John Bury is the proud owner of this months Feature Car. John has owned this 1968 Pontiac Parisienne 2+2 convertible for 30 years. It was a pretty much a basket case when he bought it. You wouldn't know it to see the car now! John gives us the details:

According to GM Documents there was a total of 741 Parisienne 2+2 Convertibles built in 1968. I’ve owned this one since 1994. It’s a 327 - Powerglide car. Matador Red with Parchment interior and white top. Riding on Pontiac Rally II wheels. The car is a summer driver and treated as so.

I don’t know a lot of it’s history. GM Documents says it was originally sold out of Brandon Automobiles Ltd in Brandon Manitoba. They also say it came with a black top and skirts. I bought it here in Edmonton Alberta and the previous owner didn’t seem to know much of it’s history since he didn’t own it that long and it was already an Edmonton car.

Here’s the history since I’ve owned the car. I purchased the car back in October of ‘94 for $500. The previous owner got transferred to Vancouver and had to sell. The car was under a tarp in an apartment complex parking lot. He had the car already stripped down and in grey primer. The interior was rough. The top was almost nonexistent but you could tell it was white. The engine was an oil burner and the tires were junk. But the wheels were newly painted Pontiac Rally II’s and the trunk was full of extra parts. At first the car was going to go on the back burner for a while since my wife and I were engaged to be married the next May. After some discussion we decided if we could make it work in our budget and time frame then this would be our Wedding Car. The Autobody Shop next to where I worked said they would paint the car and have the top replaced for a deal if they could have it for the whole winter. I would move it back to our shop on weekends and put in quite a few late nights making the car road worthy. It was cutting it close but the car got painted and new top installed. Also at that time I replaced the carpet and had the rear seat reupholstered. The rest of the interior was cleaned and painted where needed. The front seats just got fuzzy seat covers for the time being. And the weather was nice enough on our Wedding Day to put the top down for pictures and such which made it worth it all.

For the next few years before the kids were born we would take the car on longer trips enjoying the top down. Numerous times to the mountains in BC.

Once we drove as far west as possible to Tofino on Vancouver Island. Another time we drove down to Montana and drove the Hiway to the Sun which is a must drive in a convertible. Now mostly I take it to Cruise Night Meets, Show and Shines, and CP Coffee Meets. Eventually I would like to drive out to Brandon Manitoba for the Super Run Show because of the car being originally sold there.

During COVID it was our 25th Wedding Anniversary and with everything shut down we took the car back to the same church we got married in and our son took some pictures of us posing with the car. On a side note, the Priest came out and asked what we were doing. We explained and he invited us in and we got to redo our vows so that was an awesome day.

I’ve made a few upgrades to the car through out the years. The worn out 350 was replaced with a period correct freshened up 275HP, 327.

The 10 bolt diff was swapped out for a 12 bolt. Front disc brakes were added from a ‘70 Caprice system.

A remote operated stereo was added under the drivers seat with speakers behind the side vent panels so no holes cut. With the help of Canadian Poncho members I was able to source down the missing 2+2 Louvers.

And the interior did get mostly finished. The front buckets got reupholstered and the door panels painted since they were just faded.

The few things I have plans on doing yet with the car are maintenance related. The suspension bushings, the body mounts, door hinge pins and some weatherstripping. I may get FM added to my radio and do away with the under seat stereo.

The paint on the car being 28 years now has it’s issues but not weathering too bad for the age and it’s not in my budget to redo it right now anyway. Plus every chip has a story lol!