1958 Pontiac Bonneville Woodie Wagon - Hurray For Bonnewood

His next choice was an easy one-the builder. Bob got Lou on the phone, the project was discussed, and a plan was formulated. Using a '58 Star Chief Custom Safari wagon as a donor, Lou was knee deep in Pontiac parts when he realized just how decayed it was. With the frame and body divorced for the first time since they were married on the assembly line, Lou concluded, "It was a badly rusted s.o.b." So, instead of wasting precious hours doing it all by hand, he had the entire car dipped in Redi Strip. With the parts derusted and clean, the X-frame was quickly handed over to mechanic and auto body technician Steve Decker at Old Stillwater Garage for prep. It should be noted that in this case, "prep" is short for having to patch the frame and create two new framerails. Handled expertly by Steve, the frame was returned to stock condition and readied for reassembly of the suspension.

Steve began the procedure by fitting an Air Ride suspension setup. This may sound easy, but the trick here was to keep everything of vintage era underneath in working order while complementing the suspension with modern pieces. Thankfully for Steve, the Air Ride kit was nearly a bolt-on affair, the setup made specifically for this style of vehicle. Retaining the original rearend with 3.40 gears in the process, Steve finished the job by mounting Master Power Brakes four-wheel discs and a set of 15x7 Radir wheels wrapped in 225/75R15 Continental radials.

With the chassis sorted out, he moved on to the engine combo, first picking out a '72 400 block from an expired Catalina. Since the '58 was to become a "mild custom," extreme power figures were traded for reliability and simplicity of operation, so mostly stock replacement pieces were employed inside the now 0.030-over short-block. What he did change, he did in deuces however, upping not only horsepower, but also the wow factor when the hood was popped. From the top down, you'll find an Edelbrock carburetor dressed with a louvered air cleaner from a '60s Pontiac. The aluminum intake manifold, also by Edelbrock, sits between the company's Performer RPM aluminum heads (2.11/1.66 valves) adding both power and visual impact. Compression has been set at 10.5:1 thanks to the Speed-Pro forged pistons, the overbore, and the 72cc chambers in the heads. Crane's custom-grind hydraulic flat-tappet cam features a mild 225-degrees duration at 0.050 and 0.407 lift. Fire is provided by a Mallory Unilite distributor and coil to the tune of 32 degrees total advance at 2,600 rpm, with current carried through Taylor 8mm wires to AC Delco plugs. Spent gasses exit the exhaust ports into a set of Ram Air Restoration Enterprises reproduction exhaust manifolds with 2.5-inch outlets and continue through a Flowmaster exhaust featuring 3-inch pipes.

Moving onto the bodywork, Lou worked his magic. A '58 Impala donated a section of its roof to provide a vent to be made into a third brake light. Locating a Bonneville donor, Lou and his team removed all of the stainless. Polishing it by hand at the shop, the team modified it to work on the wagon body.

Having decided on DuPont Organic Calypso Green as a basecoat-a color Lou used on one of his own rides-the body was flawlessly sprayed with four coats of paint, then four more of DuPont clear. The sides were then decorated with Bonneville trim. In the front and rear, the metal bumpers were filled, rechromed, and polished with the work split evenly between Cambridge Custom Chrome and AIH Chrome, making them a seamless work of art. The stock grille at the front was replaced by the classic look of a tube grille. In the rear, '56 Olds lenses replace the Pontiac taillights. The finishing touch was the Woodie treatment Bob felt he had deserved all of these years. On the flanks of his custom wagon, the onlooker will find no wood or decals; instead the wood trim was painstakingly painted on by artist Dave Symons before the clear was sprayed.

The package wouldn't be complete without some furnishings inside. Several of the modern amenities include an ididit column and a Lokar floor-shifter mated to a Turbo 350 transmission. Though the rear seat is a reupholstered original, with work completed by Jerry Ambrosi, the fronts are GM Motorama-style, hard-shell buckets. With a surfer theme as the general idea, Jerry used vinyl and wicker as the tools to represent the era, going as far as to recover the interior doors to reflect the outside of the car-complete with trim. The center console was built from scratch using vinyl-covered wood, while the dash is out of a '64 Grand Prix and features gauges by Hanline. To masterfully finish off the cabin, '58 repro rugs were picked, adding a cool classic look to go with some cold Vintage Air. To keep everything clean under his feet, Bob had a set of custom mats made, representative of the color found in the bed.

Looking back on it, there's not a lot Bob and Lou would have done differently to "Bonnewood," the name, a play on words of Bob's area and the car from which it was modeled. But exquisite execution doesn't necessarily pertain to the ease of a project. Quite the opposite, really. While both the artisan and the artist had a clear idea of what they wanted, distance can be the bane of every project, "We're both computer illiterate," Bob says. "It was left up to pictures and phone calls." And lots of trust, we're sure. But where else can you find a car like this? Only in Bonnewood!