Figured this was due to be added to the RG archives. Was searching for an appropriately St. Patrick’s Day-hued car, and voila, located this in The Vault. Cheers, and please Brougham responsibly this evening! -TK
Here’s a fine specimen of B-body 1977-79 Bonnie, in that light mint green that was available on many 1979 GM full-sizers; I’ve seen them on everything from Cutlass Supremes to loaded-up Electra Park Avenues and plain-Jane LeMans sedans. Yes, once upon a time in Detroit, you could get many different colors on your new car–even hospital green, ha ha.
This one looks great in Pastel Green, especially with the skirts and no vinyl roof. Sport mirrors are also a plus. No vinyl top is a BIG plus. It’s no secret I love these things, as well as their corporate siblings the Caprice Classic, Delta 88 and LeSabre.
And I do like this color, but I’d love this car even more in that deep, lustrous Jade green Ford had seemingly available on everything from Rancheros to Town Cars circa 1975-1979. Green is good.
As is the case with this Bonneville four-door sedan. Remember green interiors? Blue interiors? Red interiors? White leather “tuxedo” interiors with black carpet, dash and seat belts? I miss them. I also miss Pontiac. And Oldsmobile. And cars, lol! Everyone has to have a damn crossover now: that special vehicle that does everything, but poorly.
Case in point. Today I stopped at the bank and saw this, er, thing. I texted my buddy Jayson and said, ugly thing, isn’t it? He responded: “Someone must have had shitty credit and only $500 down 🤣🤣.”
About an hour later I saw this nicely-preserved circa 1994 Grand Am and it struck me how even a pretty common car 25 years ago was at least pleasant looking. It seems like 60% of new cars are ugly little boogers. I know a Grand Am is no gorgeous creature per se, but it’s a damn sight better looking than your average late model CR-V or Equinox.
I see I’m digressing again. Oops. Back to the Bonneville…
Not only is this one in a rare and interesting (to me, at least) color, it is also the same year as the one my father had–though his was a metallic root beer brown with a beige vinyl roof. When I was born, my folks owned three cars: a 1973 Volvo 1800ES, 1951 Porsche 356 (known as “that piece of junk” by Mom) and a 1977 Volvo 245DL wagon. The Bonneville was a company car.
It seems as though I’m the only one who really remembers it well, despite the fact that I was about three when it was replaced with a new maroon Volvo DL 2-door sedan. Thus, my love of these things forty years later.
The ad for our featured vehicle is long, long gone, but here’s hoping it’s still out their in nice shape, causing folks to walk past myriad Foose footed, resto-mod Mustangs (with fake Shelby emblems), Corvettes and Camaros (with fake SS emblems, haha).
An a Happy St Patrick’s Day to the Riverside GREEN community…. Tom you are correct, that Ford Jade Green was a really great color, especially on a Town Car Coupe with White Leather Interior with Jade Green accents. Surprised the Pastel Green on the Bonneville held up after all these years, the pastel paint tended to peal off on the tri-sevens and early eighties. Must have been well cared for.
My ’02 F150 was Metallic Highland Green. I loved that it wasn’t a typical flavor. Sold it two hours after putting it on the end of the driveway in April 2021.
Oh what a lovely car. I’ve got a jade green 92 Trans Am I bought new and everyone raves about the color.
I so much miss the variety of colors that were once available in interiors and the combinations you could pair up. The domestic brands really catered to their customers back in the day. Did the imports start the trend in cost effective 2 choice interior and 5 choice exterior color options? I don’t remember imports offering much in color options back in the 70s and 80s.