One Family Owned! 1960 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible
Wide, low, and long are some of the attributes of the second-generation Pontiac Bonneville, which was introduced for the 1959 model year. A few minor changes were made the following year, but you were really quite the stylish driver going down the road in one of these luxurious autos! It cost you too, as the Bonneville was also the most expensive offering from Pontiac, but 85,277 buyers found a way to make the car theirs in 1960. Of that number, the station wagon was the least produced, with just 5,163 made, followed by the convertible at 17,062 units. This 1960 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible here on Craigslist seems to be a fine example, in at least near survivor status, with the seller hoping for close to $38,500 to let it go. Plan on making a trip to Portland, Oregon if you want to see the car in person.
There’s not quite as much information and details given about the Pontiac as I would have liked, but what we do find out is the seller claiming that this is a true one-family owned car since it was new, and has spent most of its life in a garage in Portland when not being driven. The seller says that the mileage of 62,838 is believed to be original.
No word either on whether or not the car still has the original paint, but one thing that leads me to believe it could be is the metal dealer tag on the trunk lid. There’s some wear and grime between the letters, which could indicate many years worth of build-up, but I guess if a respray was done a long time ago this could be the case also. In any event, the seller says he has found no rust present, and the finish still looks pretty good along with the trim pieces.
The Bonneville is said to retain all of the original components, so I’m guessing most of the things we see inside are factory pieces. If that’s the case, even with a couple of splits in the front seat it still looks surprisingly decent in there, especially for a convertible. The seller mentions everything in there seems to be working, with one exception being that the fuel gauge is intermittent. We don’t get to see any pictures with the top up nor is its condition stated, but glancing at the one small area we can view behind the rear seat, at least that part of the canvas looks OK.
For 1960, the Bonneville came with a 389 cubic inch V8, and I’m assuming this is also the factory motor since the seller states the car is all original. There’s no mention of how well it’s running or if a rebuild has ever been done, but the engine compartment appears orderly and nothing is looking very much out of place under the hood. Buyers had the choice of a manual or automatic transmission, with this one coming with the latter, a Hydramatic. Overall I’m liking this 1960 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible pretty well, how about you?
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Comments
Yeah, more info would be helpful. Looks highly original and I’m loving that color more than the 72 Catalina! I’d want to see under that trunk mat, under the carpet and all around underneath, but she’s a beauty!
I would do some cosmetic adjustments recover the seats and drive it. real nice car…
Not usually a fan of land yachts, but that is a gorgeous car! I’d put a tennis court on the rear deck and get a bigger garage ;^}
It’s got a mile of style!
Is it just me, or does the wheel track appear a little narrow? I see the rear wheel well, and the tires are tucked inside pretty good. What I’m getting at is, can this somehow be a Canadian-Built Bonneville on a Chevy chassis? (If so, it would have a 348, not a 389)
Take it for what it is; maybe I’m wrong but it simply gives me that appearance.
But overall, an amazing original owner car.
that’s not a 348 348 and 409 where w engine can tell them as soon as you open the hood
In the late 1950’s and throughout the 60’s, all “American Pontiacs” (Catalina, Ventura, Star Chief, Executive & Bonneville) were built exclusively in the USA. No Canadian Pontiacs ever had those big brake & gas pedals OR the “Assist Grip” above the glove box. Those features were strictly on American full size Pontiacs.
They didn’t build Bonnevilles in Canada. The top-line CDN Pontiac was the Parisienne. Bonnevilles WERE available, but they would’ve been imported US- built cars ( and
a lot more CDN$$).
It is a 389. The 348 has the weird looking Valve covers
you meen the 348 had the nice looking w valve covers same as the 409s love 348s had one in a 1958 Impala
I helped my dad (feel free to look it up in a Google search using the same name) restore a 1960 Catalina Convertible. It was also Coronado Red (which is the same color as this Bonneville). This car has the windshield washers (kind of a nice option), backup / reverse lights (…and YES, backup lights were an option back in 1960). This car also has the 2 barrel intake, but also has the automatic, meaning this is the 280 (+/-) hp 389 V8.
1960 is an unusual year for Pontiac as they changed the standard box frame to an “X” frame. It made the car more comfortable/ flexible ride, but isn’t great for performance.
To Will Fox’s comment. Yes, that is how they came. The rear wheels are tucked under the car like that.
I feel 38k isn’t a lot of money for this car-especially if it’s a survivor. If this has the correct ’60 spinner hubcaps, it would look a LOT better. Those base hubcaps are kinda O.K.. They were meant to mimic the 8-lugs, but I’d lose those for something more befitting this car. If this car had the correct (1960) 8-lugs, this car would be worth a whole lot more. Too bad…but this is a very nice example! It’s worth EVERY bit of the asking price.
1960 is also unusual since it is the only year from 1959 onward that Pontiac didn’t have a split grill. Not sure why they went away from the 59 approach, but by 61 they went back to the split.
I don’t have hair for the wind to blow, however, I would love to own this.
It brings back memories of the 50-60s.
Hate to pop your bubble but the Bonneville was introduced in the 1957 model year.
Second-generation Bonneville was introduced as a 1959 model, and only lasted through 1960. Both have beautiful styling, if you ask me!
Looks super to me to be orig! I had a 60 Bonneville coupe loaded with EVERY option including 8-lugs and tri-power!! Wish I still had it!
I never understood the 8 lug wheels, a bit of overkill, totally unnecessary.
This explains the 8-lugs: https://macsmotorcitygarage.com/rolling-in-style-the-story-of-pontiacs-8-lug-wheels-1960-68/
As if 8 lugs were really necessary
Webster’s dictionary would just need one picture of this awesome car to perfectly define “LED SLED”
This really is an awesome car!
What it isn’t, though, is a “LED SLED”. A lead sled is generally a ’49 to early ’50s heavily “kustomized” (chopped, channeled, lowered, nosed, decked, de-chromed, etc.) 2-dr. with a wild paint job. At that time, lead was used as a filler to smooth out the body work.
The day I turned 15 1/2, July 10th, 1959, we went to the DMV and I got my learner’s permit and we left on a cross-country adventure. In Arizona, I remember seeing a 60 Pontiac that GM had attempted to disguise. I saw this 62 Convertible, the same color, a few years ago in Brattleboro, Vermont.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSvkjHiflBk&t=7s
Pontiac and Oldsmobile were the only two that totally departed from GMs gawdy offerings of 1959. Sharp looking cars, the price on this one seems quite reasonable.
Yes, one of those abominable “Meadows” Pontiac metal tags stuck to the back of the car. I would’ve made it a point to buy from one of the other Pontiac dealers to avoid that, as there were others. In the early 70s they switched to Ford, so a lot of later Fords here had “Meadows” on them as well. License plate frames are fine as you can choose to have them or not, but a dealer drilling holes in your brand new car to advertise themselves is a ‘blasphemous’ deed IMHO!
I know what you mean, I drilled many a hole in the back of new vehicles, to install the dealer emblem. But I see no screws in this one.
Attached from the backside or w/barrel clips. I can’t remember which. I removed the metal tags from any collector car I ever owned which I had re-painted and had the holes filled.
I’m 69 yrs old now and when I was around 10 yrs old and one of 8 kids being raised on a dairy farm, we had two local teenaged boys as hired hands. Both of them owned 1960 Pontiac two door hardtops, one was copper colored and the other was green. They would park them nose to nose and I remember even at that young age staring at and admiring those two magnificent pieces of machinery.
This is a beauty if ever there was one.
Mas linda!
Love the Coronado Rojo. The interior is killer. I wonder if the seller is a family member of the original buyer,? Doesnt sound like it. Might make it a 2 owner car, technically.
My BIL had a 60′ 2 dr hdt Catalina back in the day. (same color as this one) He was a gear head and punched the 389 out to 406 and it had a 4 gear with 456 gerars.. He loved to pick on 327 Chey’s 4 speeds with cam and solids. He made some money and scored a lot of beer.
I absolutely love the Pontiac interior color combinations from the 60s. That just made those cars all the better.
IMO, of course, the 60 styling was a similar problem to Ford’s ruining of the beautiful 57 design with the 58. Pontiac had a gorgeous 59 design that they felt the need to screw with. From 61 to 64 they did a lot better with both the front and rear, specifically going back to the split grill front and a softer tail fin approach to the rear. In 60, they made the front look like a hammerhead shark and they ruined the nice 59 rear just as Ford’s 58 rear ruined the nice 57. Of the wide track Pontiacs, my personal favorites in order are 59, 64, 61 and I much prefer the Catalina models to the Bonnevilles (which became the Gran Prix, I believe). I got to drive a lot of the 59 convertibles, both Catalina and Bonneville. Ma had a gorgeous powder blue 59 with aquamarine 3 tone interior and matching top. I also got to drive a Bonneville convert from Chicago to New York on the way home from college in a ride-share. At 100 on the Indiana and Ohio turnpikes it was like sitting in your recliner at home.
Eric_13cars, the Gran Prix was a separate series starting in 1963. In 1962 the G/P was an option on the Catalina, that had the Ventura trim package. Basically, it was the bucket seats, and a few identifying trim pieces. As my memory has been around a long time, I could be incorrect. Seems like I remember that from seeing 1962 Catalina 2 door hardtop models. In 1963 Pontiac put a different roof line on the Catalina, and did the interior up in Bonneville style, with buckets and a console shifted transmission, Automatic or 4 speed. Power steering and brakes became standard equipment on them also, however you had a full options list to “dress” it up with, 6 way power driver seat, power windows, vent windows, Air Conditioning, AM/FM radio, power antenna, reverberator to give the radio a “concert hall” effect, rear defogger, 8 lug wheels, whitewall tires, tri-power engine, I don’t remember what else. There was a tri power, 4 speed 8 lug GP on my paper route back then and it was loaded, windows, vents door locks, A/C AM/FM w/ reverb, auto headlight dimmer, tinted glass. power antenna, I don’t know what else, but I think the guy ordered it with everything he could possibly get . He was a pilot for TWA Airlines and traded a 59 Corvette in on it. We would talk cars when I collected every 2 weeks. The Corvette was a silver blue color, the GP was a dark blue almost black looking with a white interior.