Stored 23 Years: 1976 Pontiac Bonneville

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At just under nineteen feet in length, it takes a decent-sized barn or garage to hide a car like this 1976 Pontiac Bonneville. This one has been parked since 1999 when the owner, now in a nursing home, last drove it. It’s now listed for sale here on eBay in Hearne, Texas, there is no reserve, and the current bid price is $2,350.

That first photo looked pretty promising, but you can see the crunched front passenger side door in the photo above, or a close-up photo here. That’s really unfortunate unless a person can somehow find a door in this exact color in a junkyard so it doesn’t have to be painted and forever be saddled with a mismatched door color. Or, maybe I’m the only one who cares about such things. The front end on this car is gorgeous, a buyer got almost Cadillac looks for a Pontiac price, that’s hard to beat. And those wheels, very cool.

This was a beautiful car though, or I think it was and still is. The Bonneville had an added sporty bit of pizzaz that a similar Chevrolet Impala/Caprice, Oldsmobile 88, or Buick Lesabre may have been lacking. 1976 was the last year of the fifth-generation Bonnevilles and most of GM’s full-sized cars were shrunken for the next model year. The 1977 Bonneville was about a foot shorter and a whopping 800 pounds lighter.

This is one long car as seen in the photo from up high here. This car does have some exterior issues as you can see, even aside from the smashed passenger door. The vinyl top may be hiding some rust and other trim issues and we don’t see the underside at all. If it was parked on a dirt floor for 23 years, I’d be a little worried about the underside of this baby. The seller says that the original owner drove it into the barn in 1999 and that was that. I have to wonder if that was right after the smashed door incident happened, maybe his family said enough driving! I’m leading the witness, though, as we don’t know for sure. The Deacon from the original owner’s church is who the seller is listing the car for (a little confusing) drained the gas tank, put new gas in, and it started right up.

The interior looks great, though, with maybe just some wear on the slide-yer-rear-over portion of the driver’s seat, but that fabric is what I would want in this car. The back seat looks almost like new, it just needs a deep cleaning as the whole car does inside and out. I have to note one thing: there are no power windows on this luxury car. Just to keep my streak going of always mentioning that and annoying the readers even more than I do normally. They started the bidding at $800 which is what a local salvage yard offered them. I’m so glad that they listed it on eBay, now it has a chance for a new life. 12 mpg and smashed door or not, I would love to have this car.

The engine is a 400 cubic-inch V8 which with its two-barrel carburetor would have had 170 horsepower and 310 ft-lb of torque. There are exhaust leaks which worries me and I’d want to inspect the underside for sure after hearing that. Other than the issues mentioned and the ones that you can see in the photos, bidders don’t seem to be too worried about major problems with this Bonneville. Any thoughts on this one? Is it worth a risk? Can that door and adjacent right front fender damage be fixed and the paint matched so it doesn’t catch your eye every time you look at it? Does that even matter, or is this a car that you just buy and enjoy as it is now?

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Comments

  1. Bick Banter

    Grampy’s Bonnie would have only fetched 500 bucks back in 1999. If they put that money into a mutual fund ,they would have about $4,500 now at a 10% average annual return.

    Let’s this one beats that! But typically it’s just better to sell a car when you’re not using it.

    Like 9
    • FireAxeGXP

      An average return of 10%?? On a mutual fund over the last 20 years? You’re dreaming buddy lmao.

      Like 5
    • FireAxeGXP

      An average ROI of 10% over the past 23 years?? On a mutual fund? You’re dreaming buddy lmao.

      Like 0
      • Bick Banter

        Well I was going with a slightly below average return on a mid or large cap fund, I don’t know if it was dreaming? But ok, use 15%. $12,500. No way they’re getting that!

        Like 2
  2. nlpnt

    GM’s last four-door hardtop. The Mopar C-bodies – down to the Chrysler Newport and New Yorker Custom in their final year – would be the industry’s last in ’78. (Japan would continue to make them for a few years but only ever exported post sedans and 2-door hardtops here) Unlike the much-ballyhooed “Last Convertibles” they went out with a whimper never to return.

    Like 2
    • Mimo

      I had a 93 Integra 4 door with no post. That’s quite a few years later.

      Like 2
  3. ccrvtt

    Heavy, slow, inefficient and the last gasp of the luxo boats from the General’s heyday. After 1972 GM just tried to extend the lives of the 98s, 225s, and Bonnevilles by adding awkward touches like the C-pillar windows and massive grilles to go with the 5-mph bumpers. I agree with Bick.

    Like 1
    • Bick Banter

      Ah, yes, but all the drawbacks of Malaise Era vehicles seems to have been whisped away by the magic pixie dust of time, a political climate which has a lot of people just wanting to go back, and an apparent sense of hopelessness over the future value of their money.

      Someone will spend a significant amount of money on this car. Well, 15-ish grand when all is said and done is significant to me anyway. Fine, I say, but bear in mind that this 4,500 pound beast will take 12.8 seconds to hit 60 and will swill increasingly expensive (and probably soon harder to come by) unleaded at a rate of 12.2 MPG (Credit: automobilecatalog.com).

      If you’re cool with that, I say go for it!

      Like 2
  4. rmwardMember

    I’m going to be in the minority here, but IMHO the car would look better with the fender skirts that came on it originally.

    I was a porter at a Pontiac dealership during this era and these things were huge. The dealer had a 1975 Grandville Brougham Convertible with the window sticker still affixed and on MCO. I believe the family still owns the car. They definitely still have the dealership.

    Like 7
    • Scotty GilbertsonAuthor

      I’m 100% with you on the fender skirts.

      Like 8
      • Patrick Cameneti

        I restored my dad’s 1976 Bonneville Brougham 4 door silver with black velour interior,ralley rims,455 engine.Added dual exhaust needed cross member off 74 delta 88 to run the dual exhaust.Definetly my Favorite Car To This Day

        Like 1
  5. Jim in FL

    Agree on the fender skirts. I paid $400 for one of these in 1992. White with black vinyl top. Same 400 2 barrel. I used to get 18 mpg with it, so the 12 in the article may be a little low if you’re a lightfoot. I drove it as a winter beater and sold it for $800. Doubled my money! These look pretty nice when they’re waxed up, especially with the Rally IIs.

    This could make a decent daily driver, I hope someone does just that.

    Like 5
  6. ChevelleSS

    Funny to (finally) see one of these massive Bonnies. My father bought one new, a ‘Brougham’ version -which was the one that came with the fender skirts, btw. It was fire engine red with a black top and black velour interior. Such a pimp-mobile! He was always backing into something or tapping a wall or post with it. He would comment that, I’ve never had such bad luck with a car!” because of it. It was a luxoboat in every sense of the word. Beautiful, B I G, and cushy. To be honest though, I miss the 1973 Caprice Classic he had before it. Lots of memories in that car… oh yeah.

    Like 3
  7. Michael Berkemeier

    Hmmmmm…parked in 1999, huh? Yeah, right. Look at the fresh tire tracks where it was just rolled in that shed. Do you, honestly, think those (and the fresh footprint under the front end) would still be there after 23 years? LOL!

    Like 1
  8. Troy

    Kinda expensive for a demolition derby car. But if you’re using it for your commuter on the way to Seattle its perfect.

    Like 3
  9. Jim B

    Only thing worth anything & it’s the right color of green: JOHN DEERE!

    Like 0
  10. PRA4SNW

    SOLD for $2,950.

    Like 1

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