Super-Rare 1960 Bonneville Vista – Tri-Power 389
Union Park Pontiac of Wilmington, Delaware became synonymous with muscle-car performance, sponsoring NHRA National record-holding cars from 1959 to 1963. Union Park also sponsored the Swiss Cheese Pontiac as well as the Union Park Wagon. From that vat of creative Speed Juice came this very interesting 1960 Pontiac Bonneville Vista Hardtop with its factory Tri-Power 389. If you hear this Bonneville calling your name, or if you appreciate unusual cars and great stories, check out the auction listing here on eBay. Sidelined by a carburetor fire in 1970, it has sat idle since then. Over the years it acquired a replacement front clip and four-barrel intake, but it’s currently non-operative. The damaged Tri-Power setup and a trunk full of parts comes with the car. Impatient? Simply click Buy It Now and this unique automobile can be yours for $12,000.
The Vista four-door featured a hard-top design (no B pillar) and super-thin A and C pillars for a panoramic greenhouse befitting the Space Age. The “Vista” concept graced several Pontiac sedans featured prominently in 1960 Pontiac sales brochure. The seller claims that “This car has been discussed at length for hours with the likes of Jim Matheson, Steve Ames, Pontiac historians, muscle car experts, drag racers, and more.”
The Bonneville instrument panel for 1960 included a “walnut cove,” and the clear acrylic steering wheel adds futuristic detail. The four-speed Hydra-Matic transmission offered minimal compromise… as many gears as the optional four-speed manual. Ironically by the 1970s most American automatics standardized on three forward gears for simplicity, reliability, and reduced cost. While Pontiac referred to its “The Elengant Bonneville… wrapped in luxury unsurpassed by far more expensive cars,” this one came with no power steering, and no power brakes, supporting the idea that it was began life as another potent Union Park racing weapon.
Pontiac touted their 389 cid “Tempest 425,” so-named for the four-barrel version’s 425 lb-ft of torque. Though sporting a plebeian four-barrel intake now, the factory-original VIN-stamped engine remains. The original “Tri-Power” setup, a trio of two-barrel carburetors, increased horsepower from 303 to 318, though I suspect the ample carburetion and half-point bump in compression from 10.25 to 10.75 may have yielded more than 15 engine HP. While numerous manufacturers offered triple two-barrel intakes with fancy names, credit Pontiac for their catchy moniker as nearly all such cars are referred to as “Tri-Power” today. The seller mentions that this car’s C5 engine stamp has only been identified on one other 1960 Tri-Power 389. What do you think of this Pontiac’s story… and its asking price?
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Comments
This sled has a lot of led to pull so the ponies in the engine get slowed just making it go.
I think 12000 is high but folks get worked up for these beasts and hopefully it will get restored by someone with an oversized garage to park the boat inside !
I know a guy in N. Wis. whose dad had a gas station in the early 60’s, and he took a 389 tri-power from a car like this, and shoehorned it into a ’62 or ’63 Tempest. He claims to have had the 1st GTO ( he probably wasn’t the only one that did that) a full year before the GTO came out.
Wide Trac Pontiac, massive car needed all the power it could muster to really get up from a standing start. Uncle had a slightly newer 2+2 with a 421 that while fast once it got moving could be had by his buddies 327 powered Chevelle in a drag race, them were the days!
I have a chance to buy this car which looks interesting.
I hate the wheels.
This is the most interesting part of this car. It does say it has a 389 in it.
Miguel, that is sweet. Can’t tell if it’s a 61 or 62 with the grill obscured.
Bob, it is a ’62.
That’s a beautiful ride, my first car was the 68 Catalina, wasn’t nearly as pretty as my father’s 67 2+2, but I’ve always liked the old Pontiacs. Buy it, I would !
I was going to say the same thing, hopefully he has the original wheels and tires, at least the wheels
I seriously doubt it. People don’t seem to value originality so they make the car look as gaudy as possible. I will ask though.
I guess I can sell them and order new rims from Coker.
Yep the wheels are bone stock ugly.
The Bonneville wheels would be really awesome
Grab it if you can, and you’re right. Those wheels gotta go. Either 15″ Cragar’s or a set of Torque Thrust in either chrome or the brushed and black would look great on this beauty. Chrome is probably the way to go, but what they’ve done with it now is just… eccchh. Looks awesome in black. Good luck.
That big ole’ honkin’ powerhouse of an engine looks tiny under the hood of this massive beast! Bet it’ll pass just about anything going down the road, except a gas station of course.
Is the Ebay listing trying to say this four door hardtop was a race car because it came from a dealer that built race cars and somebody ordered tri-power?
Has anybody ever raced a four door hardtop? It doesn’t seem that it would have enough structural integrity in the roof to handle the power of a drag car.
Also this is not the car pictured in front of the dealership. That car is obviously a two door round roof.
People raced anything and everything back in those days. There were plenty of 6 cylinder 4 doors running “stock” classes at drag strips across the country. I have a stack of racing oriented publications that focused on California drag strips in the late 50’s, there were usually more a dozen classes at each event including sports cars (Corvette’s had a separate class), trucks motorcycles and more. I have several friends that raced those types of cars back then, they didn’t get any press and few pictures of those cars exist outside of the owners personal photo albums.
As for structural integrity, these cars weren’t fast. Today lowly 4 cylinder basic Accord or Camry would give it a run for the money.
Unless proof exists that this car was ever raced, it should be considered oddball transportation.
Steve R
How do you get 4 speed auto out of that? I know the shift patern is different but I still only see 3 forward on reverse. Thanks
The first is actually two gears. I had the same transmission in my 1963 Cadillac. It is not a racing transmission by any means.
A Bonneville without power steering or power brakes?
Most dealers would have refused the order because the car would be sale-proof if the original buyer fell out.
Has to be a one-of-one (or close to it) ‘stripper’ Bonneville.
Looks solid though.
Maybe ‘too soon’ instead of ‘too much’.
If its the real deal its very nice for the price. Drive as is, maybe put the tri power back on.Looks like that was a nasty fire.poss more fire damage than is shown? I’m an old gray haired gearhead and I still cant get the 4 door thing. ’60 poncho 2dr with a 389 4 speed is truly a thing of beauty!!
Good luck to the new owner..
A lot of fun has been had, memories made & even races won with classic 4-doors.
I hear ya on that. I believe my ol buddy Jim Wangers was the “hot shoe” for Royal Pontiac from 1960-1962, and I’m pretty sure he won an NHRA event driving one of these Wide Track Pontiac big cars. I would have to look in my copy of Glory Days, but they were definitely driving the big ones until Mr. DeLorean and Jim himself had the stroke of genius of making that little box to check when you were ordering your new LeMans/Tempest in ’64 and turn your 326 into a 389. Those “in the know” would go on to adding the Tri Power as opposed to the single two or four barrel carburetor and then just goin to town, changing out the gears, adding the underrated but awesome exhaust manifolds and deleting the little things that added weight and time to your et slips: radio, heater/air conditioning, moving the battery to the trunk. Heck, ol slick Jimmy didn’t fess up until about THIRTY YEARS LATER when he admitted (in the book Glory Days) that the two GTO’s that were taken down to Daytona Beach for the famous GTO Challenge against Ferrari for bragging rights to the nameplate that the Poncho was actually not even the 389 that they were advertising, but was a 421!! JW knows every trick in the book to get the most out of a match race and even though Ferrari never even showed up (they couldn’t be bothered with these upstart Americans), the writers from Car And Driver were armed with stop watches and they clocked the Poncho at 0-100 in 11.8 seconds! Wangers was giggling to himself over this and remarked: “Who was I to tell them that they were wrong”, while admitting that the only way to get those numbers was if they dropped it off of the Empire State building! A friend of mine owns the red car (two GTO’s were brought down there, the red and the green, which is on the cover of the March 1964 cover of Car And Driver) and it’s as good or better than it’s ever been.
Catalina or GP?
If you are asking me, it is a Catalina.
The only thing holding me back is I don’t have inside storage as of yet. The sun where I am would eat this car in a matter of months.