1969 Bonneville rear seat switch, what is it ?
 

Brand new member with a question. Most of my experience is with GTOs so this is new to me, I have recently picked up a pair of 69 bonneville convertibles, both original 428 cars. Each car has a chrome oval bezel on the driver's side rear seat with a simple black sliding on/off switch in the bezel. I have no idea what these switches are for, I tbough maybe done light but that does not appear to be the case. Anyone know what these are for, thanks in advance.

Don't know about 1969, but I used to have a 1961 Bonneville convertible and it had a switch in that location that did operate a dome light.

That is for the rear courtesy lights

Thanks for the information guys, it is appreciated. I did think that it was for the dome/courtesy lights but I didn't notice anything happening. Looks like I need to replace some bulbs.

The switch, which was used on all fullsized Pontiac convertibles of the era, would turn on the courtesy lights which included the two rear armrest lights and the dash mounted front courtesy light.

You could turn on the courtesy lights 4 ways; opening either door, turning the headlight knob all the way counter clockwise past the detent, using the switch on the dash light over the ashtray and the switch in question on the upright part of the left rear armrest. In all 4 cases you are using a ground switch as the courtesy lights have voltage all the time.

I never liked that rear switch because the kids would play with it and you'd end up with a dead battery.

Thank you for the excellent explanation, it is appreciated

By the way, almost every one of the big car ragtops had a potential issue with the wire to that switch; the factory routed them down to the floor and the bottom edge of the steel rear armrest structure cuts into it on the floor. Eventually it cuts the plastic coating of the wire and starts turning on the courtesy lights intermittently.

Not good for a battery especially if the car is stored.

Very useful information, thank you for sharing. I'm really liking these cars since getting them. One is a 30000 mile survivor car. Never driven in weather, "ziebarted" when new and in the same family until our shop got it. The lady who ordered the car new got the "economy" axle, which as you guys probably know is a 2.55 ratio. Despite that, the car is actually very quick. This one is red with the parchment interior and white top. The second car is a 90000 mile car with one repaint, no rust, super solid. Originally a green car, now medium blue with the parchment interior and white top. Better gears in this one and runs super strong as well.
The red one is about as perfect as a car of that age can be, only issue is the beak is blistered and peeling, reminds me of the GTO beaks. Any suggestions on fixing this issue ?

The “beak” is the biggest headache with the big 69 Pontiac cars. The originals are made of the same plastic used in the early 70’s spacers between the bumper and body on many GM’s. It dried to hard cake that cracks and turns to dust in your hands. Everything made with this material has a expiration date and they all are bad now.

There are a few alternative solutions.

1… if the original is only cracking you can fill the cracks with flexible bumper filler, it buys a bit of time but won’t last

2… there is a guy who sells fiberglass replacements. They aren’t perfect but the outside can be made to look nice by a good body man. The inside that you see with the hood open is ugly though.

3…Pontiac did later produce replacements that were made of the same rubbery material as the 68 GTO bumper which holds up great. Hard to find but they do turn up. I’ve actually once bought a parts car just to get the beak.

4… my body guy (he’s a rodder at heart and very crafty with sheet metal) made a sheet metal one (reusing the original steel core). I fave him a nice original as a guide and he made it perfect. I never asked him how much he charged me though (it was billed along with a full paint job) but I’d guess it must of been a grand or two easy.

4…holy grail, watch ePay for an NOS one! I got one a few years ago.

P.s. I just used my last good one on a Catalina I just bought.

Here are my Bonnie’s

1… ragtop is a fully optioned Expresso Brown Brougham which included leather seats. Repainted but a nice rust free car with a 428-390

2…4 door hardtop is also a Expresso Brougham (velour seats were part of the option on this bodystyle), oddly it has green interior!. All original heavily optioned survivor car including paint, top, interior etc. (Nose was changed of course). 428-360

3…wagon Is antique gold in and out with original paint and interior (Cordova top was replaced at some point but same color as the original top it had). Also heavily optioned and 428-360.

Your cars sound lovely, post some pics if you want. You are lucky the original owner of your red car didn’t order the economy engine instead of just the economy axle. I’ve seen a several 69 Bonnie’s over the years with the no charge regular fuel option. You’d get a low compression version of the 400 2bbl with 265 horse.

so your convert is an HO?? very nice and very rare.

Yes, both cars are the HO 428s.

Here are some pics of the blue car

These are the 30000 mile, original paint car. Not optioned nearly as heavily as the blue car, but such fantastic condition. Still surprised at the 2.55 gears in this one.

Nice cars.

A few years back, myself and 2 friends frame off resto’ed a 69 judge that we could not figure out some of the options. When we stripped the car to bare we were pretty sure the original color was a shade of blue that we did not recognize as a judge color. After the PHS came back we learned the car was a “solid special” and was actually painted a 69 firebird color. It was pulled from the GTO assembly line, transported to the firebird line for paint then returned to the GTO line for final assembly.
The color was windward blue, parchment interior, 4 spd. According to Pontiac, 1 of 2 ever produced in that combination.
Times sure were different then, lol.