My dad had a '58 Bonneville 2dr just like in the picture, V-8 w/ Tri-Power. He had 3 boys driving age and always complained those Firestone tires weren't holding up like the other Firestones he had owned. I wonder why !
Jack Haney
08-Jul-2009 18:56
I owned a 1958 Bonneville 2 door hardtop. It was a two tone green. Absolutely the most beautiful car I ever saw. I've looked everywhere to find a picture but no luck.
BONNIE RED
10-Jun-2007 22:17
I too have a 1958 Bonneville. It was my late husbands and we won at several of the All-Pontiac shows..I plan on taking it to the National Convention next month in Tulsa, Okla.
They are a pleasure to drive and it was such a joy for him... Hope everyone enjoys seeing the cars as much as we all love to show them. We won in our division in New Hampshire several years ago, it was the only show that we trailered it and It liked to kill him to haul instead of driving it... Your car is beautiful, keep up the good work and ENJOY!!!!! Bonnie Red
Rick Johnson
25-Mar-2005 04:10
1958 Pontiac Bonneville Sport Coupe. For those of you who liked the big luxury cars of the fifties, ladden with chrome, and a big high horsepower V-8 engine, it doesn't get any better than this. This Mallard Turquoise example, with Marlin Turquoise rear quarter panel accent and roof, was featured on pages six and seven in Pontiac's Prestige Sales Brochure in the very same color combination. Pontiac described this car as "two automotive personalities-the performance car and the luxury car-fused into one". The brochure states that the Bonneville "is the first true union of sport car action with town car luxury" and that "Bonneville driving will come closer to sheer magic than anything you've known in motion". Well maybe.......by Fifties cars standards, anyway.
1958 was a recession year and car sales were down significantly from the previous levels achieved during the mid-nineteen fifties. As the decade progressed, cars tended to get bigger, heavier, and more horsepower. During those years GM styling was directed by Harley Earl who had the philosophy that "the more chrome you could put on a car, the better", and GM sales seemed to back up that statement, that is, until Virgil Exner over at Chrysler introduced "The Forward Look" in 1955, and then knocked the public's socks off in 1957 with Fins and Flight Sweep styling. This caught Harley Earl off guard at GM. So much so that the original plan of a facelift of the 1958 models was shelved in favor of the totally new platform for the 1959 GM line. Earl was determined to "outfin" Exner, and the result was the Cadillac shark fin, and the Chevy "Batmobile".
Ken's angular rear photograph of this 58 Bonneville beautifully captures the unique styling features of this car. The vent treatment over the rear window, the louvered trunk, the side accent trim and chrome, the unique coupe silhouette shared with the first Chevy Impala of the same year. 1958 GM syling was and is controversial. The styling of Chevrolet and Pontiac somehow translated better and seems to have been better executed ad accepted by the public than Oldsmobile or Buick that year. Those cars have to be the ultimate "Chromemobiles" of all time, and it's one of those love-hate propositions. Yet today they are highly prized by collectors because of their "uniqueness", especially the Buick Limited.
