[cballweg]

Here are some photos of my 1st car my father gave me that he ordered new that I will restore when I retire next year.As you can see the original front fenders are rusted at the top and I have some rust free fenders from Arizona I got 20 years ago.Most of the car has orignal paint and is faded.The 1 photo shows the over the parts add on under dash coolpack AC unit I got off e-bay a few years ago but need an aftermarket compressor to get it to work since they didnt have one when I bought it.

[Centurion]

Thank you so much for posting the photos of your car. I love it! Hope you'll keep us posted as you embark on the restoration. You are a few months younger than me, but I'm a long way from being able to retire. You can keep me inspired as you work through the restoration of your spectacular Bonneville!

[cballweg]

Thanks.It needs a lot.Trunk and floor pans need replaced.All the salt on the roads here in Ohio from 59 to 72 when I parked it.Motor and tranny have been rebuilt.

[jmt455]

Very cool.
Excellent retirement project!!
Looking forward to following your progress.

[U47]

Originally Posted by cballweg

Here are some photos of my 1st car my father gave me that he ordered new that I will restore when I retire next year.As you can see the original front fenders are rusted at the top and I have some rust free fenders from Arizona I got 20 years ago.Most of the car has orignal paint and is faded.The 1 photo shows the over the parts add on under dash coolpack AC unit I got off e-bay a few years ago but need an aftermarket compressor to get it to work since they didnt have one when I bought it.

Great car, but 59 Pontiac's have what "GM Art and Color" calls "Sweep Cut" front and rear fender well styling. That means those cars were styled with this feature to be shown without fender skirts. If skirts are added they break up the lines and create a conflict of body lines. If you look at a 59 Cadillac you will notice a smooth transition from body to skirt and if you look at the 59 Pontiac, Olds, or Chevy the raised fender well sweep cut create the conflict to the new body line you created with the skirt. For 1959 the Cadillac has skirts as standard equipment. For 59, Pontiac division does not offer a skirt. In order to have them you had to order them aftermarket from the dealer.
FYI Sweep Cut styling first appeared on the 1954 Olds Starfire.
If your interested in restoring your car ( restoring means original ) sell the vintage aftermarket and if your bent on having A/C install a factory unit. If your ever going to show the car or sell it to a collector this is important. A add on A/C will land you in a modified class at POCI or a major point deduction in a AACA event, also the AACA will deduct points for the skirts....don't know about POCI.

[cballweg]

Actually this AC unit is was made by Pontiac and if you look it says pontiac on it.GM offered these for cars that didnt have AC and you could buy these from the dealer.This is shown in their dealer catalog but I would have to have an aftermarket compressor since this one I bought didnt have the one from GM.They didnt remove it when the took this out of the car.Thanks for the info on this and the skirts

[Txbobcat]

That brings back some memories. My second car was a 59 catalina 2 door sedan. My third was a 59 Bonnevile convertible loaded with trips also. I rememeber that back seat being as big as a small hotel room.

[stevep]

I really like those Bonneville Vistas.

[Centurion]

cballweg, in all honesty, I do agree with U47 regarding the fender skirts, and I say this with no disrespect toward your Pontiac, which is, as I stated elsewhere, my idea of the ultimate '59 Pontiac.

Locally, there is another '59 Pontiac owner and active POCI member who owns both a Bonneville Vista and Bonneville Safari. The skirts have been added to both cars, and, privately, other club members feel that the skirts have killed the appearance of the cars. I've been active in '59 GM circles for several years, and the general consensus is that the cars, with the exception of Cadillac, were not styled to wear fender skirts, and look better without them.

Here's a beautiful, all-original example in your color scheme, although this car needs the correct-width whitewall tires:

[cballweg]

I kinda agree about the skirts but thought maybe it made the car look older since the cars now dont have skirts but my thought was that they go on and off real easy and fast so I can remove them very easy if I would ever show the car.I do think they look better on a 2 -door or convertible and not as good on a 4-door and they kinda hide the spinner hubcaps which I believe are one of the best looking hubcaps ever made and really make a 59 look a lot better than the standard 59 smooth hubcaps.Thanks for sharing the sunset glow bonney.I still remember my car looking like that years ago.

[cballweg]

Here is the underhood photo with tri-power air cleaner and trunk with reel out trunk light

[cballweg]

I installed alternator when I couldent find a generator and not figuring on showing it anyway except local shows.Installed power steering and power brakes,underhood NOS light and NOS windshield washer.

[Centurion]

Looks great, cballweg! Despite its needs for some restoration work, the condition really has lots going for it. I like the reel out trunk light. My Star Chief has this as well, but the light is not working, so need to look into this.

[U47]

I urge all to read some of the books that are out there on automotive styling. A excellent reference book for all cars is "A Century of Automotive Style" by Lamm & Holls.
Here is a link to a 59 Cadillac which is designed for the skirt, the lower rocker molding is even carried into the skirt and out again into the rear quarter...click on the link;
http://img2.netcarshow.com/Cadillac-...llpaper_05.jpg
Here is a 59 Chevy with sweep cut fenders just like Pontiac's.....see the difference? If you put a skirt up against the raised wheel well lip and add it to the skirt it becomes a convoluted distraction of line. The original wheel house lip cast a shadow and sticks out like a sore thumb. see the link:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...t-archives.jpg

To prove a point, a 1955 Olds Starfire which has ft & rear sweep cut styling as a feature as compared to a 55 Olds 88 which does not. It seems the factory provided the 88 with a skirt...and put the sweep cut into the skirt!
1955 Starfire;
http://images.hemmings.com/wp-conten...ire_02_700.jpg
1955 olds 88;
http://assets.hemmings.com/uimage/15039291-700-0.jpg

[Cammer-6]

My first car, a 59 Starchief was sunset glow also.Thanks for both of you posting the pics,brings back alot of memories.

[U47]

Just a FYI. 1959 is the first year for Pontiac and Chevrolet to start to move into some of the forefront of GM styling. From the 20's to 1958 Pontiac and Chevrolet were from 1-1/2 to two styling cycles behind the rest of GM.
Here is one that will really show what I mean. A 1954 Olds Starfire has "Sweep cut" front and rear fender styling-(Pontiac won't get that until 1957 and Chevrolet in 1956) and the front windshield is not only a panorama piece of glass, but the "A pillar is swept back "past" ninety degrees.... Pontiac and Chevy won't get a windshield like that until 1958.
click on the links;
1954 Pontiac ( which is designed for a skirt- even has a double edge on the fender to keep the skirt flush to the body )
http://www.chooseyouritem.com/classi...Door.Sedan.jpg
1954 Starfire;
http://www.oldcarandtruckpictures.co...e_Starfire.jpg

When someone like Jim Wangers says Pontiac made boring ho-hum middle of the road cars he is right. Problem was it was the corporation that was holding Pontiac back, not Pontiac holding itself back. That was the slot the corporation put it into. Knudsen knew this and resolved the issue by bucking the system with forward thinking which had the results in styling and racing victories.

[Centurion]

U47, I agree, and always think that the 1959 Pontiac is the iconic design that really launched Pontiac's "Golden Era" for the ten years that followed.

cballweg's 1959 Bonneville Vista has it all: Wide Track, split grille, and the Vista roof, which was regarded at the time as the most significant styling innovation of the 1959 design program.

A decade later, when the cars became increasingly "corporatized" and GM's individual divisions began to lose their engineering autonomy, GM cars would become less appealing -- and far less memorable to us today.

[U47]

Originally Posted by Centurion

U47, I agree, and always think that the 1959 Pontiac is the iconic design that really launched Pontiac's "Golden Era" for the ten years that followed.

cballweg's 1959 Bonneville Vista has it all: Wide Track, split grille, and the Vista roof, which was regarded at the time as the most significant styling innovation of the 1959 design program.

A decade later, when the cars became increasingly "corporatized" and GM's individual divisions began to lose their engineering autonomy, GM cars would become less appealing -- and far less memorable to us today.

I had a interesting conversation today with a friend who today is a a high end artist who in his 20's (1950's early 60's) ironically was a automatic transmission specialist. We all know today that the reason GM pulled Pontiac and Chevrolet out of racing was the "we don't race" or "we won't from now on" race any longer after January 1963. There are many factors and corporate decisions that come into play here. One of the biggest was GM's ever growing market share which was one of the reasons for getting out of racing. GM was afraid of having the government breaking off their volume leader Chevrolet. It was pointed out to me that by sharing even more components and platform structures that it would insure that Chevrolet had to stay in the GM fold. In other words alone it couldn't survive. Problem was after the mid 70's they went too far loosing their brand identity. Nothing say's it more than the legal action against GM by loyal Oldsmobile owners who sued because their so call ROCKET V-8 engines were now Chevy's. To some of us the engine is the heart and soul of a automobile and that's why I cringe when I see a Pontiac or Olds on a TV show get a Chevy transplant. Or a Chevy engine in a Pontiac at a car show.

[cballweg]

check this out dfw