Pontiac Bonneville

Pontiac, one of the General Motor’s most successful post war Divisions. It achieved this by its models at the middle class buyer who wanted a car with all the luxury of the expensive marques but at not much more than mid range prices. This was the winning formula that led to the creation of the 1959 Bonneville. As soon as it was launched it became one of Pontiac’s most critically acclaimed models yet, a full size machine with new wide track styling and lower, longer bodywork than the 1958 models. At the front there was an aggressive split grille look, at the rear twin fin rear fenders. An increased glass area across the range gave the car an expensive look that set it apart from mid priced rivals.

The pillarless four door Vista handtop had a rear overhang on its roof, while the beautiful two door coupes had certain affinity with the Cadillac Coupe DeVille models of that year. Naturally, there was a convertible version too. The Bonneville was Pontiac’s topline offering and all models had V8 engines, the most powerful delivering 345 bhp through either a synchromesh manual box, or more usually, an automatic. Thus equipped, the Bonneville was quick and the wide track handling gave the car better cornering ability than the average Detroit product of 1959.