59 Parisienne general parts questions

JoeyJoeJoe · Veteran Member

59 Parisienne general parts questions

59paris · Addicted!

Hey there! Glad to see another member with a 1959 Parisienne coupe.

Is this the car that was sold in BC recently? If so, I believe it was a Laurentian dressed up as a Parisienne, is that correct? In any case, it's a beautiful car.

Here's a few answers to your questions, and don't hesitate to ask more.

The correct dome light lenses are the ones with the transversal lines (your first photo). My car has the unbroken original ones still in it.

Also, the photo you have there show the correct rear quarter emblems for Parisienne/Bonneville. Laurentian/Star Chief had stars there, while Strato Chief/Catalina had no quarter decorations at all.

Finally, the tailight lenses for Parisienne are different to Catalina, because they had an extra chrome "ring" around the outer edge of the lens itself. The only other 59 Pontiac with the same tailight lenses as Parisienne was the Bonneville Safari WAGON.

Mine were broken when I got my car, so I found brand new lenses for a Bonneville Wagon and they are a perfect fit.

Here's the lenses on my Parisienne, so you can see what they are:

JoeyJoeJoe · Veteran Member

Thanks Paris, yes that is the car. I found this site when I was googling the cowl tag and your conversation with the previous owner popped up. I'm pretty convinced that the car is a Parisienne on a Laurentian frame but it was registered as a Laurentian, for whatever reason. It just seems like way too much trouble to clone a Parisienne given the differences inside and out. The deck lid still has the holes for the Parisienne emblem and they drilled in holes for a Laurentian emblem, to my chagrin.

I guess I have the wrong taillights then. Mine don't have the inner chrome ring either. They aren't in terrible shape but the gaskets are non existent so I mostly just want to make sure the size is the same for all the vehicles with the same size/shape lens. There's some aftermarket ones I was considering as well, but they say they were for a Catalina so I just want to make sure they'll fit if I pull the trigger.

I see your car has back up lights/lenses on the end of the fin too. I have a metal plate there instead but I have found reverse light wiring while fixing other circuits. I may have to alleviate that. Thanks for the help.