Early vs Late 1969 Grilles compared

davepl · Poncho Master!

Early vs Late 1969 Grilles compared

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

Interesting. I also really like the looks of the 69 Grande Parisienne/Bonneville grills.

davepl · Poncho Master!

That's why I put them on my black 2+2, I like the metal grilles a LOT more. But this red 2+2 has to be stock, so plastic it is!

ABC123 · Uber Guru

Mark has a old thread, I'll try to find it.

There was 3 different die lots or in other words,

3 shades of grey not 50 biggrin

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

That was a long time ago Randy, looked but couldn't find it,

But here's the picture of the 3 NOS styles that I had, the full silver one on the left had blacked out lamp bezels, but was otherwise all silver. Unusual?

Full silver, Shadow silver, Oxford grey.JPG

North · Guru

Ive never seen the far left one on a car. Perhaps that one was just made defectively (missing the second shape of silver). I have a fall 1969 dated master parts catalog (with early 70 model year part numbers) and it only lists the two grille variations. Later catalogs only listed the later (darker) version and have a notation advising you to buy a pair if the existing grilles are the earlier version.

The 69 LeMans-Tempest grilles went through the same mid year change. Early ones had black around the bezels and two shades of silver-gray elsewhere. The later version was just two shades of gray with the darker gray also used for the headlight bezel area.

North · Guru

I read somewhere in a period magazine (but cant recall where) that they complained about the unattractive front end of the then new 69 pontiacs (nose was too big). Maybe Pontiac took this to heart and figured a darker grille would de emphasize the front end cheaper than rhinoplasty (nose job)?

davepl · Poncho Master!

My Dec 69 catalog lists just the two, and breaks them down as I noted. I feel like I've seen that greenish-silver type before though. Here's an NOS piece that's still for sale and that kind of looks like it, but I think it's just dusty!

ABC123 · Uber Guru

Pulled my collection out today,

Top is my current poncho.

My car was built March 14th

However,

One is not original, note the shade differences.

One is cracked so I see this as a licence for change,

The other plastic grill is the all silver style and I will keep then if I ever decide to go back original.

As for what's on the table,

Top parts are true Grande as well as the bottom left.

The other 3 are US Bonneville with the driver's sides from our good member Mark"cdnpont"

The "NOS" passenger side arrived today.

The Grande passenger side is off my original car but it's just too bubbled up to use.

As for those buckets (plastic surrounds) one has a hole drilled in it but I will clean them up and use them.

It will be cool to use parts off my first Canadian Poncho

(1984)

my 1969 Grande.jpg

-- Edited by ABC123 on Monday 18th of November 2019 09:28:17 PM

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I'm on the hunt for a good drivers side Parisienne grille insert (or bucket as you call it). To me, the headlight buckets are what the headlights sit in.

ABC123 · Uber Guru

Quick note on the Grande/Bonneville grills

Same part number but US grills have (-27) and the Canadian grills have (-E)

davepl · Poncho Master!

Interesting! Are they apparently identical though?

CdnGMfan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I'm wondering if the plain silver grille would have been used for the Strato Chief & Laurentian series? It would follow in the GM hierarchy as they do that kind of thing, adding a little bling to the higher series cars. In '69 they did that with the full-size Chevrolet grilles on Biscayne / Bel Air vs. Impala & Caprice.

Maybe not, as the designers may have been committed to a certain "look". I've got the 1970 Parts Book but not the 1969 to check.

ABC123 · Uber Guru

davepl wrote:
Interesting! Are they apparently identical though?

The Canadian part is identical other than the suffix on the part number and the "Made in Canada"

The funny part is the Pontiac emblem on the plastic grill does not fit into the holes that were re-enforced to receive the nuts on the steel grill.

I looked at where you put your emblem on the tribute car and moving the emblem more towards the centre creates a better line up with the prongs and the holes.

I wonder if there was a slightly different emblem for Grande Parisiennes

If you look closely to these two Grande Parisiennes you will see a twist in the nameplate. Both theses cars are in Ontario.

grande grill.jpg