Dave, I visited North (John) in Montreal in September, and had a gander at his cars. He pointed out the various trunk lids that were in use in 69, so he can let you know what the interchange is. Maybe shoot him a note.
Flatla's Auto Wrecking in Alberta had two 69 Parisiennes with trunk lids on them in Dec 2008 when I was there. Probably unlikely they are still there now but you never know unless you check. The white one was very good; the aqua one was damaged. The yard owner was reluctant to remove and ship at that time but he does advertise in current publications and may do so now. Worth a phone call.
Re Flatla Auto Wrecking:
The right hand car in the 2 shot was the one I got the trunk key retainer out of this past summer. The trunk lid is damaged as someone chiseled out the key hole.
I'm not sure where in the yard the white car is, but I know the drivers side front fender is elsewhere in the yard. The photo of the white car shows a Massey-Fergusson swather beside it, so I know where to look.
A white 4 door doesn't ring any bells, but he's got 2000 cars and I haven't been to all the parts of the yard. When I was there this summer it had recently rained, so a bit soggy out there. His helper gave us a ride to where the white drivers side fender was (and I forwarded you the photo's), and kind of mentioned where the white car it came from, but I couldn't find the car. The photo's above show the white 2 door, and the swather in the background gives me a good idea where it is.
Those white fenders were marked "4dr sedan" with grease pencil in the pics so I assume he had the car, which is all I meant. The car itself could have been long gone!
The Parisienne trunklid is canada only because no US models ever combined the short trunk lid (Catalina) with the long taillight cutout (Bonneville). The opposite exists in that the Executive had the long trunklid but the short taillight cutout.
Also the Canadian trunklids are different inside. The inner bracing around the rear end (keyhole, taillight cutout area) is much deeper (inner and out skins further apart). I don't know why, maybe this is why there seems to be relatively little rust there in otherwise rusty cars, the extra airspace allowed more drying.
I knew you'd have the answers John. I remember you showing me the different bracing on the Cdn trunk lid by just putting our fingers in the gap between the trunk lid and the bumper.
The Executive always threw me since I've never actually seen one - couldn't remember if it was a long taillight or not, but forgot it was the short deck. I thought it was long!
I think my bracing is all good so they really just need a skin, which has rusted through and is very thin. But that's just flat sheet metal so it's just expensive, not impossible, to fab. But who wants to English-wheel a truck deck? I'd rather spend that fab money elsewhere...
For comparison here is the Catalina trunklid, the same size as all the Canadian lids but with the short cutouts like the Strato and the Laurentian. The short body, big taillight trunklid on the Parisienne, 2+2 and Grande Parisienne are Canadian only, no American car had that shape size lid.
I'm surprised they still went to the trouble in Canada to put long tail lights on the upscale cars, but that was quite a status symbol in the day I believe. By 1970 they'd given up though, I think they all share the same tail light length in Canada.
I'm surprised they still went to the trouble in Canada to put long tail lights on the upscale cars, but that was quite a status symbol in the day I believe. By 1970 they'd given up though, I think they all share the same tail light length in Canada.
The use of the Bonneville tail lights were hit and miss on the Parisienne's. 67 - no, 68 - no, 69 - yes, 70 - no.
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.