[north]

Went into my home garage last night to get something and it struck me that the two cars in it represented both ends of 69 Pontiac convertible extremes. Pontiac made six convertible models that year: Firebird was the smallest, followed by Custom S, LeMans, GTO, Catalina and Bonneville. These represent four different sizes (F, A, B and B stretch).

The base Firebird was the smallest and this one has the smallest and lowest rated engine offered that year. Length was about 190” and the engine is the 250 cube OHC 1bbl rated at 175 HP. This one is backed by the ST300 2 speed automatic. It wasn’t the cheapest convertible though as iirc the Custom S ragtop was slightly less despite being quite a bit bigger. Interestingly a Firebird convertible weighs slightly more than a Custom S convertible with comparable powertrain and options because the modifications needed to the convertible version were much more substantial in the F cars. Added floor bracing inside and out, trans tunnel brace and the cocktail shakers added about 250 plus pounds while an A body ragtop is only 45 pounds heavier than a two door hardtop version.

This Bonneville is at the other end of the spectrum. It was the biggest and most expensive convertible Pontiac made. This one is also a Brougham, (basically leather seats and fancier trim bits). It measures 224” long and the base price was about $1,000 more (not including Brougham package) than the Firebird and it weighed almost thousand pounds more. This one is equipped with the largest and highest rated 69 Pontiac engine, the 428 HO with 390 horsepower.

Both have their charms and while I like the look and the solid body structure of the Firebird (they are the most rigid of all the convertibles of that time) the seats and rear suspension sure let you know about every road imperfection!

Inversely the seats in the Bonnie are incredibly comfortable. The brougham option seats were leather but they also have a very different foam structure. Great for long cruises. Especially impressive when I consider that the car has over 100k miles and the seats are still firm and comfy.

Biggest convertible negative for the Bonnie is that is has the ATC version of air conditioning and on a cool night it won’t run the fan high enough. They were just programmed like that, if the ambient temperature differential isn’t very large it just won’t give full fan speed. Obviously not optimized for a top down convertible.

[kingbuzzo]

That land yacht is extreme all rite...I would pass out at the wheel lol