This information will likely be useful/interesting to about 3-4 people out of the whole group here but I thought I'd post it anyway because I know there's 2 66 Grande Parisiennes owned by two different Kevins who will want to see it! One of the Kevins owns my old 427/4 speed 66 Grande Parisienne.
40 years ago I had my 427/4 speed Grande Parisienne. One of a few rare options that car had was an original power antenna which mounts on the passenger rear 1/4. These were unique to Canadian Pontiacs. The US models used a completely different power antenna, mounted in a similar location but it sloped back at quite an angle vs the Canadian antenna that is vertical. Also, the bezel and nut on the 2 models was completely different. One night I foolishly left my car parked on the street in Winnipeg and of course some idiot broke the antenna off. Even in the 80's it was impossible to find an original (or so I thought) so I replaced it with a universal aftermarket unit.
Fast forward 40 years and I want to put a power antenna on the Grande Parisienne I own now. I start researching, reading as much as I can on them (which is very little as they are almost impossible to find) but with the help of a good friend who is into 66 full size Chevys, I have a lucky strike. I showed him the assembly manual drawings for the Pontiac and he says "that looks a lot like a 66 Caprice antenna other than the bezel at the base". I do a lot of part number comparisons and he's right, they are mostly the same components. Then another lucky strike, he says "the Caprice antenna is almost identical to the 66 Corvette power antenna". Of course when it's a Corvette part, the availability gets a lot better.
I purchased a 66 Corvette power antenna in nice shape and the hunt was on for the totally unique bezel. As expected, impossible to find. Next option, modify a bezel that is close but doesn't quite have the right angles, make it the correct angles. After much digging around , and with help from Beaumontguru I narrowed it down to maybe a 72'ish 1/2 ton bezel. Close, but not quite right yet. However, Beaumontguru and I were slated for a trip to my (likely our) favourite wrecking yard for old car parts, the yard I talk about in Minnesota. He pointed out the broken remains of a rear manual antenna located on a 64 impala 4 door hardtop. They used bezel similar to what I needed so I purchased it. I measured the angles on my yellow car and did a mockup with an piece of quarter panel coincidentally from a 66 Pontiac. I kept working with filing the base of the bezel until the angle was correct to mount the antenna vertically. This is how that looked.
And this is how it looks mounted. Only an absolute 66 Canadian Pontiac fanatic will ever know this is not the original bezel.
The only thing I have left to do is make a mounting bracket from the motor to the inner quarter panel brace, as shown in the assembly manual drawing.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Oh and I forgot to mention. Tom in Alberta bought my black/red guts Grande Parisienne. I got him to get me the dimensions for mounting the power antenna in the correct spot because I had mounted one on that car. Also Kevin in Ottawa who has my 427/4 speed got me the dimensions off that car so when you are ready I can give the the specs for where to mount it.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Super nice Carl. It's these little details mundane to others that really mean a lot to us guys eh!
What exactly are these numbers? Is it the angle the key slot is to be at relative to the body centerline? Interesting the convertible is different. Different angle of the whip?
Carl, where on earth did you find a 1966 Canadian Pontiac Assembly Manual? If you didn't rescue & share it, it would not exist. Many thanks.
Oh, did you not know about the Canadian Pontiac assembly manuals? And also the Beaumont assembly manuals? It's about 15 years ago now that GM closed their zone office in Winnipeg. I was friends with one of the guys who worked at the parts assistance desk there. When they were closing down, he fished the binders out of a garbage can and shipped them to me. I have for almost all the Canadian GM's from in the 60's until 90's. They are on microfiche cards. I spent many of my Fridays off at the Winnipeg library converting them to a useable format.
Carl... maybe you know this already Somewhere within the last 6 months I saw the complete parts # breakdown for a bunch of Chevs (Canadian parts only) antennas.
ONLY applicable to Canuck cars....
Have you seen this? I think this would be applicable for the Poncho too..
-- Edited by LT1Caddy on Monday 15th of January 2024 09:14:34 PM
