[north]

Looking more carefully I think it’s just a black rattle can detailing of the engine bay.

[mgarblik]

Congrats on the car. I don't mind fender skirts . They look kind of sleek on the mid 60's big cars. I had a 66 2+2 convertible I drag raced in NMCA with skirts on. That got allot of snickers back in the day.

[scottydl]

^^ Those sleepers are great! And is that the 8-lug wheels with spinners? Love em.

Originally Posted by north

Those nosepieces came in three varieties from the factory….
This car will use my last spare. On one car I used an NOS one that was in the trunk in its GM box when I bought it, another my body man (a rodder at heart) fabricated one with sheet metal that looks 100%. The others all have good used ones I’ve found over the years on eBay.

Well hit me up if you ever run across another one… that you don’t need for YOUR collection, that is.

[Stuart]

I like skirts on some other years, but I'm ambivalent about them on a '69...either way is okay, just don't throw them away if you take them off.

[north]

Finally got the new Catalina home two weeks ago. 2022 isn’t the year to ship anything!

Car is exactly as expected. Legit clean car, hit free and rust free except it will need a small (half a dollar bill sized) patch at the bottom of the right rear wheel well. No holes or bodywork but some bubbles in the paint indicating some pine holes underneath. Funny that my other Cat convertible had the same thing in identical spot, both right side only (dirty outer side of the road?). Undercarriage and in the trunk are beautiful original with zero rust, obviously garaged all its life and never saw salt.

Interior is really nice and 100% factory down to the carpet. No rips, tears or cracks anywhere. Needs a good cleaning though. Needs the regular electrical service for the clock, radio and rebuild of the speakers. I’ve got the original rear speaker and grille but I’ll have to weld up and recover the left armrest to deal with the aftermarket speaker in there now.

Runs well but will need the regular going through (carb refresh, tune up, etc. I ordered a new Waldron exhaust system to get rid of the “wheelbarrow handles” set up that’s on it now. Tires are new and car sits perfectly so hopefully not too much front end stuff needed.

Top is a very old replacement but is still works well, looks good and fits really well (something I can’t seem to get done properly around here).

Paint is cheap old shoot but body is so straight it will look nice with a good polish. I’ve got a good nose that needs some burgundy paint and I’ve got a straight set spare bumper horizontal supports that should address the wonky bumper on the car now.

Funny how the bumper is bent out on the ends but there is zero body work in the fenders.. must have banged the nose in and they yanked it out but didn’t deal with the pushed out ends. If the frame brackets and the horizontal supports are straight the chrome bumper itself is thin enough that it will conform and be straight.

Overall quite happy with the car.

[north]

Interestingly the brackets for the fender skirts on this car are welded on rather than bolted on like on my other cars. Clearly factory done, wheel opening areas are still factory paint and zero rust.

Perhaps it’s a plant thing? This car is Arlington built and my two other skirt cars are Southgate built. Also the two others are early and this one is late build.

All three are factory installed (other two are Bonnie’s-standard equipment and this car has them on the PHS

[north]

Just completed what I wanted to do with this car and after 18 months, it’s finally got its first wash! Went through the basic mechanicals, it didn’t need much, things, like carb overhaul, brake work, tuneup, and the Waldron exhaust set up.

I remove the front bumper and straightened the bumper under structure and installed a freshly painted nose piece. Otherwise, I didn’t touch anything else body wise. Paint is an old lacquer reshoot. And it was a cheap job probably when I was done but because the body is straight it’s still presents nicely.

I then dug into my spare parts stash and added a bunch of options like I often do. Aesthetically the main difference is that I replace the deluxe wheel covers with a set of custom wheel covers. After that I added an eight track., A tilt wheel with a custom sport wheel and the trio of interior power options. Luckily, I had a set of convertible shoulder belts that I had parted out of a bonnie 30 years ago that finally went to good use.

Car drives very nice, surprisingly solid ride for a convertible.

[SD455DJ]

Very nice North! You have an amazing collection of '69's!

Dennis

[bdk1976]

Awesome - looks great!

[Gator67]

What a great looking car, congrats!

[north]

She’s definitely a 20 footer but in a way I prefer them that way. No door ding stress!

I can’t help but think what a great value these cars are. A GTO in the same condition would have pulled triple the money and even a LeMans or 350 Firebird ragtop would pull nearly double. As a guy who has a few of each A, F and B cars I have to admit the B’s are my favorite. So nice and smooth riding and they have a relaxed demeanor to them that spreads to the driver.

[Mark Simiele]

Nice John and love the added options. Good luck with it.

[north]

The good and bad of Pontiac engineering...

The right front side marker bulb gave up the ghost. Not a fun reach! I did manage to get my arm up far enough to pull the socket down and put in a new bulb. Unfortunately the new bulb slipped out of the socket somehow as I was trying to twist lock it into the housing. Bulb fell into the housing! The only way to get at it was to remove the bumper!! Luckily the valance opening is wide enough on the B bodies (unlike the A bodies) that you can easily get at the lower two bolts and reach the upper 4. Ten minutes to remove and maybe 30 minutes to reinstall (due to fiddling with the fitment). Actually pretty easy but still hard to believe you have to remove the bumper to get at a bulb!