove it (interior, mechanics, finish the pans, etc.).

Just before it was set to be painted, I picked up a new LH taillight (the original was broken) and decided to bolt it into the car. Must to my dismay, I realized that the metal work to fix the back-end had been done without a taillight to match it to, and wasn't usable

That is when we went down to Leon's, which is large junkyard 1 1/2 from me, and went looking for a partial quarter panel. The only one we found that was usable, was on a Catalina - so we took the last foot-and-a-half of the LH quarter, and the entire tail panel. Stitching it in was a little bit of a challenge, as we had to make some additional metal patches to get the trunk to mate with the Catalina tail panel. The Bonneville one is quite a bit different, and come into the trunk area more. The other issue was the fact that the curvature on the top of the quarter is a little bit different on the Catalina, as the quarter is shorter. That took just a little reshaping, and we were able to finish stitching it in.

The result is pretty decent. It's nowhere close to show car material, and if you know where to look, you can see a few things (like looking at the top edge where it meets the trunk). For my purpose, which was a daily driver, it turned out just fine though.

Here are a few pics of it after it's first paint job. It's basically ready for the road here, although the front bumper and rear bumper are both a bit bent:







Shortly after these pics, the paint cracked on the trunk and roof (the painter didn't sand down the already cracking primer that was on the car). As a result, I had another guy paint it again. This time I took all of the windows out, rechromed the rear bumper, and got a straight one for the front. Regretfully, I never got back to it after the windshields were put back in

I personally like the look of the car better than either the Catalina or the Bonneville. I was never a big fan of the Bonnie trim and taillights, and like the look of the longer back end (I know I'm not with the majority there). I picked up a full set, plus extras of the Catalina side trim, and was planning to extend the quarter parts, to finish the stretched Catalina look.

Anyway, that's about it - let me know what you think!

-Shaggy

[OZZIEVILLE 67 2 door]

Very cool looking car with a good story

Keep up the good work and more photos if possible

Welcome to the Darkside.

John L.

[Deadhead]

The car is awesome, but beyond that, I love that THOSE Pics were taken in Falls Church. I lived there for a while in the late 80s, and my '66 Bonne was a daily driver until I got rear-ended. Some stories to tell. Lot of HARD CORE Pontiac people there with tales not many would believe. Many rare and bad a$$ cars have been built in your neck of the woods. Sorry you are parting ways with the car, but that place is hell on cars. Hopefully, it will go to a good home in a less hazardous location. Kudos for your ingenuity in using what you had to build a fine car. That is what it is all about. Leon? He is there to help the walkin'' man.

[bullheimer]

did you put the windsheild in? i am looking for somebody to tell me how to do it.

[Goatracer1]

What you now have is very similar to a Star Chief.