2000-ish Pontiac Bonneville SSEI ; yep - you read that right!

[Larryhagmansliver]

Not even done with the truck project and I already started making my next custom.

I remember when they came out with this body style in the 90's. I remember it was the first time I ever looked at a 4-door with lust!

...more to come!

[MrObsessive]

^{Interesting and nice project! I too liked these alot-------especially the '92-'99's. Just curious as to what body you started with-------the Impala? Is that body in plastic or diecast?}

^{GM seemed to be on a roll during those years with styling, especially with Pontiac. You don't see many of those '90's Bonneville's on the road anymore unfortunately. They were handsome cars!}

[Joe Handley]

looks good so far, kinda wondered what you were going to use for the starting kit when I saw the title!

[Larryhagmansliver]

Thanks guys. I used the Revelle Police Impala snap kit as the donor. I originally tried doing this months ago and about gave up. I was using a late model Charger as the donor and I just couldn't get it to work out right. Here's what I've done so far...

I sculpted the front nose by hand out of glazing putty. The grill is a cut screen. The lights are the Impala lights with the edges rounded off. The rear end and taillight panel came from a prostock Grand am resin kit. The trunk lid is interesting; the Impala lid was too flat and squared off, so I cut it off and then cut and reshaped a Dodge charger hood into a trunklid.

Next, I'm adding some roundstock down the sides and wrapping around the bumper to get the character lines.

[Joe Handley]

You know, I remember reading back in the 90's that the guys at GM's "skunkworks" took one of the earlier versions of that body on a Caprice C9P/Impala SS chassis with a Holden IRS back of it. IIRC they wanted to see how well a unibody shell and normal frame would work together, and I think they threw the Holden IRS in it for the heck of it

[charlie8575]

I always liked that generation Bonneville, too, and came close to buying a couple.

This is going to be interesting to see where it goes.

Charlie Larkin

[Lownslow]

^{Interesting and nice project! I too liked these alot-------especially the '92-'99's. Just curious as to what body you started with-------the Impala? Is that body in plastic or diecast?}

^{GM seemed to be on a roll during those years with styling, especially with Pontiac. You don't see many of those '90's Bonneville's on the road anymore unfortunately. They were handsome cars!}

theres a reason for it lol

[TurboKitty]

I see them all the time around here LOL. This is an interesting build, the front end sort of reminds me of a Buick Lucerne but I can see a bit of SSEI in there too. Have you considered using one of the late '80s/early '90s Pontiac Grand Prix SE/Turbo/GTP kits for the engine, body cladding, wheels, etc? Back then they made the Taurus SHO, Beretta GTZ, T-Bird SC, Cougar XR7, why not a Bonneville SSEI too? Love those daily drivers

[Larryhagmansliver]

I see them all the time around here LOL. This is an interesting build, the front end sort of reminds me of a Buick Lucerne but I can see a bit of SSEI in there too. Have you considered using one of the late '80s/early '90s Pontiac Grand Prix SE/Turbo/GTP kits for the engine, body cladding, wheels, etc? Back then they made the Taurus SHO, Beretta GTZ, T-Bird SC, Cougar XR7, why not a Bonneville SSEI too? Love those daily drivers

That's a great idea Michelle. I wasn't going to put an engine in it, but now that you mention it I do have a turbo V6 from a Syclone model that I pretty much ruined. Thing is though, I'd like to make a supercharger for it like the L67 engines had, so it would take a little "engineering"

I was thinking about a 1990 Grand Prix model for the body cladding, but then I came across these things called K & S Metal Shapes at hobby lobby and I'm going to give those a shot. I wish I had known about Plastruct before I bought them, but it looks to me like they will do the job.

[Chuck Most]

You know, I remember reading back in the 90's that the guys at GM's "skunkworks" took one of the earlier versions of that body on a Caprice C9P/Impala SS chassis with a Holden IRS back of it. IIRC they wanted to see how well a unibody shell and normal frame would work together, and I think they threw the Holden IRS in it for the heck of it

Yep, it was in Hot Rod. Don't remember the Holden IRS, but I do remember they had to stretch the nose 6" to fit the Caprice chassis under it. They also had a 4ws Camaro and a Caprice with a BMW V12. Odd stuff, but all cool!

I'm suprised Revell never did a snap kit of the '00-up Bonneville using the Impala cop car chassis, those were among the few later-model GM designs I liked.

[Joe Handley]

Yep, it was in Hot Rod. Don't remember the Holden IRS, but I do remember they had to stretch the nose 6" to fit the Caprice chassis under it. They also had a 4ws Camaro and a Caprice with a BMW V12. Odd stuff, but all cool!

I'm suprised Revell never did a snap kit of the '00-up Bonneville using the Impala cop car chassis, those were among the few later-model GM designs I liked.

Yup, and IIRC there was a turbocharged, twin 2.8l V-6 engined Citation X11 that was meant as a test bed to determine if a twin V-6 powered Corvette might be viable as well a Beretta with some sort of a small Asian V-8 in it

[Larryhagmansliver]

Yup, and IIRC there was a turbocharged, twin 2.8l V-6 engined Citation X11 that was meant as a test bed to determine if a twin V-6 powered Corvette might be viable as well a Beretta with some sort of a small Asian V-8 in it

I remember that car. They called it the "push me, pull me" Citation. It had one engine in front and one in the rear. If I recall, they also had a 4 wheel steer Camaro which became the basis of the Silverado's 4 wheel steering package many years later.

Oh, and Chuck -If Revelle made the 2000 up Bonneville kit, what would I do with my spare time?!

[Joe Handley]

Yea, IIRC that Camaro had a Dana 44 rear axle with the steering knuckles off a K-5 on the ends of the tubes. I think it was said that there were no yes or no answers to the questions they were asking, just that is wasn't right for the Camaro....or the American F/S truck driving public either from what I understand about what was produced

[TurboKitty]

Yup, and IIRC there was a turbocharged, twin 2.8l V-6 engined Citation X11 that was meant as a test bed to determine if a twin V-6 powered Corvette might be viable as well a Beretta with some sort of a small Asian V-8 in it

That would be the Chevy "Feretta", it was an experimental 1990 concept with a quad cam 32 valve V8, 5 speed, wide body, and numerous other tweaks. It also remained FWD. It was actually a nice looking car, it's a shame they never gave it the green light for production:

There were two other prototype performance Berettas built also, an AWD V8, and an AWD Twin Turbo V6:

[Larryhagmansliver]

I am so BUMMED right now!

95% finished with this build and I can't post any pictures!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dr. Cranky]

Looking forward to more.

[Larryhagmansliver]

Had to take the memory card to the drug store to have the pics burned to a CD. Such a pain in the butt! Anyway, here we are....

with body cladding added...

then paint...

I really wanted to go with that dark GM Hunter green, but I just didn't trust myself with anything other than the one-coat laquer...

Interior....

[Larryhagmansliver]

Now were in the home stretch!

Assembled....

Rear view. Not sure if you can make out the license plate, but it says "WITH N V" -get it?

I owe Joe Chernaukas a big thank you for a great trade that supplied the Pontiac rims....

I somehow missed the fact that I didn't have the front of the frame snapped in all the way for this pic (and the one above), but it still looks decent...

Still to go, I need to get some decal sheets that don't shrivel up like a prune, I need to break up the taillights to show backup and turn signals, and I may try something different for the headlights. I'm not completely happy with those

Edited August 23, 2011 by Larryhagmansliver

[Harry P.]

I remember when they came out with this body style in the 90's. I remember it was the first time I ever looked at a 4-door with lust!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess...

[Larryhagmansliver]

Made some changes....

I wasn't happy with the headlights that I did in the above pictures, so I went a completely different route

also, I noticed that the body cladding lines on the front clip were off center with the rest of the car and had a bit of a slant to them. I redid them...

[charlie8575]

This is really coming out nicely. About the only thing I would've done is square off the door-handles some to be a little closer to correct.

As to spraying Dupli-Color- if you can handle One-Coat, Dupli-Color isn't a problem at all. Try it out on some scrap and practice parts. I think you'll be pleased.

Charlie Larkin

[Larryhagmansliver]

Just about ready to call this one done. I apologize for the grainy photos, I'm down to using my crummy phone for pics...

Detailed the grille to go along with the new headlights...

Still need to add orange turn signals to go with the reverse lights..

decided to go with the other Pontiac rims...

[charlie8575]

Looking forward to some better pictures. Great conversion.

charlie Larkin

[Larryhagmansliver]

Looking forward to some better pictures. Great conversion.

charlie Larkin

Thank you for the kind words Charlie. Here are some that are a little clearer....