Even from a distance there was some a little bit off about this GM B-Body. While the two tone paint and overall look is well integrated the front and rear mismatch is evident. So what exactly is this B-Body hybrid?
The side view shows off the Pontiac sport wheels and rear fender skirts.
The rear view is all Pontiac and if there was any doubt, a peek into the interior conclusively proved this to be a Parisienne with a Caprice nose.
One last look at the Chevrolet front end. Any idle speculation on the origins of this customization? Was it done deliberately or just merely the most expedient method of repairing damage from a front end collision?
Related reading:
The GM B-Body: A Love Song In B Major
1986 Pontiac Parisienne – Last Of The Cheviacs
The change is too subtle for someone to bother with as a custom. This has expedient repair written all over it.
Overall, a pretty clean example.
Yup quick repair. I’ve seen a few Bravada’s with Trail Blazer and Envoy noses.
I wish I could say for certain. I’ve heard of Cheviacs, but it’s usually mechanical. Pontiac car with Chevrolet mechanicals, and vice versa. I’ve never seen a Chevrolet Caprice and Pontiac Parisienne body on the same chassis.
That…is pretty cool. I like it, quite a lot, but I don’t exactly know what to make of it. Unless Canada had different Parisiennes than we did in the US (which is certainly possible–what did you guys have for ’82?) this should be a 1986 Parisienne Brougham as I see a CHMSL. Definitely an ’86 Caprice front clip (aero grille, sealed-beam lamps, no stand-up hood ornament). But the two-tone is a rarely seen option on the Parisienne, and it has no vinyl roof, which is also rare. (Two-tone may presuppose no vinyl as it would interfere with the dividing line.)
While it *could* be a case of replacement parts expediency, if the shapes matched and given that the header panel is the right color, I tend to think this was intentional. An intentional repair, mind you, but done with full knowledge rather than just “make it fit”. Why? The sport wheels. Those were definitely not available by the time 1986 rolled around, so they’re retrofits. And the kind of owner that would go to the trouble to source an old set of Pontiac-correct wheels would not likely accept a different front clip if the Frankenstein effect is not what they were going for. It’s the sort of thing that most people don’t even notice, but those in the know do a double-take. Subtle psychological trickery.
Love the two-tone, love the wheels, love the subtle nature of it. Very cool.
the Pontiac Parisienne originated in Canada and was brought to the USA, due to USA Poncho dealers complaining that they had no big car since the fullsize B body Bonneville and Catalina were killed off.
The only changes on the cars (besides changing Kilometers to miles on the speedometer were) extra smog stuff for the USA market. The cars were the same.
I do like this and it begs the question, why did not GM offer a Caprice Brougham with rear fender skirts?
There was a Caprice Classic Brougham for 1986, but no standard or optional fender skirts.
Didn’t the Chevy have flared rear wheel arches? A skirt on those would look really weird.
It did, making skirts infeasible.
I tend to agree that this was intentional, repair or not. Much like those who transplant the front ends of 95-05 Astros onto the regular length 85-94 models. What I’m trying to decide is whether they used the entire Caprice front clip or just the header panel. Very nicely done at any rate.
I think everything (bumper, headlights and plastic in front hood. Hood seems to be Pontiac.
ats Fred…. I agree a closer look, and I would know for sure. I think the fenders and hood are Pontiac. The header bar, and extensions are Chev. The Oshawa plant did run 85’s but only until mid November 84. Our production went to Wilmington Delaware. Wilmington used to run the Chevette.
Wilmington asked us for help. GM in their infinite wisdom sent the “clip board boys” they didn’t know squat. So it wouldn’t shock me to hear that old Cheviac came right off the line
> Unless Canada had different Parisiennes than we did in the US (which is certainly possible–what did you guys have for ’82?)
FYI, Pontiac Parisiennes WERE made in Canada. In the early 80’s, Pontiac dropped their fullsize RWD Bonneville model in the US. Dealers complained that they were losing sales, so they started shipping Canadian Parisiennes to the US from 1983-86.
Edit: Dang, Leon beat me to it.
But the Parisiennes still had the old Chevrolet dashboard, which IMO wasn’t as nice as the original Catalina/Bonneville one of 77-81.
Oh, I’m aware of that–my family had an ’86 Parisienne for some time. I just wasn’t sure if there was a Parisienne in ’82 or not, since there was no corresponding B-platform Bonneville that year.
Yes, there was a 1982 Parisienne in Canada, which was essentially a rebadged Chevrolet, using Chevy sheetmetal. The 1981 Parisienne shared the sheetmetal with the Bonneville.
1981:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2241126/1981-pontiac-parisienne/
1982:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/806733/1982-pontiac-parisienne/
The Rally II wheels actually were available on the 85-86 Parisienne. I specifically remember reading a road test of one that had them and thinking that is how I would order it. I had a brochure on them as well and remember that.
I think it is most likely a high quality repair made when the car was fairly young and still had a good amount of value. The owner probably liked the Chevy grille better.
Having seen an early 80s Suburban that left the factory with Chevy badges and hubcaps on the left and the front and GMC badges on the right and the rear (including the interior), I wouldn’t rule out bad day at the assembly line.
That reminds me that my 95 Riviera was delivered with Pontiac floor mats.
At least that’s easily rectified.
It was. It was the second run through the factory though, as the first car was taken for “evaluation”. My dealer was not happy.
Here’s a GMC Suburban with a Chevy grille
For whatever reason, the 88-98 Chevy trucks in Mexico had a GMC grille with a strange “nose mask” Chevy logo.
Looks like an Alberta plate on the back. I’m going to go with super-rare Canadian model, sold exclusively through Cheviac dealers.
Just kidding. I’m going to go with option B: accident repair.
That sounded quite believable!
It wants to be Canadian!
Can someone remind me, what year did Pontiac switch the American Parisienne from being a pure Caprice rebadge with a different grille, back to one using the fender skirts and heavier looking rear quarter panels and taillights?
I think that was a one year only run for the US.
A good friend of mine actually had one of those rebadged 100% Caprices, and then traded it in on a (what I would call) a “Bonneville” body a couple of years later. None of it ever made any sense to me, especially if the late 70s Bonnevilles didn’t sell that great, why was it better to tack on the Parisienne badge onto either a Caprice or Bonneville? I guess one less factory variation saved some money, right?
1985
Two years, actually. As mentioned by BigOldChryslers and Leon above, the B-platform Bonneville disappeared after ’81 due to the incorrect belief that big cars were going away. The Bonneville nameplate migrated onto the G-body. Big car sales rebounded in ’82 and Pontiac wanted to bring it back, but the Bonneville name was already taken. Solution was to bring in the Parisienne (which the Bonneville had been called in Canada) with its Canadian nameplate. In 1983 and 1984, It used a Caprice body with a Pontiac header panel and taillight lenses. For 1985, though, they brought back the ’81 Bonneville body whole. Much more distinctive and I’m pretty sure sales increased. It ran that way for ’85 and ’86, and was canceled after ’86 with the new H-platform Bonneville regaining the top spot in the lineup for ’87.
They didn’t bring back the complete Bonneville body. The hood and front fenders remained Caprice.
Good point. I’d never actually given that much thought, considering the header panel and grille were new for ’83 (or ’82 in Canada) but the older Bonneville hood did have more pronounced sculpturing.
Pretty much correct, except they did build a Canada only 1982 Parisienne which was basically identical to the 1983-84 US and Canada market cars.
And therein lies the beauty of repairing or restoring a GM vehicle. If you can’t find an exact replacement for your specific application, you can use a similar part off of another GM car without it looking totally Frankensteined.
When I was attending El Camino College back in the late 80s / early 90s, I used to see a super clean bright yellow 73 / 74 Nova with a Buick Apollo front clip. Even the side rub strips matched up. If memory serves me correctly, it was driven by a tiny Asian gal with short hair and huge coke bottle eyeglasses.
This reminds me of a fairly notable “nose job” I have seen a few times:
Take the very distinctive nose from the previous generation Chrysler 300 and bolt to the Magnum wagon. The Magnum nose will also bolt directly to the 300–just a few wiring connectors need to be sorted if memory serves.
I really like the wagon with the that big formal grille!
Apparently Magnum wagons sold in Europe came from the factory with the 300 front end. I’ve read articles about it.
A long time back, while at a local “adult” store, I rented the latest release from Private. Private is a Sweden-based adult media production company known for producing extremely high-quality erotica. I can’t remember the name of the release, but on the DVD boxcover photo was this absolutely stunning blonde. She was posing seductively in front of a Magnum wearing a 300 front clip, just like the one in R Henry’s second photo.
Someone still rents adult DVDs???
It’s not just a clip-job, it’s not just a “Magnum wearing a 300 front-clip”. It’s a Chrysler 300C Touring, a Europe-only model. Chrysler 300C front, interior, and trim, the Magnum rear end. And to my eyes, it’s a much better looking car than the Magnum, that fron-clip looks much better on the wagon.
The car was assembled for the European market by Magna-Steyr in Austria, together with other Daimler-Chrysler low volume models. I guess the Chrysler products, including the Cherokee was made from CKD-kits. I’m wondering if not even the MB M-class they assembled was on CKD-kits shipped from Alabama as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Steyr
Chrysler had issues with using the Dodge name in Europe until fairly recently, as a result of having sold the UK-based Dodge truck business to Renault when they exited in 1978, hence Magnum-as-Chrysler, b/c there was no Dodge brand to build upon.
The Charger front end will also fit, but the fenders need to be modified to line up (“Chargum”).
The automakers have done this for decades. The 1962 Dodge 880; for example.
Inspiration for a clever repair?
That doesn’t look bad at all, the only thing they should do now is switch the ugly tailights for a nice set 1985 Caprice lights…..I never liked the Pontiac ones.
And I have to admit that I had a nice set of those wheels on a 1978 Caprice Coupe somewhere in the 80’s, I still think those are some of the best looking steel wheels around.
But if you switch the front clip and the rear clip, all you have is a Caprice with fender skirts…probably less work to just do some metalwork on the rear fenders of an actual caprice to remove the flares and add skirt hardware!
I’ve always preferred the Pontiac sheetmetal. But it’s personal preference of course.
I had this on the hard drive and have been waiting for just the chance to post it.
It DID take a whole lot more work than the Cheviac Caprisienne. I present: The Fordobaker station wagon!
Credit given to the unknown craftsman who created this…and to the unknown contributor who sent it to me.
There was a similar Studamino on my local CL – Bullet nose Stude in front, El Camino in back. Bright yellow, hard to miss.
Once a guy gets this far, I think he needs to go the rest of the way with a set of Buick road wheels and some of those tufted seats out of a Ninety Eight Regency. Then maybe a Cadillac hood ornament, steering wheel and floor mats. Chevrisiennemobilickillac?
Or he can save himself all the trouble and simply buy himself a first-generation Seville. Nova chassis, Oldsmobile engine, Chevy C10 wheel bolt pattern, Cadillac grille 🙂 .
He built it one piece at a time, and it didn’t cost him a dime…
I think it looks better than the Parisienne in its natural form. Two things I would have done differently: 1) Aero headlamps, and 2) Lose the Chevrolet emblem in the grille. Better yet, make a Cheviac one. Or Pontolet.
I’ve always thought it would be interesting to take the standard Parisienne front clip and replace the sealed-beam lamps with the aero units from the ’87-’90 Caprice. I like the Pontiac grille personally, but the lamps would be a good look I think.
This morning in rush hour traffic, I saw a mash-up that was comparable in spirit to this one: a 1994-2001 Acura Integra nose (the one with four “bug eye” headlights) on a 1988-91 Honda Civic four door sedan body. The Integra nose surprisingly fit quite well on the older-generation Civic body, whether from in-built compatibility or clever fitting and fabrication work, I do not know. The car looked like a work in progress, with faded paint and some dents in the Civic body, but it definitely exuded “intent” rather than “collision repair with whatever was lying around the garage.”
The Integra and Civic are hardly the most popular cars here, but given their popularity as the budget hot rod of today, this kind of skilled work to create an intra-company mashup deserves some respect, just as this Cheviac does.
That front end can be applied to the del Sol as well which gives an interesting result.
in my area we have a concoction called a Crown Marquis which is composed of a 98+Crown Victoria body and a Grand marquis front clip or vice versa.
In 1998 they started sharing the same body shell so unless you look at the badge on the air bag or dash trim panel it could be that someone switched the tail lights and trim panel on the trunk lid.
I think this was done as a personalization/customizing of this person’s car rather then a quick way to repair the car’s front end so that the cops don’t give the owner a ticket for not having lights due to an accident.
This car’s paint matches perfectly and there were lots of Parisiennes sold in Canada so finding a front clip should not have been too hard. If my memory is correct the Parisienne was killed off before it could get the euro headlight restyle like the Caprice did.
If it was my Parisienne I would have tracked down a front end from a 86-90 Caprice Classic with the new flush euro lights.
I know a circa 1977 “Burolet Le Sabrice” 5.7 Litre V8. A Caprice body with a Le Sabre nose and front doors. Accident and a “just-in-time” available parted out car caused this kind of a repair I suppose… The car sits fixed and peacefully in a barn since the early ’90’s…
…as I have a euro-spec Chevrolet Trans Sport! What is a factory made mixture/cocktail. A (Pontiac) Trans Sport Montana with a Chevrolet nameplate on the back. No other emblems except on the factory made Chevy Venture hubcaps and a Pontiac arrow on the driver side airbag. The grille is the double kidney design BUT also without Pontiac arrow. Trans Sport nameplates on the front doors and a same big engraving on the rear bumper. The front end bumper is stylishly Pontiac but on the driver side wears an engraved Chevrolet nameplate.
Probably 99 out of 100 people would never give it a second look and figure it rolled off the assembly line as it is today. I thought it was most likely from Canada. But you can’t fool the CC crew!
This was done to confuse the witnesses in case of an accident.
I have posted elsewhere how in 1982-84 at Avis car rental in Vancouver, where I worked as a student, we would spend our down time creating Chevadians – one side Chevette, the other side Pontiac Acadian, such was the ease with which plastic trim could be moved about (mostly just by hand) on our fleet of Chevettes and Acadians.
I once saw this on a Box Panther. An old guy in the town where I grew up had the ’84-’87 Grand Marquis. One day we passed and his front end was smashed in. The next time we passed, I did a double take as it was sporting the front clip from an ’88-’91 Crown Victoria. Other than the taillights it blended in perfectly, looked for all the world like the Ford.
I’ve seen that done on a mid 80’s Crown Vic coupe, to create a coupe with the ’88-’91 aero nose (which never existed as the coupe was cancelled after ’87). It was a good look! In the same spirit I’ve seen an 80’s RWD Coupe DeVille with the ’90-’92 composite lamp nose from a Brougham. Similarly, a good look.
I`ll also agree with the ‘cheapest fix possible’ scenario. Growing up in the collision industry there was many times that 63 Chevys got 64 noses and vise versa, same with 65 & 66 Fords. If it meant the difference between saving an old car or junking it or customer only cared about getting it back on the road quickly or didn`t have a lot to spend everybody was happy.
What would you make of this?
Yeah! 🙂 Exactly a “Pontiac”… Do you have some pic about the eventual front end conversion?
And this….
Ooops, o.k. I caught it a lil’ bit later. Thank you.
Nice job! 🙂 An example to follow. Is that a grille borrowed from a same age Bonneville???
Something someone made, a good body man can build parts that never existed out of odds & ends. I built this phantom Pontiac pickup truck back in the 90s on a bet with a buddy who said there was nothing you could do to make a Chevy pickup stand out. He lost, this truck drew attention every where I took it.
🙂 From time to time I was fantasizing about a Pontiac Truck too…aaand…here IT IS! Once I saw a Chevy S-10 with an Oldsmobile Bravada front end and the owner also replaced the big rear Chevrolet nameplate on the tailgate to Oldsmobile. Probably it was renamed to Bravada S-10…or something…
Needs woodgrain. Love the idea though, and clean execution on the grille. It’s subtle, but there’s very little differentiation between the Buick, Olds, and Chevy on that chassis anyway so if one had been factory-produced it probably would have ended up looking just like that!
Another vote to the addition of woodgrain…
The rounded off transplant header panel works a lot better stylistically with the back half of the Parisienne. Now to ’86’ the skirts and add the chrome rear fenderwell trim off a 80/81 Catalina to visually lighten the car…
Nothing really that unusual for a 20-30 year old car. Parts get harder to find, so repair shop throws on more common Chevy parts. Used to see all kinds of ‘custom’ B bodies when they were 10-15 years old in ‘beaterville’.
I’ll just leave this here….a posting on Atlanta Craigslist! 🙂
Side view of the same… 🙂