[Heybuck]

Can someone confirm that a '65 Bonneville wagon is only available as a 6 passenger configuration?

If I wanted a 9 passenger wagon, I would need to buy a Catalina? Is that right?

And it is right, can a Bonneville have a 9 seat configuration retro fitted?

Thanks

Ian

[Diego]

That's what it seems like:

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/pon.../bilder/22.jpg

[Stuart]

They added the third seat to Bonneville wagons in 1966. I always wondered why they weren't offered prior to then.

[Heybuck]

Thanks for these replies. They tie in with what I understood. I was reading my '65 sales brochure last night and it struck me that the Catalina had the 3rd row option but not the Bonneville.

I hadn't looked at the '66 brochure so thanks Stuart. But it looks like the 3rd row if required could be incorporated into the '65 Bonneville using parts out of a '66

Cheers

Ian

[Engine-Ear]

yeah, it's as if they felt that nobody buying a Bonne Safari would have the need for a 3rd seat!

[Deadhead]

Why it was not just an option for either car is weird. To make more $, they should have both been 6 Pass, and pay up for the 3rd row.

[lemansboy70]

Does that mean I can convert my '65 to a third seat??? That would be awesome.

[LASJayhawk]

What strikes me as odd is the 9 pax Catalina is a different model than the 6.

[Deadhead]

Originally Posted by lemansvertdude

Does that mean I can convert my '65 to a third seat??? That would be awesome.

You can

[goatless]

I saw this '65 Bonnie at the CT POCI show this fall... all the way from Cananda! Anyhow, the owner had added the third seat.

[brucee70]

Originally Posted by Engine-Ear

yeah, it's as if they felt that nobody buying a Bonne Safari would have the need for a 3rd seat!

That has also always baffled me as well! The problem with doing a conversion is once you find a good one in a donor car ...where in the hell do you store it?! I've got so many "I'll add this item later" stuff stored in all my sheds/house/garage there just isn't enough space for all this junk !!!!!!!!!!! :-)
I might make an episode of Extreme Hoarders one day ....

[scld1354]

Originally Posted by brucee70

I've got so many "I'll add this item later" stuff stored in all my sheds/house/garage there just isn't enough space for all this junk !!!!!!!!!!! :-)

I'd be more than happy to help you thin out that "junk" ;-)

[Deadhead]

It is a HEAVY mother, and working it around to get lined up etc. Is gonna take 2 skinny people to work it is my guess. I was going to take mine out when doing headliner b/c it is the only way to get out one of the side panels in the cargo area, but it was way too much work for one guy to be worth it, so I bagged it.

[jdh421]

Goatless. I bought that wagon from a salvage yard in 2002 it was in Sturgis South Dakota. It was a well optioned 65 Bonneville wagon. Black with a red gut. I was restoring it when a friend bought it from me in 2004. He did a complete restoration on the car and added every option available in 1965. He also converted it to a manual transmission.
anyway. That car had the rear facing third seat from the factory. it was optional on the 6 passenger Bonneville wagons.

final note. It is one of the nicest if not the nicest 65 wagons on the planet. no expense was spared on its construction. The child seat is actually a dealer option and was color matched to the interior and trim style of the wagon.

[lemansboy70]

Is the third seat the same for all models?

[jdh421]

Lemansvert dude,
65 and 66 are interchangeable and I think 67-8 are the same also. 69-70 are the same. b body Chevrolet wagons are similar in structure but have way different latching and decking materials.

[barrierblue66]

I almost went down this road. Searched one or 2 seats out. Got pix of the mounts and started comparing what I needed vs what was already there. A voice from above, well from up in VA, brought up that fact that I would lose all that storage AND it would add a good amount of lbs. Then I went to Dayton in '13 and Norwalk in '14. My mind was made up. It was great to be able to store all my stuff in the well underneath the cargo floor. I did add a cool NOS compartment lock.

So all this along with the fact that I didn't want it to turn into a scenario that brucee70 described changed my mind for good. Weight/storage won out over the cool factor. I'll say that the question I get asked most at car gatherings (after "is that a factory 4 speed") is, "does it have the rear seat?"

[Jeff Hamlin]

Originally Posted by jdh421

final note. It is one of the nicest if not the nicest 65 wagons on the planet. no expense was spared on its construction. The child seat is actually a dealer option and was color matched to the interior and trim style of the wagon.

I came across this wagon back in 09 at the POCI Con;
She was/is stunning! The child seat was a nice touch

[barrierblue66]

Originally Posted by Jeff Hamlin

I came across this wagon back in 09 at the POCI Con;
She was/is stunning! The child seat was a nice touch

He was at the Co-Ven in '13 also, but I didn't actually meet him until Norwalk last year. He didn't have the car but we talked at my wagon for a while until I found out that was his. I think he said he had several wagons, 63's and 64's.