69 Bucket seat question
 

Were bucket seats without the headrests available in 69? Ive just looked at a 69 and it didnt have the removable headrests but it did have the button on the back to fold seat forward. Never seen one like that before.

Well...
 

I've been doing '69s since @ '84 and have yet to see one. I believe they were Federally mandated by then. What most likely happened is your set got recovered and the headrests were omitted. I know they were still listed as an option on earlier cars, but still have never seen a '69 that was documented as having been delivered sans the headrests. JMHO. Ron

Headrests were a listed option on '69s and could be removed/reimbursed by dealer if customer insisted enough (but rarely did) until Jan/69, where they became mandatory. So anything was possible if your car was built before Jan/69...Or previous owner could have simply removed them and recovered seat....

Thanks for the info. The dash is weird too. Shouldnt there be a GTO emblem above the Heater control?

Again, depending when your car was built, as they were deleted somewhere in Mid Feb/69, per service bulletin I posted below...

robz is right. Headrests were on the PHS option list for calendar 1968 and then standard from there on. Check any early GTO and a $16.85 option for headrests will be present.

The dash emblem was discontinued in late Jan/early Feb 69. My 02B Framingham car never had the emblem. See what your build date is on the cowl tag.

Both the dash and the seats could have been changed or modified from original. One other thing about buckets, there is no chrome piping on the inside edges of the lower seat plastic trim. This includes non-console cars.

My 69 has got the GTO emblem on the dash and I'm sure glad it does. Was it really killing Pontiac to spend the 73 cents or whatever for the dash emblem? Jeez

I have a service bulletin somewhere pointing out that all 69 Pontiacs were being equipped with headrests from the beginning of the 69 model year and that dealers could, at customer request, remove the headrests and credit them the amount, but only on cars built before January 1st 69.

It also says that if removing headrests from the car the dealer had to install some fillers in the hole in the seat to prevent children trapping their fingers in the holes. It provided part numbers for these fillers.

You are assuming that the reason for the deletion was financial. Maybe the there was a problem with the part like a bad run or a supply issue. And didn't the deletion of the emblem require a change to the dash mould?

But wouldn't 73 cents get you 2 to 3 gallons of gas in 69? ;)

I think it was a cost cutting measure, about that time Pontiac eliminated the dash emblem, the rear quarter chrome trim, the trunklid chrome trim and replaced the vinyl coated and padded pillar posts with painted metal ones.

Perhaps we can trace the beginning of the end of GM to this decision about dash emblems. In all seriousness cost cutting right where the customer interacts with his car everyday is just plain dumb.

By the way that emblem probably cost GM about 7 cents not 73 cents.

Sorry for the off topic rant but I am a born and bred GM man who bought his last new GM car many years ago (my last three in a row are non GM after having nothing but GM all my life)

On the driveways of my street I counted 40 cars last night, 4 were GM's and two of those were SUV's, one was a ten year old minivan and one a rental stickered cobalt. The rest were Toyatas, Hondas, MB's, Bimmers, Subaru's etc.

And not one of them was bought because they were cheaper than an equivilant GM, to the contrary they always cost more than discounted rebated, 0%ed GM's

Sadly I don't see things getting better, to sat the least with politicians, beaureacrats and union organizers now running GM.

RIP GM

Dash Emblem:

I thought that the dash emblem was only on non A/C cars?

In the attached pic, with the vent above the A/C controls, where would the emblem go?

Yes it was only on non-A/C cars, but deleted as of Feb/69...This included the Tempest and Lemans nameplates too, per the bulletin I posted above...

I did not know that. Learn something every day!

What do you have that shows this?

I have three 69 GTO's. One is a console car and does not have the piping on the inner side of the lower seat trim. The other two are non-console cars (1 Sept. 68 / 1 June 69) and they both had the inside trim when I took them apart.

Tim.