Bonneville Road Trip
 

Hi. I Purchased a 59 Bonneville Vista in Brisbane Qld Au two weeks ago and flew to Brisbane last Friday to drive it home. The car had not been road registered for about 10 years but info provided at purchase indicated that it had been well maintained. My friend Kel, who likes a good roadtrip, and myself loaded up approx 40 kilos of spares and tools we thought we may need and flew to Brisbane from Cairns early Friday morning. The purchaser picked us up at the airport and drove us to his home to pick the car up. It was not registered and I had obtained a 4 day permit for the trip as I thought it may take 3 days plus and extra day for anything unforseen. We knew the fuel smelt stale but the seller had put in 15 litres and recommended we fill up at the first opportunity. We did not get to the first station before it failed to proceed on a busy freeway. Closer inspection revealed a filthy fuel filter. Lucky we had a spare and we were on our way. At the first opportunity we purchased 10 inline filters, all the stock held at the auto shop. At this stop we also noticed a leak from the heater and capped off the heater hoses. With these little problems fixed we continued our journey with a filter change required at between about 80 to 100 miles. The car drove pretty well except for a huge exhaust leak from the left manifold. We continued all day and almost all the next day when at about 6 pm it required a filter change. Following the change we could not get it started. Tried everything we could think of to start the car but was unsuccessful so a bit after 7pm I rang my wife at home and asked if she could organise a flat bed to pick us up. It was a bit of a challange but by about 8-30pm a guy turned up from 100 km north at Sarina to rescue us. It is a lonely bit of road and we were lucky he came out on a Saturday night to assist. Arrived in Sarina at about 10-30pm and found accommodation at a hotel where the car was unloaded. I had taken a battery charger so the battery was charged overnight. I like the design of the 59 but I wonder if the designer gave much thought into the deep centered V in the bonnet. It rained overnight and when opening the bonnet in the morning theV in the bonnet funneled heaps of water onto the distributer. Luckily a can of dewatering spray was in stock. With the fully charged battery she fired right up and we were on our way. Drove most of the next day without problems besides the regular filter change until we fueled up in Townsville when a hose from the head to the water pump let go. Luckily there was an auto store within about a kilometre and we able to cut up a hose from a Subaru to suit. The old hose looked original, one spring clip was hard to get off while the other broke in two as soon as it was touched.
Stayed in Ingham overnight and got home to Cairns in early afternoon Monday. Did a couple more filter changes on the way and was stopped for a permit check by the traffic police as we had no number plates.
All in all we had a great road trip and attracted plenty of attention each time we stopped. I am sure not to many people have seen a 59 Bonneville Vista before. We used 14 filters to get home on the trip of over a 1000 miles.

The car was imported new to Australia, converted here and the original owner was a doctor in Sydney. It is not restored and is a survivor with one repaint over 30 years ago. The front door panels have been restored and it still has original clear vinyl seat covers.
I have other Pontiacs as well as my mate Kel who did the trip with me.
Bruce
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...psca561453.jpg
Good conversion
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...psf88c276e.jpg
Kel and the Bonneville
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps14c6009c.jpg
Midnight before we got to bed after this stop
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps942ca46b.jpg
sad sight

Now that is one cool story. Thanks for sharing.

Very Nice

It has been 46 years since I last drove my 59 Bonneville convertible. Your car looks good and a good story as well.

Cool story. The 59 Pontiac is one of my favorites.

Importsmasher

That is an awesome story. Its like an episode of Roadkill.

Thank You. I enjoyed the read and your story, it was as if I was along for the ride. Excellent! Enjoy your Pontiac and keep us posted on future endeavors.

Nice!

Great story! Lovely car too.

Very nice car and story. As soon as I saw the car I thought I had a seen it before for sale, so I went and had a dig...found the first one from September 94 last night.
I thought I had the wrong car, or my memory was wrong. I just had another look this morning and found this ad I saved from December 1988...still has the matching ding in the front RH bumper!

Awesome car, imagine this on the streets out here new. Would have been mind blowing compared to most cars on the road at the time. Anyhow, hope you like the old ad and look forward to seeing more photos of it. I wonder where the other one is today?

59 Bonnie road trip
 

This is good old Aussie ingenuity at its best. Sounds like some of the events I went through when I worked with some of the Ford Geelong engineers several years ago. A 1000 mile trip with an unknown car shows the true Outback grit & spirit. Good luck with your new toy! G'day

This is a great story. You are a brave soul. :)

Hi 70 Steve, Yes it is the car in the 88 ad, the after market centre caps in the hub caps also confirm that. A friend of the guy I got it from purchased it in early 89. It had only done approx 5000 miles in past 25 years. You could also be right about the white one in the car show post, there could not be too many of them about. Bruce

Excellent story and adventure, congrats!

Cool story Bruce..

I understand there is a few Pontiac's in Cairns that are members of the PCCA..
John L. :ausflag:

Glad you made it home, I'm just up the road from Sarina in Mackay.
I'll be taking my goat in the other direction in July, heading to Brisbane for all American Day, hope my road trip isn't as eventful as yours.

59 Bville is my favorite full size Pontiac.
Aircraft Carrier meets 1950's Sci-Fi meets Locomotive

You got a real nice one - and 2 door Hdtp for extra bonus points !
Congrats on the car and the 1000 mile daredevil journey.

Wow, that's a great story.

And you were fairly brave heading North last weekend right into the eye of Cyclone Ita. I have a lot of family located in Townsville and a few in Cairns. They tell me the rainfall was massive the past few days.

Glad to see you made it.

Friend of mine down here in Melbourne owned a'65 Parisienne Convertible which went to Cairns maybe 10 or more years back. Do you happen to know if it's still up there? It was originally red with a black interior. I think it was later repainted a metallic red A late 1980's Honda or Nissan colour if I recall.

Ian :ausflag::ausflag::ausflag:

Hi Heybuck, Kel who did the trip with me owns the 65 Parisienne. Bruce
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p...pseedfbd74.jpg

Nice 59. Funny, I've seen a number of 59's come up for sale in the last 12 months, including a pretty nice convertible.
Unusual, as there really aren't many around.

Good to see it again Bruce.:D:D:D

Is Kel the owner who came to Alice Springs back in 2003 for the Ultimate Aussie Super Cruise? I was on that cruise in my '66GP

I met the owner of the red Parisienne down there (He didn't bring the car on that trip), and I then put two & two together and realised that car was the one owned by my mate Peter down here many years ago. Peter died and his wife (can't remember her name - it was a French name??), kept the car for quite a while. She used to ring me up for advice if something went wrong with it. The last time I actually saw it, it was looking fairly ordinary. Paint was fading, and it looked very grubby but I remember the guy I was talking to in Alice told me he had repainted it.

Ian :ausflag::ausflag::ausflag:

Hi again Ian, Yes, Kel was on the Super cruise in a 69 Chev 2 door. Myself and Helen together with our daughter and her husband were in the ratty red 63 Parisienne. I remember you and your car from there. We could write a book about that trip. On the way home the son in law came down with viral pneumonia at Barrow Creek and had to be rushed to hospital in Tennant Creek where he was hospitalised for 3 days. We will have to catch up if you get up this way, or if we get down your way. Bruce

Nice of you to remember me Bruce.

That was probably the best road trip I've ever done. After leaving Alice we back tracked to Kings Canyon, then Ayers Rock before heading North again up to Tennant Creek and over to Townsville then right down the coast to home.

We did almost exactly 8,000 miles that trip and we had a ball. Actually, we have been talking about another trip with our good friends but this time right round Oz. You might remember the guy with the '61 Impala Convertible? Alan & his wife Myra. Both of them have been incredibly sick with cancer but both have it licked (for now. They still SMOKE!!!), and they are keen to go. Another mate Peter, he was in a gold Cadillac Eldorado, he's building a 1960 Nomad wagon and he wants to get going. Peters wife is recovering from breast cancer, my wife had a huge hunk cut out of her arm late last year from a Melanoma. I think the warning bells are telling us we need do it while we can.

Maybe next year we can look you up. Have a beer and barbie with you

Cheers mate

Ian :ausflag::ausflag::ausflag:

Very cool car and story.:)

You and a friend along with a tool box went 1000 miles from home to buy this 55 year old car, knowing very little about it's mechanical condition? Checked it out, bought it and proceeded to drive it 1000 miles back to your home?

Now THAT is cool! That is just plain old-school COOL! Just the memory of that trip must be priceless.

65 Parisienne
 

Hi All ,, i purchased the 1965 Parisienne on 7/10/99 from Lynette Farrel of Bambra studios brothel ,but thats another story ,( car was at Shannons ) Melb .
it had been painted etc about 10 years before that , i believe some time after that the Farrels moved to Port Douglas ,

WE have more road trip stories than Hollywood .
A couple of years ago we went to the states (again ) and drove Bruces 77 Bonneville from LA to the east states then picked up my 60 bonneville and drove back from Long island NY to LA . i think after about 6 trips we have well and trully done all of route 66 .
Give me a bottle of wild turkey and a couple of days and we could just get a start on some of the road trip stories .
photo ,,a few of the toys ,
kel.

http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/...ps889c1a1b.jpg

:ausflag::usa2:

An adventure to last a lifetime. Thanks for the post.