In the fall of 1977, my father came home in a new car, a black 1977 Bonneville Brougham. It looked pretty much like this, but with a black vinyl top.
The interior, however, looked like this:
It. Was. Stunning.
Here’s the story. When I was 16, my dad started looking around for a car for me so that I could take over the driving duties for my own and my 2 younger brothers’ activities. His initial plan was to buy me a new diesel Rabbit, but then changed his mind over the summer–I don’t quite remember why—and decided to give me his ’71 Pontiac Catalina and get himself a new Pontiac. He had been a Pontiac man ever since he and my mom brought home a new ‘65 Catalina in that metallic jade green so popular at the time. I remember the first time I saw the ‘65 parked in front of our house and my mom explaining to 4-year-old me that I could no longer stand in between them on the front seat like I did in the ‘56 Desoto they had just traded in. (It wasn’t because of any child safety reason—this was still the ‘60’s, way before the nanny state and baby on board window stickers– but because they didn’t want any dirt on the new seats.)
The ’71 Catalina was also a COAL. I was actually with my dad when he picked it up new at Grossinger Pontiac near Chicago’s Germantown neighborhood, and always liked it. I remember trying to talk him into getting the almost identical Bonneville Brougham parked next to it because it had the 455 cubic inch engine but he said he didn’t want the 2 mpg penalty.
The ’71 Catalina looked pretty much like this:
My dad liked the style of the downsized ’77 Bonneville, and had mentioned that he was thinking of buying a demo to save some money. At the time, most dealerships had “demonstration models” on hand for potential customers to test drive before either choosing a brand spanking new one from the lot or custom ordering one, which was much more common then. The demos would then be sold off at the end of the model year, usually at a substantial discount and with relatively few miles. Trying to hasten my ownership of the Catalina, I started to call local dealers to see if there were any demos in their inventory.
I found one at the dealership nearest my high school, a two-tone blue with a blue velour interior that I thought would suit my father’s conservative style. Unfortunately, by the time I got him to come see it, it was already being prepped for its new owner. I then called Grossinger Pontiac, where he bought the ‘71 Catalina, and the receptionist told me they had 2, a white one and a black one. I asked if by chance either one had the Valencia velour interior, which I had seen in the ’77 brochure and thought looked really cool. Why, yes, the black one, she said. Over dinner that night, I mentioned to my dad that there were a couple of demos he should see on the way home from work, but I didn’t hold out much hope, since white wasn’t really his color, and there’s no way he would go for that wild interior.
The next night he came home with a smile on his face and announced that he had bought a new car, a black Pontiac Bonneville. I figured that there must have been another black demo, or that the receptionist had gotten the interiors mixed up, or that he had bought a new car, not a demo.
Nope. The next night, there it was, in all its glory. My dad told me as soon as he saw it he instantly liked it, and made a lowball offer. When they countered, he said thanks but no thanks, and headed for the door. He almost made it out before they called him back and struck a deal—if memory serves, $6400, only $500 more than the other dealer wanted for the two tone blue one. It turns out that this was the dealership owner’s personal demo, fully loaded. I couldn’t believe it. In my mind, this was a bona fide luxury car that looked better than a contemporary Cadillac, with options my soon-to-be Catalina didn’t have, like power locks and windows, tilt sports steering wheel, power driver seat, am AND fm stereo, with speakers in the front AND back, power antenna, vinyl roof, Rally II wheels, cruise control, velour interior and the 4-barrel 400 cubic inch V8! It was awesome.
I remember the first time I drove it about a month later. We were driving to Michigan to spend Thanksgiving with relatives. After we got past Gary, Indiana, my dad pulled over and as I took the wheel for the rest of the trip, Eric Clapton’s version of “Cocaine” came on the radio. Every time I hear that song to this day, I am instantly transported to that slightly snowy stretch of the I-94 in November of 1977.
The last time I saw that car was a few years later when my dad drove me to O’hare Airport to catch a flight to Los Angeles after I got accepted to UCLA. A few years after that, my brother’s friend drove him down to his college in Champaign-Urbana in the Bonneville, but on the way back to return the car to my dad in Chicago………got hit by a train. Apparently he let his foot slip off the brake pedal as he was looking through the map book, didn’t feel the car drive onto the railroad tracks, and didn’t notice the freight train approaching at 20 mph. My brother’s friend survived without a scratch. The Bonneville, not so much. It must have been an interesting phone call.
Fast forward about 30 years. My dad was living in Florida and had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. While discussing his treatment with my brother, we half-jokingly came up with the idea that finding a Bonneville with that distinctive Valencia interior for our dad might help spark some memories from that time in his life. Within a few days I found one on eBay in Missouri with a clean interior but in buckskin metallic, not black, with only 46,000 original miles. We decided to go for it, with the plan of shipping it for restoration to my brother in Tennessee, who is a born mechanic/engineer/gearhead that spent several years after college as a pit crew mechanic for a race car team.
We won it for the starting bid of $2750. The exterior had some dents and paint issues, but overall not bad. The interior was almost immaculate, and the engine and transmission were strong, but my brother ended up replacing or overhauling the brakes, radiator, water pump, carburetor, shocks, tires, headliner, exhaust, air conditioning compressor, and some other stuff I’ve forgotten. He also spray-painted the cream colored vinyl roof a medium shade of tan to better match the paint. I couldn’t find the correct sports steering wheel, so he swapped the standard one with one from a Trans Am, which is actually what my brother had done to my dad’s car after I had left for college. I hadn’t had much luck searching for a set of Rally II wheels to replace the stock steelies and finned hubcaps until on a lark I searched on Craigslist for Tennessee, and found a set about 20 minutes from my brother’s house. If that’s not the universe wanting this to happen, I don’t know what is.
In mid-August of that year the car was road-worthy, and I flew to Atlanta to join my brother on the drive down to Florida, armed with some period-appropriate music heavily weighted with Led Zeppelin. Here’s the Bonneville at a rest area somewhere in Georgia.
When we took our dad for a ride the next day, he didn’t seem to react to it at all. Oh well.
My youngest brother, who had never been a “car guy” and regarded our project with a sort of detached bemusement, flew in to join us at my dad’s house that morning. He had stopped at the local liquor store to stock up on some beer on the way in, and at my request had gotten me some Pabst Blue Ribbon in addition to the German beers my brothers preferred. PBR was my dad’s beer of choice while we were growing up because of its strong hops flavor, but I never really developed a taste for it until I was in my 40’s. While we were all at the table eating lunch, my dad apparently recognized my can of PBR, took a drink out of it, then looked at me and smiled. Noticing this, my youngest brother piped up: “Too bad about the car, but good job with the beer!”
That night I showed my brothers an episode of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives that featured a restaurant called The Whale’s Rib in nearby Deerfield Beach. My dad was already asleep, so the three of us took the Bonneville there for dinner. On the drive back after a delicious meal, we reminisced about all the great driving vacations we took in the original black Bonneville. We also noted how smooth this old body-on-frame car felt cruising on the freeway. The handling was atrocious, of course, but I don’t think any modern car is as smooth.
My dad passed away at the end of that year. When my brothers and I returned to Florida the following summer to finalize his estate, I took pictures of the Bonneville so we could list it for sale on eBay. As I was reviewing the pics, I noticed how immaculate the interior still was: no cracks on the dash, rear seats looked barely sat on, spotless tan-colored seat backs. Look for yourselves.
It occurred to me that this could be one of the last Valencia Bonnevilles left in this condition, and if I ever wanted one in the future, I probably wouldn’t be able to find one at any price. Besides, there’s no one I would’ve trusted as much with a mechanical restoration than my brother. It was now or never, and I just couldn’t let it go, so with both brothers’ blessings, I made arrangements to get it shipped out to me.
Although my brother had buffed out the paint, it had faded again and the body needed a little work, so I toyed with the idea of painting it black. A few years ago I was on my way to a body shop to get an estimate when I stopped for gas and a gentleman fueling his late ‘70’s vintage Mercedes coupe came over to ask about my car. The next day, I logged on to Curbside Classic (I had been a reader for a year or so) and saw the following headline: “Nate Finds A ’77 Pontiac Bonneville With Rare Valencia Interior.” Oh wow, I thought, there are still some Valencia Bonnevilles out there. As soon as I started reading the article I realized it was my car, and immediately sent the link to my brother.
Among the 64 comments that were posted was advice against a color change, with detailed and experienced explanations why it could be potentially disastrous. That led to my postponing any decision on restoration for a few more years. Then one day I came across an article on color sanding, and got an estimate of $400 from a body man that came highly recommended. Here are the results.
Next, I took it to a highly recommended upholstery shop to replace the disintegrating vinyl top with one that matched the paint even better, then got new tires and a car wash.
I now have what Jay Leno calls his favorite type of classic car, “original and unrestored,” or almost original anyway, and couldn’t be happier with the results. The dents are still there, and it will need a few touch-ups, but at least now it’s presentable.
There was a car show out here last year called “Malaise Daze” celebrating mediocre cars of the 70’s, 80’s, and early 90’s. I thought about entering the show, but I just don’t think this car belongs. The downsized B-bodies were an actual improvement over the previous generation, and the 400 Pontiac V8 was not much different from the one used in the contemporary Trans Am. Maybe models with the 301 V8 and TH200 transmission were mediocre, but not this one.
I’m glad I kept this car. It was a byproduct of the only positive aspect of my father’s disease, the fact that my brothers and I became closer than ever during the time we shared in the duties and responsibilities of his care. If I ever let it go, I’d hope it would be to someone who is a fan of this particular model, such as CC contributors Joseph Dennis or Tom Klockau.
But not yet. Because every time I drive this car I can’t help but smile.
You should go to malaise daze ! You would get many praises with such a car.
It’s organized by the admins of Facebook group Malaise Motors. I don’t know them personnally (I live in France…) but they seem really nice. And fun. And knowledgeable.
It’s a very good group on FB. With very good spirit.
And it’s less about mediocrity than about the way federal regulations shaped the cars between 1972 and 1995. With some very good results (B-bodies…). And some others less successful (*Insert standard joke about Vega/Pinto/Citation*).
PS : I daily drive a ’79 Caprice with a 350. And let’s face it, it’s “mediocre” because it’s not as fast as US cars used to be at the end of the 60’s. If you don’t care about speed (and I don’t), it’s not mediocre at all.
What a fabulous car! When Joe Dennis featured that silver blue Bonnie a few weeks ago I remember remarking that fender skirts and wheels would make all the difference. Your car confirms me in that opinion.
Your Dad’s black car would have been a stunner, and one of these with a 4 bbl 400 would be a great antidote for those of us who got stuck with later B bodies with the 307s.
I don’t think I ever saw a Valencia interior in person, but it makes for the “most 70s” of any 70s Pontiac. May it provide you with many more smiles.
Totally agree on the wheels. The Rally II wheels looked amazing on this car, as did the later Snowflake wheels.
I also think Pontiac did a great job making the Bonneville feel more upmarket than related B-Bodies by using the fender skirts and little details like the extended front door armrests for the optional power window controls (it was the only GM B-Body to use that in ’77). A loaded Bonnie with the right wheels–like the cars described and shown in this post–are very distinctive and appealing, a testament to GM’s abilities when it was at the top of its game.
Wow, what a story of a COAL. Always thought the full sized Pontiacs of the 77-79 period has the best lines in both the coupe and sedan form, and that interior pops without being over the top (to me anyway).
Great move to hold on to this – how many people have thought back to that moment in their lives when they could have held on to something they knew would not likely see again, and actually done it?
I bet the 400 in these made for a smooth cruiser too and with tall gearing, maybe not so bad on the mileage front. Would a lock up converter be in use around this time?
Thank you Jimmy for a great Saturday morning read.
jimmylapas, Nice story!
Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease and while there are lots of theories about causes and prevention (such as The Nun’s Study at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nun_Study), it is a lot like Autism – a prevalent illness that impacts modern society and yet, after years of study, defies explanation.
It is warming that you and your brother worked and bonded further over the Bonneville effort, and the ability of the car to ignite your good memories is priceless.
Alzheimer’s claimed my father, his mother, and is now attacking my older sister. My significant other Debbie works with pre-K autistic children. I’m awed at our helplessness in the face of these illnesses that attack the youngest and oldest of us.
In my father’s later years I gave him my one year old 5 speed 1982 Accord to replace his aging 1970 suicide door T-Bird. He drove that Accord up and down the US east coast from NY to Florida with abandon. When he drove that car his eyes were bright, his facial expressions were happy, and he never missed a shift.
Thank you for a nice Saturday morning story.
Beautiful car and story!
Fantastic story and my heart just sank when you said your dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. We lost my dad last year from it. I hope at some point our society will get way smarter put the same energy into finding a cure or at least an effective treatment for this as they do with erectile dysfunction. I believe part of it is normal aging and I just affects some of us more than it does others. However, with so many people getting it now, there just has to be concrete environmental factors or diet causes in place somehow. South Asians have a much lower incidence of the disease and researchers speculate it has something to do with many of the spices in their food (turmeric) which cause lower bodily inflammation. Then there are conflicting studies saying there is no connection at all and taking turmeric pills is useless. So it goes.
To your car however when I looked the article my split second reaction to the photo was remembering how much I always loved the look of this big Pontiac far better them the other full size GM’ers of the era. So glad the car is in your life.
I love a good Dad/car story especially when it’s about a cool car and an
even cooler Dad.
One of my college buddies had that same car, same color combination, and same Valencia interior. It had been his parents’ car, and the interior was jarring to the eyes in 1984, although perhaps not as jarring as it would be today, in this age of gray/black/tan interiors. He passed away far too young, in 1992, and every time I see one of these I remember him and the crazy times we had.
Glad the family story behind the machine is a heartwarming one, and here’s to many years of enjoyment.
What a beauty! That’s a moving story about your father and your family. I owned a green ‘71 Catalina – with matching fabric interior – from ‘82-‘86 as my daily commuter (had a short commute at the time). Fond memories of that car.
I always loved the Valencia interior on these Bonnevilles. I used to see a black coupe, vinyl roof delete, with snowflake wheels and a red Valencia interior. It was stunning. I think that Chrysler should be offering some interiors like this. With a total of only two vehicles being sold by them, this would sure draw some attention and some sales to them. They had their Highlander upholstery in the 40’s. That would be stunning in today’s sea of black and gray.
Great story and lovely car. I’ve always fancied this generation of Pontiac, but the one that followed me home was an ’84 Parisienne, so I ended up with the Oldsmobile interior instead. I share the same history with my Dad starting with dementia around 80, but being placed in a facility at 82 and passing away 4 years later. His last car was an ’90 Grand Marquis (no De Sade package) that would have gone to the local demolition derby, and I couldn’t bear to see it wrecked, so it followed me home too. It’s gratifying to still have memento’s of our folks, but it is also a glimpse into our future that is frankly terrifying, and it seems all the more prevalent these days. Best of luck with your Pontiac.
Every car has a story, and this story is one of the best I’ve read here.
What a great story, and what great cars! When I was a kid in New Orleans, there was a ’77 Bonneville in my neighborhood that had the Valencia trim, and it was a striking and memorable car. That interior made quite the impression on me, it really stands out, both then and now. I cannot recall actually ever seeing another one in person, so I imagine they are quite rare. According to factory literature, the Valencia interior was also offered in red, though I have never seen that one at all–I think the tan treatment was the more popular of the 2 choices.
Tan/beige was offered in ’77 and ’78; red in ’78 only. Also noteworthy is that the Valencia trim was an option in the Bonneville Brougham in ’77, but the standard Bonneville in ’78. That’s because the Brougham got a new loose-cushion seat trim that year, and the ’77 Brougham interior was moved to the standard Bonneville.
A different special seat trim was offered in ’79, charcoal and white IIRC with grey diamond patterns in the white velour portion. I can’t recall what this upholstery was called.
What a beauty! I too had a ’77 Bonneville, many years back, but without the Valencia interior and with the craptastic 301/THM200 combo. Couldn’t get out of it’s own way but it did get some rather surprising fuel economy (24 hwy). Mine was a rather brilliant metallic red with a matching pimpin’ red velour interior. All in all a pretty good car, power notwithstanding.
Thank you for sharing this. I’m very sorry about your dad. It was very thoughtful and honorable of you and your brothers wanting to improve his quality of life, in this special way.
Even in the late 70s, it was brave for GM to offer this interior. And it would take a brave owner to order it. lol As it would have been a bit controversial even then, besides living with that pattern for the next 5 to 7 years.
Jimmy, what a great story and tribute to tie in with this beautiful Bonneville. The efforts of you and your siblings to bring some joy and (hopefully) memories to your late father made me smile, and now you have this ’77 Bonneville survivor with the Valencia interior as a memento.
Looking at the design of that interior, it’s not all that far removed from what AMC was doing with their Gucci Hornets, Pierre Cardin Javelins, and Cassini Matadors. I’m actually surprised Pontiac didn’t try to tie this upholstery pattern in with a famous designer, but I suppose Pontiac may have deemed not “upmarket” enough by GM to do that.
Still, what a look. I am appreciating this generation of Bonneville (and Catalina) more and more. Great piece.
Great car and amazing interior. I always loved the Valencia interior from the first time I saw itt back in 1977 when I was 14 years old.
One of my Grandma’s neighbors in Brooklyn NY, brought a brand new Bonneville in the summer of ’77. It was a 4 door sedan, black exterior with the tan Valencia interior. It had the Rallye II wheels, fully loaded with options, and a very unique deal installed option. For some reason, the dealer installed a tan vinyl canopy style roof . It was similar in style to the vinyl roof treatments that were always factory in Plymouth Dusters and other Mopars like the 2 door Furys, New Yorkers, and Monaco’s. To be honest, the roof treatment looked stunning and really set off the combination of the Black and Tan theme.
I do recall that when these Pontiac B’s were painted at the factory with their custom 2 tone treatment, it was also in the canopy style, wrapping over the roof. This also looked stunning.
I have to say, besides the Le Sabre of this generation with the beautiful Palm Beach edition, the Valencia Bonneville is my second favorite.
Also, I believe Oldsmobile offered some fancy patterned trim on the downsized Cutlasses stating in 1978. If memory recalls, one trim was the Mohave and the other the Navajo. I’ll have to check the old car brochure website .
Thats a really nice original looking car, in a nearby town sits an Oldsmobile flavour B body car in the same colour, I cant remember what the interior is though I dont think it looked as good as that one though definitely a keeper.
Looking at the beckoning interior of this car and comparing it to the dreary interiors which are prevalent today, I realized that the latter style may serve a social purpose: Many people probably spend less time today in their cars because they are not pleasant, uplifting places to be.
I am really glad you kept your father’s car instead of selling it off. I can truly identify with that. My father just died on Sunday at 93 never having recovered from a last ditch brain surgery. I’m sure it will take time to absorb since most nights I lay in the darkness of my bedroom thinking of him and unable to sleep.
However, besides having his WWII mementos I also now have two of his cars. He always had company cars all his working life. A used car before getting married in 1953 and then some young used cars after he stopped working. My mother got the new cars he bought.
From what I know he only bought two brand new cars just for himself. One, the 68 Cougar, has been talked about here at CC. He was in between jobs and needed a car. Once he got his new job in San Diego his company bought it for a short while, now a company car, and then sold it back to him and me. His last one was a 2004 Le Sabre his pride and joy in dark metallic red and chrome wheels. Wow, did he ever take car of that car and made sure I always checked fluids and tires for him. He stopped driving it 18 months ago with 43,000 miles.
Now it is mine and is outside right now where I can see it. I put a picture of him in the car and have driven it when I need to reflect and will continue to do so. I hope you do the same with your father’s car. I love that interior.
So sorry for your loss. I, for one, would enjoy a story on the 2004 LeSabre.
I am sure it would be just as good as the 1968 Cougar story was. And writing it would be good for you during this event.
So sorry to read of your loss. I have experienced terribly mixed feelings over a car so closely identified with a parent who is gone.
Truly, this is the type of story for which I believe the COAL theme was invented. This car became, and is now truly a part of the history of your life, and that of your family. What an excellent read, it was just disappointing that your Dad never quite got the thrill of the car as you had hoped.
A neighbour of my son has an ’81 Parisienne that he has been working on. Here is a shot taken about 18 months ago as I recollect.
attachment did not take…another angle in any event
If this photo does not attach, there is a problemo
I’ve been having the same problem intermittently, I had a few written posts that didn’t go through either.
That’s a really sharp car! The ’77-’79 B-bodies have a rectitude and coherence of lines, angles, and proportions that was substantially spoiled with the ’80 rework. I was not aware of that Valencia interior, in large part because while I like these cars in general, my direct experience is primarily of the Chev, with the Olds being a distant second.
Sooner or later the drooping acoustical headliner gets discussed, but there are other…I donno that I’d call them shortcomings, exactly, more like quirks to the cars: I’d forgot til I saw your pic here how much the back seat curves at the ends. When I was sitting back there it didn’t matter, for I was a little kid, but I don’t reckon it’s enough thigh support for an adult on more than a short trip.
I remember how the vertical portion of the seat belt flaps in the wind created when the front and rear windows are open, and they smack the B-pillar trim repeatedly: WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! I remember the rear windows rolling only halfway down (maybe not the case with power windows).
I remember the parking brake release handle and cable having a tendency to break and fall apart, to the degree that a repair kit was available not only from GM but also from NAPA.
I remember the speedometer bearings would wear, then the speedo would go “ting-ting-ting-ting!” on accelerating from a stop, and the needle would quiver, until things got spinning fast enough in there for gyroscopic effect to assist the worn bearing. When the upper bearing in the steering column would wear, turning the wheel would result in a weird noise like an old-time AM radio being tuned across the dial: “oooOOOoooweeEEEEeeeeeooooooo!”.
And speaking of the steering column: eventually the Briggs & Stratton ignition lock cylinder would wear to the degree that the key could be removed with the lock in any position, including “Run”.
Others? Probably, that I don’t recall at the moment. They were very good cars at the time (unless one were unfortunate enough to get one with the grossly underspecified transmission and/or the soft camshaft), and largely still are.
“The Briggs and Stratton ignition lock cylinder”…,introduced in 1969 and never improved for years. As they wore the accessory position became unobtainable and they became painfully notchy and mechanical in the 80s and 90s. The worst ignition in the industry in my opinion, and that includes farm machinery and forklifts.
I don’t think very highly of their engines, either.
That said, at least one of my ’91-up AA-body Mopars with the Chrysler Acustar steering column developed the same permissive attitude toward key removal. I never bothered fixing it; I regarded it as a feature, not a bug. Don’t know who made that ignition lock, but I’m fairly sure it wasn’t Bricks & Scrapiron. And just the other day I pulled my ’07 Accord into my parking space, switched off the engine, removed the key, reached down to set the handbrake and open the console (so thieves can see there’s nothing in there), and saw the shifter was still in Drive. With the key in my hand. I tried, but wasn’t able to replicate the trick. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Back to the topic of the B&S ignition lock: some years ago, a thoroughly confused individual wrote a thoroughly confused guest piece here on CC about it.
The speedometer in the ’77 Bonneville Brougham (green two-tone, green velour interior) my family had did exactly the same thing. I had long forgotten about that. It did the bouncing and tinging when approaching a stop as well as when accelerating from a stop.
The rear windows in the power-window cars didn’t open more than halfway either. Given that the rearward pane was fixed, only about 2/5 of the window could be opened. That was a letdown replacing a full-size ’66 Mopar where the whole, huge window rolled all the way down.
GM liked to claim that the downsized ’77s were as roomy as the larger ’76 models, but having to often ride in the back seat of both vintages I knew that wasn’t true. The rear seat cushions may have been the same width, but the last 6 inches at either end of the ’77s was rendered unusable by the cutaway of the seat cushion (to allow legs to swing in and out of the narrow door opening), the intrusion of the rear wheelwells into the seatback, the lap belt reel being positioned 6″ inward, and the intrusion of the perimeter frame rails on the footwells.
Well, hey, at least the rear windows opened partially—not like the incredibly-remarkably-stupid-idea fixed glass on the A-bodies.
I’d forgot about that inward placement of the lap belt. Still, I’d rather have that than the thoughtless and/or negligent rear lap belt setup in at least some of the Ford-Mercury-Lincoln Panther cars: Because reasons (or none), they had the buckle outboard near the edge of the seat and the reel inboard near the middle. Got T-boned or sideswiped and now you or your frantic parents want to unbuckle the belt? LOLnope.
(You’re right, now I think back: ting/quiver from the speedo on the way down, too.)
Nice car, and a touching story. That was so thoughtful of you and your brothers to get that car. Even though your father wasn’t capable of appreciating it, you now have something tangible to help keep his memory alive.
My dad, who was a mechanic and a car guy, came down with a form of dementia. On one of my visits to him after he started slipping, I took him on a tour of his garage to visit his tools, some of which he had owned since he first started working on cars as a teenager. I naively thought that it would awaken some memories, and it saddened me immensely to realize that he was too far gone to recognize them.
Some of his tools now live in my boxes, and give me the opportunity to put a little bit of him into each of my automotive projects.
That is an awesome car. Drive it and love it; don’t worry about a restoration. It’s come to the point where I’m finding the Pontiac to be the most visually stimulating of the downsized B’s.
My condolences about your father; watching what happens to parents (and grandparents) as they age really sucks. I’ve got a close family member with the early to mid-stages of dementia and it’s painful to see.
With your ’77 having a 400, that is much more desirable than the ’77 Chevrolet Impala with the 250 straight six I spent copious amounts of time in. One of these would make a great replacement for my old Ford after it gets gone.
A beautiful car then and now, nice to see you’ve retained it and got the paint color sanded ~ don’t forget to put a good coat of wax on it by hand every year so it stays this pretty .
Sorry your Pops went that way, at least you had bot the wonderful memories plus the brotherly bonding.
Thanx for the mention of my battered old Mecedes Diesel Sports Coupe, it’s outside in the rain , going strong @ 34 years and 433,000 + miles .
-Nate
Beautiful Pontiac, one of the few true beauties from the mid ’70’s. Interior is really nice. I lost my Mother to Alzheimer’s, diagnosed in ’07 and gone by ’10. Terrible disease, if nothing else it does have the benefit of bringing family members closer together. Great story, and I would hang on to this machine and the great memories it carries.
Gorgeous car and great story. Sorry to hear about your dad. I hope you keep the car but when the time comes to sell it, I hope it goes to a good home. I think you’ve done a great cosmetic restoration. Drive it and enjoy it as as.
We didn’t get these Bonnevilles up north but had the nearly identical Parisienne. It was essentially a badge engineered Bonneville but used Caprice/Impala drivetrains. Pontiacs were very common and the streets used to be crawling with these. I generally preferred the Catalina/Laurentian without the fender skirts, but lately I have softened on the cars with skirts. There was a sharp original 77 Parisienne 2 door I saw this summer. I was very tempted by, if I had the space, I would have bought it. Here is a pic of that car.
Great write up and sorry to hear about your father.
These days, a lot of us refer to Alzheimer’s as Type III diabetes. Basically high blood sugar levels cause inflammation and this includes the brain. And the American diet is incredibly high in sweeteners (high fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, alcohol, etc.)
Turmeric is very neuro-protective and best consumed as a dietary herb. It’s recognized and conjugated by the liver quickly, and so it’s not very bio-available to the body. The rates of uncontrolled diabetes is much higher in India vs the US but the rates of diabetic complications (retinopathy and neuropathy for instance) are much less.
The studies done on Turmeric are all over the board in terms of quality. One big problem is finding a good bio-available source. I like Turmeric Forte by Mediherb. Btw, I have no financial interest in Mediherb and none of this is medical advice.