Introduced in 1958, the Pontiac Parisienne soldiered on through 1987. With a production run of 30 years, it’s among the company’s longest-running nameplates. Despite this, the Parisienne is nowhere near as iconic as the Bonneville or the Catalina in the United States. That’s because it was produced in Canada and didn’t make it South of the border until 1983.
Sold alongside the Laurentian and the Strato-Streak, the Parisienne was a full-size car that shared design cues with the US-made Catalina. However, the car rode on Chevrolet underpinnings, so it was a tad shorter than its American sibling. It also used Chevrolet power.
Initially a sub-series of the Laurentian, the Parisienne became a separate model in 1960. It was marketed as the company’s top-of-the-line full-size car in Canada and featured premium equipment similar to the Chevrolet Impala. It was Pontiac’s best-selling nameplate in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Parisienne arrived in US showrooms in 1983, at a time when GM had downsized its full-size cars. The nameplate was retired only three years later.
While 1980s Parisiennes can still be found in the US, you’d be hard-pressed to source a 1960s version. If you live in Europe and have a weird passion for these cars, it will be even more difficult to find one. But this 1964 four-door sedan hidden in a garage somewhere in the United Kingdom proves it’s not impossible.
Documented by YouTube’s “IMSTOKZE,” this Parisienne has been off the road since 1997. That’s a whopping 27 years. It’s unclear if it’s been parked in the same spot since then, but it’s now sharing a garage with a Ford Thunderbird. And amazingly enough, for a vehicle that hasn’t been registered for nearly three decades, the Poncho is in excellent condition.
An even bigger surprise is the right-hand-drive setup. Yup, that’s a factory RHD interior and not an aftermarket conversion. The Oshawa plant produced right-hand-drive Pontiacs for export until 1968. Most of them were assembled from knock-down kits in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Some kit cars were also assembled in Belgium for the European market, but these were left-hand-drive versions. This means the Parisienne you see here was most likely imported from Australia or South Africa. Whoever did it must have had a big thing for the Parisienne.
It’s unclear how many of the right-hand-drive Pontiacs were assembled back in the 1960s, but this red four-door must be the only example on British soil right now. And hopefully, it will be returned to the road soon. Until that happens, check it out in the video below. It shows up at the 17:20-minute mark. It’s too bad it’s not being removed from the garage because the 1964 Parisienne is beautiful.