Cover of the Owner's Manual for the 1969 Pontiac line, including the full sized Bonneville and Catalina, Grand Prix, Tempest/GTO, and the Firebird. Pontiac's classic "arrow" logo is present.
M Y C O L L E C T I O N — My Dad came home with a brand new Liberty Blue 1969 Pontiac GTO, back in the spring of that year. The car came with a 400 cubic inch V8, with Pontiac's classic engine architecture, years before GM started using generic engines in its divisions' cars. It also came with a 4-on-the-floor manual transmission, a HUGE step backwards in my mother's view, and a very deep bass V8 rumble that could be heard, and felt, a 1/4 mile away. Mom couldn't fathom the concept of paying more for a transmission and still getting a manual, though. The car suffered from some production woes, the stick shift actually working itself from its housing and ending up in my father's hands, completely separated from the transmission, lol. He kept this very loud GTO for close to two and a half years and traded it in on a '72 LTD Brougham coupe.
The Liberty Blue GTO that was in our family when new. The car soon sported chrome Cragar SS wheels, lifted air shocks in the rear, and a painted white cowl stripe just in front of the doors, wrapping over the hood and down the other side, a la the Oldsmobile 442 from that period. Looking back, it was all overkill. This car is gorgeous in its standard tires and wire wheel covers. So clean and so pure, the classic Sixties Pontiac look.
Posted below are some pages scanned from this manual, which apparently stayed with the family when the car was sold. I probably hid it! Compared with my current car's manual, which consists of three books in a leather-lined case with 3 CDs as well, this quaint, seventy-two page paper booklet measures 8 1/4 x 5 1/4. It seems so simplistic, evocative of a simpler time I suppose, but I remember my mother talking about the Thirties in that way when I was growing up. Perhaps we all look back to the time of our childhood and feel it was simpler because, as children, we led a simple life!
The full sized Pontiac dashboard instructions. All images clickable to an easily readable size.
The brand-new-for-69 Grand Prix utilized this wraparound instrument panel. Very chic!
The Tempest, and our GTO, shared this dashboard design. I seem to remember a strip of wood near the bottom.
The slightly facelifted Firebird's panel diagrammed.
A typical page, this one showing how to work the various power options. The tortured typesetting is really bad! I'm not sure of the typesetting system used in '69, fully 12 years before I began my publishing career. Perhaps some form of hot lead, or some other "manual" system?
Hello Casey,
ReplyDeleteFantastic ! I am working right now, but can't wait to read this. I remember the 1969 Grand Prix dash as being big news at the time.
While dash boards were becoming more driver orientated the Grand Prix was the first (if I recall correctly) to do it so dramatically !
AP
GOOD NIGHT PAL GOOD NIGHT
ReplyDeleteGRANNY
Pontiac's of the late 60's had EVERYTHING going for them - such great styling and performance. I love love love the 69-70 Grand Prix's - if not THE first they were certainly one of the first with their driver oriented "cockpit" interiors. If I came across a mint SJ I'd be "forced" to buy it, lol.
ReplyDeleteHi AP !
Hi PhantomX,
ReplyDeleteA mint SJ !!!??? Thats me you hear racing along side of you to get my mitts on it ! lol .
I seem to recall around 1967 that the instrument panels were becoming driver orientated. I think it might have been part of the new safety laws,but, don't quote me. It might just have been good design. After all, The Tucker certainly had all it's controls focused around the driver .
But yes! The Grand Pirx had the cockpit! A shroud! A cape of a dashboard . I agree,too-the Pontiac Division in the 60s was unstoppable. Those 65 and 66 Bonnevilles look like Cadillacs smart, gifted , graceful younger sister!
AP
Malibu
AP, I remember the first GP SJ I saw - it was brand new and owned by the father of one of my parents good friends. From that moment on I was hooked. I remember he traded it in on the new for 71 GP SJ but I hated the single headlight design - at least at the time. I still think the 69-70 was THE high water mark in Grand Prix design. Funny how we remember things so many years later, I was only 9 years old in 69.
ReplyDeletePhantomX,
ReplyDeleteI was 14 in 1970 . I had seen a sneak preview
of the 71 Grand Prix in Motor Trend and was a bit upset with the coming single headlights . After all, only really cheap cars had single headlights, right?
I went to the local Pontiac dealer and asked the salesman about this . He laughed and said 'No way! Single headlights? That is NOT going to happen."
He probably thought "screwball kid!"
Then, 7 months later when the cars came out, I wondered if he remembered me.
I had a girlfriend in the 1990s whose mom had a red pristine 72 since new . My prejudice for the single headlamps was nowhere to be seen. Not as pure as the 69-to 70, but still very drool-worthy.
AP
Malibu
I remember liking the single headlights, but not liking the pointy rear end of the '71 and '72. The '69 and '70 GPs are simply gorgeous. I remember reading that Bill MItchell picked that series of GP's door handles for the '71 Riviera, They were a very slim push/pull, unique to the Grand Prix for the first 2 years. That '69 Grand Prix was the first car to bury the rear window defroster grid in the rear window. I think it might have had GM's first buried radio antenna too, but I'm not positive.
ReplyDeleteAlso, we had John DeLorean to thank for pushing through the '69 intermediate platform Grand Prix, changing it from the full sized chassis it had used since it came out in mid '62.
ReplyDeleteAh! I remember the hidden heaters and antenna !
ReplyDeleteThe single headlights have a handsome crease in the center.A classic Mitchell touch. I can see those little creases in his drawings from the 1930s.
If I may, I'd like to ask you and phantomx a question: since we are all about the same age : when the Monte Carlo came out in 1970 what was your impression ? I was so enthralled by the 1969 Grand Prix,with its 6 foot hood and allusions to the Duesenberg (plus that nose!) that the Monte Carlo's understated look took some getting used to.
Any thoughts?
AP
I loved the exterior of the '70 Monte Carlo, especially with the optional fender skirts. I thought it was just so tasteful looking. The interior disappointed me because the dashboard was exactly the same as the Chevelle. It was a bit of cost-sharing that seemed odd to me at the time. Of course the Monte WAS a Chevelle coupe, but using the sedan's longer wheelbase, but I thought they should have created a unique interior for it. I guess they had no idea how wildly successful the Monte was going to be!
ReplyDeleteYes."Tasteful looking." That is the perfect phrase . I was turning 15 and my tastes were underdeveloped or being twisted by hormones ! lol The Grand Prix was so extreme , I was hoping for even greater neo classic heights from Chevy . Like I said, I was 15. I was seeking thrills.
ReplyDeleteIn retrospect, Mitchell neo classicism presented both ends of the spectrum in these personal luxury coupes . The Grand Prix is the" Duesenberg" and the Monte Carlo has more of the quite good taste of a mid 30s Lincoln.
It took me awhile to get it!
The fender skirts brought a great deal of elegance and weight to those sheer flanks. I loved the simplicity of the taillights and the formality of the roof. But, I recall being like you when looking into the interior.
So, correct me if I am wrong,didn't they share same intermediate platforms?
AP
Malibu
Looking at the cover of that owner's manual it looks like a large version of a very elegant cigarette case.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you keep all this stuff, Casey? I would need another house if I held on to things 20 years ago.lol
ReplyDeleteThe Grand Prix and the Monte Carlo shared the platform of the 4-door intermediates. They were the only two-doors to do so. The Grand Prix was really amazing when it appeared. And I loved the quiet elegance of the original Monte Carlo, in charcoal grey with a black vinyl roof and black "panty-cloth" ribbed seating. It seemed almost like a small Cadillac rather than a Chevrolet. These Monte Carlos got less elegant as the years went by and the elegance disappeared with the advent of the 73s. Same with the GP. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteOne note I'll make is that the GP might have introduced embedded rear defrost among US car makers but Rolls-Royce had it at least from the time of the Silver Cloud (introduced in 1955) and it was almost invisible except from a particular angle. I think you're right about the buried antenna.
Paul, NYC
And the 55 DeSoto and Chyrsler had the push pull door handles! There's nothing new under the sun!
ReplyDeletePaul, NYC
AP-yes, the GP and the Monte both used GM's intermediate sedan chassis. The intermediate coupe wheelbase was 112", the sedan 116", and the GP got a slight bump to 118" for that extra-long hood. The GP received that awesome unique interior. The uniqueness went all the way to the door handles, which as I mentioned. were only used on the GP until they '71 Riviera and then only on those 2 models. The way GM shared platforms back then was almost opaque, meaning you couldn't tell from the outside. Shameless platform sharing, with just new grilles/taillights is the wrong way to do it!
ReplyDeletePaul: I didn't realize that about the RR"s rear defrost! Throughout the decades, Chevy was often thought of as a "baby" Cadillac, especially by Harley Earl. They really changed the car's mission with the '73s, right? I remember thinking the '73 was pretty good actually, very Euro inspired suspension and radial tires, but by '74 it was already being "tackified." Same with the GP. I actually liked the '73 quite a bit, but the '74 facelift started a horrible downward spiral to me... which GM never really got out of 'til yesterday, lol.
ReplyDeleteAnnie: I have some quite fetching cigarette cases from my family. I'll scan them for a post one of these days. I believe one has snakeskin embedded in the silver and others are sterling with engraved designs etc. So decorative. I wonder when using a cigarette case went out of vogue? I don't think I've ever seen anyone use one.
ReplyDeleteI always thought of Chevrolet as a baby Buick -- to wit, the 41s that look very much alike from the front, and the way Powerglide was really Dynaflow with a different name, etc. But the Monte Carlo really puts me in mind of a Cadillac -- what if Cadillac had come out with a smaller car in 1970? Would things have been different for them? Would a smaller Cadillac before one was needed (ie, Seville) have evolved into a whole line of smaller ones? Something I;ll spend too much time thinking about!
ReplyDeletePaul, NYC
Casey, Paul,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information ! I agree, Casey-GM of old did an excellent job of sharing platforms . All one has to do is compare profiles of the 1965 senior Olds-Buick-Cadillac line up with the 1980 version .
Casey,Paul:Out here, at the Nethercutt Museum, they have a 1930 Cadillac Coupe sitting next to a 1930 Chevrolet coupe to illustrate Earls 'baby Cadillac"method . Its a great treat for the eyes to count the similarities and the differences between the two .
Paul: Thats a good point about an earlier smaller Cadillac . The La Salle sedan from the Motorama would have been revolutionary if produced. It proves, if anything,that the small Cadillac was something Earl/Mitchell studied seriously . If only we could get into those Design Center vaults!
Annie,Casey: I used a cigarette case in the last few years I smoked . I was such a heavy smoker that friends gave me cases for gifts. It had a pleasant substantial feel in your pocket . The flicking open and snapping it shut was also enjoyable: a little more civilized than digging out a butt from a half empty pack.
AP
Malibu
I used a nice, leather cigarette case for about 10 years, until it was stolen from my car in about 1984. I've looked for a similar one since and have yet to find one. There aren't that many around to choose from. I prefer them, if you can find a mega-thin lighter to go inside. :)
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