Quote:
Originally Posted by U47
Well, never say never. Harley Earl's wife's special ordered 1959 Catalina with a mostly Bonneville interior and factory buckets. see the link;
http://www.barrett-jackson.com/stagi...terior_Web.jpg
Although my dad's special ordered 59 Catalina didn't have buckets, it did have a tri-tone Bonneville interior along with a 420A with a solid lifter cam ( in the trunk at delivery ) and hand built in the Pontiac tool room like all nascar engines were, plus a heavy duty Super Hydramatic with external oil cooler.
Most, if not all Pontiac dealers in the L.A. area (west coast for that matter) had cars that were made in South Gate CA. Our car was ordered at A.E. England Pontiac in Hollywood CA., but was built in Michigan because of the engine and shipped by rail to the west coast. After six years of my dad racing it, it was handed over to me at the age of fourteen ( got my IHRA licence driving it ) and my regular licence in 1967 in it. I sold the car in 1969 and in 1978 went looking for it to restore. Sadly, I missed it by three months as it went to Clean Steel in Wilmington and was shredded. In my picture book on the car the first page is a picture of me in front of it with the dealer plates, and the last page is a copy of the affidavit from clean Steel stating it's date of demise. |
I have seen that car.
One other thing to remember is that NOTHING was written in stone back then! That Bonneville Vista could have been built for some PMD Executive. If you look under the car, you will be able to tell if the buckets were added.