If there was one GM nameplate to pull a full-180 turnaround for the better in the 1980s, it was the Pontiac Bonneville. Launched as the halo car of GM’s “excitement division”, the Bonneville soon became Pontiac’s most prestigious full-size line of vehicles, a spot it would comfortably occupy for most of the 1960s and 1970s. Despite a generally well-received downsizing in 1977, the Bonneville floundered in a way its Buick, Chevrolet, and Oldsmobile siblings did not. Shuffling the name to a formal restyle of the midsize LeMans didn’t do the Bonneville any wonders either, and it looked like Pontiac’s historic flagship was on the fast track to oblivion.
Then however, a ray of light emerged. The discontinuation of the outclassed and outdated G-body Bonneville prompted Pontiac to move the Bonneville name back to a true full-size car, this time on the front-wheel drive H-body introduced one year prior for 1986. Despite the H-body’s all-new modern architecture and underpinnings, not to mention development costs that reportedly matched or even exceeded that of Ford’s concurrent Taurus/Sable program, the H-body was a highly innocuous, cautious and conservative effort to say the least.
This was something made especially obvious with the prosaic, straight-edged styling and very Broughamy interiors of the both the Buick LeSabre and Oldsmobile Delta 88. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with their designs, as these cars certainly had broad appeal, but next to other cars introduced at the same time, most notably the Taurus and Sable, the 1986 H-bodies looked decidedly outdated and backwards in their first year on the market. So how does this all relate to the Pontiac Bonneville?
Well, apart from sharing its basic skeleton, doors, and roofline with the LeSabre/Delta 88, designers treated the Bonneville to a substantial amount of unique sheetmetal including front and rear fenders, hood, trunk, bumpers. Unlike its siblings, this differentiated styling was more rounded and flowing for a distinctive “aero” look, or as much of an aero look as the car’s basic architecture would allow. It was truly a shame the sharp roofline of the LeSabre and Delta 88 had to remain.
Inside, the Bonneville sported a dramatic “cockpit” style dashboard and a thick-rimmed steering wheel to emphasize its more driver-centric nature. Bench seats and column still remained in its base models, but it was clear designers did as much as they could to make the Bonneville less geriatric-feeling given the H-body’s bones.
The most significant step towards this of course was the Bonneville SSE, the heavily boy-racer range topper, visually set apart by a healthy dose of molded plastic prosthetic body accents and ground effects, monochromatic exterior scheme with gold badging, suspension upgrades, and heavily contoured bucket seats.
Building upon the success of the 1987-1991 H-body Bonneville, its redesigned successor unquestionably fulfilled its vision, offering truly distinctive style not just from its siblings but from its competitors, plus enhanced performance and safety features.
Now featuring nearly 100-percent unique sheetmetal, the 1992 Bonneville sported far more aggressive coke-bottle styling, highlighted by long hood and short, sloped deck, contoured body sides, rakish roofline, and a very BMW-like Hofmeister kink. Its only obvious visual linkage to its siblings was its unusual A-pillar treatment with fixed vent windows — very out of place for a 1990s sedan. Sure, in some ways it was a bit cartoonish… but for better or worse, given the conservatively-contemporary Olds and stodgy-formal Buick which the Bonneville shared its underpinnings with, what else did Pontiac really have to work with?
Like the exterior, the Bonneville’s interior looked like a more complete reality of its predecessor’s vision. Its dash, door panels, and center console (when equipped with front bucket seats) flowed together better for an integrated cockpit look, though as expected, most surfaces were of hard, hollow plastic. At least the interior was attractive in its design, and the myriad of video game-like controls in higher spec models could easily divert drivers attention from the cheap plastic.
As with before, three trim levels were offered for 1992. The base model was now known as the SE, followed by the better-equipped and sportier SSE, and then the all out performance-oriented SSEi. Among notable upgrades, the SSEi gained a supercharged version of the standard 3800 Series V6, producing 205 horsepower and 260 lb-ft torque, plus standard antilock brakes, traction control, novel for the time head-up display, and dual front airbags, the latter a first for any GM product.
Minor styling tweaks differentiated each trim level from one another, but even the base SE now featured prominent molded ribbed plastic body cladding formerly reserved for the SSE. Predictably, the SSE and SSEi trims upped the ante with even more flamboyant ribbed lower body cladding, the addition of side skirts, and more aggressively-styled bumpers with underbody spoilers and different foglight placement.
The truth was though that while the Bonneville did offer the notable SSEi performance model, the majority of Bonnevilles sold were the basic fleet-grade SE, complete with bench seats, this horribly cheap corporate GM cloth, and tacky wood trim.
Nevertheless, it must be worth noting that Pontiac did make meaningful changes and upgrades to the Bonneville, at least for the first several years of this ninth generation. 1993 saw a more luxury-oriented SLE sub-trim level of the SE debut and antilock brakes become standard across the board, while 1994 gave way to standard dual-front airbags on all Bonnevilles, and the SSEi’s engine gained a new supercharger, increasing output to 225 horsepower and 275 lb-ft torque.
1995 saw the base engine in the SE, SLE, and SSE trims enhance output to 205 horsepower an 230 lb-ft torque. For 1996, all Bonneville’s received facelifted styling, and a new 3800 Series II supercharged engine now making 240 horsepower and 280 lb-ft torque was standard in the SSEi and SSE, and now optional in the SLE.
This Bonneville’s immaculately-preserved condition is a testament to the southern climate in which it’s likely resided in its whole life. Alive on earth for the same roughly 26 years as your humble author, it’s nearly flawless, and unlike yours truly it doesn’t need to rely on a regiment of cardio, core, and strength training seven days a week, and a diet heavily leafy-green and protein-based, minimal sugar and processed foods, and free of red meat and dairy. I’ll blame its somewhat sun-damaged paint and tiredness on the vodka I guess.
Truth be told, for most of my life I never really cared for this car, finding it the over-styled, fugly sister of its conservative Buick and Oldsmobile siblings. Yet in writing this article, I’ve come to find a sincere appreciation for this generation Bonneville. By no means is this a car I’d call attractive, refined, or exciting to any great length. Notwithstanding its unique styling and features, it is yet another variant of a corporate GM platform from the 1990s… enough said there. However, I can’t deny that I do appreciate the extent to which Pontiac differentiated it from its siblings, both in design and performance, given the massive constraints GM divisions faced from corporate hierarchy by the 1990s.
Photos provided by Will Jackson
Related Reading:
1983 Pontiac Bonneville “Model G” wagon
1989 Pontiac Bonneville LE (COAL)
1992 Pontiac Bonneville SE (COAL)
Regardless of how much they were beefed up, to me nearly all of the GM midsizers of that era look like old people cars next to the self-evident freshness of the Taurus and Sable. Looks sad really, with all those spoilers and funky gizmos inside – a desperate attempt to appear cool, no matter how good they may or may not have been underneath.
This generation of full-size sedans (H and C body) were GM’s best cars of the ’90s IMO. For once, they didn’t rely on “badge engineering” and actually made the Pontiac, Olds, and Buick renditions look and feel like very different cars (even if some resemblance was apparent) and they likely appealed to different audiences. I prefer the Buick LeSabre and Park Avenue’s flowing Jaguar-esque curves to Pontiac’s angry look (with too much plastic cladding spoiling the appearance of the higher-end models), but Pontiac’s effort was more appealing than Oldsmobile’s. I especially like those three gauges in the center of the instrument panel. The A pillar treatment, with vent windows that didn’t vent, did provide spectacular outward visibility in that area with the mirror well separated from the A pillar, with no need for that triangular insert that combines with the mirror to create a huge blind spot near the base of the A pillars in new cars.
Also great of course was the Buick 3800 engine, especially after the Series II upgrades in ’95 (naturally aspirated) and ’96 (supercharged). Silky smooth, torquey, durable, fuel-efficient, and quiet. On paper it looked antiquated next to the DOHC 24-valve V6’s in Japanese imports of the day, but in real life it was the more pleasant motor to live with.
There are times in life when it’s possible to exert a lot of time and work with there not being as much to show for it as one would hope or expect. This Bonneville falls into that category.
The amount it differed from it’s siblings is not insubstantial but these differences do not come across strongly. What seems to come across most strongly is the plastic cladding that quickly became synonymous with Pontiac. That was a shame as I remember reading articles of the time talking about how much of a honey that supercharged 3.8 was.
Another element of these is arguably the styling. There’s a whole lot of Grand Am in that front end; sure it helps define it as a Pontiac but it also allows for the queen bee of the marque to blend in much too quickly. This continued with the subsequent Bonnvilles also.
It’s also amazing how the aging process differs among vehicles and people. These Bonneville’s looked prematurely old although their mechanicals betrayed their physical appearance. This is a lot like the guy in his mid-40s who eats red meat, loves sugar, drinks whole milk, exercises only in warm weather, and isn’t wild about leafy greens yet who has a blood cholesterol of 165.
No wonder I find myself liking this Bonneville.
In 1992, I drove a Boneville from San Diego to LA then Palm Springs back to San Diego. I was very impressed on how comfortable and how well it handled the mountain roads. This was far superior than the typical GM slush box at the time. If I had been in the market at that time, this would have been #1 or #2 on the list.
A midwestern stalwart, the plastic fenders and plastic rocker covers keep these looking good for a long time in the salt-belt, more often than not they still look pretty good and the subframe mounts finally let go. I had to unfortunately walk away from a high mileage but mechanically excellent ’92 Lesabre that a farmer customer of my brother’s was ready to let go for $200, I asked my brother to give it a once over before I committed to anything, and what initially sounded like a suspension clunk turned out to be the subframe mounts rotting out and letting go. The trusty old Buick went off to the crusher, with over 200k on the clock and steel plates welded in for rocker panels, that family got some awesome use out of it, motor and trans still healthy and would rocket that thing along on country roads way faster than the worn (presumably original) shocks could keep up with.
I drove one of these back when they were new and was impressed.
Can’t remember if it had that “the front of the car is falling off” feel exhibited by just about every other GM FWD I’d driven prior to 2008. It must not have, because it was great in corners and had a comfortable ride.
Had a 1996 SE, which replaced a 1989 one. Nice looking car before all the grotesque body cladding of the later years. Quite nice with the “option 3” package, which gave you a lot of goodies, including a six speaker sound system with equalizer. Loved the crosslace wheels. The cloth interior was actually nicer than the usual GM fare and the seats quite comfortable. The 3800 was a gem, smooth, refined and peppy. The dash was the usual Pontiac high point, but it lost the ammeter and oil pressure gages my ’89 had. Seemed that the car was engineered to last 100,000 miles and not much more. Mine was fine car for 110,000 miles, then it rapidly started falling apart. Transmission, A/C, steering rack, body hardware etc. all started failing. Everything it seemed, except the 3800, which was problem free until the end. My last American car.
IIRC the supercharged 3800 was standard in the SSEi, which was quite rare. Over 90% of these were SE’s. The blower was also an option in the SE, which was rarer still. I recall only seeing one SE ever with the supercharger 3800.
“smooth, refined”
A 3800 is a lot of (good) things, but smooth and refined? What’s serving as the reference point for this?
Reference point? All the Iron Dukes and crappy 2.8 V-6’s that GM stuffed into hundreds of thousands of other cars. The 3800 II in my ’96 Bonneville was vibration free and quiet, aka smooth and refined.
These engines were turning around 1700 rpm at 70-75 and rarely needed to shift down on the highway. The lack of engine noise and ample power is noticable on 4+ hour trips over a similar Taurus.
“Reference point? All the Iron Dukes and crappy 2.8 V-6’s that GM stuffed into hundreds of thousands of other cars.”
From that perspective it certainly makes sense!
I rented one in the fall of 1991; a brand new 1992 Bonneville SE at the San Francisco airport, and then drove it to Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, and then back to San Fran by way of Napa.
I loved the car. It handled great in the mountains, the engine (even in normally aspirated form) pulled effortlessly up the really big hills out there.
Being a Ford guy (mostly) with Thunderbirds at the time, I had always liked Pontiac, ever since being taken for a ride (albeit a scary one) in a 1970 Firebird with a 400 in it as a kid. This was one rental car I looked forward to driving on my vacation in California.
I liked it so much that I bought my own Pontiac years later in the coupe form of this car’s smaller (supercharged) cousin (see post below).
I always thought that Pontiac hit the mark with these; the most exciting FWD GM four-door sedans of their time. I am always glad to see one on the road yet.
The thing that Pontiac missed in its quest for “excitement” was that subtlety spoke louder than flashiness to premium buyers. This base car doesn’t look bad, but the ridiculous spoilers and flares and cladding added to the SSEi variants make the more expensive Bonneville variants look foolish and garish. The net effect was plastic tackiness, and that aura carried over to the interior, where the overwhelming plastic contortions made the car feel cheaper than it was.
Contrast this Bonneville with the Dodge Intrepid, introduced the same year. It was one of Mopar’s styling peaks, and looked very fresh and dramatic. For domestic full-sized “sporty” buyers, I think the Dodge did a better job of integrating the sporty elements in a tasteful way.
The Ford Taurus SHO, also restyled for 1992, was another example of how to create a top sporty model that “spoke softly and carried a big stick” versus the flashy, trying-too-hard Bonneville SSEi.
Wow. The first Intrepid still looks good to me in 2019. What a styling coup these cars were.
And I can agree with you that the accoutrements tacked onto the Bonneville definitely gave the upper-level cars the appearance of trying too hard / doing too much, but I hardly think they were ugly. They just needed some restraint in their details.
I couldn’t agree more. The Intrepid and SHO did a much better job at making a sporty large car look sporty without cartoonishly tacky, the Intrepid in particular.
Great catch, Brendan. I am like some comments above – I always ranked the Buicks higher but the Oldsmobiles lower. It is too bad Pontiac couldn’t have put all the cladding on the base SE and removed it as you went higher up the price ladder. I always looked longingly at the seats in the high-spec cars, they looked like some of the best the US industry had to offer. The powertrain, wheels and interior of the SSEi with the clean exterior of the SE would have been a great car.
The earlier H body from around 86 or so, those were even more dependent on trim level. I knew someone who bought one as his first new car in decades. But he was a thrifty guy and bought one with almost no options. It looked like he bought it from a rental company.
And wow, this car as old as you? I once wrote up a Pontiac as old as me. Yeah.
Now that you mention it, I have written up a car as old as me. 56 Dodge Royal. I know, eh!
For 1996 at least you could get the supercharged 3800 as an option on the SE, as well a comfortable leather bucket seat interior and a choice of nice cross lace or spoked aluminum wheels. A real nice package. The garish plastic cladding on the SSEi made it cartoonish, like it was trying too hard to impress. The supercharged engine on the SE was quite rare. I can recall seeing only one on the road with it.
I had a ’96 SE with the normally aspirated 3800 which was the best thing about it. The “option package 3” put its interior on an equivalent with the SSEi. Thought seriously about getting the supercharged 3800, but it was new for that year and worried about reliability and the ability to get it serviced. The standard 3800 II was fine though – smooth, refined and powerful.
I too worried about that engine and reliability that I did something I never do… I bought the extended warranty…
But then it turned out to be one of the most reliable cars I even owned.
This was the Bonneville SSEi’s smaller W-Body cousin, the Grand Prix GTP. That drive train was new in the Grand Prix for 1997 (as was the Grand Prix itself), but it had been around for a while in the Bonnie.
I had 165K on the clock when I traded in on my ’07 Mustang in early 2008. There were no problems with the drive train, but stupid little things were starting to go up in it, like the fuel level float and such.
But that engine on that thing made you feel like you were driving a powerful V8 rather than a V6.
And yes, it too has the cladding many of you seem to hate, but personally, I think in the Grand Prix’s case, it looks naked without it…
I guess it’s a matter of personal taste. I think the Grand Prix looks far better without it, and I actually always had a certain fondness of the base SE models with their cleaner lower body accents and unique “bottom breather” grille. From some angles I actually see a bit Maserati Quattroporte in it
This is an old thread so you probably won’t read this reply, but I just bought a worn ’97 SE with a supercharged Series II. They only came in SLE (H4U )trim. It has “SUPERCHARGED” emblems on the front doors and trunk lid which are much bigger than the one on Park Avenue Ultra trunk lids. It also has the performance/regular adjustable transmission, traction control, Magnasteer (NV8) , sunroof, and gold cross lace wheels. It lacks steering wheel radio buttons, a power passenger seat, air shocks and tire inflator, and doesn’t have the fancy instrument cluster or heads up display. I read only 367 SEs had the supercharged engine in 1996, but don’t know how many did in ’97. It has lots of power and shifts well, even if the transmission fluid looks a little dirty, but the interior smells like an ashtray. The previous owner changed it over from Dex Cool to Ethylene Glycol coolant. I like it, it’s more sporty than my Buick.
Nice Pontiac. A friend had one of these Bonnies at the time they were new, and it was a departure for him, as he usually drove either Corvettes, or cheap econo-car shitboxes. He told me the colour was Gunmetal Grey, and he loved this car. It complemented his style, in his eyes, which also included fur coats, leather pants, fedora hats, and full beards. He always strove for the distinctive I suppose.
When GM decided to make Olds into ‘import fighter’, the 88 line got new trim LSS, which overlapped the Bonneville. Especially the last LSS [’97-’99] with front fascia a virtual copy of ’59 Pontiac.
As GM market share shrank, B-O-P [and Saturn] fought for the scraps, and guess who won?
If Pontiac and Olds were still around, they’d be pushing rebadged versions of Chevy Trax, Equinox, and Traverse, not the stylish cars enthusiasts want to see.
I thought the last generation Bonneville was nice looking (2000-2005) model.
I loved my 1994 Park Avenue Ultra – one of the (many) cars I regret selling. The interior was roomy, it had a full set of gauges, the engine would pull forever, and the “Concert Sound II” system lived up to its name. Only quirks on the car were the heated seats – they shorted out so I had to disconnect them or it would keep blowing fuses. And the PCM failed, but after 18 years it was on borrowed time I guess.
Plastic interiors aside, these were GM’s best in the ’90s.
I will respectfully disagree that the first-gen H bodies looked dated when new. Yes, in hindsight they’re much less “modern” than, say, a Taurusable or Audi 5000, but at the time they were regarded as conservative but elegant. (At least where I grew up in Chicago; SoCal may have been a different story.)
I’ve always thought the roofline and overall proportions make the first-gen H-bodies look like American Volvos, actually.
Great piece, Brendan.
I remember thinking when the ’92 Bonnevilles came out that while it was great that they finally had their own rooflines, etc., even the basic cars without all the extra plastic had a few styling details that were just a little off, where the previous cars had seemed lean and clean.
I wasn’t a fan of the shape of the pinched-looking taillamps, for example. And though I generally liked the extra curvature cars like it were getting by that time (i.e. the Buick LeSabre), the Bonneville had just looked a little like it had been snacking on Doritos and beer all winter. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
Bonneville was demoted in 1971 to ‘middle trim’ between Grand Ville and Catalina. Name seemed to be on the way out around ’73, hardly saw any. But, cooler heads prevailed and returned the name to its proper status in 1976.
Also glad Parisienne was quietly dropped for 1987, too.
Truth be told, for most of my life I never really cared for this car, finding it the over-styled, fugly sister of its conservative Buick and Oldsmobile siblings. Yet in writing this article, I’ve come to find a sincere appreciation for this generation Bonneville.
Congratulations. You’re well ahead of me then. Don’t hold your breath, though. 🙂
Haha. Don’t take my “appreciation” for it as admiration. I try hard to see some good in every car, even if there is a lot of obvious bad.
Even as a kid when these were new, I hated them for their cartoonish styling and sense of cheapness, the way I views most Pontiacs from my earliest age.
With this Pontiac though, getting past all the cladding, I can at least see where they tried to make meaningful enhancements to it in attempt to back its marketing as a sports sedan and one that looked and drove differently than its siblings.
Was it effective? Not all that much. But I can appreciate the effort.
Was there a version of the SSEi with AWD? Could have called it the SSEiEio. Surely someone within Pontiac had a sense of humour…..
Seriously, this second-gen looks great, like what the first gen should have been. I hadn’t realised how much the first-gen H-body (especially in Olds form) looks like an overgrown J-car, it’s so generically GM. But this one is much more distinctive. The styling somehow makes you want to like it rather than just feeling “meh, it’s a car.”
I thought this was one of the most masculine looking cars GM put out in the 1990s.
Overheard at Pontiac during design of the ’92…
Fixed vent windows?
Check.
Cladding?
Got it.
No, more cladding. Clad the s**t out of it.
Like this?
More. I want you to climb Mount Cladding and not stop until you reach the peak and there is no more clad to claddify.
Umm, okay. We’re gonna need more plastic. What’s a barrel of crude oil go for these days?
Never mind that. Now add…
Poofy seat bolsters? Yep, got a lotta them things.
More poof. Make them look like several innertubes bursting out of a wheel at the same time…
Like this?
Yes, that’s a proper amount of poofiness for a classy car.
Can you guess what’s next?
Not really…
Kinky BMW window!
Huh? Oh, that thing. Alright.
Now I want the thinnest, hardest available plastic for the whole interior. If we don’t have it or if we’ve used up all the plastic on claddification, then call the lab.
Alright, then.
Okay now listen to me very carefully…I want the whole body to at once look like a stepped-on aluminum can while simultaneously resembling a glass-blowing experiment gone awry. Can you do it?
We’re Pontiac. We can do everything!
Well said!
I have a fever, and the only cure is More Cladding
Sometime in the early 1990’s I went on a visit to MCC, an electronics industry consortium located in Austin, Texas. One of my hosts was a Russian emigre who took us to lunch in a Bonneville of this vintage. He clearly loved the car and extolled its many virtues, especially how big and luxurious it was. I thought the inside of the Pontiac looked like a plastic-trimmed bordello, but I was polite and kept that thought to myself.
The Hunt For Red October movie had come out around that time. One of the characters was a Russian submarine officer who wanted to buy an RV and drive it around Montana. The officer didn’t make it through the end of the movie. But my acquaintance at MCC did escape the USSR and was living the dream. I hope he enjoyed his Bonneville for many years. Maybe he took it to Montana.
This definitely belongs on GM’s Best Hits list. While we didn’t have the Bonneville, we did have its corporate cousin, a 1992 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight. And an aunt of mine had a contemporary Buick LeSabre. I think the Bonneville was the looker of the H-Body trio, though.
Before you write off these cars grab three of your friends and a whole ton of luggage and drive across Indiana.
I wrote about these cars January 2012 for TTAC:
How do you know when you go too far if you don’t go too far?
The SSEi went too far.
This is the most overtly sexualized interior since bordello red burgundy disco interiors of the 1970s. The interior of a 1974 Imperial back seat could be explained by the popularity of Shaft, poppers and cocaine, but what’s up with this 1993 SSEi interior? The seats look like they were designed by Brookstone and a Japanese S&M dominatrix. The last thing we need to see is these seats in stained leather, ripped up like one of Marv Albert’s dates. Even when new, this interior looked as friendly as a Stranger Danger driving an Good Humor truck. Push the wrong button and you found Steely Dan with Patrick Stewart’s voice.
A ten year old Mall massage chair used at a naturist senior center looks more sanitary.
There was no way anyone could clean around all those buttons. After a year, this dashboard and seat accoutrement buttons looked as clean as the keyboard of a frat house computer used for surfing porn. You had to have this car detailed every month to keep ants from snacking on the half ton of crud hiding around every gray button. From day one of this car, you could see that an owner would have to buy disposable paper toilet seat covers to keep their clothes clean.
Gray! I never did understand the appeal of NO COLOR used on the IP of this era’s GM vehicles. Between the invisisilver color of the exterior and the invisigray color used on the dash, you would think Pontiac was trying to hide something from us. Did the gray help tone down the eye-ulcerating orange dash lights? Thanks to the eye cones and rod lacerating qualities of this Pontiac dash, Lasik surgery was discovered. Owning a Pontiac, a Subaru or other orange-lit dashes cured myopia.
The reason for all the badges, tags, decals, embroideries, and wood burning lithography on this vehicle is due to a belief at that time that owning a Pontiac was somehow cool. In the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum in Niagra Falls Canada is a Pontiac Trans Am with a plague stating:
At one time, these overwrought ostentatious vehicles were commonly found on our roads, driven by people who needed to believe that mullet hair styles were fashionable, leopard-skin parachute pants were attractive, and Marlboro Light cigarettes were more expensive than generic, but were less cancerous.
Such was Pontiac fashion.
The exterior of this vehicle was also rendered in the Pontiac style fashionable in 1993. However, this being an SSEi required additional decals and plastic ground effects. The overall look of the 1993 Pontiac could be described as looking like a Chevy suffering from serious bloating and gas. The fender lines, the bumpers, the trunk deck stylings all suggest that in case of an accident or an overagressive car wash would result in an SSEi being popped like the bloated carcass of a two day old raccoon road kill in August. Why? Because when this car was originally designed, many auto manufacturers were attempting to create something bloated and round to address the popularity of the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable. Gaseous shapes were in. Even the Taurus twins jumped the shark in 1996 by trying to outbloat the competition.
Fortunately, these cars were built with the dedication and quality of GM autos typical for those times, and sadly, today as well. As these cars aged, parts fell off, revealing taunt, attractive and sometimes, not rusted exterior panels more attractive than the original design. The effect would be like seeing a Phantom of the Opera mask fall off revealing George Hamilton’s orange face.
Like the Turnpike Cruiser, let’s show some respect for gauche auto design!
C’mon VanDude – stop being so damned polite and just spit out what you really think. 🙂
I like to think of the 1990s as the modern 1960s, a time when styles were fairly clean and when drivability was pretty good. You remind me that some late 50s style exuberance was still going strong in some corners of the 90s.
I didn’t catch this when it first posted.
A long overdue thanks for a hilarious read.
These were very nice vehicles when they were new. One of my mother’s friends had one, a grey one. Can’t remember if it was SSE or SSEi, but it was fully loaded. It had just about every conceivable option available at that time and I was fascinated by it at the time (I was maybe 10 years old). I can only imagine the maintenance nightmare that car must have been when it started to age with all the cheap leather trim, buttons, displays, and electronic gadgetry. Not to mention the spotty GM (Pontiac in particular) quality back in the early 90’s when these came out.
Still love my flawless SSE! Still gets the looks
Michael,
Wow! That is a stunning car. I miss American cars like yours. They are just damn cool!
My dad loved Bonnevilles. He had two. First a maroon 1987, then replaced it with a bright red 1993. He preferred the SE because he hated the garish SSE exteriors. I got my first driver’s license when that ’93 was still pretty new and I loved to drive it on those rare occasions when he’d let me. It was big and roomy but still seemed powerful to me, and it handled great.
Of course, my other driving option at the time was mom’s Grand Caravan, so almost anything else would have been fun to drive in comparison.