The Bonneville was Pontiac’s largest and most luxurious automobile throughout the 1960s and 1970s. But lagging sales caused Pontiac to cancel its big cars in 1982, and the name was transferred to the smaller LeMans platform instead. This rear-wheel-drive survivor from 1985 looks outstanding and has had some recent work done. Having been in the same family since new, this low-mileage fancy sedan can be found in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is available here on craigslist for $8,500 OBO. A thumbs up goes to Rocco B. for this stout tip!
Buyers who were used to the Bonneville being a big car didn’t necessarily take well to the downsizing. That led to declining sales, so much so that Pontiac resurrected the Parisienne in the middle of the 1980s as a reskinned Chevrolet Caprice, which that GM division had still been selling with some success. After 1986, the mid-size, RWD Bonneville became a thing of the past as the cars gained a new platform, going the front-wheel-drive route.
The 1985 Bonneville was only offered as a 4-door sedan. 34,400 copies of the “regular” model were built, plus another 8,400 as Broughams. The interior of the seller’s car looks luxurious enough to be a Brougham, but the seller makes no such reference. Somehow, this beauty has only accumulated 43,000 miles in the past 40+ years. It has a V8 engine, which could be a 305 cubic inch motor supplied by Chevrolet (common practice by the 1980s).
Within the past 100 miles, the seller has replaced one or more tires, flushed out the radiator, performed a tune-up, changed some fluids, rebuilt the water pump, and recharged the air conditioning. So, we assume everything else is as solid as a dollar. The body and paint look great, and the interior appears so plush that you could get lost in there. I might be in the minority, but I liked this generation of the Pontiac Bonneville, having owned its cousin, the Olds Cutlass Supreme.
Good eye Rocco. Loved these cars. Seville style looks, luxury inside, and smooth driving. 👌
Nice one, Russ and Rocco! I’m with Stan, I’ve always liked these smaller, somewhat unusual Bonnevilles. I washed and parked many of these cars after high school in my little garage attendant job at a medical building. The gentleman who owned the Medical Arts Building in Duluth, MN, Royal Alworth (a very big name in Duluth for decades), had a tan one, and he used to put four snow tires on it in the winter.
I don’t know if Pontiac canceled the Bonneville because of slow sales as much it was to increase CAFE standards at the time. Rumor was that Chevrolet at that time was going to drop the Caprice and Impala B bodies and replace them similarly with a G-Body Malibu. If you look at the 1982 Malibu, it had a new front end designed to mimic the Caprice and Impala.
My dad had an ’84 one of these back in the day. Not as nice as this one, though. Dark gunmetal blue. I loved driving it at night. It had the same headlight pattern that all the police cars had; and based on the way they would drive in close proximity to it, lots of people thought it was an unmarked car: slowing way down, changing lanes, quickly taking the next off-ramp, etc. It made for some good laughs, especially when I would sit somewhere with just the parking lights on. Funny times & even funnier memories!