Inspection - 04/19/2019

Time to begin the fun of investigating what came with the car and where it stands (resto candidate or scrap). The car has spent a lot of time in the garage as a shelf lately.



Side photo. Not bad, but not great either.



The nose. It's a Bonneville that the grill says started life out as a 455 car.



Other side. Hood has seen better days.



Grill and bumper are in surprisingly nice shape.



Seats. A little worn out. I do not believe the material pattern is original, but I could be wrong. The fan shroud is original to a '71-72 Bonneville or Grandville so it likely is original.



Dash panel. Not in bad shape minus some broken air vent deflectors.



Package tray has aftermarket speakers in it but does not have heavy indicators of water intrusion, which is nice. Spare mirror hanging out in the back.



Trunk panel, tail lights, and bumper are in great shape. I registered this car a while back as every car I own is legal!



Hey! Trunk lid isn't bad. The original paint is still there. Adriatic blue they called it.



Ooh! Free nuts and bolts, a locked up AC compressor with brackets that don't belong to this car, a voltage regulator that doesn't belong to this car, rubber radiator mounting feet, a set of frame mounts, and one of the engine fender to core support braces. This is AFTER I threw away several blankets, F-body sail panel pieces and door panels, and a few boxes of trash with misc stuff unrelated to cars in them.



An aftermarket defogger install kit for this car. Rare to see anymore, this hadn't ever been put on the car. I have a working factory setup so I pitched this.



Breather tube and the only bad spot in the trunk. Has evidence of water intrusion but it isn't major for a car that sat for a decade who knows where.



Spare tire with all of the hold down hardware and jack setup. Neat.



Engine compartment. Car looks like it's been sitting under a tree.



The frame mounts are gone. Don't ask me why someone would do this...



They didn't cut a single wire off of the engine harness when they removed the engine! Master cylinder looks like it's been leaking. Bendix brake booster is unusual to see on these cars but still offered.



Condenser still in place, looks like it is removable without having to evacuate the system or pull the core support! Battery tray needs help.



Emissions sticker says the car was a 455 2bbl from the factory.



Yikes. Hood has definitely taken the brunt of the rage of mother nature.



Trim tag revealed. Adriatic blue with a black vinyl top.

Not too bad. Much better than I was expecting. Already pirated the good parts off of it for the Lemans.

Return to 1971 Pontiac Bonneville

Last updated April 25th, 2020