Those familiar with the French-sounding Parisienne automobile will likely associate the name with a Canadian-built and sold Pontiac sold with Chevrolet hardware. But from 1983 to 1986, it would be sold in the U.S. as a replacement for the Bonneville. The cars were largely Chevy Caprices, including the front clip. The seller has one from 1984 in Brougham 4-door sedan trim. Located in Gardiner, Maine, this car is one of 25,000 sold when new, yet you seldom see one now. It’s available here on craigslist for $11,000.
A mix-up in the model line-up and platforms used in the early 1980s left a void in the Pontiac line-up for buyers who like bigger luxury cars. So, between 1983 and 1986, the Parisienne was recruited to fill that need. Production continued in Oshawa, Ontario (Canada), and likely also added to the Kansas plant in Kansas City. The Parisienne is hard to distinguish from the Chevy Caprice of that era, except for badging.
The seller’s car presents as a nice survivor with 94,000 miles. It has a V8 engine, which we’ll speculate is a Chevy 350 cubic inch motor with a TH-350 automatic transmission. Because it’s also a Brougham, it’s loaded with goodies and has upholstery that’s as plush as they came in those days. The color scheme is brown, and it seems to be everywhere, including the vinyl top. This appears to be a well-kept car that Grandma or Grandpa could have driven most of its life.
While cash is always king, the seller is open to trades, including firearms made before the 20th Century. But if you have a motorcycle, truck, or SUV, he/she might also be interested. What have you got that would be worthing of replacing with a Parisienne? BTW, thanks for the tip, Tony Primo!
Great article Dixon. 👍 love these big GM sedans. Good eye Primo as usual.
The Chevy Bel-Air model was offered in Canada until the early 80s.
The grill pattern differ from the Caprice one, hubcaps too but it’s an evidence.
Vent shades on rear doors only? Who rode in back?
This car exists because there were a lot of freestanding Pontiac dealers in the ’80s. There was nothing about a B-body in 1984 that said “We Build Excitement” and very little here that a customer couldn’t get in a Chevy Caprice.
At least you got a real Pontiac steering wheel as standard, T1000 buyers didn’t get that without an option package.
I’ll trade my wife for it. NON RETURNABLE!
I was mad at Pontiac execs for playing with the Bonneville name. Always one of my favorite cars to see the name go on a shrunken LeMans sedan was sad. The rebadged Caprice was not exciting at all and confused buyers when they came in to trade their old Bonnevilles. I worked for a Pontiac dealer for a while, and they had made Bonnevilles and Grand Prix cars truly exciting again. When people came in to buy a car, they weren’t sure what to ask for and often said we probably didn’t have anything for them but had been loyal to Pontiac so came in. Now its gone.
These were all 305’s, if I am not mistaken, as these were never available with a police package (no GM police cars except Chevrolet after 1977) and that was the only way you got a 350 in this era of Caprices.
Correction, 1978. It was all Chevrolet from 1979-onward.
Didn’t Olds make a police pkg available Michael ? Delta 88 in Maine I thought I came across 🚨 🚔
clean looking caprice dressed as a poncho.
Both US brochure and Canadian brochure list standard engine as (LD5) 3.8 Liter [231 cid] V6 2bbl. Optional (LG4) 5.0 Liter [305 cid] V8 4bbl. Also optional (LF9) 5.7 Liter (350 cid) V8 Diesel.