[MATT HAYTAS]

I HAD A 1969 LEMANS CUSTOM S WHEN I WAS I HIGHSCHOOL. THE VEHICLE NEEDED A LOT OF WORK, AND I SOLD IT AFTER A 15YR OWNERSHIP. LATER I LUCKED UPON ANOTHER CUSTOM S (69). THIS ONE IS ALSO A 2DR,350 2BBL 265HP AUTO,PS,PB,PW,AC WITH 83,000 MILES. THE VEHICLE WAS BOUGHT FROM A DEALERSHIP IN NORTHERN OHIO IN 1969 FOR 3500.00 NEW. I BOUGHT IT IN 2003.I HAVE SOME OF THE OIL CHANGE RECIEPTS FROM THE EARLY 1990'S SHOWING THE CAR WITH 30,000 MILES ON IT. I HAVE ONLY SEEN TWO CUSTOM S VEHICLES AND I'VE OWNED BOTH OF THEM.
WHAT IS A CUSTOM S ?
IS IT A ONE YEAR CAR?
SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THEY KNOW ABOUT THE CUSTOM S.

THANKS,
CHEWMAN

CHEWMAN

[MATT HAYTAS]

I HAD A 1969 LEMANS CUSTOM S WHEN I WAS I HIGHSCHOOL. THE VEHICLE NEEDED A LOT OF WORK, AND I SOLD IT AFTER A 15YR OWNERSHIP. LATER I LUCKED UPON ANOTHER CUSTOM S (69). THIS ONE IS ALSO A 2DR,350 2BBL 265HP AUTO,PS,PB,PW,AC WITH 83,000 MILES. THE VEHICLE WAS BOUGHT FROM A DEALERSHIP IN NORTHERN OHIO IN 1969 FOR 3500.00 NEW. I BOUGHT IT IN 2003.I HAVE SOME OF THE OIL CHANGE RECIEPTS FROM THE EARLY 1990'S SHOWING THE CAR WITH 30,000 MILES ON IT. I HAVE ONLY SEEN TWO CUSTOM S VEHICLES AND I'VE OWNED BOTH OF THEM.
WHAT IS A CUSTOM S ?
IS IT A ONE YEAR CAR?
SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THEY KNOW ABOUT THE CUSTOM S.

THANKS,
CHEWMAN

CHEWMAN

[einstein]

Prior to 1969, in ascending order of cost and features, the A bodies were Tempest, Tempest Custom, LeMans, GTO. In 1969, the Tempest Custom name was dropped for the Custom S. I believe they continued the Custom S into 1970, but I think it was dropped in midyear.

Custom S production for 1969 was actually quite high at 84,590 cars. By comparison, the Tempest was 26,992 and the LeMans was 100,001. GTO was 72,287.

Glenn Uettwiller http://home.earthlink.net/~birdman8/index.html

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and sings it back to you when you have forgotten how it goes. --- unknown

[MATT HAYTAS]

HOW CAN I FIND OUT HOW MANY WERE MADE WITH THE LISTED OPTIONS? ( THE FIRST CUSTOM S I OWNED DID NOT HAVE PB,PW,AC,VINYL) THIS ONE ROLES DOWN THE HIGHWAY LIKE A NEW CAR
350 2BBL 265HP,AUTO,PS,PB,PW,AC,SPLIT BENCH SEAT,VINYL TOP W/ALL CHROME AND STAINLESS TRIM.I HAVE THE ORIG. DEALERSHIP EMBLEM FROM NORTHERN OHIO. SHOULD I TRY TO FIND THE DEALERSHIP?
I HAD THE VEHICLE APPRAISED AT MERSHON'S WORLD OF CARS FOR INSUR. REASONS. (8,000 AS IS)
THEN HE WANTED TO KNOW WHERE I GOT IT AND IF I WOULD SELL IT. I'M NOT HOPING THAT ITS A RARE CAR OR ANYTHING. I JUST WANT TO FIND OUT WHAT I HAVE AND MAKE SURE IT HAS ENOUGH INSUR.COV.(ITS NOT GOING ANYWHERE)

CHEWMAN

[einstein]

Forget about finding "how many were built like this". It's not gonna happen 35 years after the fact...

The only breakdowns I have state that there were 46,886 two-door hardtops built, and the breakdown of how many at each assembly plant.

While we're grateful that PHS exists, much of the info has not been sorted through, as nobody is willing to fund such a project. In addition, some of the records are unreadable. I found this info in the "Judge" section of the PY forums.

Just enjoy it!

Glenn Uettwiller http://home.earthlink.net/~birdman8/index.html

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and sings it back to you when you have forgotten how it goes. --- unknown

[mike nixon]

if i remember right the custom s was the lightest a-body built in 69.

all that i've seen were 2dr post cars.

einstein's correct that they were replaced in 70 with the "t" series.

i always thought i wanted one.

mike

[1-GTO]

Chewman,I have a '69 Custom_S for a Parts car.It is gray with the black vinyl top.It was equipped with A/C,power steering,350,2-bbl.It also had the deluxe steering wheel and in-dash clock,floor mounted 8-track player,Black interior with split bench seat.One rare option it had was the tire air pump that ran off the intake vaccum to air up your tires if they went flat.The interior in the Custom_S was a different design than the GTO/LeMans,the dash pad,arm rest etc..were the same though.I believe the Custom_S Hardtop cars weighed the same as the LeMans,since it has the same body and bumpers as the LeMans?Not sure if I have any pictures of it on my Web Page in my Profile,but I could e-mail you a few or add some to my Folder for you to view!

GTO.....Gran Turismo Omologato,True Pontiac Excitement!

[MATT HAYTAS]

HEY ALL,

THANKS FOR THE BIT OF INFO. ON THE CUSTOM-S. SO FAR IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY ARE USED FOR NOTHING BUT PARTS CARS. BUT THATS OK, IT BRINGS THE NUMBERS DOWN LITTLE BY LITTLE. MINE IS IN GREAT SHAPE AND MAKES FOR NOTHIN BUT GREAT CRUZIN & HEAD TURNIN. IF YOU ALL KNOW ANYTHING,ANYONE OR ANYWHERE I CAN FIND OUT MORE PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I'VE BEEN TO SEVERAL LOCAL CAR SHOWS IN MY AREA AND EVEN THE PONCHO HEADS SAY "WHATS A CUSTOM-S ?". I OF COURSE HAVE NOTHING TO SAY OTHER THAN ITS THE SECOND ONE I'VE EVER SEEN & OWNED, AND THAT IT REMINDS MY OF MY HELL BOUND HIGHSCHOOL YEARS, AND IN ALL REALITY ITS THE CLOSEST I'LL GET TO OWNING A GTO.

I NEED INFO. AND HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO FIND ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT YOU'VE TOLD ME. IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE THEY JUST TOOK OFF THE "LEMANS" THREW ON A NEW NAME PLATE,,, OPP. LIST,, AND SAT BACK TO SEE HOW MANY WOULD SELL.

LIKE I SAID MINE IS A : 69, NO POST, AUTO, 350 2BBL 265HP, AC,PB,PW,PS, AM-TWO SPEAKER, VINYL TOP, ALL CHROME & STAINLESS TRIM, NUMBERS MATCHING, THE ORIG. COLOR WAS GOLD W/GOLD INTER.,,IT IS CURRENTLY BLACK W/GOLD INTER.& 83,000MI.

PLEASE HELP IF YA CAN,
THANKS IN ADVANCE
CHEWMAN

CHEWMAN

[einstein]

Essentially Custom S had a plain bench seat, so did the base Tempest. Interior styling was different.

LeMans and GTO came with bucket seats, and a "notchback" bench (which had a folding armrest) was optional.

Glenn Uettwiller http://home.earthlink.net/~birdman8/index.html

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and sings it back to you when you have forgotten how it goes. --- unknown

[goathead68]

Chewman,

Try doing a search on google (http://google.com) and type in "1969 Pontiac Custom S". You'll find some sites that have pics of different Custom S'. I really didn't do much of a search beyond what I told you to do above.

Here's a link with a little more info: http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/356367/3 Scout around there; he has pics of the different Custom S' he owns.

Some of the sites have contact info so you can get in touch with the owners of the featured cars.

You can also do the same on other search engines, like altavista and lycos.

A friend of mine once owned a '69 Custom S convertible. He may still have it as far as I know. I've seen a few of these cars, but that's about all I know of these cars.

Good luck in your search for knowledge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Curiosity is good!

[cuz68]

Great post goathead-68.

[Steve Barcak]

I have a '69 Custom S in my yard, it is a 2dr ht. I don't think Pontiac made a Custom S in '70. Steve www.pontiacheaven.org

[Shadowjack]

I have a '69 Custom S convertible that WAS a parts car, I think, but not now. Lotta work to get it this far and it's still a beater. 350, auto, A/C, 3.23 rear, black manual top, black bench interior and Midnight Green paint to begin with. If it hadn't been a convertible I'd have never fooled with it.

[goathead68]

Chewman,

Post some pics of your car when you get a chance. I think we'd all like to see it!

In regards to finding the dealer, hit this link: http://ultimategto.com/art18.htm and scroll down a bit to zones 8 and 9 and see if the dealer is located there.

Also, try not to use the 'caps lock' key when you post; it's hard on the ol' eyes to read all caps!

Hope this info helps.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Curiosity is good!

[Porker]

Wow, brings back memories, ...

Back in 1980 I bought a '69 Custom S for $75 when I just graduated High School.

The car had been sitting for a couple years, so when I drove it home, it only ran on about 6 of the 8 cylinders! New lifters, & it ran great for a couple of years.

The car was a bench seat car, HD 3-speed floor shift, 350-2v, A/C, no PS nor PB. Verdoro Green with a white vinyl top. Had those 6 rectangular hole hub caps on it originally. Soon was swapped to the old chrome steelies, & eventually went to 15" Rally II's.

After 3 motors, 2 transmissions, & 1 rear-end, it finally ended up with a '70 455, with lots of build-up goodies in it, a TH-400, & a 4:56 12-bolt rear. Talk about a stump puller, ...

Would have been a sweet 1/8 mile car, but it was actually my daily driver for almost 16 years.

Sold it in 1986 when I was in Ames, IA, for $800 'cause I didn't drive it much anymore & needed the cash.

Wish I had that one back, ...
________________________________

2001 Trans Am 10th Anniversary Firehawk, ...
1968 Pontiac LeMans, daily driver, ...
1989 Pontiac Bonneville SSE, ...
1993 Harley-Davidson FXSTS Softail Spinger, ...
Lot's of other Pontiacs thru the years, ...

[Porker]

Wrong, Sold it in 1996, not in 1986.

Had it 16 years, ..., not 6, ...

(Can't go back & edit after 60 minutes, bummer, ...)

[A.W.Dille]

J have found two 69 Custom S's here in my area, one I'm in the process of getting to fix up for the wife, a two door coupe and the other can't be bought I've tried and it's a post car. The guy that owns the post car isn't doing anything with it but won't sell, thinks it's not worth anything and calls it ol' LeMans. I think it would make a better race car than my GTO, much lighter.

[Ron Landis]

First off, get with Jeff Sawruk, you know, John's boy. Arguably the most informed Custom S afficionado in the Nation, bar none. Jeff has a beautiful '69 hardtop, I believe it runs 12's with the 350 in it. Anyway, if he can't give you answers, there are none to be had. I've had a couple, one hardtop [parts car], and one ragtop, which I found out later was a n original 350HO car. John Sawruk told me that this this was an extremely rare car. Also found a ragtop in a yard with a manual top, first one I had ever seen. I would say that a highly optioned Custom S would be somewhat of a rarity, as they were the "cheaper" of the trim levels offered. Interesting topic, run with it. Ron

[bjsgoat]

I am in the process of buying one long distance as we speak. Car is in Florida and I'm in NC. I was told it was a Lemans but a VIN check showed it to be a Custom S. I had never heard of them before this one, now I see others. I just hope the body and underside are "rust free" as advertised. But then again, rust free could mean so full of bondo there's nothing to rust. Mike

[blownb310]

Thanks Goathead for steering me to this thread. Somewhere, I have a magazine article clip from an old issue of High Performance Pontiac that gave the production number for Custom S converts. Gotta find that again.

Here's a pic of my Custom S:


About 10 years ago, I wanted to replace the black interior but ran into a dead end finding the correct seatcover material for the factory bench seat. So I discarded it [!] (shouldn't have done that) and replaced it with a pair of '69 GTO buckets. With no specific Custom S style seat pattern upholstery available, I was left with no other choice than to replace the whole interior with correct pattern [for LeMans/GTO] upholstery. I assumed at that time that a Custom S could have been ordered this way [with buckets]. I am finding out now that apparently, they were never offered with buckets. If anyone knows otherwise there's a $10,000 reward for that documentation.