[marks73ta]

Been holding back until I had more stuff to tell. I had a '73 trans Am that through all it's fazes ended at a 1065 hp turbocharged 462. Aron Kerner from Delaware called me one day, we settled on a price and now it's boppin' around Delaware. This was the first time I've ever had money to do a complete car/engine/drivetrain build all at once. Sooo. My heart has always been in full sized DArksider Pontiacs. Have owned a '64 CAt 2dr sedan and a '63 Cat Ventura 2dr coupe in my past. And always loved them. I always loved and wanted to build a gasser. So I felt that a '60 Catalina gasser would look fantastic. But fell into a deal on a completely rust free (other than a few surface scratches ) '63 Catalina 2dr coupe.
with full solid rust free floors, rockers, everything. I little surface rust under the roof to body trim but just surface.

rust free floors etc,. The trunk had an old carpet laying in it which held a little moisture so the trunk floor is really good except for a small patch on the right side where there is surface rust but one small pin hole. Otherwise fully solid.
So the gasser will be made out of the '63. I do not believe anyone has ever built a '63 full size gasser since the smaller tempests were much more attractive and dare I say---LIGHTER---. So this is new waters. Right now I'm waiting for Sunday to bring the car into the chassis guy to have a '57 chevy truck front beam axle conversion put in.

This will eventually be converted to disc brakes and 4 3/4 front bolt circle.
Once that is done I will be cutting the firewall and moving the motor back and then I will tie all the front sheetmetal together and make a one piece tilt front end.
The motor will be a twin or big sinlge ( yet to be determined) turbocharged '60 389 block bored .090 to 406. I have Ross light wt. dished forged pistons. I just received my GRP aluminum rods I bought a new Ohio forged 3.75 stroke crank
for the build. I'll be getting the 3 splayed 4 bolt caps as soon as I know the block is good to go. The block is with Paul Carter down in Tucson. He is sonicing it and cleaning it for all further machining. We are going to cryo the block, all the parts to the block an all the transmission internals as well.
I'm making a trans adpater out of an All POntiacs midplate to adapt a 4L80 to the early blocks . I bought a set of KRE alum heads from Troy Tribby (he is upgrading) tha tflow 3.25 cfm and all set up and ready for a roller valvetrain. I just have to determine what that roller will be as the build goes along.
Just playing around I put on my slots and slicks that I used on the TA on the '63 to get a visual for a gasser look.

So this is where I am at the moment. Once I get the front axle on I can start really going on the body. I will probably narrow the original rear so I can fit 10 inch rims and bigger tires for the street and nicer slicks for the track. This will be a little different but that is where I live. A lot of others are going for the Super Stock look and I love that too. Just always wanted a gasser and I love the full size Pontiacs. This will be a 1 of none build. Well let me have it. Mark L