Lot 704.1 is one of only 630 such fuel-injected 1957 Pontiac Bonneville convertibles produced at the rate of just one for each of the 630 U.S. Pontiac dealers.
Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen had just become president of the Pontiac Division of General Motors, which he transformed, in part, by bringing in Pete Estes from Oldsmobile as chief engineer and putting John DeLorean in charge of advanced engineering.
The mission was to appeal to younger buyers, and even before the famed GTO was introduced Knudsen made some changes to enhance the appeal of the ’57 models. A new Strato-Streak V8 engine was introduced and enlarged to 347cid for the Bonneville, which also got fuel injection.
The Bonneville convertibles were available only in Kenya White, but with blue or red seat inserts and matching blue or red convertible tops. This car has the Sky Blue seats and top.
All 630 of the convertible were equipped with power steering and brakes, power windows and stops, and signal-seeking radios. Rear fender skirts were an option.
This car, from the John Staluppi Cars of Dreams Collection, underwent a body-off restoration several years ago. It’s engine is connected to an automatic transmission.
Barrett-Jackson’s annual Palm Beach auction is scheduled for April 12-15 at the South Florida Fairgrounds in West Palm Beach.
I saw my first FI Bonneville in 1963…new guy moved into the neighborhood, and when I saw the "Fuel Injection" script on the fender I almost fell over. Still the only one I’ve seen, but with 630 total that shouldn’t be a surprise. But be mindful: NOBODY wanted these cars in period since fuel injection was like alchemy and just as well understood. Most people would rather struggle with two 4’s…or one. Didn’t know they only came in one color!
There’s a friend of mine who is an expert on the 57 Pontiac fuel injection system from Newark De his name is Fred Borcherdt he knows those things like the back of his hand ! And he used to drag race pontiacs back in the day with fuel injection and had some of the fastest in the country !
My best friends father had a 57 347 hardtop with tri-power. It was amazing. Green Always wanted one. Did not know a Fulie was available at that time other than the 57 corvette with a 283.
Many of these injection units were removed at the customers request by dealers and carburetor(s) were installed. The 57 unit flowed better than the 58 Pontiac FI unit and even the Chevrolet units because of the material used for its intake manifold. One of the problems with these in street use was the enrichment system for cold operation (think of a choke on a carb). Coupled with this, with this small number of units dealers had near zero mechanics trained to work on these things.