appliguy
Well-known member
Actually Allen
The Delray was first offered in 1954 as a trim option on the 210 2 door club coupe. It replaced the unpopular 210 2 door hardtop coupe of 1953 which was discontinued (along with the equally unpopular 1953 210 convertible) for 1954. The only difference bewteen the 210 Delray coupe and the 210 2 door sedfan was that the Delray had a unique waffle styled interior. The Delray remained a 210 2 door club coupe trim optipn through 1957. For 1958 the Delray became a full fledged series. Alas that was for only one year because in 1959 the Impala became a full fledged series in it's own right knocking the Bel Air (of which the Impala was a sub series in 1958) and Biscayne series down a notch and booting the Delray series right out the door.
As for Larry Tate driving a Pontiac Parisenne in 1971...he would have only been doing that in Canada, if it was an American Pontiac it was a Bonneville. Parisenne's did not start being sold in th is country in place of the old Bonneville until 1983. That happened because Pontiac discontinued the Bonneville and Catalina after 1981 to meet the ever tightening CAFE requirements. They then took the Bonneville name and slapped it on the old Lemans 4 door sedan and advertised it as the Bonneville G, Pontiac's new full sized car. But then the goverenment decide to relax there CAFE requirements a little so Pontaic realized they could bring back the old Full sized models back. Meanwhile Pontiac of Canada never stopped making the old full sized car which they called the Parisenne (FYI the Parisenne was first offered in Canada in 1959) so Pontiac just decided it would be easier to import the cars from Canada. They also felt it would cause less confusion if they just called it the Parisenne like they did in Canada instead of renaming the Bonneville G something else for the second time since 1981 FYI all Canadian Pontiacs were Chevy cars with Pontiac trim and wheel bases , so while we had Wide Trak Pontiacs in the US they only had them in Canada if they were American imports. I am not sure when they stopped or if they ever stopped that practice.....PAT COFFEY
The Delray was first offered in 1954 as a trim option on the 210 2 door club coupe. It replaced the unpopular 210 2 door hardtop coupe of 1953 which was discontinued (along with the equally unpopular 1953 210 convertible) for 1954. The only difference bewteen the 210 Delray coupe and the 210 2 door sedfan was that the Delray had a unique waffle styled interior. The Delray remained a 210 2 door club coupe trim optipn through 1957. For 1958 the Delray became a full fledged series. Alas that was for only one year because in 1959 the Impala became a full fledged series in it's own right knocking the Bel Air (of which the Impala was a sub series in 1958) and Biscayne series down a notch and booting the Delray series right out the door.
As for Larry Tate driving a Pontiac Parisenne in 1971...he would have only been doing that in Canada, if it was an American Pontiac it was a Bonneville. Parisenne's did not start being sold in th is country in place of the old Bonneville until 1983. That happened because Pontiac discontinued the Bonneville and Catalina after 1981 to meet the ever tightening CAFE requirements. They then took the Bonneville name and slapped it on the old Lemans 4 door sedan and advertised it as the Bonneville G, Pontiac's new full sized car. But then the goverenment decide to relax there CAFE requirements a little so Pontaic realized they could bring back the old Full sized models back. Meanwhile Pontiac of Canada never stopped making the old full sized car which they called the Parisenne (FYI the Parisenne was first offered in Canada in 1959) so Pontiac just decided it would be easier to import the cars from Canada. They also felt it would cause less confusion if they just called it the Parisenne like they did in Canada instead of renaming the Bonneville G something else for the second time since 1981 FYI all Canadian Pontiacs were Chevy cars with Pontiac trim and wheel bases , so while we had Wide Trak Pontiacs in the US they only had them in Canada if they were American imports. I am not sure when they stopped or if they ever stopped that practice.....PAT COFFEY
