Projects A Little More Horse Trading… ‘58 Parisienne Convertible

It’s been an interesting couple weeks. I bought a 58 Mercury Monterey convertible a couple weeks ago for what I thought was a great price. It was a nice car, frame off restoration, 430 auto. It just didn’t talk to me….. and I am definitely not a big fan of continental kits.

I had it for about a week, and a good buddy of mine decided he needed it. He’s got an amazing collection of cars, and his collection is actually where my ‘37 Ford and ‘58 Impala came from. Ended up trading the Mercury and my ‘61 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 convertible

for the ‘58 Pontiac.
He had owned it for around 20 years. Wasn’t driven much, and needs some TLC, but I love it. Big Block and 700R4 (shhhh). It has mid 60’s GM buckets and a Buick console. As mentioned, it needs a little loving, but I’m very happy to own it.

I’ll have a few questions as I sort some things out, so thanks in advance.

Allan

 

I would have kept the Merc and offed the connie kit... LOL

Both are nice cars....

 

At least I was told it was a Buick console. Does anyone recognize it?

 

Haha. I hear you. The continental kit was supposedly a factory installed option so I didn’t really want to remove it. I really bought the car because the price was just too good to pass on it. I wasn’t planning on keeping it. It’s gone to a good home.
The Parisienne is a pretty rare car. 759 V8 convertibles built. Only around 2300 Parisienne's built in all body styles and engine types. I’m really happy with the trade which ultimately is what matters and the Pontiac looks good with the Impala. lol

 

you made a good choice - should have taken a picture of front end of Mercury poking it's nose out from one side of barn shop and the rear sticking out on the opposite side, just for laughs.

 

Console is circa 1964 to 66 Olds Cutlass or 442.

 

It was a long frickin’ car. Made for some nice photo ops though!

 

Thanks!

 

I like the trade! You people must have long garage bays!

 

I can dig a cool Pontiac...

 

Gorgeous cars, Enjoy!

 

Both killer cars !!!

actually they are all killer cars .

that conti kit makes a big car HUGE !!!!!

 

Like the Poncho more too.

If you tried to parallel park that Merc you'd have to clear the sidewalk first.
Perfect for parades though, you could hang a lot of babes off that thing.
430 MEL, was that the biggest mill around in '58?

 

Going to have to change your name to 58 Al T

 

This week….

 

@Al T, horse....power trading indeed...nice Poncho cruiser...the Alien Face Tailights with Rocket Trim and vapor trail model...and Chrome everywhere...Have fun with it...a belated Happy Birthday by the way...saw your name in lights the other day...

 

Trading the Merc saved you the cost of a USN Commander's dress uniform ....

 

When I picked up the Parisienne, it had its original crusty old dash in it with dull and pitted plating. The car came with a spare dash that was in much better condition so it was time to clean things up.

I removed the original speedometer cluster from the crusty housing, gave it a good cleaning and reinstalled it into the bezel from the spare dash; disassembled the fuel, temp and oil pressure pod, gave it a good cleaning and reassembled; disassembled the clock from the car and installed the nicer bezel from the spare dash; cleaned up the lighter, reassembled, and have the dash ready to install. What a difference! Oh, I used 000 steel wool to clean up the new dash and components. It needs a little more work, but turned out pretty nice.

While I had the dash out I replaced the original style dash bulbs with LEDs.

Have a bit of dash wiring to clean up while I have the gauge assembly out and then I’ll reinstall. I recently replaced the wiring harness in my 58 Impala. I’m surprised how different the harness is in the Parisienne. I had assumed they would have shared wiring harnesses as they’re built on the same platform. Learn something new everyday.

Allan

 

Have you thought of putting 14 inch tires/wheels back on it. Like they came out originally.

 

^^^^^^^^
Think that ships sailed with the BBC and 700r under the hood.

 

Two convertibles for 1? is the poncho worth that much more?

 

I think so. It’s a pretty rare car. There were only 759 V8 Parisienne convertibles made according to the GM Historical report. Freed up some shop space also……. which is priceless. lol

 

I’ve actually got a full set of steel rims for my Impala. They’d work on the Pontiac, but I actually like the way the 15” wheels fill the wheel wells so they’ll likely be staying.

lol

 

Pulled out the crusty 3 gauge set up. It was really rough and none of the gauges were hooked up anyway. I picked up a factory console mounted Tach for the console that will look good down there.

 

This is just a joke, and from one of those "real meaning of car ads" lists....but one of my favorites about rare cars.

Rare just means no one wanted them when they were new either! Lol

Either way I think that thing is pretty cool.

And I agree the extra space is priceless!

 

I like all 3! I think those fat 60's style seats and console, shifter look great in that Pontiac. Most people would think they were original.

 

All 3 are great but the Poncho is a special car.

 

Finished getting the dash wiring cleaned up……… love the electrical cord wiring.

 

What a difference.

Not sure about driving this with the sun behind me…….

 

Lovin the Pontiac, I mean Parisenne. I been a big fan of 58 Pontiacs ever since my Uncle Wendell bought a 58 Chieftain 2 door HT with Tri-Power when I was a little kid. When he would kick in those deuces I was in heaven