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Chris R


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Managed to bring home a project myself as well...
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Ive been after this car for over a month now. Finally this past weekend me and the seller were finally able to line up our schedules & im as giddy as a school girl to get this thing home in my shop.

Its a 1961 Pontiac Bonneville Sport Coupe. Pontiacs version of the bubble top. However this car doesn't have an X frame, this from the early days of Pontiacs wide track era & has a full perimeter frame.

The body is in excellent shape with no major rust issues & I could find no major areas of filler which is great because parts for these cars aren't falling out of every catalog like the Chevy full size cars. I only needed to look at it for 20 mins before I knew this thing was coming home with me for what the seller was asking. Plus he even offered to tow it back to my home for free as he owns a towing company (would have charged around 175). Couldn't say no to that.

 The car is or was a low rider or inspired by at least. But suspension is stock, no hydraulics. What it does have going for it is the 1970s era Cheech & Chong style chain steering wheel and strings of dingleberrys fastened down along all the style lines inside the car, some of which is hanging down after years in storage. Which this car has been sitting in indoors since the early 90s. Plus these groovy upholstered seats & some sort of fabric style headliner and of course a mini sombrero in the rear package shelf. The front seat looks to be incorrect for this car from stock photos ive browsed online but appears to be similar to a strato bench. It has power windows but not power locks.

The one major issue with the car is the frame. We put the car up on the lift in his shop so I could see underneath & he was right about the frame, it has tears, rust holes & cracks in a few spots but none of it renders the car weak enough to be unsafe on the road. Its not bent or rusted all the way around in sections, its just that the frame isn't worth restoring and frames are out there but would take a little traveling to bring one home. Im into this car at an affordable enough price that I plan to get in touch with a company like Roadster Shop, Art Morrison, Scotts Hotrods, etc. and have them custom make a chassis for it. 

The rest of the car underneath is in good condition, floor pans, trunk pan, etc. Odd to see a car with good pans but in need of a frame replacement.

As usual a car sitting this long will need mechanical attention but Im told the stock 389 runs good but I haven't tried getting it running. It will need brake work & the suspension needs to be gone through. I could tell the thing bounced a bit on the roll back because of the worn shocks (still has spiral shocks in place, probably not original though). Currently the plan is to put this on the back burner for now but I still need to finish going through the several boxes of extra parts that were in the trunk, (I never even opened it until I got home & what a nice surprise I got inside, filled with several boxes of extra trim, full set of side spears, the removed badges & door handles(notice they are shaved), another pair of door panels, etc. I still need to empty the thing out & take inventory of everything. The glove box is locked & I don't have the key for it but it looks like the same lock the Chevelle's have.

Before I do anything to this. I still need to finish the upgrades to my shop & then The 66 comes first. Plus both my daily drivers are over 20 years old. Time to update to something newer then 5 years old.

Right front.jpg

Right rear.jpg

Left side.jpgFunky seat upholstery.jpgDingleberries.jpgDash.jpg



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Chris - Ramsey, MN.

Dear Optimist, Pessimist, and Realist.

While you guys were busy arguing about the glass of water. I drank it!

Sincerly,

The opportunist.
more ambition than brains


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You "done" good!
Qualifies for BTT50's too.
Lots of love will get it there.

Karl

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More ambition than brains,

If you have more than 5 of anything, best to stop counting!
Lost in the 60s


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Very nice specimen and rare, cool car...nana I wasn't aware the Pontiac's had perimeter frames in that era. That's a big bonus, even needing some reinforcement to make it safe. Looks like it is an A/C car too ? That is a time capsule of old school low rider for sure.

I wouldn't put that on the back burner. It is much closer to being on the road than the '66 and I would have it there in short order. Doesn't cost that much to just replace all the drum brake parts and have it safe for the road for now. Big plans of swapping the chassis and getting all the goals met at once tend to push the work back many years....speaking from experience...laughing

That car could easily be at BTTF next year...thumbsup



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Mitch D.   River Falls, WI

Lifetime member of the "Cars apart Club"

Some Assembly Required

1966 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1970 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1967 Camaro SS 350 rs
SShink


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Nice find.

I'm with Mitch, spend $500 on mechanical things to get it road ready and drive it as is for now.  I guarantee that you'll have a crowd around it at every show as a 'barn find low rider'!  oldscool

Throw a couple of Cheech and Chong items in the car (you know...giant toilet paper wrapped doobie kind of stuff), and it would be a hit.

 



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Stan S.-Twin Cities 'South Metro'

1972 Malibu Convertible 2nd time around 

1999 SS Camaro LS1-6 speed

Forum influenced terms: 'Link Paste', 'Stanitized', & 'Revolving garage door...' 

 
Derek69SS


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Way cool car! I agree that car should go to the front of the line, and just do what's needed to make it roadworthy.

I'm not a big fan of the lowrider thing, so I'd stick some nice wheels on it and replace the interior as time/budget permits.

Don't turn it into a major project, and start making memories while the kid is still young!

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Derek Kiefer - Mantorville, MN

69 Malibu Pro-Touring stroker LS1-383/T56 - 69 SS396-325/3spd project
Larry Lucast


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What a find! I can never resist working on a new project, even if it is supposedly at the end of the list. I, too, would make it driveable immediately. But it is your car to do whatever you want to it.

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Larry L.

Coon Rapids
bowtie


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Cool looking!

I want the steering wheel.....

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Bryan-NW 'burbs
1972 Malibu
Vaguely stock appearing, and the opposite of restored.
1999 std bore 5.7, Vortec heads, Holley Stealth Ram, GM cam
700R4, Viking coilovers, 12 bolt 4.10 posi, and a whole bunch more
BLyke


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Glad to see someone got this, looking forward to its next itteration.

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Bruce L. - Lakeville MN

1971 Malibu Convert

 
deyllan


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Great find! The steering wheel is very unique but not comfy.

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Chris R


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Lost in the 60s wrote:

Very nice specimen and rare, cool car...nana I wasn't aware the Pontiac's had perimeter frames in that era. That's a big bonus, even needing some reinforcement to make it safe. Looks like it is an A/C car too ? That is a time capsule of old school low rider for sure.

I wouldn't put that on the back burner. It is much closer to being on the road than the '66 and I would have it there in short order. Doesn't cost that much to just replace all the drum brake parts and have it safe for the road for now. Big plans of swapping the chassis and getting all the goals met at once tend to push the work back many years....speaking from experience...laughing

That car could easily be at BTTF next year...thumbsup

 I don't think its an AC car. There isn't an AC box or signs there was one under the hood but the dash has a second spot for climate controls on the left side of the column. Heat & AC had 2 separate controls on these cars, on left & right side of the column. However, the controls on the left side is another set of heat controls so someone had to have swapped that left control unit out for a heat one. It looks like the entire dash comes out of the car like a 66/67 Chevelle, so its possible this dash was swapped in. However, there is supposed to be lower vents for AC cars & this car doesn't have any of that.

Derek69SS wrote:

Way cool car! I agree that car should go to the front of the line, and just do what's needed to make it roadworthy.

I'm not a big fan of the lowrider thing, so I'd stick some nice wheels on it and replace the interior as time/budget permits.

Don't turn it into a major project, and start making memories while the kid is still young!

 

I don't really car for the lowrider thing either. I did find a very nice pair of the fender skirts in the trunk which explains why this car only has wires on the front & not the rear. You cant see the rears anyways. Ill need to get my hands on another pair of stock wheels for the front. The stock dog dish caps are also in the trunk.

 

deyllan wrote:

Great find! The steering wheel is very unique but not comfy.

 

It feels ok hold holding it, its the diameter that im not used to. I remember always wanting one of these when I was a kid after seeing Up In Smoke.

 



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Chris - Ramsey, MN.

Dear Optimist, Pessimist, and Realist.

While you guys were busy arguing about the glass of water. I drank it!

Sincerly,

The opportunist.
Chris R


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I took some time tonight & went through some things in the trunk & of course, the 1970s are definitely represented with this car. Ive always wanted one of these relics too...

Foot pedal.jpg

Cal Custom.jpg

Here is what I was referring to with how Pontiac organized the Heat & AC controls. Heat is on the right & AC is supposed to be on the left but a previous owner put another set of heat controls in place instead. Also note the orientation of the PRNDL or in this case PNDRLR. No idea what the deal is there or how that works.

HVAC controls.jpg

Found 2 rare streeing wheels too. The one on the left is the correct one for this car. The factory molded the grips around the steel core of the wheel in a clear plastic to give it a transparent look & this one has turned yellow over the years but its still intact and horn right was present as well. The red color is incorrect, someone painted it & it appears it may have been white. The right one I have seen at shows but cant recall what model its from.

Steering wheels.jpg

Pontiac center.jpg

Finally, the glove box turned out to be unlocked and I spent over about an hour trying to get into it, it just wouldn't release all the way & open. I thought it was locked but turns out it wasn't & I even tried a key from the 66 just to see what would happen & it turned out my Chevelle key ended up working in this lock too which didn't really matter anyways. After some finesse trying to pull & push and gently pry to get it open, I finally just grabbed a drill & drilled the lock out to get it open. Turns out it is the same lock Chevelles have. It wouldn't release far enough from the latch to open.

Anyways, I didn't touch anything other then remove the barely stuck on address label to take this photo so this is exactly what was greeting me after getting it open. Got a big kick out of that.

Glove box.jpg

The rest of the stuff inside was some old check stubs from the mid 80s (1984-1986). Deposit receipts. A string of unfaded NOS dingleberrys in several feet in length. Several phillips screws that came out of the interior trim pieces where several holes are missing screws, plus the factory coat hooks. Napkins, old Taco Bell Hot Sauce that had been chewed by mice. A stubby Phillip's screw driver. Also, I didn't get a photo of this yet so ill have to get it tomorrow night but there is handful of polaroids of an 64 or 65 GP look to have been taken when the car was new or close to it & an old 50 or 51 Ford primered hot rod which appears to have been taken in the early 70s. I don't think the glove box had been open since the late 80s. I was hoping there would be an owners manual in there. No big deal, they are reproduced for like 15 bucks.

As for getting this car running first. That seems like the most logical option. Its going to need more then just a few hundred bucks in parts though. Which is fine. Ill for sure need to replace these 25 year old plus tires. Rebuild the front & rear drum brakes, replace axle & pinion seals, Tune up parts for the engine, drop & have fuel tank boiled & cleaned along w/radiator (which I noticed is the factory Harrison), replace all fuel & brake lines, seals for rearend, inner/outer tie rods, upper/lower ball joints, front/rear shocks which for some reason, the rears don't seem to be listed in a lot of places, only fronts. Rebuild carb, replace fuel pump.

All of that is fine. The real unknown here is the transmission. I have no idea if its any good or shifts or not. It would probably just be easier to swap in a known good trans.

 



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Chris - Ramsey, MN.

Dear Optimist, Pessimist, and Realist.

While you guys were busy arguing about the glass of water. I drank it!

Sincerly,

The opportunist.
Lost in the 60s


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Cool find of extra stuff and wow ! several feet of bonus dingle balls...who wouldn't be thrilled with those...cool

The hot sauce must have scared off the mice, as it doesn't appear to be badly infested. Might need to try that for storage cars...thumbsup

The brake rebuild is quite straight forward, but the hard lines may not need replacing. Or the steering components. I've bought several cars that had sat for many years and I raise the front to get the weight off and turn the wheels all the way to one side and grease all the components and then turn it all the way to the other side and grease a little more. Once you've worked that new grease in by rotating the wheels, lock to lock,  several times, they can be checked accurately for any worrisome wear.

The gear indicator seems to be from an early powerglide, which did have that pattern, and may still have it in '61. '61-'62 were the changeover years from cast iron to aluminum case pg's, so it may well be original. In situations like this, I have put a clear fuel filter in the line to the fuel pump, pulled the spark plugs and squirted marvel mystery oil in the cylinders and then turned the engine over to see if the fuel pump will work and what leaks if it does. Then go from there with what needs repair/replacement in the fuel system.

Get it running and determine if the trans is OK, or not. It may not be easy to find a vintage PG for the car, especially if it is a cast iron unit and be known to be in good, usable, condition.

My motto on a barn find is, "work with what I have, until I know it needs replacement".

 



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Mitch D.   River Falls, WI

Lifetime member of the "Cars apart Club"

Some Assembly Required

1966 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1970 Chevelle SS 396 M20

1967 Camaro SS 350 rs
OscarZ


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Nice car Chris.   I’ve always liked the early Pontiacs myself.  62 is my favorite but I would have bought that 61 too if I had come across it.  Are you going to sell off the 69 project now or just adding to the collection?



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Michael S. - Cambridge
'71 Malibu
Larry Lucast


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The glove compartment proves the owner had good taste.

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Larry L.

Coon Rapids
OscarZ


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Are those dingle balls correct for a Vette?  razz



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Michael S. - Cambridge
'71 Malibu
Derek69SS


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I didn't know Corvette Specialties sold dingle-balls. razz



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Derek Kiefer - Mantorville, MN

69 Malibu Pro-Touring stroker LS1-383/T56 - 69 SS396-325/3spd project
AK


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Very nice! Fun to see all the pictures.

I had a good laugh when I saw the envelope in the glove box.



-- Edited by AK on Wednesday 17th of July 2019 10:51:20 PM

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Andrew K

Minneapolis

1971 Chevelle M22 468
4-door Chevelle


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This car fits you. Congratulations!

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Darren - Crystal, MN
1972 4-door Chevelle driver/racer
2003 Silverado 1500HD Crew Cab
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