66Parisienne wrote:

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Ok now i'm a bit confused. The 66 Grande Parisienne looks exactly the same as the US Grand Prix of the same year, which as i read was the sport-luxury edition of the Bonneville, with its GTO inspired front grille. But to my knowledge the Grand Prix was just the top trim level of the Bonneville, no different car.

If this is true and if the 66 Grande Parisienne is the equivalent of the Grand Prix (they look the same), then it should also just be an option package on the 66 Parisienne, no different car.

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 I'm not an expert here, but I'll attempt to help out a little.

First of all, to the best of my knowledge, the American Grand Prix for 1966 was based on the shorter Catalina body, not the long Bonneville body.  Note from the factory brochure that it shares dimensions with the Catalina and 2+2 and the Ventura, not the Bonneville.

For the complete American brochure, click on the link below:

http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Pontiac/1966_Pontiac/1966_Pontiac_Prestige_Brochure/dirindex.html

Now, for big Pontiacs, forget all the US - Canadian comparisons as it only makes things more confusing.  The Canadian Pontiacs were marketed very differently than US Pontiacs, for a number of reasons that I won't get into here.

Where in the US Pontiacs were marketed between Chevy and Oldsmobile as GM's "sporty" brand, in Canada they were basically marketed as an upscale Chevy.  There's a better comparison model-for-model with Chevy than with American Pontiac, and even then there isn't a direct comparison.  If you look at model pricing in Canada, similar models were priced just slightly above their Chevy counterparts, whereas in the US, lower model Pontiacs had some pricing overlap with upper model Chevys and upper model Pontiacs had some overlap with lower model Oldsmobiles.  See what I'm getting at?

In Canada, Pontiacs used all Chevy "mechanical" components, including engine, transmission, drivetrain components, chassis, suspension, etc etc. All that stuff was different than American Pontiacs.

Body styling was definitely American Pontiac, but made to fit all the Chevy running gear, therefore resulting in some unique body parts (others here will be able to give you exact details on which parts may fit and which ones won't).  So forget that in the US the Grand Prix was marketed like a Bonneville - none of that applies to Canadian Pontiacs. 

Instead, think (for 1966):

Grand Parisienne = Caprice

Parisienne = Impala

Laurentian = Bel Air

Strato Chief = Biscayne

For comparison, here's a link to the Canadian Pontiac brochure:

http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/Canada/1966%20Pontiac%20Brochure/dirindex.html

I hope this helps you a little. 

Good luck on your project!  From your plans, it sounds like it will be sweet!! 

cdnpont wrote:

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It's the skirt retainer that hits. These 17" Torque Thrust II are 4.5" Backspace, and with that number they have a good fingers worth of room between the 235 tire and the retainer. With 265's on the Rallys I could hardly get the skirt on. That said, I wished I'd have went with a 245 tire on this rim. The Rally wheels were 4" Backspace. So if you can go, say 5" backspace, you might be able to fit a large tire and wider wheel. But you might be pushing it a 10" wide. Also the overall diameter will factor in. My tires are 26" or so.

-- Edited by cdnpont on Monday 9th of April 2012 05:11:08 PM

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Didn't think of the skirt retainers before, but makes sense. In this case i will most likely also go for 8" wide wheels in the back and see if i can find them with 5" backspace to make at least 255 rubbers fit.

Somehow i like the look of the American Racing Hopsters. Plus they are available with custom backspace.

I'm just not sure if i prefer more oldschool 15" or modern 17" like yours. But as the wheels are one of the last things i'll add to complete this project, there's still plenty of time to think about it.

I'd still be running the Rallys if I didn't find the Torque Thrusts at a Car Show in Myrtle Beach South Carolina last year. $180 each with Chrome valves and lugs. Too good to pass up even if these might not have been what I'd really like on this car. 

I'd probably get hated on here, but I'd really like a set of Billet Intro Vista's 18x8. But at about $2k It'll not be happening anytime soon...

Howdy again.  You will have a tough time finding an uncracked dash due to sun or cold temp exposure to most of these cars over 45 years or so. 

You may find the very occasional one that is not cracked but it will still be fragile after all these years

 I had to send mine to an outfit in the states called Just Dashes (They have a website) They will strip the vinyl from yours and replace it.  Attached is a picture of mine after it was done. It wasn't cheap.

As for the rear pan the Canadian Grande Parisienne rear panel will fit more or less on a Parisenne but not exactly due to some small differences in the trunk area. I haven't done this myself but I have spoken to a fellow who has converted a 66 parisienne convertible into a Grande and he stated that the trunk doesn't quite fit right. It could be done but you probably need the inner trunk panel as well.   I have attached a picture of it as well.  I have to admit it does still look good!

You may have better luck with the Bonneville treatment assuming the car is the same width. More research re body dimensions may do the trick.

Its not easy to get to look at a 66 Bonneville here to see if they are different as they were few and far between here. 

According to the dimensions in print from 1966, both American and Canadian big Pontiacs are 79.7 inches wide.

See the table in my post above for the width of the US cars and compare to the dimensions out of the '66 Canadian Pontiac owners manual below:

That being said, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get actual measurements from the owner of a US car before you commit your money to buying parts. 

MC wrote:

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That being said, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get actual measurements from the owner of a US car before you commit your money to buying parts. 

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Thanks for the info. If the manual says they are both the same width, then i guess any eventual difference can only be marginal. In which case it should still be easy to cut and weld a Bonny panel into the Parisienne.

66 Grande guy wrote:

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Trying to find a Grande prix or Grande Parisienne back piece will be difficult but not imposssible as they made about 6300 Grandes in Canada  in 66 and about 36,000 Grande Prixs in the States.  

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 He has one obstacle Ken, he is located in Switzerland ... right Ralph?

Shipping parts will be a bit complicated but I'm willing to bring them over in person if he pays my personal freight charge ( airfare)   I've been there once and its a beautiful gem of a country!

When we were there we rented a car and drove quite a few of the roads.  We went to the Grindlwald and around that area.  Roads are lot skinnier and curvier than we are used to here.  (Alberta) You have to be on your toes.  A big old barge like a Pontiac would have made me sweat even more than i was!

Actually we did drive through the San Bernadino tunnel and then went back and drove the pass.  Stopped at the cafe at the top for a coffee.

 I'm going to have to ask my wife where were actually went in switzerland as she keeps track of these things and they kind of fade away on me

Spectacular drive with the switchbacks! luckily the weather was good but in bad weather it must be pure hell.

 I was driving a (choke) Ford diesel station wagon with the ubiqutious manual you see everywhere in Europe and I must say it was a blast to handle.

I wouldn't have wanted a big old poncho on that road to tell you the truth.

My first choice for such a road would actually be a bike or agile sportscar, but there are also plenty of outstretched passages nearby that are more enjoyable in a classic car.

Back to my Parisienne, i am about to complete a "wishlist" of all modifictations and upgrades i'd like to realize during its restoration. In the coming days i'll discuss this with the team of www.street-classics.de who will most likely become my partners in crime for this project.

One aspect of mods i'm planning regards power, which is quite easy to get with a new intake, carb, headers and a new cam. But in order to put these added hp on the road, i might also have to change the transmission.

Any suggestions on a common replacement solution (in best case one that bolts right on without requiring lots of further modifications)? I'd like to stick with an auto trans though for comfort.