What a cool find! This 1966 Pontiac Bonneville, listed for sale here on eBay, was sitting until recently in dry, heated storage — and it had been there for 30 years! The seller has done some refurbishment work and is now ready to pass it on to an enthusiast. It’s located in Perrysville, Ohio and bidding as I write has just passed $14,000.
The seller tells us that this is a 30-year old repaint. If it looks as nice up close as it does in these pictures, either the seller is one heck of a detailer (or uses one) or it was a fabulous paint job (or both)! The “Coke bottle” shape of the mid-60s Pontiacs is plain to see in this photo.
Although I’m a fan of the original wheels, especially the 8-lug ones, these Cragar wheels absolutely fit the car terrifically. Yes, I’d leave them in place for sure. And yes, those are new tires, not the 30-year old ones!
The seller tells us there’s a little bit of cracking of the dash pad. Now that’s a battle between wanting originality and perfection. It’s a nice battle to have to decide, no? We’re also told the car has every available option for a 1966 Bonneville! What a desirable motor, as the Brits would say!
Under the hood we have a 389 V8 that was out of the car when it was purchased. The seller says that it runs well and has obviously benefited from extensive detailing. Everything is said to work on the car apart from the air conditioning, which hasn’t been recharged (but will probably need more than that, I expect.
Does anyone know if the underside of these cars were originally black like this? I would have expected body color. Nevertheless, it sure is clean, isn’t it? I’m sure the stainless steel exhaust is new as well. What do you think about this “detailed” find?
Wow.
I had forgotten how long the trunks were on these cars. Stack bodies in there like cordwood!
Pretty car, perfect color. It even looks like the fender skirts are in the trunk! If only Santa would have dropped off cash instead of new socks.
Something about a Pontiac that always catches my attention This a very clean example for sure. I love it
Mom had a 66 Catalina 2 door in this same color, same 389. I loved because I remember her loving it. She called it “Betsy” when she was stomping the gas to get us through a particularly hairy intersection just up the street. These Pontiacs are gorgeous! Beautiful find!
The ads and brochures were also great back then.
It’s mint ;)
I had a 65 Catalina 2 door with factory cruise control back in 1982. There was a knob on the right hand side of the speedometer. To set the speed, you would turn the knob and an indicator like the speedometer needle would move up to the speed you wanted to go. Then you would press in on the knob and hold on! The gas peddle would hit the floor and you would fly like a bat outta hell until you reached your desired speed. LOL
Is that a slim Jim Trany?
BP
Looks like a turbo 400 to me. Never saw the factory paint an automatic in engine colours.
I have been fortunate to have enjoyed several Pontiacs from the 1960’s…Everyone a great Car, and a great memory. As for the transmission, I believe the famous ‘Sim Jim’ was only in the Catalina models…I had a 1961 Catalina Convertible with the ‘Slim Jim’,,,once in awhile, I would feel a very mild slip when pulling away from a stop light. and my mechanic, at the Pontiac Dealership, said to leave it be until it got worse. I put a lot of miles on it in a three year period, it never got worse, never failed me. I sold the car for more than I paid for it…Great Car!! I replaced the Catalina with a 1965 Pontiac Bonneville two door Hardtop 👍 Another Awesome Pontiac.
64 was the last year for the Slim Jim.
2 years ago I bought All original 1977 Pontiac Bonneville Landau Coupe brown ext with beige cloth interior. all original 8K miles with window sticker & all manuals. 350 4B tilt steering factory AC factory AM/FM radio.asking price was 12K I got it for 11K. beautiful car I just changed engine oil & filter also a new set of whitewall radial tires.
My late dad had a ’66 Bonneville 4-door Hardtop that he called Zha-zha. I remember quite well that the skirts had to come off if you mounted wider tires on the car than what came on it from the factory (which almost everybody did.)
My father-in-law had one just like this one, even the color! It was his “loaner” while he worked on our old Saab!
I like!
Very nice. I think I’d leave it just as it is.
That is a whole lotta Detroit sheet metal. Real nice!
Oh Boy! I remember these bad boys! I had relatives who owned these and the Grand Prix’s of this era. 65 thru 67.
Talk about excitement! Wide Track Pontiac!
wow. I am a big Pontiac fan. Very nice car. Nicely done. I don’t know if it’s 100% correct but on this car I don’t think 100% matters. I am a master detailer and have restored many cars. Bottom line is this car is very nicely restored and detailed. The cost of restoration is 3 times this price or more depending on starting condition. This car should sell for at least twice the 14K it is at now. Market the car correctly and the right buyer with the money would pay 30K +.
Great car! Few cars I’ve seen are as ‘natural’ looking, even if it’s slightly overdone in a few areas.
My dad worked for Chrysler Corp Aerospace in Huntsville Alabama in 1960 when he traded his Plymouth for a new ’60 Catalina, the first of five new Ponchos in six model years til a ’65 Star Chief.
Pontiac had it ALL… a performance image, a wide range of attractive cars at competitive prices, a great dealer network, unsurpassed interior styling, and by ’66 John DeLorean was at the helm of the division making huge plans.
The only real marketing issue was that Pontiac had too many slick-looking 2-door hardtops competing with one another. In ’66 there was an ‘almost Bonneville’ 2-door hardtop in the Executive series and a ‘grownup GTO’ in the 2+2 series, both rare as hens teeth because dealers didn’t order them for stock and many customers didn’t browbeat the order forms sufficiently to get the cars set up to order.
Learn more- go to http://www.Geetotiger.com and get the PONTIAC PIZZAZ! book that Jim Wangers and Art Fitzpatrick did a decade ago. Itls a must for Pontiac fans and features the final original original work done by the legendary Fitz, half of the illustrator team that ‘made Pontiac work’ in the ’60s.
Jamie, this one is a real beauty .
We had a brand new 66 Catalina .Notice the ac vent on on top of the dash very cool. Easily my favorite full size family car
Yup, great car, bought it from the sales manager at L.O.Gates Chevy in Mishawaka In., was his mothers car and he got her a new chevy. I was detailing cars for a few dealers in the area. Drove it for a few months, detailed it, and sold it in one day.
Always liked the in your face front end design. Great cars.
Wide Track Pontiac was the Advertising Slogan for em back then too! Had a Friend’s older brother that had a 2dr sedan Bonneville w/a 428 H.O.S.D. Factory 4 speed 8 lug turbine wheels & it wud fly! All white light blue interior
Those were the years when Pontiac’s slogan was “WE BUILD EXCITEMENT”.
Everything Pontiac was TIGERs in ’66, to the point that the suits at GM finally BANNED Tigers going into the ’67 model year…
Great car ! By the way pontiac people .ive been looking for 65 a-body station wagon . Lemans/tempest. Obviously as complete as possible especially glass an chrome. Any help appreciatted. Dave — 773-988-8239,
My grandparents always bought Bonnevilles, up until the final generation ones (2000-2005). I remember as a kid, my grandfather pulling onto the freeway, flooring it, and going directly to the fast lane. Scared the hell out of us as little kids, but I think that’s where I get my lead-foot from!
This car is a beauty! I’d fix the a/c (it gets to 110 in the summers) and cruise & enjoy 😎 Wish I was in the market, but having a 62 Buick and 62 Pontiac convertibles already, I’d be killed if I bought another one!
Very nice car. My buddy then and still in 1966 bought a new Pontiac 421 2+2 4 speed black exterior and interior. Ran out of gas one night and we pushed it about a block to a gas station. Three or four of us chipped in and we couldn’t believe it took ten bucks to fill the tank with premium of course. After receiving an invitation to Vietnam he sold it.
Mom had a 72 Catalina, 400 cid, 4 door hardtop. God bless her soul, She would run Cadillacs down for breakfast! Very fast car. I have great respect for the brand!
It’s a real cherry of a car, Pontiacs just had that sporty look to them back then, the color is spot on for this beaut too, but the rims are a great finishing touch. Without these rims it would still look very good, just not this good. If in fact this car had every available option it would be powered by a 421, not the smaller 389. Doesn’t really matter though, as this would be for show or Sunday cruisin’, not street racing.
Chrome (GTO?) air cleaner says maybe base 421???
The seller claims it as having a 389, hope they know what they are talking about.
Cannot believe this Pontiac went for a mere US $16,600.00
Was it sold or passed in?
Ended: Dec 30, 2017 , 9:00PM
Current bid:US $16,600.00
Reserve not met
[ 21 bids ]
relisted, still hasn’t met reserve:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1966-Pontiac-Bonneville-all-/222782555334?vxp=mtr
That really is one of the cleanest cars I have ever seen. I live on a dirt/gravel road, so I’d have to store it somewhere else. Even on a dry day, I’d not want to drive it the 1/8 mile to get to pavement.
Ended this time at $22,263.69 (kind of an odd number, eh?) over $5500 more than before.
16 bids by 11 bidders, but still failed to meet the reserve.
Based on what was sold at the just-ending Mecum auction in FL, the seller might not have had better luck consigning there.
This really is a great car, but there are maybe a few questions about authenticity/stock/OEM originality? Unfortunately, it does not seem to have hit a really hungry spot for potential buyers. Maybe other than eBay marketing?
1966 was the last year for both the 389 and 421 engines. The 400 and 428 replaced them in 1967. I think one reason that it isn’t hitting the high marks are a combination of some things not being original (wheels are aftermarket, transmission pan painted, missing standard fender skirts, and, contrary to having every option, I can count over a dozen accessories the does not appear to have that a lot of these Bonnevilles did have…power vent windows, power windows, tilt wheel, 421 engine, tri-power, cornering lamps, bucket seats, console with floor shift, wood custom sport steering wheel, etc. I can’t tell if it has reverb, AM-FM radio, autronic eye – headlamp dimmer, four way flasher (yes 1966 was first year and it was optional), tilt steering wheel cruise control, speed warning speedometer, tissue dispenser, remote control mirror, right hand outside mirror, eight lug aluminum hub and drum wheels, etc. It does have a standard 389 4BBL, power antenna, turbo hydramatic M-40 transmission, and likely power steering and brakes (yep..a three speed ‘Dearborn’ transmission, PS and PB were not standard equipment, but 90 plus percent of all full size Pontiacs would have had those. Some, like the 2+2 were ordered with four speeds. Some Catalina base cars had 3 speed manuals, but by and large, most had PS,PB, and automatic. 389 was the base engine size in all cars – there were several variants.
Should have said the 389 size engine variants were standard in all full size car lines. The 2+2 came with a standard 421, but 2+2 was an accessory package only available on Catalina two door hardtops and convertibles and not a separate line (similar to 64 and 65 GTOs actually being Tempest Lemans with GTO package – but there was a specific reason for that).
Bonneville was the top of the line Pontiac, with only one other way to upgrade…the Brougham package which was made available on two door hardtops in 1966 as I recall.
BTW, This is a very nice example of a very nice car. For a purist, it would be easy to bring it back to showroom right down to the hose clamps, but then it would be so pristine, I personally would not want to drive it much…and Pontiacs were far and away, the best driving cars on the road with the wide track. It took other manufacturers five or more years to catch up.