There were always a few things about the car that I just could never figure out. First of all, what the heck was up with that rake? Even at the Pontiac dealer where it was purchased, the damned car stood out from the rest of the cars in that sea of Parisiennes because of it's high back-end. I always thought it was cool, but to this day I have yet to see another Parisienne with exactly the same stance. At first I thought it was the performance suspension, but I've seen plenty of Caprices and Parisiennes with the performance suspension and they all have a pretty flat attitude. In fact, I've always found that the mid 80s B car (Caprice/Parisienne) tended to look like the front end was riding too high, and showing too much open space between the front wheel and the top of the wheel opening. Whatever...
Some books claims a THM2004R was used in these cars, others claim a THM700-R4 was the transmission used. When it came time to perform a filter and fluid change, a kit for the THM700-R4 had to be used, due to the fact that the two transmissions use different shapes of oil pans. Supposedly the early 700's were not as strong as the later updated models (updated in 1987 and perhaps 1989, eventually renamed 4L60 and later adapted for electronic shift control in the 4L60-E).
Putting the car side by side with another Parisienne of the same year and same options, this particular car showed a very different arc of movement of the front wheels. Not only was the attitude of the wheel different at full lock (shown in the above photo), but the wheels actually turned farther into the turn. This made for a car that would actually jerk back and forth during a tight low speed turn (such as a U-turn) due to the tires breaking traction repeatedly because of the excessive angles. Another response not seen in other Parisiennes.
Finally, once the engine WOKE UP in late 1987, it began exhibiting all sorts of behavior such as chirping the tire(s) on the 1st-2nd shift at Wide Open Throttle, and barking the tire(s) loose by standing on the gas pedal at 25 kph. All this from the "lowly" LG4 5.0l? Sometimes I wonder if an L69 long block somehow made it onto the assembly lines for the Parisienne by mistake. It's true that sales of the L69 were not as great in 1985 and 1986 so perhaps they tried to get rid of their excess stock? Could there have been a shortage of LG4s? (Most of the 1982-1986 T/As I've seen have the LG4 in them). I wish I could have done more research before the car was long gone...