I had a 77' Bonnieville with a 301, 4 door, wheel skirts, in white, with the same interior as your ride. I loved it. I wish I still had it. It was the best car I've ever had. I drove it from around 1994 through 2001. It had probably 200,000 miles on it. The odometer stopped at 114,000 and that was way before I received it from my brother.
I had a 1976 Bonneville Brougham that I bought off my dad in 1979 and drove it for four years. It had the 400 CI V8 with the 4 BL carb and it was smooth and powerful. Not so fast off the line, but punch it on the highway when you are cruising around 60 mph and those secondaries open up and before you know it, you are pushing 90 to 100 mph. The car had all the option available (including the 8 track) and it was the most comfortable highway cruiser I have ever owned. And it had a huge trunk, what a great car!
Yes sir! They are definitely comfortable and run very well. I was surprised that an all original 44 year old car needed very little to be a daily driver.
Hey sweet car I own a 78 Pontiac parisienne and Kingston Ontario. It in meant original condition . 350 motor .Brown original color. Mines in storage because of winter. In May be out enjoying the rides again. These cars have a nice smooth drive enjoy yours. And yes white layerings looks amazing I have the BF Goodrich on mine white lettering with the same rims too laugh out loud 😃
O awesome! Yes it's hard to beat white lettered on something like this. Some cars can pull off black walls. Yes these float down the road and are so comfortable
I have to say that the L78 400 Pontiac leaves alot to be desired. Both my 77 T/A's had the L78 . The first one was a low option car. It had AC, power windows , and the upper door , fender, and hood moldings, and standard interior. The axle was a 2.41 safety track . My second T/A was a highly optioned Y82 Hurst hatch car with the same gutless L78 , TH350 transmission , but with a 3.23 axle. It had ac, power windows, door locks, cruise control , tilt wheel, deluxe interior, pedal trim, lighting package, trunk release. In 1975 Pontiac started using lighter weight blocks to save weight. They were not considered high performance engines . They made their power below 4000 rpm. The L78 400 made 180 h.p. at 3600 rpm and 325 ft lbs of torque at 1600 rpm. The compression ratio was a lowly 7.6 to 1 . The heads had smaller valves from the past late 60's early 70's 2.ll intake , 1.77 exhaust. These engines were designed to operate at lower rpm . They used an accessory hub instead of an actual harmonic balancer on the crank. Infact the bolt pattern of the flywheel on these later engines is not the same as earlier 67 , 68, 69 , 70 400's . The bright spot for 77 was the W72 used in the T/A. It made 200 h.p. @ 3600 rpm and 325 ft. Lbs of torque @ 2400 rpm. 800 rpm higher than the L78. It used an actual harmonic balancer, a better cam, a carb that was jetted fatter, and cylinder heads from the Pontiac 350 . These heads raised compression up to 8.1 to 1 . They also used the 3.23 axle behind them. You could get either a 4 speed manual or the TH350 auto. 1978 was really much improved with the W72 reaching 220 h.p. @ 4000 rpm and 320 ft. Lbs of torque @ 2800 rpm. The cam had more duration than the one used in 77 and had a distributor setup bringing in more advance quicker. That and a better flowing exhaust from the single cat back. Gone was the single mono muffler behind the differential to a y pipe and two small turbo mufflers. I replaced the L78 in my first T/A with a 69 Ram Air III short block that was .30 over with forged pistons. The heads were big number 96 , 1971 400 , 4 barrel GTO heads . The heads were milled .10 thousandths. The intake was a factory cast iron 69 . I ran factory exhuast manifolds and true dual exhaust before installing long tube headers. At first I kept the 2.41 rear. While it took the L78 forever to get over 4000 rpm the older 69 freely went well over 5000 with little coaxing. My first drive to work I was cruising at 90 mph at 1850 rpm. The next step was to replace the rear with a 3.08 drum to drum. Nobody made performance gears to fit a 2 series carrier in the early 80's. I also bought a brand new 160 mph speedo from Pontiac . They used them in 70 - 74 Firebirds. With the 3.08 axle I was able to reach speeds over 155 mph . I opted for better quarter mile times and installed a new 3.73 ring and pinion. I had a friend with a 78 W72 T/A . He was running headers and true duals a little better cam and was running mid to low 14 second quarter mile ET's. He opted to swap out his W72 for a 1970 455 rated at 360 h.p. from a Bonneville that had 60 k miles. He was running instant mid to low 13 second passes. With slicks it would pull air under the left from tire. My best friend also had a 78 W72 4 speed T/A with just headers. It was not nearly as quick running just into the high 14's. W72 cars were around . Most 79's had the 403 oldsmobile engine. Before I got my 77 I drove several of the 403 cars . They made 5 more h.p. than the L78 but a bit less torque . While I highly modified my first car I knew enough even back then to leave the Y82 Hurst hatch car unmolested . Even though they made quite a few L78 powered Y82 cars.
It was Jan and Dean who santittle Old Lady from Pasadena. My family had Pontiacs. As you know this was downsized. Thank god it has the 403. Thank god it has PW and AC.
What a beauty and fantastic sound. My dad had a beautiful blue 4 door Bonneville he special ordered making it as sporty handling as you could get. Phenomenal car. Unfortunately I ran it into the side of a restaurant and pretty much destroyed it. Mad wasn’t even close to how my dad felt. He then got a ‘78 Buick Le Sabre Sport Coupe with the white letter tires and all. Another one of his beautiful cars that I obviously was not allowed to drive. The lines on the’78 Buick Sport Coupe just like this.
@@CorysCarReview Have you ever seen the ‘78 Le Sabre Sport Coupe. A real beauty. Amazing how Pontiac and Buick took these two cars and made them so hot looking. I would love to have my dad’s silver Sport Coupe today.
My 2door was Starlight black, no vinyl top, red pinstripe. Red Velour, the most comfortable wide buckets, ever!!! Floor Console looked identical to , 78-81, Grand Prix, Grand Am, Le Mans.
Friend in college had a 77 4dr Bonneville, silver on grey 2-tone, light blue velour interior. Unfortunately it had the usual 301, but insane ride quality. Not sloppy like a Lincoln or Cadillac. I almost bought a 79 sedan, black on red with a 400. Sadly, there was a title problem. The 77-79 GM big cars were really nice, and better quality than what came before and after. Pontiac was my favorite, but all of them were good. Even our 305 Impala.
Mine had a 409 in it with a three speed automatic and a posi rear end the guy ordered it custom from Pontiac. He went to the military and got killed I bought it from his dad for 500. It only had 3800 miles on it but boy was it ugly solid white exterior with black and gold with silver highlights velour seats and dash with black and gold hanging dingle berries all the way around the headliner but man was it fast especially after I added a new intake with a 1250 dbl pumper. Gas was 89cents a gallon then and round trip to work cost about twenty bucks a day.
Dang I bet that car was fun to drive. 89 cents is the lowest I can remember gas being as a kid. No one cared about fuel mileage 😂 it was glorious. I bet that 409 was rare then. My son still talks about how much he loved this car lol
I always liked the styling of the 1st-gen downsized full-sizers.. esp. the coupes. The dash is nice, but even more impressive for that old a car, is the condition of the headliner and visors! I would like to have seen a walkaround tho.. And, a little "fyi": The Little Old Lady from Pasadena was not the Beach Boys, but Jan and Dean..!
Thank you. Yes I agree. That was a pretty cool car with a cool story. Yes my dad told me the same thing lol. I corrected myself on the next video that we did on his El Camino. I'm glad you enjoyed this video.
Really cool. Guy around the block had one when it was new. That one must be really rare with a 400. I thought by 77 they had downsized all the big V8's.
When I was a kid, I had to walk to school and sometimes on cold days, I'd walk by a friend's house in hopes I could catch a ride to school, which happened occasionally. It was a still fairly new 1977-79 woody wagon version of the Pontiac Parisienne (Canadian model), I think the same shade of burgundy, might have been brown, I don't remember, it was about 40 years ago. Man that makes me feel old.
Bonneville two doors from '77-'79 are becoming few and far to find. This car is a unicorn and the BEST looking of the downsized GM offerings of the '70's and having a 400 Pontiac? Very nice car indeed.
General Motors really had a hit with the downsized 1977 models! They looked more "mid-sized" than "full-sized." The '77 Bonneville and the '77 Grand Prix weighed almost the same, and the Bonneville was about 900 lbs. lighter than the '76 model! (3/27/2021)
I had a ‘79 coupe just like this. No vinyl top, fender skirts and a 301. 17 year old me blew the 301 and replaced it with an olds 403 out of a toronado. I’d love to have another
Exactly whats wrong with 400 4bbl. 400hp NOTHING. Thats what it shouldve been!!! Oh yeah, Detroit lost its balls and really never found them again PERIOD!!
