Next up in line was the Grande Parisienne, the last of the Canadian Pontiacs on offer in Europe. In Canada there was yet another full-size line called Strato-Chief, which was the entry level line over there and placed below the Laurentian in the hierarchy. This Strato-Chief was not available in Europe.
There was nothing entry level about the Grande Parisienne. There was just one body style: a 2-door Sport Coupe. The car was trimmed like the American Pontiac Grand Prix, which topped the full-size line. Striking distinctions between the Grande Parisienne and the Grand Prix were of course the name badges, but also the upholstery: the Grande Parisienne had a vinyl upholstery where leather was optional in the Grand Prix. But the biggest differences were under the hood because the Grande Parisienne had a totally different engine/transmission combination compared to the Grand Prix. The Grande Parisienne was fitted with a 5,358 cc V8 engine that produced 279 hp @ 4800 rpm, making it the most powerful unit available in the full-size line. In contrast to the American taste, but more in line with the European, was the standard 4-speed manual gearbox. An automatic Powerglide transmission was optional in the Grande Parisienne. Of course this luxury coupe offered all power assisted items available as standard. Measurements were the same as those of the Parisienne.
Compared to the Parisienne the Grande Parisienne had a far more luxurious interior. The Grande Parisienne had as standard bucket-seats in front, a power seat on the drivers side, power windows, an adjustable steering wheel, a radio with an electronically operated antenna and a rear window heater. Only he cars fitted with a manual transmission had an additional rev counter in the dashboard.
The Grande Parisienne Sport Sedan, the 4-door hardtop model, was only sold in Canada and is sort of an enigma these days. Relatively few were sold and since only the Sport Coupe was marketed internationally it is little known. In Canada the Grande Parisienne could also be had with a fully synchronized 3-speed manual gearbox, optionally in heavy duty specification or a 3-speed Hydra-Matic automatic transmission (the Powerglide transmission was only 2 speed). Of course the mighty Jet-Flame 427 cid (6,997 cc) V8 engine could be ordered as an option. Standard engine however was the Strato-Flash 283 cid V8, while in Europe the Grande Parisienne came with the larger and more powerful Astro-Flame 327 cid V8.
This Grande Parisienne is the pride of Brian Vandijk from Manitoba, Canada. It has recently been repainted, has a near perfect interior, the standard Strato-Flash 283 cid (4,637 cc) V8 engine and a 2-speed Powerglide automatic transmission with console shift. With this power train the car had 195 hp.
According to Mr. Bill Watson from Vancouver, Canada the Grande Parisienne was the top of the line in the 1966 Canadian Pontiac range. Its exterior trim and roof line was based on the U.S. Pontiac Grand Prix, but the interior was an amalgam of Grand Prix and Chevrolet Impala SS/Caprice parts. Additionally, the Canadian Pontiacs were based on the 119 inch wheelbase chassis of Chevrolet rather than the 122 inch Pontiac chassis and used Chevrolet engines and transmissions. Because of the Chevrolet underpinnings the Canadian Pontiacs did not have the typical U.S. Pontiac's "Wide-Track" features, and so the more narrow track width is a main distinction between the Canadian and the U.S. Pontiacs. Also the prices of the Canadian Pontiacs were lower than those of the U.S. Pontiacs and more in line with Chevrolet prices. This may have been a reason for exporting some Canadian instead of U.S. Pontiac models to Europe
Try as I might, I have not been able to track down that blue car that is a cosmetic twin to my 4 speed car (except for Rally II rims)
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Carl do you have any engine pics from these cars you had??
Andrew, the black automatic car was a 283 car that has a transplanted 68 Caprice 427, if you are looking for originality.
The 4 speed car is an original 396 car with a transplanted 69 Parisienne 427, so while it is most likely correct appearing for a 66 396 (used all the external parts from the 396), I am not sure what all would be considered totally original. I can look to see what I have. Any particular angles or anything you seek?
Original or not I'm just curious to see some pics, 283-396-427 doesn't matter.
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1967 2dr Biscayne. L36, M40, G80, K05, F41. #'s. 1967 Impala convert. 283, glide. Parked in the garage since 74 and hasn't moved. Soon to be BB 4speed.
The day I blew a heater hose. I pulled onto the Winnipeg bypass, started to go through the gears and suddenly "poof" and that dreaded antifreeze smell.
Sitting on the side of the road waiting for my rescue wagon to show up with jugs of water.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Great idea for a thread Carl as these are without doubt the best looking Pontiacs of the 60's!
Where did you get the picture of the yellow and black one? That is like the best preview of mine I've ever seen except mine doesn't seem to have had a vinyl roof according to the firewall tag (and mine has the shaded glass.) Mine does have noticable roof seams though even after two lousy repaints so I still wonder if it did. Probably just as well it didn't though.
I haven't been posting here too much lately as I've actually been working on it. I finally stripped out the old wndshield and trim and totally finished gutting the interior as the mice had really destroyed the poor thing everywhere.
Im workng on fixing the rust on the front end sheet metal (about half done) so i can renstall but Ive also had to teach myself how to weld again. (its been pretty ugly but my 409 brother has been helping me out dialing in the mig)
I'll take the time to post some pictures too but In fact the only ones I've seen in that last ten years or so have been the ones I've bought (except for one other parts quality car that I got out bid on at a sale in Ardrosson by another guy from this forum. (as we discovered later)
I'll scan some of the older pictures of this project of mine as of the day I bought it and some of how it looks today. It actually looks worse but i guess that how it goes for a while
Ken, the yellow and black one pulled in at a car show last year. We were just walking out, so of course I had to go back, introduce myself, give him a CP card, etc.
I love that car. Beauty of a colour combo.
Yeah, my wife keeps telling me that the original lemonwood yellow is kind of blah and the car needs to have a punchier colour. I was starting to agree with her but that car has convinced me that it will look just fine!
These engine shots are right after I put the 427 in. After that I decided it looked too ugly and did a complete underhood detail but I never took any more pictures
Oh, and yes, I corrected the air cleaner decal later as well...
-- Edited by Carl Stevenson on Saturday 8th of January 2011 11:23:45 PM
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
In this shot, if you look in the picture right above where the top rad hose connects to the rad, you can see the transistor ignition box on the driver's inner fender. This is the only shot I have of it I believe.
-- Edited by Carl Stevenson on Saturday 8th of January 2011 11:39:01 PM
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Well, no, it was pretty cool but had no detail. I fixed that. Wish I had some shots.
I know there's a number of POCI members who had good cameras and took shots of the car at that convention but I have no idea who any of them are! I never owned a decent camera.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Great pics Carl, I like to see them as used and not always perfectly clean and over fluffed.
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1967 2dr Biscayne. L36, M40, G80, K05, F41. #'s. 1967 Impala convert. 283, glide. Parked in the garage since 74 and hasn't moved. Soon to be BB 4speed.
Speaking of whiich i just dug up some photos of my 66 Grande as it was in the last days that it ran before i got it. These were taken by the previous owner before he gutted the interior (mice had destroyed much of it)
Little shabby but still there was some sterling stuff under the rotten paint, rust, silly lights and engine grime. At least thats what I saw.
Great pics Carl, I like to see them as used and not always perfectly clean and over fluffed.
Thanks Andrew. I am trying to remember what things in those shots would be wrong for a 66 396. Top hose for sure. I am trying to recall if that is the 69 intake or the 66 intake. I am not sure on that one.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I bought the 4 speed car when it was 15 years old, about 120,000 miles. It appeared pretty original under the hood at that time except for that hose. The previous owner was not really much of a car guy so there were never any modifications done to it at all.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Hi Carl, given your clean living healthy lifestyle (as opposed to mine) you'll probably end up with it anyway! By the time you get it though you'll really appreciate all the power options eh?
(Or maybe it'll be the hantavirus from chasing after the last of the mouse crap that'll get me. I wonder, if you get hantavirus around Christmas, do they call it santavirus)
I had tried to upload the only picture we had of the 66 Grande 327 4 speed car we stripped out in the 70's (and made into a buggy) but either the file was too big or the computer just found it too painful.
I originally scanned it as a bitmap and i think its too big for the site to upload. I have to find the print and rescan it as a JPEG.
Its only a fuzzy picture of our backyard garage after we stripped that car but now that I look at it it has about 4 pontiacs in the one shot so I guess we had the disease even then
I've got to plow some snow for the next couple hours but I'll get back to you with it.
Those monotone two door Grande Parisiennes without the vinyl roof look really great. The one colour really adds emphasis to the special roofline these cars have. Ken are you planning to redo her the same blue as before. Isn't that 4 speed car with the black front clip that was for sale last year the same colour. Or am I dreaming and is this the same car?
Hi Jonno my 66 Grande was Lemonwood yellow ( I think without the vinyl roof) I bought it in 2002 in Brooks. it was a southern Alberta car all its life i think as it had only moderate rust and a good frame. it came from Enerson Motors in Lethbridge and had the 396 with ac, power windows and quite a few other options.
it had about 105000 miles on it and two repaints (one caterpillar yellow and one blue) neither of very good quality. It was early November production and the engine had never been touched. it even had the engine mount cable retainers that GM had as part of the big motor mount recall.
Whoever had it as the first owner must have been fairly connected to a dealership as it had a dealer installed defroster and a dealer installed kneeknocker tach. (as well as a couple of gauges)
Given its rarity (one of 23 Grande 2 doors with AC) and the fact that i kind of like the colour I'm planning to return it to yellow.
Ken whatever happened to that blue 4 speed car with the black front clip? Did you ever see it or know what kind of shape it was in. Last picture I saw of it was sitting on some wood planking with a clipless silver 69 Impala or Caprice custom coupe behind it.
Wait, I'm having a brainwave. The blue 4 speed car I am refering to was a '67. Sorry about that!
-- Edited by Jonno on Sunday 9th of January 2011 09:04:04 PM
Next up in line was the Grande Parisienne, the last of the Canadian Pontiacs on offer in Europe. In Canada there was yet another full-size line called 
This Grande Parisienne is the pride of Brian Vandijk from Manitoba, Canada. It has recently been repainted, has a near perfect interior, the standard Strato-Flash 283 cid (4,637 cc) V8 engine and a 2-speed Powerglide automatic transmission with console shift. With this power train the car had 195 hp.
According to Mr. Bill Watson from Vancouver, Canada the Grande Parisienne was the top of the line in the 1966 Canadian Pontiac range. Its exterior trim and roof line was based on the U.S. Pontiac Grand Prix, but the interior was an amalgam of Grand Prix and Chevrolet Impala SS/Caprice parts. Additionally, the Canadian Pontiacs were based on the 119 inch wheelbase chassis of Chevrolet rather than the 122 inch Pontiac chassis and used Chevrolet engines and transmissions. Because of the Chevrolet underpinnings the Canadian Pontiacs did not have the typical U.S. Pontiac's "Wide-Track" features, and so the more narrow track width is a main distinction between the Canadian and the U.S. Pontiacs.
