Say the words "389 and a four-speed," and if you're like most Pontiac purists, you're going to have fond memories of a tire-burning, tiger-growling GTO. In 1962, however, two model years before the GTO was born, if you wanted Pontiac's coveted engine combo in your brand-new Poncho, you had only two choices: a fullsize Catalina or an even bigger Bonneville. Truth be told, most buyers who wanted to row their own gears opted for the popular entry-level Catalina, especially after seeing NASCAR greats like Fireball Roberts, Cotton Owens, David Pearson, Marvin Panch, and Jack Smith campaign their Catalinas to help Pontiac dominate the superspeedways. Those in-the-know, however, found refuge in the fact that if they really wanted to stir their trans manually while in the lap of luxury, the Bonneville could be ordered with a synchromesh transmission.
According to Pontiac's build records, 1,874 Bonnevilles were produced with manual transmissions in 1962, and that included the BorgWarner T5 three-speed and the T10 four-speed. One such rare Bonneville was built on December 20, 1961, at the South Gate, California, factory and shipped to Louis Framm Pontiac in Downey, California. Its options included a "425A" Trophy 389/333hp four-barrel motor (code 08), four-speed manual trans, Wonderbar radio with manual antenna (code 383), rear seat speaker (code 401), windshield washer (code 421), safeguard speedo (code 422), heavy-duty air cleaner (code 431), visor vanity mirror (code 441), inside tilt mirror (code 442), outside remote-control mirror (code 444), back-up lamps (code 471), power steering (code 501), power brakes (code 502), power windows (code 551), six-way power seat (code 561), Safe-T-Track (code 601), and 8-Lug aluminum wheels (code 695).
Although we don't know the original owner of this Bonneville, his choice of options allows us to infer that he intended to have a whole lot of fun with it. Possibly he proved its power stoplight to stoplight, as he sidestepped the clutch and slammed the gears-perhaps even taking it out to Southern California dragstrips on the weekends.
Fast forward 33 years to 1994, and Mike Ilijas, a master tool and die maker from Chesterland, Ohio, was reading Trading Times when an ad for this rare three-pedal Bonneville jumped out at him. "It said: 'California car, solid body, four-speed,' and I decided it was the car that I wanted," he says
Mike called the owner, who lived about 50 miles away in Ashtabula, Ohio, and arranged to see the Bonneville. "We met halfway, and when I saw the car for the first time, I hate to admit it, but it was downright ugly," he says. "Somebody had repainted it very poorly in black, the interior was disheveled, and the engine was burning oil. Even with all that, there were 46,000 original miles on the odometer, and the owner drove it up to where we met, so I knew it had a lot of potential."
Without hesitation, Mike made an offer of $1,700 for the four-speed Pontiac, and the next day the owner delivered it to his home. "The good news was it was complete as originally ordered [except for the engine block]," Mike says. "The bad news was all I could think about was how much work it was going to take to bring it back to show condition. There was no rust, but it needed a full restoration. Even though I had never done a restoration before, I decided to do it myself."
Mike brought the Bonneville to Stan Rus of Willoughby Hills, Ohio, who removed the nonoriginal 389 and treated it to a mild rebuild, including new bearings, rings, and gaskets, while retaining its original 4.06 x 3.75 bore/stroke, crank, connecting rods, pistons, and "886" cam (283/293 degrees duration with 0.406 lift). Likewise, the No. 177 heads needed only their 1.88/1.60 valves ground and reseated, while the factory pushrods and 1.5-ratio rockers were good as new and left untouched. Feeling the need for speed and underhood eye candy, a year-correct, Tri-Power system was installed as well