[north]

Another stray has found it's way into my hands. Seems like I have a singular ability to attract cars no one else would want.

Anyhow this one is a 69 (naturally) LeMans four door hardtop. They were pretty low production (5 or 6 thousand I believe) and like any 4 door, just about non-existent today. It's a one owner car bought new in central Oregon and garage kept since new. Rust free and very original it seems to fit in to my collection.

She is optioned like your typical lot car; AC, PS, PDB, AM radio, and a few smaller options. Powertrain is a 3502bbl, 3 speed automatic (given the AC it should be a TH400 rather than TH350). Rear axle is likely a 2.73.

I'm hoping that those ugly side moldings are stick on style (owner says he doesn't see any rivets in the trunk so looks promising). Some bubbling around the back window but zero leakage stains in the trunk which has mint original speckle paint.

I've noticed that Fremont built cars that had Cordova tops tend to have had almost zero paint or even primer under the top. Looking forward to seeing it in person.

[north]

A few interesting things... (to me anyway), the wheelcovers are the seldom seen custom version rather than the much more common deluxe version. Also the remote mirror was added by the dealer at delivery (along with the mats and clock) but they installed the wrong one, they installed the mirror for non vent window cars which has a different angle and different control knob base. Luckily I have an NOS of the correct one, ironically I was pissed when I bought it 20 years ago because it didn't work on my GTO and I believe the seller intentionally hid that fact from me!

[JKGTO]

I have seen those wheel covers on a lot of Firebirds, not on many A bodys. Were they standard equipment on Firebirds? Jim

[north]

You might be thinking of the deluxe cover, it had 6 spokes and was 13" (it left 1/2" of the wheel lip showing all around. The custom cover was 14" (covered the wheel completely). The Deluxe was very common and included in the optional decor group,

The deluxe cap was about $21 and the Custom was $41 so pretty obvious why so few cars had the custom. The photos posted apply to the A and F bodies. The GP had different deluxe and custom caps unique to the GP and the fullsize cars had their own version (15" wheels) of deluxe and custom caps that looked completely different than the others also.

All Pontiacs models except the GP, Executive and Bonneville came with dog dish unless you paid extra for various wheelcover choices or rally wheels.

[north]

While the Fbird and A body deluxe and custom caps look very similar in photos the custom looks much better in person, being 14 rather than 13" really improves the cars appearance and the 5 spoke design of the custom looks like a Rally II wheel, it also has flash chrome rather than just the natural stainless to give it more "bling" ;-)

[north]

Here you can see how the deluxe cap doesn't cover the whole rim, gives you a bit of that "econo car-small wheel" look.

[will slow gto]

Nice looking car, north. Antique Gold?

[north]

It is lime light green with dark green top and dark green interior

[will slow gto]

Sorry, I can never see the numbers in those Japanese colorblindness tests, lol! A LOT to like on this one with the hardtop body style, power discs, AC, and 3 speed trans instead of previous year's 2 speed trans.

[north]

It's my only car with wing windows, kind of neat that they are crank operated rather than just pushed.

I just wish the color was different, 10 of them are green, brown or gold! I guess all the red, black and blue cars were all crushed in the 70s

[MikeNoun]

Nice find, John! You are cornering the market on 1969 Pontiacs. You need to install a glass wall on one side of your storage area and turn it into a Pontiac showroom!

Here's the two wheel covers from the Accessories brochure.

Mike

[dataway]

Love it! I'd drive that car.

[PurelyGTO68]

Really cool car! 4 door hardtops are very unique. Great score. I bet you will drive that thing a lot more than you expect. We take out our four door 55 Bel Air quite often because it's so convenient for passengers to get in and out. And super roomy as well...!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[north]

My plans (before seeing it in person mind you) is to hopefully get rid of the side moldings, get rid of the cargo coils in back so it sits properly and put a factory style Waldron exhaust on it (can't stand that tail pipe!).

[dataway]

Great car for the Drive-In movies.

Strange how when you get a bit older (not you, me) a person starts appreciating four doors

[north]

From experience way back the 4 door sedan Abodies have a tight feel up front with the small front door and vent window giving a tight feel. However the 4dr hardtop may be better by eliminating the center pillar.

My LeMans ragtop has the exact same notchback bench seat with armrest so I already know that those seats aren't terrible but neither are they great. Once you start riding around in fullsize cars those A bodies suddenly feel tight and not as solid.

But when I think about it I'll probably only drive it a hundred miles a year so who cares ;-)

[north]

Original speckle paint in trunk is a good indicator of the condition of the car, garage kept since new.

[thepontiacman]

Nice Find.

We used to have a 69 Catalina Station Wagon that color.

[north]

Got one of those too! Different green though ;-)

[68ragtop]

Nice Car North! Very cool.

Dataways comment its true, I think it goes for a lot of things. There are a bunch of bigger cars I never thought much of years back & now I grew fond of them. I guess you can only look at the same model cars just so many times before you start widening your favorite flavors