1969 Pontiac Ventura wagon 23k original mi

I'm thinking the fenders or front clip got swapped at some point for rust free or dent free or accident free units. Nobody bothered to change the badging. Simple explanation is simple.

 

Perhaps.

But some comments:

1. I think replacement for rust is unlikely. The car has only 29,000 miles on it and has supposedly been in a barn for 35 years. It looks pristine throughout. It seems unlikely that both fenders would have rusted so badly that the only solution was replacment while the rest of the car remained in like-new condition.

2. Replacement due to accident? Possibly, but, again, the front end would have had to have been smashed up pretty bad for BOTH fenders to need to be replaced as well rather than repaired as the "Ventura" badge is on both sides of the car. That would most likely mean new front bumper and hood as well and possibly more. Again, the car just looks too pristine otherwise to have been in such a severe accident and there being no other evidence of it.


I think the most likely explanation is even simpler. If you bought the "Ventura" option package, your car came with Ventura badges. Or somebody had some fun way back then and replaced the Catalina badges, which were located in the same places on the car, with Ventura badges.

 

The Ventura option packaged car always received Ventura Badges at least until 69 maybe longer. The smaller Nova derived Ventura's of the 70's were initially called Ventura II's.
If I remember correctly on the 2 and 4 door Sedans (meaning not wagons) if you ordered the Bonneville Level interior on the shorter body style Catalina you had a Ventura, and if you wanted the longer body but with the lower level Catalina interior youbought a Pontiac Executive.
The full size Pontiac names in the 60's can get alittle confusing. But I am pretty sure a Ventura Wagon would start out with a Catalina Standard Equipment then add the Ventura Interior and what ever other options you wanted.
It could also be a way to get the Bonneville interior with out exterior Woodgrain. Not sure on that last one though.

I foundthis quoteon the web

The Ventura custom interior was offered on most Catalina models from 1962 until 1970. This included both the interior and exterior upgrades that were offered with the additional-cost décor group option plus a bit lusher interior of cloth or Morrokide.

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z9604/pontiac-catalina-ventura.aspx

 

Yes, here's the Ventura fender badging also on a Catalina coupe.

 

Nice wagon! Wonder what it went for!

 

I believe Jeff is correct. Pontiac was kind of weird on how they named some of their models. My second car was a '64 Pontiac Catalina hardtop, with the Ventura option. Right below the 'Catalina' script on the fender was a small 'Ventura' nameplate. You can see it on the fender of the car in this pic, although it's too small to read....

 

Well I just found out this car found a good home and will be heading to Montreal Canada to the home of a Pontiac Colector that seems to be tring to have 1 of each model that Pontiac Sold in 1969, this will make 8 1969 Pontiac's in his Collection.
He also found out some history on the car, turns out the original owner won a 1969 Firebird in a local contest, she wasn't really interested in a Firebird, and she was able to swap it out on anouther model up to an unknown doller amount.
The Max amountmay explain some of the odd equipment combinations on the car, such as the upgraded interior, power drum brakes, standard dog dish hub caps, and no external apearance package.

If I find out what he paid for it I will let you all know.