As I said on the first page, I bought this car on January 12, 2008. I guess what started it all is that after I was finally working, I was really excited to start saving up some money. Well, around December of '07, I started looking around at Bonneville's – I was mainly look for either a 2000 or 2001 SSEi. It finally came down to either a silver 2000 with about 105,000 miles, or this black 2001 with a little over 93,000 miles, that I own.

Well, a week before I bought this car, I headed up to Cleveland (I was working in Canton, Ohio at the time) for a Microsoft Licensing seminar. After the seminar was over (around noon), I was getting ready to head back to work. I hoped onto the interstate (I was driving my 1995 Buick LeSabre), and it wasn't more than five miles down the road when I noticed all my lights in my dash lit up, and it became very difficult to steer the car. So, I pulled over, popped the hood, and saw what I figured, the tensioner pulley was gone, and the belt was laying on the engine cradle. By time I got back to Canton, I had already lost the entire day.

That was kind of it for me, it was $300 to fix that problem (tensioner bracket was also broken), and also in October of '07, the ignition lock cylinder in the Buick died ($400 there). I couldn't keep making repairs to the car like that, it was killing me.

So, that night, I looked at the Bonneville's again, and noticed the price of the 2001 was slashed by $1000 (inventory time, they wanted to clear their extra stock of cars), and I jumped right on that. That Saturday, I went up to look at the car, test drove it, loved it, put a $2000 down payment on it (it was only $6995).

Of course, that happiness didn't last (more info on page 7), but all that is taken care of now, and I've been having a lot of fun driving this car around. Sucks though, I was downsized at work just 2 WEEKS after I bought this car, and had almost no money left, so I'm stuck making payments on this car, with very little flow of cash coming in, but the payments are not that bad, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Here are a few pictures of the exterior that I took when I first brought it to my parents house after buying it (gotta love that road salt):

Below are a couple of shots of the massive beast that is the Series II L67 that powers this car (yes, in these pictures it is very dirty, and leaking, but that's all taken care of now – page 7):

Here is a picture of the factory chrome 'swoop' rims (yet again, dirty in this pic, and not very shiny), and the SSEi emblem:

I found out this car had only one previous owner. I believe it was a woman who owned this car, andmust have had some kind of animal grooming service. Cleaning the interior of the car one day revealed some dog hair under the rear bench, plus several old dog tags, and in the spare well in the trunk, I found some dog toys, plus dog nail trimmers, and scissors. So, all that combined makes me think she ran a dog grooming service of some kind.

Now, to provide more complete information about this particular Pontiac Bonneville, I wrote up a list of the factory options, replaced equipment, added equipment, and a maintenance list. Most of the items that are considered mods, more info can be found for them on the following pages – so that means not every thing in this list is covered in detail throughout the following pages. I'm using this as a guide (mainly for myself) to know what has been done to the car.

2001 Pontiac Bonneville SSEi Sedan
-- 3. 8 Liter 3800 Series II Sequential Fuel Injected M90 Supercharged V-6 (240 HP / 280 FT/LBS Torque)
-- 4T65-E Heavy Duty 4-speed Automatic Electronic Transmission with Overdrive With 2.93 Final Drive Ratio
-- Black Exterior Paint
-- Dark Pewter Interior
-- Estimated Fuel Economy: 18 City / 28 Highway

Standard Equipment:
-- P235/55R 17 All Season Radial Blackwall Tires
-- Independent Front and Rear Perform Suspension With Electronic Level Control
-- Traction Control
-- MagnaSteer Variable Effort Power Steering
-- Dual Frontal Air Bags
-- Driver and Passenger Front Side Impact Air Bags
-- On-Star Communications System
-- Stabili-Trak Stability System
-- 4-Wheel Disc Anti-Lock Brakes
-- Keyless Entry Remote With Trunk Release and Panic Alarm Feature
-- Pass-key III Theft Deterrent System
-- Dash Mounted Ignition
-- Full Feature Factory Alarm System
-- Lockable Glove Compartment With Trunk Release
-- Master Key Plus Valet Keys That Only Open Driver Door And Start Ignition
-- Rear Door Child Safety Locks
-- Rear Child Seat Anchors
-- Heads-Up (HUD) Display
-- Trunk Accessory Kit
-- Trunk Cargo Net
-- Deluxe Front (SSEi) and Rear Floor Mats
-- Rear Window Electric Defogger
-- Power Door Locks
-- Power Windows With Front Window Auto-Down and Passenger Lockout
-- Bucket Seats and Rear Bench With Leather Seating Surfaces
-- 8 Way Power Front Seats With 4 Way Power Lumbar Support
-- Leather Wrapped Steering Wheel With Radio Controls
-- Tilt Wheel Steering Column
-- Extendable, Supplemental Front Sunshades With Lighted Vanity Mirrors
-- AM/FM Stereo Radio With Cassette, Compact Disc, RDS, and Programmable Equalizer
-- Bose 8-Speaker Premium Sound System
-- Interior Theater Style Lighting With Auto-Fade Feature
-- Center Console With Storage Compartment
-- Rear Seat Armrest With Storage Compartment
-- 2-Speed Wipers With Low Speed Delay Feature
-- Dual Zone Climate Control Air Conditioning With External Temperature Display
-- Electronic Cruise Control
-- Day Running Lights System
-- Electronic Warning Tone For Ignition Key, Ajar Doors and Trunk, and System Warnings
-- Back-Lit Analog Instrument Panel With Digital Trip Meter and Odometer, and Compass
-- Digital Driver Information Center (DIC) System With Programmable Personal Settings
-- Electrochromic (Light Sensitive) Rear View Mirror
-- Tinted/Heated/Dual Power Side Mirrors
-- Cabin Air Filtration System
-- Rear Spoiler
-- Fog Lamps
-- Power Glass Sunroof With Sunshade and Universal Garage Door Opener
-- 17” Chrome Plated Aluminum Wheels

Replaced Equipment:
-- OEM Shocks Replaced With AC Delco Performance Shocks
-- Old Lights Replaced With Sylvania Silver Star 9006 Low Beams, 9005 High Beams, and H3 Fogs
-- GM DEX-COOL Replaced With Prestone Any-Color Coolant
-- Factory Nylon Intake Gaskets Replaced With GM Aluminum Intake Gaskets
-- 195 Degree Thermostat Replaced With 180 Degree Thermostat
-- Stock Air Box Replaced With Intense-Racing K&N Fender Well Intake
-- Supercharger Idler Pulley
-- Pushrods (Sealed Power)

Added Equipment / Parts (Non Stock):
-- XM Radio
-- Transformers Autobot Air-Freshener / Decoration

Maintenance:
-- Oil Changed At 100,664 Miles (Mobil-1 Full Synthetic Oil With NAPA Gold 1036 Oil Filter)
-- Coolant Replaced (March '08) – Prestone Any-Color
-- Intake Gaskets Replaced (March '08) – GM Aluminum Gaskets
-- PCV Valve (March '08) – AC Delco
-- All 12 Pushrods Replaced (March '08) – Sealed Power (Federal Mogul)
-- Spark Plug Wires (March '08) – Bosch Premium 7mm Wires
-- Spark Plugs (March '08) – NGK Iridium
-- Supercharger Belt (February '08) – Dayco Belt
-- Accessory Belt (March '08) – GM Belt
-- Fuel Filter (April '08) – AC Delco
-- Throttle Body, Supercharger Inlet, Lower Intake, Valve Covers, and Injectors Cleaned (March '08)
-- Upper Engine Gaskets Replaced (March '08) – Fel-Pro Gaskets
-- Wiper Blades (October '08)
-- Transmission Flushed; Fluid and Filter Changed (December '08) at 101,480 miles

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Page 1 – Introduction
Page 2 – Stock
Page 3 – Interior
Page 4 – Audio System
Page 5 – Modifications
Page 6 – Location Shoots
Page 7 – Initial Problems
Page 8 – Videos