(first posted 2/1/2014) There it sits, a ’61 Pontiac Bonneville. Although fifth in sales in 1961, this Pontiac encompasses all the critical elements for future success: a Wide Track stance, a lovely split grille, and that intangible Pontiac style. While this Curbside Classic left the factory with four doors, all Bonnevilles came with frameless door glass, and simply opening the windows will give us that wide open hardtop look so popular with the baby boomer generation.
A very complete and original car, it does lack factory wheel covers. I’d love to see a completely correct car, but here in Southern California it seems all Curbside Classics come equipped with alloy wheels. Maybe next time…
1961 was a soft year for cars sales, and Pontiac lost a little ground from the previous year. However, most other nameplates lost ground as well, and two of the nameplates in front of Pontiac (Plymouth and Rambler) were about to slip back into the pack. This allowed Pontiac to move into third place in 1962 and remain there for the rest of the decade. Your eyes aren’t fooling you–this Bonneville really is starting to pull ahead!
This rear view helps establish this car as one of Pontiac’s top models. The big block letters spelling out Bonneville let us know the owner bought a trim level with a lot of chrome, the reverse lights in the bumper say, “I’m no stripped out base model,” and of course triple taillights ALWAYS equal the top dog trim level.
Checking my Catalina statistics, I guarantee it came from the factory with a 389 Pontiac V-8. The 421 didn’t arrive until 1963, and it would be a few years before GM started mixing and matching division engines. Narrowing down the exact 389 is a bit more complicated, as Pontiac offered eight different horsepower ratings on their full sized offerings, at least three of them in the Bonneville. For economy-oriented buyers (probably few), the three speed manual came standard with a low compression four-barrel 235 hp “Trophy V8”; ordering the Hydra-Matic teamed it up with a high-compression version with 303 hp, although there was also an “Economy Special Trophy” that had a 230 hp two-barrel 389 teamed up with the Hydra-Matic and a 2.56 rear axle ratio. And if this hood hides a Tri-Power induction system, it’s the top engine option delivering 318 hp.
Looking at this interior shot, I’m still not sure if this is an automatic or manual. Perhaps the owner removed the shift lever to help prevent theft, or perhaps they added a floor shift I can’t see in this shot. Either way, it seems to have an automatic quadrant display at the base of the steering column.
I didn’t notice any interior modifications outside of speakers in the rear package shelf. You can see the car is very nicely preserved, with a patina that indicates the paint and interior pieces may all be original.
During my walk around, the body sculpting along the side caught my eye. The subtle kick up along the top of the rear door helps mark this as a GM car. Not many manufacturers had the advantage of the Fisher Body division. Using this resource, GM divisions delivered complex body panels that set them apart from the also-rans. Check out the subtle character line running across the C-pillar and then up the roof to outline the window openings. I love those little details that catch the eye. New cars lack such detailing, sacrificed at the twin altars of aerodynamics and fuel efficiency.
Here’s another shot showing the sheet metal sculpture, along with a small fin and an exaggerated Pontiac shield. There really weren’t a lot of notable cars built in 1961, and I think this image helps explain why. A year of flux, designers were abandoning the jukebox styling of the fifties, but were still searching for a new direction. The sheet metal dynamism present in the ’64 Pontiacs hadn’t quite burst on the scene, and the chrome detailing on this ’61 was still a bit heavy handed.
Speaking of detailing, the “Bonneville” script mounted on the side trim was missing a few letters on both sides of the car. Given this Bonneville is 53 years old, I’ll let these little imperfections slide. Most of the Pontiacs built that year have lost far more than an “I” or “L.” The mounting clips for the front spear also appear to be missing in action, but those sheet metal screws provide an even more reliable mounting system, and will keep the trim in place for years to come.
How to wrap up this fine Curbside Classic? I’ll defer to the tag line in this ad: “Wide-Track makes it a great day for driving to the tune of a Pontiac V-8.” Looking at that Catalina Convertible, I agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly. The ’61 Pontiac may have finished fifth place in sales, but an underlying greatness would help move it to third place the next year, and that burbling Pontiac V-8 would keep it there for the rest of the decade.
This car truly grows on you. It looks ungainly at first but at second and third glance the elements all come together.
I’m also a great admirer of trunk space. This one could hold a bowling alley.
My first car was a ’61 Catalina on the shorter 119″ wheelbase; it’s trunk was humongous. The Bonnie/Star Chief added that much more. Mafioso car pool!!
how well sealed are the pillarless sides of vehicles like this? The UK pretty much missed out on the whole ‘hardtop’ sedan thing that America and Japan did.
These were not bad new, but as they aged and the rubber seals would harden, you would get more wind whistles at speed. And be sure to bring a friend and some towels to hold up to the leaky spots if you drove an older one through a carwash that sprayed water directly against the windows.
They were a disaster on Canada’s Wet Coast. The rubber seals degraded very quickly and would leak water all down all the doors.
I had a few of them, and by the time I had enough cash, they were 8 or 9 years old. They leaked like a sieve.
Older people tended to have concerns about safety with the hardtop sedans. I remember my Uncle Ted bought a Chevy four door sedan rather than a four door hardtop for this reason. Still a huge car though – carried eight of us (four adults, four kids) on a picnic once – try that in a modern sedan!
You can fit 14 teenagers into a 61 Pontiac Laurentian, it was already slow due to a very tired six but they charge by the body at drag racing back in the day so filling the boot with people saved money for beer.
Looks like it was a column shift automatic that the owner converted to a floor shift. In the interior photo, I can see a black shifter T-handle in the lower right corner of the picture.
Nice Pontiac BTW. Shame about the trim held on with screws. I bet you’d have a heck of a time finding a good replacement piece to make it right again.
Great find. You hit it exactly – this was a period of styling transition. This car has both fabulous details (grille, tail) and some awkward views too (roofline with c pillars that are either too wide or too narrow.) By 1963 the look would be all worked out. As for this 61, I think the convertible version has aged most gracefully.
These early ’60s big Ponchos were quite cleanly styled, if somewhat oddly proportioned, with that near-zero front overhand/miles-long rear overhang body-shifted-rearward-on-the-chassis look. To the modern eye, and with that ridiculous rear overhang, it looks really odd, but this look was a hallmark of early-to-mid ’60s styling (especially GM’s A- and B- body cars).
In the first photo, from that slightly low front 3/4 angle, it almost like there’s a pickup bed back there instead of a trunk… looks sort of like it could be a 4-door “El Camino.”
Back in the day I used to wonder how American cars would look with a foot chopped off the tail. Who really needed all that trunk?
Serial killers & gangsters!
From a 21st Century perspective (and even one of the 1960s) the ‘bigger car’ in sheer bumper to bumper size was perceived as the “better value”, that is, “more car for your money.” Now from non-U.S./Canadian eyes, these big huge cars seem silly until you use them to haul people, luggage, cargo for any appreciable distance . . . . and then suddenly they’re OK !!
As a kid, I’d see these things drag their tails on the many narrow and steep inclined streets that made up the hills on San Rafael . . . . or . . . when visiting relatives in rural Missouri, seeing these stick two feet tail outside of old garages designed for a ’28 Model A or ’31 Chevy Confederate . . . .
Automotive styling touches are not always easy to describe. Well written Mr. Skinner.
I love old four-door cars. Good for this dude for keeping this unappreciated classic on the road. However, I have always found it silly how the car adverts displayed an inaccurately wide rendering of their “wide-track” cars.
I like this a lot, itshould have been a popular gangster’s car.There looks plenty of space in the boot for a rat and shovels.Inside enough room for the wheelman and 5 goons
I think the ’61 is more attractive as a Catalina on the shorter wheelbase and without the exaggerated rear deck.
Very nice! That being said, give me the Canadain Parisienne with a 283…..very sweet
The 61 and 62 models were the last of the Canadian Pontiacs, that didn’t look goofy with the 14 inch wheels.
I too prefer our Canadian Cheviacs, since that’s what I grew up with, but we didn’t get that cool clear plastic steering wheel. For many years a ’61 4 door hardtop resided just down the street from my Grandmother’s home in Victoria BC, a very gentle climate on cars. It still looked new in the early ’80s the last time I saw it. It was a real head turner by that time, there seemed to be ’62 and later Pontiacs everywhere but ’61s were rare.
Nice find.
I parted out a ’64 Custom Sport w. a clear plastic wheel, but the clear has a zillion hair-line cracks and looks pretty dull Future project is to experiment with acrylic resin to fill the tiny voids.
As you can tell from my name, I’m into the Canadian X-framers. The narrow track allowed really deep reverse rims (in the sixties) and then nicely sized Americans or Ansen slots (seventies) which restored the wide track and added a novel look.
Hey tired old – you still in Victoria? I’m still here, a Spike’s Automotive alum. And I guess I’m a bit tired, now, too!
A friend of mine had a ’65 Custom Sport. i always loved it’s lines. Had a 327 4bbl. It flew!
I’m long gone from the rock, although my wife and I visited on vacation a couple of years ago. Still lots of nice vintage iron rolling around Victoria.
Spike’s Automotive-were you guys active at the stock car track say 25 years ago? Rings a hazy bell, but that’s a lot of miles ago.
Old-time style auto repair out of a tin shed on Pembroke street in the seventies. Corvairs, cadillacs, automatics, street performance, rolling junk, all-nighters, permanent mayhem/hilarity, but no racing involvement. One of the great generation who lived their trade until it wore him out. RIP, man.
The ’61 and ’62 Canadian Pontiacs looked very good as both the U.S. Catalina/Ventura and all the ’61-’62 Canadian Ponchos shared a 119″ wheelbase . . . but, of course, the Canadians had the Chevy X frame compared to the American full perimeter frame and U.S. cars had their exhausts dump out just under the rear bumper lip. I like the Canadians of his period with it’s interiors a mix of American Pontiac and Chevy. On YouTube, there’s a television ad for the ’61 Canadian Pontiac. The guy shuts the door and it has the same rubber insulated ‘clunk’ our ’61 Catalina Safari and my ’61 Catalina sedan has. Body by Fisher!
I like how the art in the brochure makes it look wider than it is. As though you grabbed the car by the sides and pulled real hard.
…and yet the people are not flattened and widened.
Another marker of originality on that car is the still-nice-looking yellow on black California plate that’s undoubtedly been on it since 1963. Those were pretty well-made plates, but it still takes a little care to keep one looking that good after fifty years of use.
Unless they’ve “fallen off”, you can see some period Cal. black plate cars (’63 and older with the plates issued in January of ’63), with what, by 2014, may have a 3/4″ stack of stickers on the right side of the plate!! Seriously !!
I love the split grille and the hardtop coupe is beautiful. The styling of the Pontiac and Olds for 1961 completely hid the rear taillights from side view, bad from a safety perspective. Overall, I’d rather have an Impala four-door hardtop for that year.
I am not a fan of that comical rear end. It looks like you could land a small plane on that trunk
I always felt the ’61 full size GM’s always sported a shrunken, ungainly, oddly proportioned look, especially the Buick. Though redemption was close at hand with the near perfection ’63 models.
There’s a reason for that look; Bill Mitchell (and Harley Earl to a lesser extent) liked that side profile look (extended rear) as it likened the ‘trail’ left behind from a jet (or rocket) . . .
I’d give Buick and Chevy the nod for the best of ’61. The Continental was breaking ground, but it took until ’64 to correct the cramped rear seat. These Ponchos are a bit awkward, the Olds as well. The ’62 Cadillac turned the ’61 into a swan. The other brands / manufacturers were having a tough time with their transition to the ’60s.
I second the motion that the Catalina had a more balanced look. My father had one, rose colored, with the economy V8. It was, by the way, the first car he ever owned with power steering! Very clean-looking, not gaudy, and with vision from inside the car without parallel.
Plymouth outsold Pontiac in ’61? Must have been price.
GM so clearly breaking from the fifties and Mopar confused.
Posted above, also, but the Valiant sales tally was added to Plymouth for 1961, and that helped it get back to #3.
Sadly, this Bozo (or one of it’s preceding owners) yanked out the column shifter and put one on the floor along with the Grand Auto ‘alloys.’ At least the door panels and seats don’t look molested. Bonnevilles of this day (thankfully) offered the four-speed Hydra-Matic; all others were saddled with the Roto-Hydra-Matic three speed, a real POS.
I believe the 421’s may have seen the light of day in a very limited run of S/S’s in late ’61 . . . . not part of the catalog though in ’61 – you wanted ballsy take-no-prisoners everyday hot horses; you opted for the Tri-Power. Most Bonnies of this day usually were single four-pot 389s with the Hydra-Matic.
Long and elegant on the bigger 124″ span (shared with the Star Chief).
BTW . . . I find the ’61 Canadian Parisiennes interesting; a mix of Bonneville, Ventura and Catalina trim . . . some Canadian Parisiennes had “Parisienne” in block letters similar to the U.S. Bonneville along the sides; some did not and had Parisienne script on the upper edge of the front fenders.
Somehow Buick and Pontiac managed to “do more” with the same shared basic body than the other GM divisions did during this time period.
1961 was a great year for auto design. All the GM brands had beautiful styling, Ford was great, and even Rambler refined their first generation Classics nicely that year. Only the weird Exner cars looked ridiculous.
“….. all Bonnevilles came with frameless door glass……”
That was not until 1965, along with curved side glass for all the GM’s.
Several Chrysler Corp. models had frameless door glass around ’63-’64, but with flat windows. I’m quite certain that Pontiac didn’t have frameless glass until ’65 …… that spectacular year for GM styling.
Anyone else remember these from “Naked CIty” Not that I saw it until the 90’s but I wondered why NYC detectives got 4 dr hardtops with with whitewalls. And the windows were always down, even in winter.
Reruns played in the early hours is when I remember that show, insomnia comes in handy some times.
My father bough new in Autumn of 60, a new 61 Bonneville Convertible, a copper copr with the tritone interior and a cream colored roof. With the top down it’s length looke even more increased. Mom refused but once, if I remember correctly, to ride in it with the top down. ( it mussed her hair) She drove the 59 Bonneville hardtop. but wanted something smaller, Dad let my older brother, then just 16, drive the 59 and Mom wanting a smaller car, got a new 61 Corvair (Why not a Tempest, I do not know, as Dad liked Pontiacs, but perhaps the chevy was a better deal) Bot the 61s lasted until the Autumn of 62, When Dad traded the 61 conv on a new 63 Bonneville Hardtop. and mom got a new GP, the first of her line of every other year Blue Grand Prixs.
As one commenter noted the Nonneville and Starchief had the much better and truly classic Controlled Coupling 4 speed Hydramatic. It was more expensive to produce and heavier than the later Turbo 400s but I still preferred it to the TH400.
The longer wheel base Bonnevilles and Starchiefs road smoother too. And the 4speed Hydramatics were more efficient than that POS Roto Hydramatic. My dad had a ’62 Catalina with that POS Roto Hydramatic. It stole a good 25 horsepower from an otherwise strong 389. It might spin a tire in the rain. Tou stomp down on a Bonneville or Starchief and smoke would fill the air.