Old cars parked at the curb have become increasingly rare here in Northern Virginia, so I hit the jackpot when I came across this 1966 Pontiac Bonneville and 1969 Ford F-250 parked nose-to-trunklid. It’s an interesting pairing – not similar to each other, but united by the fact that they’ve survived over five decades so far. Since both are now time travelers, let’s take a look at this unlikely pair.
This F-250 has made an appearance on Curbside Classic before, since I spotted it once last year, and posted a photo within a collection of finds. At the time, I had assumed it was an F-100, and was corrected in that article’s comments. Recently, I found myself in the same area, and swung by to see if the truck was still there. Not only was it there, but it was now joined by a Pontiac companion.
Ford sold over 3 million F-series pickups during its 5th generation (1967-72), and whenever I see one, I assume that it’s an F-100, which it almost always is. This truck got me curious about overall production, and upon looking it up, I realized F-250s accounted for a quarter of this generation’s output – more than I’d expected. Maybe F-250s’ survival rates are lower because they were more likely to be used for commercial purposes? Or maybe my observations aren’t reflective of reality. Now, that F-350 Flareside in the above ad was a virtual unicorn – fewer than 2,000 were built for 1969, or less than 0.5% of that year’s F-series production.
In any case, this appears to be a good, and well-used survivor. The Lunar Green truck features a Custom Cab, too. One step about the Standard Cab, this option provided customers with a cushier seat, higher-grade interior trim, and a few exterior enhancements. Evidently, this truck’s original owner did opt for a few goodies.
One feature I noticed is the auxiliary fuel tank filler between the door and rear wheel. These were sometimes installed as dealer accessories, and occasionally purely on the aftermarket.
Here’s a period ad for such an auxiliary tank; one could be installed on each side, adding up to 40 gallons of fuel capacity.
A bit rusty, for sure, but I suspect this truck will still be on the road for a while longer.
On to the F-250’s curbmate, a 1966 Bonneville. There are few better manifestations of the “longer, lower, wider” design philosophy than this car. And while I find the shape very pleasing, it’s really the contrast with today’s car shapes that’s most eye-catching.
In terms of length and width, our Bonneville possesses a similar footprint to a Chevy Suburban, but is twenty inches lower. In a modern setting, this car seems almost like a big snake, stretched out and ready to slither away. It’s hard to think of a more striking counterpoint to today’s short and stubby CUVs.
The Bonneville looks ready to gobble up that Camry in front it, and new Camrys aren’t exactly petite. For 1966, Pontiac redesigned the Bonneville’s rear, which now featured sculpted brackets where the vestigial fins protrude from the rear fascia and meet up with equivalent bumper protrusions.
Whenever I see a Pontiac of this vintage, I envision it in an Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman ad, such as this one. The combination of the car’s striking shape, and its artistic interpretation is certainly dynamic, and perfectly suited to this type of artwork.
Our featured Pontiac still carries much of its original poise – the long, low and wide design may not have been practical, but it certainly was unmistakable. Stacked headlights and that imposing split grille add some conspicuous gravitas that size alone couldn’t achieve.
1966 was the second of six years for this Bonneville generation; for the first two years, Pontiac sold over 130,000 Bonnevilles, with that number falling each year afterwards. Throughout those six years, hardtop coupes such as this one accounted for about one-third of total Bonneville production. In my opinion, they’re the best-looking member of the Bonneville family, putting its coke-bottle styling to good use.
Our brief trip to the 1960s is over, and I thank these two vehicles for providing a nice break from the ordinary curbside dwellers. Whether this pair is in the process of being restored, or continuing to be used as-is, I hope they continue to make their section of the curb an interesting place for years to come.
Photographed in Arlington, Virginia in September 2025.
What great finds to see just parked there. If I were to see just one of those, I’d assume that I’d just stumbled upon someone who appreciates a good old vehicle from the 1960s. The two together make me wonder if whoever owns them may be in the “restoration” business or at least a serious hobbyist. I have a feeling that the rust on both of those has very intentionally been left as is and either of these could be vehicles that have at least some use as film/tv background.
Love the old black and white VA plates on the Pontiac…and yes, I too always think of that great advertising artwork when I see a Pontiac of this generation.
The Bonneville even has eight-lug wheels! As much as I prefer the ’65 to the ’66 Pontiac, I think the ’66 Bonneville has a better trim package than its ’65 equivalent. I like the “Bonneville” lettering down low, just above that wide molding, and for some reason, I prefer the tail treatment on the ’66 in combination with its long deck. Beautiful car!
I agree about the Bonneville lettering – it’s one of those little changes that has a big impact, since it complements the horizontal nature of the whole design.
Love that Bonnie. Such an imposing presence, even compared to a Big F250. Looking at the taillights, rearend treatment, I think it just deserved some better (more) lights to fill the rounded edges at the outermost .. areas, (kinda like the “62 Bonneville). Just looks plain there, but maybe that’s because the 62 Taillight setup spoiled me. I love taillights, started as a child, maybe that’s why my dream cars are always Impalas of some year or another.
Sorry, Carry on.
Couldn’t agree more, it looks incomplete. That bodywork is begging for bracket tailights and, to your point, it would have been a nice build on the 62 as well as the 64. In any case, the peak Ponitac era.
Hey Eric, come over to the Valley where pickups like that are a more common sight.
Definitely! In other parts of the state (or country) old pickups aren’t quite a rarity, but here they certainly are.
My eyes were drawn as well to the longbed, stepside, F-350 in the brochure photo. By 1969, full-width beds were almost the de facto choice, especially on heavy duty pickups, where most folks would want the added bed volume. Stepside beds were usually seen as cheap and anachronistic. I suspect that most of the 2,000 trucks so equipped were delivered to municipal fleets, whose buyers simply bought the cheapest truck that would fit their hauling/towing needs.
It’s an odd combination – the vast majority of F-350s back then were chassis configurations, but I suppose Ford felt they needed a regular pickup for the F-series family portrait there.
It was an odd combination, and this generation was the end of the line for any 9 foot bed. From ’57-’66 you could get a F-350 with a 9 foot bed in Styleside or Flareside. The Styleside was dropped in ’67 with the new body. Apparently the sales weren’t enough to justify the tooling expense for a 9 foot Styleside. The Flareside appears to have very little (if any) change from ’53 on, so it did not cost them much to build those. And for the new ’73 models, F-350’s could have been ordered with either bed, but only in 8 foot. That lasted through ’76, when the Flareside went away on the 3/4 and 1 ton models.
Good find, Eric!
Thank you for the explanation – I never realized (until I looked up the production stats) that the 350’s of this era were available only as a Flareside, which seemed the opposite of what I’d expect.
My father with his 1965 Bonneville. It was one of my favorite cars he owned. I enjoyed the times I rode shotgun with him hanging my arm out the window like he did.
Terrific photo!
Nice review. I get tired of younger people discussing how big the cars were in the 1960s. There were a lot of big cars, parking spaces were also larger. I took my Drivers Ed course summer in 1965, at age 15. What we drove were full size 1965 Pontiacs.
Weird question, but I wonder if that F-250 originally had 16.5″ split rim wheels. What an odd question to come to mind, but it did.
Something tells me the odds of seeing either of these on the street in 40 years is greater than seeing a 2025 model parked here. Maybe I’m also just being grumpy today.
16.5 were eight lug truck rims designed for tubeless tires. 16.0, 17.5 and 19.5 split rims required tubes. Today, 16.5 tires are hard to find, so usually replaced by modern 16’s or 17’s.
Love that ’66 Bonneville, one of my all-time favorites.
I have one in scale that I built in the spring of 1966, though not up to Peter Wilding’s level of detailing.
I wonder what it is like finding a place that can mount and balance a set of tires on Pontiac’s 8-lug wheels these days?
Knew it was “Arlington”, before I found out at the end. Pic’s really show how crazy, long those were. My neighbors grandparents had the “4dor, sdn”, “Catalina”. Was a “66”. Was still their car in “1980ish”, when they had to stop the man from driving.
I think it only had about “61K”, on the odometer.
This looks like a sight straight out of, say, 1975 – when both of these vehicles would have had time to age a bit from new.
I have a hard time choosing between the 65 and the 66 Pontiac for a favorite. I think I edge towards the 66, if only because I remember the silver-blue 66 Bonneville 4 door hardtop that a neighbor owned for a number of years. I always thought it was a beautiful car.
If you get over that way again, would you please put a note under one of the Pontiac’s wiper blades, asking the owner to swap them from side to side, so that the upside-down wiper blade tips are not pointing upwards where they meet in the middle?