Originally sold in Toronto to a doctor, the car was bought by it's 3rd owner Brian Leclerc of Montreal, sometime in the late 1990's. I became the 4th owner in 2002. The car seems to have had a partial repaint of the quarter panels, doors and fenders many years ago. I've managed to find replacements for the Custom Sport badges that were left off the car's fenders when it was repainted and paid dearly for 2 NOS headlight bezels to replace the existing pitted ones. Neither of these are on the car in these pics as they were taken shortly after I bought the car in 2002. I suspect that the quarter panels have had body work, but no bondo that I can find. The hood and trunk carry original paint with primer just starting to show through in spots, but the colour matches nicely between the original and newer paint. Danube Blue Metallic with Gunmetal interior, 87,000+ miles, 327 / 250 hp engine, powerglide, ps, pb, pw, factory AM/FM reverb and a "supposedly" dealer-installed 8 track. I pulled the interior out to redo the floors and to my surprise there were only 3 or 4 pinholes and 1 hole the size of a pencil eraser. The rest was solid. Bucket seats were redone using the original covers with 2 small replacement pieces of vinyl on the side bolsters that matched up very nicely. Engine runs very well but does burn some oil. I hope to have the money by next spring to have the engine rebuilt by West Carleton Automotive. Larry & his guys did an excellent job on the 1972 455 H.O. that's in my 68 Firebird and he was a pleasure to deal with.
1960 Pontiac Strato Chief Safari 1960 Laurentian Safari 1960 Laurentian 4door(scrapped) 2001 Grand Am Traded on a '96 Suburban 2WD 2002 Hyundai Accent(SOLD) 1968 Grand Parisienne Scrapped and SOLD
Thanks. What are your plans for the 60 Poncho wagon? Stock resto? Modified? Now THAT is a car that you won't see at your average cruise in and probably not even at a Pontiac gathering! I think wagons have a very high cool factor.
HI! APAIROFPONCHOS your 65 custon sport is very nice I have a hardtop version of the parisienne , it is my dream car and I bought it this summer. He still have work to do but for now I'm enjoy the ride with
Hi Paris65 (Richard). Thx for the kind words. I like the fastback 65's even more than the convertibles. I especially like them in Madeira Maroon Metallic, which appears to be exactly what you have. Lucky guy!
Je parle francais aussi, donc, si vous voulez communiquer avec moi en francais hors du site, envoyer-moi une message privé et je vous envoyer mon addresse couriel.
Hi Macsleuth, Well, since you asked to see the other 65, I've realized that I need to take some decent pics of the 65 Laurentian post. What I have are pretty poor quality as you can see.
Originally an Artesian Turquoise w/Turqoise interior, 6 cylinder car, the body panels and door skins are pretty much shot up to the belt line. Floor pans and trunk pan are toast, same with interior. Strangely enough, the frame is completely solid (maybe not original frame?).
It is being converted to a "one of none nostalgia drag car"....with a view to the early 60's SD Catalina's, but bigger! I'm using some old and some "old style" engine parts to try to keep a period look. An old Offenhauser dual-quad set up (gotta change the modern fuel line) and some new Offy valve covers are going on an iron headed 455, with ported & polished 6x8 heads, roller tip rockers, 12 bolt & a 4 series gear. I know I could get a lot more power with a set of Edelbrock heads, but that wouldn't be in keeping with the old school look I'm going for. I haven't decided about a 4 speed or auto. Sure would be cool to have a long shifter coming up over the bench seat.
Paint will be suede black with a red bench seat interior. I was incredibly lucky to find two NOS quarters, two good used fenders, a complete red interior out of a 65 Parisienne and many other pieces. Thx to Ron Weasmith for the NOS panels(not sure if I spelled his last name correctly). Ron is the bearded gentleman in the pic, I'm the hoser with the baseball cap!
I need to save money for a few years before I dive into this project.
Ron Weasner from St Catharines/Thorold, he's my garbage man-He invited me out to see the 65 in his son's driveway-and showed me the N.O.S. quarters-I had the stuff for sale for him with no bites-niche market-lucky find