1959 Catalina Sedan -stored 50 years
 

Found this 1959 Catalina this summer in a West Philadelphia garage stored away since 1964. It was in pretty good shape with 40,000 miles. Still had the dealer installed clear seat covers over the original cloth interior. Perfect floors, trunk and nice quarter and rockers.

***Video on YouTube also, just search: 1959 Pontiac Catalina 50 years

Had to drag it out on 4 flats and a locked front drum, the dusty garage floor helped.
... Aired up the tires once outside ....and the tires still held air!!!
Then had it towed to my house. It took awhile to remove 50 years of dirt and I found out the top was white. My son polished the rear bumper while I did the front bumper, grilles and headlight bezels. Then onto the interior which has some mold on clear plastic covers and steering wheel. The chrome in the interior is perfect with no pitting.

Since the pictures were taken, I have installed new tires and tossed the old battery.

Not sure what would be the best way to attemp to get the car running.

Is it possible to drain the gas tank after 50 years ...or did the gas turn into something we never seen before and have possible hazards when breathing the fumes???

and ...I am sure the condensation from the cold winters affect the internal parts of the motor. Is it best to take apart the motor??? ...to make sure the original parts dont break or get damaged. I would think possibly a valve or pushrod might get damaged if attempt to start it.

Your knowledge and insight would be appreciate on what would be the best way to get this car started and running.

Pics of car getting cleaned
 

Here are the pics of how much dirt was on the car and my son doing a good job on the rear bumper.

More pics
 

Front end chrome came out nice and my son taking care of the hubcaps.

Also a look at the old battery and the original 389 2 barrel.

If the battery looks like this after 50 years ...imagine the gas inside the tank!

Awesome! What a cool find and your son must love that. Looks like it will clean up and hopefully that motor is still good to go.

Here's your Youtube video http://youtu.be/pJw3aC7aydw

I would remove the fuel tank and have it cleaned at a radiator shop or wherever you can find so it can be boiled out and cleaned. Blow out the fuel line to make sure it's clear. Replace all the rubber fuel lines and rebuild the fuel pump, you should be able to find a source for the original pump gaskets and diaphragm.

The radiator may need a recore, but you may be able to just have the tanks removed and have it rodded out. I would budget enough for a recore keeping the original tanks or a new one.

Rebuild the carb, all it should need is a carb kit installed after a good cleaning, the Rochester 2GC is a very simple unit. With only 40K miles in it I doubt anything could be worn out, it's just dirty and gunked up a bit inside.

The water pump should get a rebuild, find a place that can rebuild your original pump in Hemmings Motor News or look here on the forums. Flush the engine block to remove any chunks of rust inside the water jackets. Replace all the hoses.

Remove all the spark plugs and put some Marvel Mystery Oil in all the cylinders, let it soak for several days or more. Remove the valve covers and replace the gaskets, you can dribble some oil on the rockers and inspect the general condition of the inside of the engine this way.

After some soaking hopefully you can get the engine to turn over, using a 15/16" socket and long breaker bar or ratchet. If the engine frees up and turns okay then change the oil and filter and fire it up.

First thing to do is to try to see if the engine is free to turn after soaking, if not then it's time to remove it and carefully tear it down. All the other things mentioned need to be done no matter what.

A rebuild of the entire braking system is in order as well. If the trans is working get it warm, remove the pan, drain the old fluid and service the filter.

Nice car, I love the '59 Pontiacs. First of the Wide Track Pontiacs, first 389, first of the trademark split-grille styling.

What a great find! B-man covered most of what you need to do. The question in my mind is why has the car been parked for 50 years? If it was because the car quit running for some reason, you'll need to address whatever that was first.

I bet that gas tank looks like tar on the inside. Good find.

In the video he says that the owners had health issues and was in a wheelchair. Sounds like there was nothing wrong with the car which is great news.

Good post, and advise. I would add after spraying WD 40 in the combustion chambers and waiting a few days, put a socket and breaker bar on the crank pulley and gently rock the engine back and forth to free up and not damage the rings. I would also drop the engine oil and remove the distributor and use a tool ( I use a donor distributor with the cam gear and breaker plate removed ) to prime the engine oil system before starting.
The Catalina you have seems from the outside to be well optioned with drip rail and door window frame stainless...that stuff is hard to find. Looks like the car is painted in Royal Amethyst. Nothing like good old Magic Mirror Lacquer.
Anybody get a load of the generator pulley and fan?? Looks like it was on the bottom of the ocean with the Titanic!
Please show some pictures of the interior, GREAT FIND!

heat up the oil pan it will thin the oil and make it easier to drain.

I would also put a little bit of Mystery Oil down the carb.
I went through a similar thing a few years ago with a customer's 1959 Bonneville that had been sitting for 25 years.

[QUOTE=Nostalgic1;5312739]Found this 1959 Catalina this summer in a West Philadelphia garage stored away since 1964.
... Aired up the tires once outside ....and the tires still held air!!!
]

I tried to air up a tire on a tractor that sat in a barn for 20yrs. It blew up in my face. You got lucky! Nice find by the way.

Thank you for the great advice. I have alot of work ahead of me.

From what I got from a relative of the original owner is that he suffered a stroke, was in a wheel chair for a while and passed a way a few years later at the age of 57. His wife never sold the car because it was sentimental to her.

The radiator looks perfect..not 1 fin out of place ..I plan on flushing it thru and see what comes out first. The gas tank will be taken to Radiator shop as suggest. ..and fuel lines will be inspected closely and I will blow air on 1 end and see what comes out on the other end.

The motor is what I want to be very careful with ...with 40K miles on it ...I want to definately keep it as original as possible.

The interior ...seats are perfect ..just the plastic cover are yellowed. headliner & sunvisors are perfect and the door panels too. Only the rubber section by the drivers feet is cracked. Carpet is part carpet and part rubber mat sown in. ...I will post pics this weekend of the interior.

This is car also has the 215 HP 389 economy (Tempest 420-E) with the unique 534318 intake manifold and the 7013069 2-barrel carburetor.

Same car like I have ...Back in 1959 ..did a 2442.7 mile coast to coast road test ...which was conducted by automotive writer Jim McCahill under the supervision of NASCAR officials. Maintained an average speed of 40 mph ...and the car averaged 21.7 mpg ! Unreal.

I found the artilce / info on this link: http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...pg=3988,878213

on page 17 to the left

That is a pretty cool article indeed. At 1.5 cents per mile operating cost they calculated 21.7 mpg...a quick reverse calculation says that at the time of the test gasoline was 32.55 cents per gallon (avg)! If you had told people back then that gasoline would reach $4.00 a gallon by 2008ish their jaws would have hit the floor. lol

I sent you a return PM too.

What makes the 534318 intake manifold unique?

Does it have smaller intake runners?

I see it has the 518111 camshaft with 252 degrees of duration and a scant .324" valve lift on both intake and exhaust. The only cams with less duration came in the late model 301 engines with 248 and 250 degrees respectively, but lift was .374".

Please post as many pictures as you can of as many mechanical and body/interior details as possible when you find the time, this car is quite the time capsule and very intriguing.

The 420E carb is externally the same dimensions as the 1959-65 Tri-Power center carb. It has the same small throttle bore size and stud spacing. The manifold is machined specifically for that carb. It is correct for 1959, but will also fit 1960 economy engines. The 420E was a nice package for its intended purpose. Low (8.6:1) compression for regular gas, high axel ratio for cruising at speed, small carb, and fuel sipping cam specs. Available in any Pontiac at no extra charge, but mandatory Super HydraMatic. Excellent low end torque, but out of breath by 4000RPM......John

It would be awful tempting to change all of that and get some good numbers out of that 389.

Mileage numbers?

About as tempting a swapping that OHC-6 of yours for a V8, right? ;)

Clearly the good numbers he's looking for are MPG numbers that the economy 389 was designed to deliver. This beautiful 4-door survivor was built for economical cruising, to alter it in any way would be a crime.

Lets see...you could throw an IAII block in there with a blower out the hood...oh wait, I guess that is modifying it. lol

Nothing wrong with putting a different drivetrain in it to enjoy the car. But hopefully everything else gets carefully stored for the future. Could also use some disc brakes up front. :cool: