Post by 59bluebomber on Apr 16, 2011 23:07:40 GMT -8
This is my 1959 Pontiac Catalina 4dr Sedan. This very car was purchased new by my Great Grandfather in Dec. 1958 from Windolph Pontiac on 19th & W. Burnside. He drove it everyday until he passed away in 1984. My Brother inherited it and kept if for less than a year. Being in High School and the car not "cool" enough for him, he traded it in towards a Mazda RX-7.
It changed a few hands, repainted the same color once in the late '80's, it belonged to an actor who rented it for use the feature film "Dead by Sunset", TV show "Nowhere Man" and "Under Suspicion", all in 1995. He sold it to a woman who intended to restore it, but it languished in her driveway for almost 8 years, until I pestered her to sell it to me.
I now have it back in the family after 25 years and I am enjoying evry minute I get to drive, which is almost daily. When I found her, she was a little worse for wear, missing the original carburetor, a few spark plugs and covered in 1/4" of genuine Oregon moss! A little elbow grease and ingenuity, My Father-in-Law and I got it running with a "loaner" carburetor.
In the mean time, she found the original carb in her garage and has since been reunited to the original 389. The engine and transmission (3 Sp. Hydra-Matic) have 112,565 miles on them and have never been taken out of the car!
It now has over 115,000 on the odometer and runs & drives like (almost) new! By today's standards, it drives awful, kinda like driving your sofa down the road...it just floats, but I enjoy it so much it doesn't bother me in the least.
Hmm..I will post pics, when I figure out how to re-size them....
It changed a few hands, repainted the same color once in the late '80's, it belonged to an actor who rented it for use the feature film "Dead by Sunset", TV show "Nowhere Man" and "Under Suspicion", all in 1995. He sold it to a woman who intended to restore it, but it languished in her driveway for almost 8 years, until I pestered her to sell it to me.
I now have it back in the family after 25 years and I am enjoying evry minute I get to drive, which is almost daily. When I found her, she was a little worse for wear, missing the original carburetor, a few spark plugs and covered in 1/4" of genuine Oregon moss! A little elbow grease and ingenuity, My Father-in-Law and I got it running with a "loaner" carburetor.
In the mean time, she found the original carb in her garage and has since been reunited to the original 389. The engine and transmission (3 Sp. Hydra-Matic) have 112,565 miles on them and have never been taken out of the car!
It now has over 115,000 on the odometer and runs & drives like (almost) new! By today's standards, it drives awful, kinda like driving your sofa down the road...it just floats, but I enjoy it so much it doesn't bother me in the least.
Hmm..I will post pics, when I figure out how to re-size them....
