The Pontiac Bonneville Special was a purpose-built idea automobile unveiled at the General Motors Motorama in 1954, the first 2-seater sports automobile Pontiac ever produced. Designed by renowned designer Harley J. Earl and hand built by Hommer LaGassey and Paul Gilland, the Special was an experimental automobile, a door, grand touring sport coupé that incorporated innovative breakthrough styling like an all-plexi canopy with gull-wing panels on a sleek fiberglass body. Special prototypes, painted metallic bronze and emerald green, were built with the purpose of unveiling them simultaneously at the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf in New York and the Pan Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1954.
The design of the Special drew its visual impetus from America's fascination with aeronautic and rocket design in the 1950s, employing a wind-tunnel inspired profile and high-tech bright work throughout the body, hood and grill. Glass covered recessed headlights, like those on the 1953 Corvette, rows of louvers on the fenders and twin "silver-streaks"[2] on the hood that lead to functional air scoops were it is most distinguishing features. The rear finish styling was its most over-the-top visual cue. Featured between bold fender fins were ultramodern twin exhaust chrome-ports, similar to today's Porsches, and a custom spare tire enclosure with space-age wheel disc that gave the automobile a jet-powered appearance.
Interior styling in the Special was state of the art for its time, and indeed would pass muster against today's computer-designed automobiles. The dashboard was a sleek, wing like design that incorporated a neat horizontal layout of working instruments that gave the inside a futuristic cockpit look. Even underneath the dash, the gauges were sealed in by a contoured metal facia with brushed finish, assuring by Earl that no detail would go unnoticed. Between matchless, parabolic formed, leather bucket seats lay an identical metal, middle console with functionally modest gear shift handle, twin vent-control levers, and ignition key slot. Centered over the spoke, Corvette-style steering wheel was a single, large speedometer that read a top speed of 120 mph.
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