The words “Pontiac Bonneville” once stood for what was consistently one of the most beautiful and compelling American cars. That all ended in 1982, when that storied name was applied to this sad-sack G-Body. Yes, this example found and posted at the CC Cohort by canadiancatgreen is a particularly pathetic example, but it reminded me just how far the Bonneville had fallen from it former glories.
In case you need reminding, here’s a sample of all the generations of Bonnevilles. Pick your favorite. And if anyone picks this one, I’ll retire (again).
1958:Â Not exactly one of my favorites, but then that applies to all of the ’58 GM line. The blow-out end of an era.
I much prefer the cleaner 1960 over the fussier ’59, but feel free to disagree.
1961: One of my favorites. Lighter, tighter and faster, especially with the (non stock) 421 SD that this one sports.
1963 certainly deserves top billing, with its soon-to-be iconic stacked headlights and its bulging hips, a preview of things to come in 1965.
1965: Yes, it’s a bit excessive, but not too much so thanks to superb detailing and a dramatic front end. The best of the new ’65s.
The 1967 let its flowing mane sweep even further back, making it a nigh-near genuine fastback, and again, one of the best of its kind for a full size car, although the big Buick Wildcat might give it a run for the money.
By 1969 fastbacks were out and a turn towards a cleaner, more formal look was under way.
1971 brought a new body as well as a range-topping Grand Ville, but the Bonneville still has a lot of appeal with the new styling direction and bold front end.
1976 was the last of the really big Bonnies. The new squared-off coupe roof created a more formal look and previewed what was coming the following year.
1977 -1981: The downsized 1977 GM cars all had their respective charms and attractions, and an elegant new coupe roof shared with Buick and Olds. But it’s hard to say that any of them topped the Bonneville’s clean lines that went so well with that Fiat 130 Coupe-inspired roof. A superb finale to the full-size RWD Bonnevilles.
1982-1986Â Need I say anything more than what I said here about this GM Deadly Sin?
1987 – 1991: A completely new FWD architecture and the beginning of Pontiac’s efforts to establish the Bonneville as a Euro-fighter. There’s a bit of unevenness between the rounded front end and the rather squarish middle section.
1992Â 1999: A more organic and smoother design, objectively well done. But Pontiac’s growing image as the Walmart BMW wasn’t helping.
2000 – 2005:Â The end of the road. And not a very glorious one, but some may differ.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1984 Pontiac Bonneville Brougham – GM’s Deadly Sin #8
The B-body Bonneville is writting checks it can’t cash.
To this day I’m still puzzled about how the B-bodies could be handsome in coupe versions but look like something specifically designed for Hertz in sedan versions. I love how Peggy Hill drove a Regal or Century B-body though, it went perfect with her outdated old lady glasses.
They looked so tepid, with sonething off about the balance of the three box design flow. That was a huge fail, I could see how sales were lost. Especially to families with children or anyone else who desired a sharp looking sedan. I was a kid back then, when it seemed like a lot of families were replacing B-bodies with Accords, Audi 4000’s and such.
Are you talking about the A/G-body?
Something that’s really noticeable with the beige car that I’ll never unsee is the infamous flipout windows’ chrome supports don’t match the formal roofline. That’s because they designed the formal roof around the station wagon rear doors.
My favorite car-casting of the G-body Bonneville is Mike’s dad’s car in Stranger Things. I can easily imagine him being shown a 6000STE but not being ready to move on from the Brougham Era yet in 1983, and if you know the difference between a 1983 and a 1963 Bonneville it adds a touch of “I used to be cool” to his character.
My family had Pontiacs from 1955-1964…. my grand father had a 1965 Bonneville 4 door that was a very pretty car – my favorite year, drove nicely too but we’re talking boulevard driving… my grand father’s last Pontiac was his Grandville which drank gas like a drunken sailor – I drove them from NY City to the auto train outside DC – nice ride but glad I didn’t have to spring for the gas!
A big 455 cubic inch isn’t going to do much better than 10 MPG in urban driving and maybe 15 on the highway.
I regular get told it is possible to achieve better fuel economy from big blocks, but I have never been able to so.
All the 1960’s are quite handsome, but the 1963 really is my favorite. Pontiac really had it together in those years.
In the lead photo I can’t decide if the centerline aluminum wheels make a rusty 4 door G body more pathetic or less pathetic.
Gotta agree with DougD on this one. I like the 1969 year model also but the ’63 is my favorite.
1963 Bonneville is my favorite too. The 1965 is my second choice.
However any 1960-1966 would suit me just fine.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course.
Gee, I thought that, for the time, the 58 was beautiful. But I guess the 65 was a bit better. Anything newer than 65, ugh.
I have a friend with a similar 60 nicely done in white 421 fashion, what a machine. Then another with a 65 maroon 4 door hardtop, such a gorgeous land yacht….
I was barely alive, but in looking back with my 60+ year perspective, it seems the lithe ’60 is what led people to sit up and notice Pontiac for the first time as no longer an old person’s car, and the next 3-4 years cemented their performance image. By ’65 I think they begin to look bloated. The late 80’s/early 90’s versions were decent attempts at pulling it back in, but by then the extensive cladding, BMW-copy red IP lighting etc sealed their fate as the Walmart BMW wanna-be for the trailer park, and it was just a matter of time before the sun set.
I rented a ’93 SSE back then and thought it was pretty decent, but I wasn’t in the market for a large sedan.
I had a 74 GRANDVILLE and 80 Bonneville Brougham. Beautiful, elegant cars BUT both had mechanical problems. Applying the Bonneville name to these downsized vehicles was another one of GMs multiple mistakes.
I lean to the 1967, I remember when those first came out, and seeing the new car brochures of them with their sweeping design features, and big front beak. A nod to the 87-91s, a good friend had one and he loved it. To my eyes it was a whole different body shape for the times, much better than what it looked like through the 70s and 80s in a square-ish look.
A neighbour had an 80s Bonneville, and it rivalled the look of the one in the lead photo, when it was just 5 or 6 years old, both outside and inside. He couldn’t get rid of it fast enough.
I really enjoyed the 1981 Bonneville Brougham we had. When I saw the 82 version, I kept wanting to call it a LeMans!
With GM getting so many things wrong, I still feel that their downsizing program starting in 1977 was one in a row that they got right.
So I’ll say the 81 is my favorite
I gotta say I love the 1958 and the 1965! But truth be told I’d probably drive any of them, Bonneville has to be one of the best car names ever in my opinion….
1965 was my all time favorite Pontiac Bonneville followed by 1966 and 1968.
#1: 1959. Look at the brochure image. How could it not be #1?
#2: 1958. See next comment for image. Compared to previous Pontiacs, so long, low, sleek; with that rocket ship on the side. Bucket seats! Dad comes home from the dealer’s in this–everybody’s in awe!
Other observations:
1982-86: The hated one, yet is probably the easiest to live with in terms of economy, easy-to-handle size, and basic components that are fairly durable.
1970: That avant-garde front end–inspired or just ridiculous? You tell me.
Front end of ’59 is great, but rear is a hot mess.
Agreed. The 63 is pretty nice too.
1958:
Missing: the 1957 Pontiac Bonneville. It was built in a convertible only, with Rochester fuel injection and in a limited range of colors. 630 were built.
Bonnevilles were rare birds here in the great white north, at least in thier real glory days.
A guy I knew had somehow obtained a very nice ’61, and it was a real cut above the Cheviacs we had here. More car than I would want but it was a very impressive machine none the less.
So I gotta go with 1961. I don’t know exactly when they started selling Bonnevilles in Canada but they were just another car by the time they available, and made zero impression on me. I always noticed the older ones when we visited the States though.
My favorites are the ’65 and similar ’66. I thought the ’67 jumped the shark with that bifurcated front end. But the ’69 represented a nice recovery.
Like Paul, I prefer the ’60 over the ’59, but any model from 1959-66 + 1969 would be welcome in my garage.
A good example of how horrible the american automotive industry was in terms of car design in the late 70s and 80s.
I think even the cars on the soviet satellites were more good looking.
1968; I like the front end similar to the 68 LeMans but grander. 1969 I actually prefer some details like the more rounded taillights but I don’t like the formalized roofline, a convertible would be my choice for 69. Second to those 1966 is really cool, love the grille design
Anything after (and including) 1970 I don’t really care for the 77 B body one is alright but it looks way too much like the Chevy in the front end and the Buick in the roofline to make any sort of statement. The 92-99 I liked the look of when I was a kid but I never noticed how droopy the tail was until seeing one for the first time in a long time recently. I do appreciate that they abstained from the split honeycomb nostrils present on every other 90s Pontiac product. To this day I think Dodge copied the H body Bonneville’s front end for the 08-14 Charger
I used to own a 73 Bonneville, but my favorite is the 1965 coupe.
1968 Bonneville is my favorite, probably because I remember them from my neighborhood in Portsmouth, VA in the late 60’s, but Pontiac clearly started cheapened its interiors by then. 1965 Bonneville had a far superior interior.
The 1961 model is my favourite by far. I love the clean lines and smaller, handier size. Alas, GM cars started to bloat after this.
Drove one almost a “twin”, to the blue “80’s”, one. Was a nice riding car. Just too expensive for what , by then, was “aged design”. (the one I drove was an “85”)
I grew up primarily in the ’80s and was aware of the new 1987 H-body Bonnevilles when they were new. They seemed really cool. I’m going with that one. Other Bonnevilles may have been more storied, but all of them were new cars long before my time.
I think the ’65 Bonneville is spectacular. Not just the bold front end, but the rear is beautifully sculpted as well. The ’66 looks dumbed downed (and cheapened). The headlights lose the illusion of forward motion, and the rear styling is just bland.
Chevrolet made the same mistake on the ’66 Impala with those generic squared off taillights compared to the ’65 with one of the best interpretations — if not the best — of the Impala’s signature triple taillights.
I’m late but HAD to agree with this assessment of the 65/66 Impala. Whoever came up with the 66 taillights should have been (and hopefully was) fired.
I love the ’61 – clean, trim, elegant, almost athletic in appearance. It’s this car, and the soon-to-follow GTO, that represent ‘peak Pontiac’ to me.
As stunning as the ’63 was at the time, to me those bulging hips were the beginning of the irrational inflating of full size North American car bodies, a trend in full bloom by the late 1960’s. All that thin, flapping sheet metal, enclosing….nothing. 🙂
The 1963 hardtop coupe hits that sweet spot between restraint and excess, the first iteration of the iconic stacked headlights that would soon be imitated by other manufacturers, and would be a high water mark for Pontiac neh, automotive design of the 1960’s. IMHO.
Being a Gen X there’s also a nostalgia for the 92 – 96 models, while living in B.C and Washington in the late 90’s these large front drive luxo barges where something I’d not seen in Australia with the front door glass especially being a constant source of amusement mixed with confusion.
Probably because I’m ancient I go with a tie between the 63 and 65. Next would be the downsized B bodies. Anything after 81 is somewhat pitiful compared to these earlier ones.
’65 for it’s dramatic front end and for it’s fantastic rear end. Take a look at all the pictures of this excessive restoration :
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/1965-pontiac-22-big-brother-is-restomod-royalty-144691.html#
What? Nobody has mentioned the 62, which is my favourite!
Yep, me too!
What’s rough is that in many of the glory years the Bonneville wasn’t the best-looking big Pontiac. ’63 is a great example of that – the Catalina has cleaner side trim and better proportions since it doesn’t have the Bonnie’s B-and-a-bit stretched wheelbase and rear deck.
Same goes for the ’77-79 coupes where Bonnevilles were infected with fender skirts that made the rear look heavy and dumpy in jarring contrast with the crisp, airy roofline. The example PN shows has them removed for that reason, but they make their presence known from the lack of rear fender moldings. All that could be avoided by buying a Catalina.
So, by default it’d have to be a ’76 in the color shown, the best integration of the new square headlights on the old ’71 big cars but one of GM’s last four-door hardtops, not the post coupe.
Without a doubt the ’66 was my favorite followed by the ’69 and ’69, none with fender skirts.
Without a doubt the ’66 was my favorite followed by the ’68 and ’69, none with fender skirts.
’65-’66
I’d say the ’82-86 G-body is the Bonneville’s low point, but at the same time, it’s my favorite of those G-body sedans. I wouldn’t mind having a later model, with the 305 and 4-speed automatic. And fully-loaded, with power assists for those flip out vent windows!
If I could pick any single year of Bonneville that I’d want to own, it would be a ’61. I just love the clean, sleek lines of it, and the shape of the grille/front end treatment.
I also like the ’63 and ’65 Bonnevilles alot. With the ’64 and ’66, there’s just one minor detail I’m not crazy about…the way the headlights are more vertical, versus the forward thrust of ’63 and ’65. Although, I think the ’65 handles it a bit better than the ’64.
I’d also throw the ’67 into the lineup of my favorite Bonnevilles, with one exception…the hardtop coupe. The roofline is just a bit TOO fastback, for my tastes. But as a 4-door sedan/hardtop, or convertible, I think it looks great. Disclosure: I have a ’67 Catalina convertible, so I’m a bit biased!
I’d also pick ’71-74 as another low point for the Bonneville, but mostly because it was demoted, to Executive/Star Chief status. If you ordered a Catalina with the Brougham interior and a 455, wasn’t it essentially the same thing as a Bonneville during those years? The Bonneville did give you a 2″ stretch on the wheelbase in ’71-72, but it was all ahead of the cowl, and in my opinion not really noticeable, unless you saw it sitting right next to a Catalina. I guess, perhaps a Bonneville might have a bit more brightwork on the body?
I bought used 82 two tone green with green pillow tufted velor interior that looked like the inside of a casket. It was my winter rat to keep my new Mercedes 190 off those Ohio salty roads. It was slow as hell but solid. It served its purpose so I liked it but never was a love. Sold it 3 years later for what I paid for it so it was ok for a rat. Still laugh about calling it the “Boone-ville” or the ” Boner-ville” . Lol.