Hello From Central Ohio

Hola to all. I was raised climbing around under the hood of 50's and 60's cars as my dad and his friend worked on cars on the weekend to raise money for the family on the east side of Cleveland. I would call myself a collector, more of a preserver and lover of these old machines. In addition to the car I'll tell you about, I own a numbers matching real-deal 1964 Chevy Impala SS, red/red, 4-spd, 327/300hp, the "widow maker" no power anything and a metal dash! Also own a barn-find all original 34,000 mile, second owner 1958 Cadillac Series 62 Extended Deck, which will hit the road next spring.

This car is a 1966 Pontiac Catalina Wagon, a real survivor with 65,000 miles. It lived most of it's life at Dennis Pontiac in Columbus, Ohio, where it sat inside as the "Parts Delivery Wagon"...basically sat there and looked good and got worked on by the dealership. It started life as a 389 2bbl car, but was upgraded by the dealership (with real dated Pontiac stuff) to a 389 tri-power, cam, headers...the whole works. Ended up with a real muscle wagon.

I just picked her up a couple weeks ago, did a complete brake job Saturday and cruised on Sunday. Lots of looks...great survivor.

The only problem I have is the rear lift gate is stuck closed...I'll post on that later.

 

Nice lookin' Poncho! Welcome bearinthechair!

 

WOW! That poncho looks amazing. Do you have interior pics too? aboard glad you found us, thanks for joining.

 

What's a "Poncho"? Thanks!

I have to take interior pics for insurance anyway...I'll post a few soon.

 

Nice looking wagon Bearinthechair! Great to have you join us here.

 

It's a nickname they give the Pontiacs. :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

Cool wagon! Love the history behind it. Welcome aboard!

 

That is a neat wagon! Cant wait to see more pics!

 

Nice looking Poncho wagon. Will the rear glass go down? You won't be able to lower the tailgate tif the glass won't go down first.

 

Welcome bearinthechair!

 

Welcome to the Nuthouse we call home. Great collection of cars you have. That Pontiac is really something, too. If the tailgate window is rolling down all the way, but the gate is still not able to drop, there is likely a trip latch inside the gate that is not being release to allow the handle to operate. I don't know for sure that G.M. used one. I know Ford did, and it only makes sense, so that the gate won't drop with the window partly closed. Having that glass hanging there, unprotected would be just a little dangerous, after all. You may have to take the inner panel off and lubricate everything to make it operate as designed. I'm sure one of the other Pontiac owners around here will be able to give you the low down on exactly what you need to do to make it work properly. There are a few of them here.

 

Got Her Fixed

Hey, thanks for all the well wished. Got the tailgate fixed! Everything works on this car, even the seatbelt retractors! Amazing time-capsule of a car. Found documentation in the back well of a full-on performance upgrade done early in it's life at the dealership...Real Pontiac Tri-power, high rise intake manifold, headers, mild cam, little bit of internal engine work. This baby is a bonified BEAST...so cool. We'll do a dual-master cylinder conversion on her this winter, and I'm driving it!

 

Welcome dude Nice Wagon

 

yano...thats a interesting question in itself...heck its even my buddy's nickname because he's owned so many Pontiacs !
I may have to research it...seeing that in my 50bla bla years on this planet...Ive never bothered to explore its origin.....but I digress

beautiful aquisition !!!!
and Bear