1958 Pontiac Bonneville

The 1957 had been a difficult year for Pontiac as it had lost of number of sales. To try and win back some of those lost sales, Pontiac introduced the '58 Pontiac Bonneville with some major changes. Prior, the Pontiac Bonneville was billed as a limited-production vehicle. This was no more as it hit full production. Also, in addition to a '58 Bonneville convertible, a hardtop Sport Coupe was added to make the Pontiac Bonneville a complete top-line series. In essence, the 1958 Pontiac Bonneville was a new automobile from the ground up, even the bodyshell was restyled; inspired from the X-member frame used on the Cadillac.

Much Improved

The 1958 Pontiac Bonneville had a number of improvements made to peek the interest of buyers. The trim was top grade and the price of the Bonneville was reduced by $2,300 by making much of the lavish equipment "optional". The '58 Bonneville was also put on a shorter platform, the "Chieftain", which gave the car better handling. Probably the most interesting feature that was added to the '58 Bonneville was the "Ever-Level" air suspension that was optional for an extra $175. Although a fascinating feature, the feature's setup and price proved hard to overcome and not many customer opted for it.

A Performance Boost

All '58 Bonnevilles came equipped with a very capable 370 V-8 engine, called the Tempest. Pontiac offered six versions of the engine but most were sold with the single-four-barrel unit which offered a 10:1 compression and 285 horsepower and a Hydra-Matic automatic transmission.

When timed at the 0-60 mph sprint, Motor Trend timed the 1958 Pontiac Bonneville at a swift 8.2 seconds. It hit 88 mph in 18.8 seconds in the standing quarter mile, according to Motor Trend. Tom McCahill, from Mechanix Illustrated, took the 285 horsepower up to 125 mph which made him state:

"The 1958 Pontiacs are hotter than a blowtorch."

The Bonneville Sold Well Amid A Tough Economy

The '58 Pontiac Bonneville sold much better than the '57 model. In all, the 1958 Pontiac Bonneville sold 3,096 convertibles and 9,144 hardtops. Although sales were healthy, just about everybody in the auto industry was down. Chevrolet's sales were down nearly 18 percent and Oldsmobile's sales were down 20 percent. Even Pontiac was down by over 30 percent. Even amid the tough year in the auto industry, the '58 Bonneville was a proven vehicle and when compared to other 1958s, it is a fairly appealing car.

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The History of the Pontiac Lemans

The Pontiac LeMans is said to be the model name for an intermediate-sized car which was being created and manufactured by the Pontiac division of General Motors during 1962 until the early 80's.

During this period the Pontiac LeMans was considered to be a top of the line version of their Pontiac Tempest because of its sleek and sporty design. The Pontiac LeMans continued to keep its quality as those found in the standard Tempest did as well. However, by 1982 the LeMans was replaced by the Pontiac Bonneville.

From 1988-1993 a new model was sold as a Daewoo LeMans which is from South Korea.

During the early sixties from 1961-1963, General Motors introduced a top of the line street rod model named the Tempest LeMans which was sportier and sleeker than the older Tempest which included bucket seats.

That same year its name was also used on a two door coupe. The following year they made additions to the coupe like manufacturing a convertible, a beautiful sedan and station wagon. As the years went by these cars were modified into a super duty car used for racing.

During the mid to the late 60's, the street rod line was upgraded into a 215 CID six-cylinder engine as well as a redesigned 326 CID V8 and was distributed as a new performance package known as the GTO or a Gran Turismo.

The repackaging of the line helped improve sales of the Tempest and Lemans thus making the Pontiac one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Indeed, revamping the old design with the use of a sleeker and more economical design while at the same time keeping the well-defined and well-recognized mark of the Tempest and Lemans helped the manufacturer keep their vision.

When the 70's came along the Lemans and Tempest street rod designs provided a bigger engine which was normally seen as a GTO, bearing the same custom design of the two or four door pillared sedans, a four door hardtop sedan, a four door hardtop coupe and the usual convertible.

During the mid 70's, General Motors and Lemans manufactured models with changes in car size which became larger and larger as the years went by. This is simply because most car manufacturers were targeting the needs of the whole family instead of a sleek show off ride model. At the same time, the street rods being manufactured at this time would adhere to the same safety standards set forth by the law. As such most of the street rods being manufactured during this time have improved handling capabilities, improved rear-coil suspension and tires as well as the improvement in the engine emission required by the federal government in order to have a safer ride on the road.

The year 1977 marked as the finale for the Lemans vintage built colonnade body. Thus making the manufacturer build a more sophisticated and more adaptable car. During this time, they began downsizing as a result of the Arab oil embargo. And in 1981, they began to introduce the Bonneville which was trimmer and more compact in a four-door design.

The evolution of these cars led to the Daewoo Lemans manufactured by Daewoo Motors during the late 80's to the early 90's.

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