Projects Barn find - 1964 Pontiac Catalina 421 early custom car

I thought I'd share a few of the early photos of the car, just after Bob had some mild custom work done. As you can see he has it sitting next to an unmodified 64 Pontiac Convertible so you can see the subtle differences in the two cars.

 

Thanks for the comments, yes it sucks about Bob, but I'm hoping he improves even if it's slow progress. I'll be back in Minnesota in a couple of weeks and will have a proper update with new photos.

 

These are scans of scans that Bob gave to Tom (who I bought the car from), they are date as 1968, I'm not sure which show this is, but it must have been just after it was painted as there is no black lace, just straight lavender painted by Jon Kosmoksi of House of Kolor.

 

Sorry for the quality of the photos, but at least I have photos of the car and can track it's history and custom changes over the first few years. You can see the bucket seat Bob made for the car. The original bench seat was thrown away, he then built these very upright bucket seats (which look very uncomfortable), apparently these were dumped as well.
There is no custom paint on the nose or the inner door jams too (I think this was added by Bob at a later date).

 

...when he had the bucket seats in the car he fitted this 60's Chevy 4 speed manual console. It was still in the car when I bought it and in near mint condition. I'm not sure which car it came from , but I'm sure someone will tell me.
I forgot to mention I also have the wood grain inserts for the console as they were never fitted.

 

Final photo, here is a copy of the build sheet on the car.

 

The only thing that would worry me on one of these is rust in the frame. The '64 Gran Prix I had and parted out years ago, the frame was rusted clean through on the left side under the rear seat. If it wasn't for that, the car was not bad and could have been saved, although when I parted it I found the quarters had been redone once before it was parked in like 1971. (I cut those spears out with the idea of maybe using them on another car).

But that's New York and it was an everyday car that then sat flat on the ground for 40 years. I wouldn't expect this car to have major issues like that.


I like the idea of going back to lavender with the lace inserts, it's different that way and represents an era there's not a lot out there from these days.

 

Thanks for the comments, we've had the car on a lift and surprisingly there is no rot on the frame, the only rot seems to be on the front and rear fenders, bottom of the doors as shown in the photos. There is surface rust on the floors, with just a couple of pin holes that can be repaired but it's not all rotted out...the trunk floor is good too.
I'm going to replace the doors with rust free doors as it will save a lot of work.
We are going to see if Jon Kosmoski remember the colour spec for the car or at least can match the old House of Kolor Lavender.

 

Mid 60's Caprice console IIRC. Rare in 4 speed configuration.

 

Great, that's exactly what I was hoping for...someone to recognise the console. It looks to be a 1966 Caprice 4 speed manual console...good to know. Thanks chevy57dude.

 

Yes, that console is very, very cool.

 

How have I missed this thread? Way cool find! I am sorry to hear about Bob not doing well. I'm sure he would've enjoyed seeing you bring his car back to life. My first car was (still is...still have it) a '64 Marimba red convertible I have yet to ever finish, but will be watching yours with great interest. Even though I am not a fan of the particular shade of lavender (but hey, I have a lavender car, so there you go LOL), I'd totally do just as you are and put it back with the full lace job. I'd pick the time close to when that job was finished, I think that's the cleanest look without all the extra striping. To help make your job easier a bit, wood grain trim on the dash was available in '64 and I'm pretty sure it is reproduced if you need to replace what you have. Someplace like AMES Performance should have it.

 

Hope Bob gets better. I appreciate all the history and the big names associated with the car, and it should go back lavender and all, but a big red tin Indian with a 421/4 speed bombing the 1/4 mile is hard to beat in my book. Best of luck with a great save.

 

I grew up in Minneapolis in the 50's and 60's and went to all the Farner car shows. But I do not remember seeing that car. We used to drive by Kosmoski's shop just to see what was parked in front.

 

Thanks for the comment and I agree with you on the red, if it had been any other paint job I would have gone back to the original red, but given the history of the car and it was painted twice by House of Kolor, I think it deserves to be restored to that mid to late 60's custom look...besides how many lavender with black lace cars do you see these days ;-)

 

That's a shame you didn't see the car back when it was first shown, but thanks for the reply anyway. I'm looking forward to finding out more about the car the more I investigate.

 

Glad you found the post and thanks for the comments. Yes, I wish him well to...I'm hoping he gets better over time. so you still have your original Marimba red 64, hopefully it will be back on the road again one of these days. Good to know I'm doing the right thing with the lavender and black lace. I also agree with you on the extra striping, I have an idea of how the car should look...I think in those days if you wanted to show the car then you might think about adding little bits each year just to make it different to the year before...but I'll make sure it looks just right.

 

Yup, still have it. Here it is the day I got it back in '84 right out of high school. As far as I ever got with it was to get a couple bad paint jobs stripped off and down to metal, shaved the handles and trim, lowered down closer to where it goes and started a white tuck and roll interior on '65 T-bird seats. Was my everyday/only car all the way through college, dental school and residency. Yes, it ended up in lavender primer....LOL. Got broadsided (the body shop did a poor repair with rusty panels) in dental school and then rear ended a couple years later. It has sat for 25 years waiting to get all new sheet metal in the back to fix all the damage. Last pic is how it stands now the day it got back from John Meyer @clean cut creations after he expertly rebuilt the entire back end of the car. After all this time, everything I did way back when needs redone, so I'm just going to tear it all the way down to a frame off and start over. In the end, it will be some combo of panel painting, lace, etc. in cranberry reds similar to the original marimba and pearl whites with the pearl white t&r interior. Funny enough, I have the original invoice from the dealership and it came from Bellflower, CA not too far from the late, great Larry Watson, so really, how else can I build the car?

 

...and you said you didn't like lavender...lol...well I hate to say the obvious, but that's a pretty lavender convertible you had ;-)
Sounds like you have the restoration all planned out, I look forward to seeing the final car...good luck with all the work.

 

LOL....I didn't say I don't like lavender, I said I wasn't a fan of that particular SHADE.... My '50 Chevy is also lavender....LOL Carry on....

 

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That color under the tach looks like a real nice color, actually. I guess when you factor in old faded pictures and faded paint, it's in poor taste of me to decide I'm not a fan of a color I can't actually see. I should better assume Jon Kosmoski would certainly have picked a great color in the first place.


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Nice chevy, dr. Dave.

 

Thanks, although I can claim no credit. Built by Myron Dybing in Detroit Lakes, MN. He did everything except for the interior upholstery, although he and his wife upholstered the trunk. Great little car and I'm enjoying the heck out of it.

 

Thankfully that God awful lace is no longer on the car. That was Fugly. The only lace I like is on women's panties.

Gary

 

You'll be happy to hear the lace will be going back on the car when it's restored.


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I thought I would share a quick update. There was a benefit for Bob (the owner that did all the custom work) several months ago to raise money. Bob asked what the progress was like on the car I had bought, he was told that I was going to restore it back to its show car glory..
When he was told this he lit up like a Christmas tree and that's all he wanted to talk about.
So I should be able to sit down with him and talk to him about the car because this seemed to brighten his day tremendously. He is now in a wheel chair for life after the accident but is back home and getting stronger each day.
I'll be going back over in June or July to meet him and talk about the car, so I'll keep you all posted.

 

sorry I missed thread.... Great to read your going to put it back to it's old show glory...

 

I've been a little slow to update since the last post but life has a habit of getting in the way (new job and move to a new country). But I'm glad to say work has started on the car again. It was pulled out of dry storage last week and taken to a friends house so we could use his lift to pull the motor and trans out of the car.
The frame is covered in dust and dirt, but still looks solid...we won't know the real condition until the body is lifted off the frame and it's jet washed and media blasted.

But the 49,000 miles on the dash is looking more like 149,000 once we saw the condition inside the engine. No matter it's going to have a full rebuild.

Looking at the hood tach I've been doing some research and was told it was similar to a Dixco hood tach, I've found two possible place that can restore the tach. I think you could buy this from JC Penny, Sears or a good auto store.