It’s hard to imagine a plainer looking 1979 Pontiac Catalina that this specimen in suburban Chicago, Illinois. With dog dish hub caps, brown paint, minimal trim, and not so much as a right side mirror, the Pontiac looks as basic and forgettable as they come, and everyone knows that cars from the mid-’70s to mid-’80s are notoriously gutless and weak. Put it all together and this plain brown wrapper is the perfect hiding place for a 468 cubic inch big block Chevrolet “rat” motor! The engineering of this unlikely butt-kicking Pontiac runs deeper, though. Aggressive gears, a stall converter, and sticky tires guarantee this beast launches hard. The listing here on craigslist asks $10,500, which could reasonably be stated as $5000 for a decent Catalina and $5000 for the killer engine, plus some extra thrown in for making it all work. Thanks to reader Mitchell G. for spotting this suburban street assassin.
The tidy engine bay may have been designed for a V8, but nothing larger than an Oldsmobile 403 cid (6.6L) unit. The (presumably stroked 454 cid / 7.4L) Chevrolet motor looks right at home in there. Only the headers suggest anything resembling a clearance issue. Thanks to Wikipedia for some details.
Despite the rust-belt address, this GM appears to have held up well over its reported 85,000 miles. That paint looks great and is almost certainly not original. The giant ’70s chrome bumpers show well too. A new fuel tank with a sump and electric pump guarantees plenty of fuel to feed the hungry rat under the hood. Mickey Thompson Drag Radials hide nicely under the stock wheel wells.
A basic interior with bench seat and crank windows completes the unassuming look. The 3000 RPM stall converter and 4.10 gears will make it hard to blend innocuously into traffic, but few of today’s performance cars will keep up when this big Poncho launches from idle. Personally I’d want an overdrive and lower stall to lower highway RPMs and leverage the no-doubt-prodigious torque, respectively, but this hard-hitting drag-style setup would be a barrel of fun as it sits. What victims would you stalk with this suburban sleeper?
Not much of a sleeper anymore , in a sea of silver jellybeans this boxy brown beast would stick out like a sore thumb !
Looks like a 403 police package, and the color is right. I was a working police chief at that time and I saw 3 come into the sheriff’s fleet 2 4 doors and one two door. When I saw this I thought “I wonder if this came from southern Minnesota” Because those 3 were the only 1979 Pontiac police package’s I saw from 1977 to 1987 and as a Chief of three city’s I was all over the state for classes. The 403 was a gutless car that could not run as fast as the ford P72 351 or the Dodge 360 or the Nova 9C1 Chevy 350 in fact in 1977 my Chiefs car was a off the lot Impala with the 305 and it ran 7 MPH faster than the 77 Cantilena. The S.O. used the 403’s from 1977 to 1979.
The Blues brothers could of used this one for putting the-band together and It also had a cigarette lighter.
I would definitely add a side mirror on the car and open up a fuel / petrol rewards card to at least get points earned filling up between stations.
Hmm maybe add those police push bumpers on front to clear traffic 🤔😂👀
Passenger side mirror quite unnec – looking over your right shoulder(& this car has great visibility all around, unlike most modern tiny window/rear end high up in the air “cars”) IMO is safer than trusting an “objects appear [is it ] closer or farther!! … blah blah blah” passenger mirror, unless you do a lot of parallel parking & want to see the curb – i just gently nudge the curb & take it from there.
The Moroso name under the bumper comin out of the gas tank is hardly subtle.
& any cop mite pull you over when they see the 2 flowmasters with no tailpipes underneath – & if in California – land of CARB, you could be in for REALLY big trouble with this ’79. lol
Can i assume the 350 trans has been built properly to host a big block?
My hearts a flutter. I’m in love.
De-chrome that motor, make it look stock and fool some of the millennial crowd.
You could fool the millennial crowd with a drawing of a motor.
Wow that’s a neat car. Only thing I would add besides a passenger-side mirror is white letter tires to go with those poverty caps. You need to give the poor schlub in the ‘80s Camaro at the stop light at least a small hint of what is to come!
Is anyone else disappointed that the builder chose a Chevrolet engine over a Pontiac 455?
Yeah, plenty of room for a 500 cubic inch Cadillac engine to keep it in the GM family!
Way more speed parts for Chevy at a lot less cost than Pontiac builds
NO 😁 Only way to make a Pontiac go fast
I’ve got a 79 Bonneville that is the same color, similar interior that has a sick 301 in it! I was wanting to swap it out with a built 455! Wanted to keep it looking stock with the exception of dual exhaust! I had a 65 Catalina that was a real sleeper!!!😁
Keep your Pontiac all Pontiac. Sell the Chevy and put the proceeds toward a big inch Pontiac.
Not at all …. Why waste a hard come by Poncho 455 when the former owner of a v-tec finds himself wrapped around a tree leaving Cars & Coffee.
I did not know they made a late model 2-door Catalina. This would be great to go Porsche hunting-but only in a straight line, ha-ha.
Not too many were made , nearly all were 4 doors or wagons. I had a 78 Delta 88 2 door and I think it was the only one I ever saw .
Yeah, they’re rare. I daily a ’79 Delta 88 2-door with a blown 370-inch LS motor, a 4-speed auto, and a 3:89 True-Trac in a Ford 9″ rear.
I had a 77 Delta Coupe with a Chevy under the hood great car.
Late model?? It’s 41 years old!
As unassuming in looks as they come; you could fool a few at red lights unless they hear it idle–no mistaking the big block’s rumble. The interior is especially plain, just as Pontiac built it in `79. If the owner swapped out the bench for a pair of buckets & console, he’d lose the ‘sleeper’ factor & give it away!
The barnfinds author is really getting more hyped about this car than the seller!
This is not a “presumably stroked 454” this is simply a .60 over rebuild. Since a 496 stroker crank was out of budget i bet this is some stock head rebuild, not as hot as you might think, especially since a th350 was used with no mention of any mods to it (so 350ftlbs of max torque?). 4.11s with th350 gives a very short, bus like first gear and a low cruising speed (i get 12mpg in my vette with this trans and diff combo, and thats on a 350 small block)
Its in my neck of the woods and i like it a lot but not 10grand like it! It would need a different trans. And there are Zero details on the engine so i belive there is nothing great going on there.
I also had a 78 Delta 88 two door. Dark green with the black vinyl top. I’d post a picture but I’m not a member. Whomp whomp…☹
God I love cars like this. That looks like hilarious fun, and well thought out as well.
Now it needs a nickname….anyone?
Cataleaveya
Looks like a “Vern” to me.
The Brown Bomber
Turd Ferguson?
Ratalina (Chevy Rat motor, get it?).
Kentucky Hot Brown
It’s a little *too* plain-jane for a true sleeper. I’d probably look for some original wheel covers and body side moldings for it, and source some period-correct-ish white stripe tires when the existing ones wear out (which could be a matter of weeks with that power)
I mean, it’d still be one of two ’77-79 Catalinas in town (the other one being an ice blue four-door whose owner’s a regular customer of mine).
Nice. If its as clean as it looks, and the drivetrain is solid, its worth what they are asking, especially in the rust belt, imo. have a 79 Malibu with a 468 as well. M/T valve covers, Holley 750 dp and Edelbrock intake. Stock cast iron manifolds as the swap headers were too expensive new. (I have since found a set of Hookers used for $200.) Cowl induction hood for clearance. I kinda wish i had installed it with stock valve covers carb and intake for the stock “look”. Im running a 200 4r (so far so good) and an 8.5” out of a 442 with 3.73 posi. Perfect gear combo, imo.
Nice. Might not be able to build one for that price. Looks well planned and executed. A lot of fun for a reasonable price. And show those punks in their imports some real American Muscle.
Hey you punk kids, get off my lawn!
the gear set and stall convertor plus the single plain intake with the proper cam this could be a rocket, kinda looks like one of those projects that went to far and now belongs at the dragstrip.
This is how gear heads built rods back in the day. I love it.
Gearheads still build rods like this today!
“Now listen heah, you some-b*tch. Smokey is on your tail.” Isn’t this a 2 dr version of the cop car Jackie Gleason drove chasing Burt Reynolds and Sally Field? By the end of Smokey and the Bandit, his Catalina sedan had no roof, one door missing, and most of its suspension torqued from running over railroad tracks and washboard roads.
Yes and no – The first movie car was a 77 Lemans . Thats the one that had the roof chopped off. In the second movie he drove a Bonneville 4 door , which is basically the same platform as this Catalina.
Stopped reading at “Chevrolet”
Gee.
Remove the rat from its hole, dispose of the carcass, Add a 555 CI all aluminum Pontiac and I’d be good to go! Fast that is.
Reminds me of the 2 door LTD Burt Reynolds drove in Gator. I think it had a 429 4 speed.
Car in movie Gator driven buy Burt was 1971 Ford Galaxy 500 4 door sedan.
look close next time his ford has a 4 speed in one and a automatic in one. I’m sure they went through a few cars.
Look real close and car has shifter on column and stickshift in same car!
I had a 77 Olds 88 2 door that came from the factory with a 350 4bbl. 4 bolt main Chevy . That was the car that started the lawsuits against GM for selling cars with a different divisions motor . I loved that car , it ran better than a 403 Olds motor did , I had one of them too . I put 3.55 gears in the 10 bolt rear , a mild cam and dual exhaust with Thrush glasspacks and surprised alot of IROC Camaros and 5.0 Mustangs back in the eighties . I wish it was closer to me .
Greetings all BARNFINDers!….I just want to point out that all torque converters have a ” stall” speed, this is the RPM at which they lock up. Modified engines often need/use a ” high stall” converter locking up at a higher RPM…..COOL car but it didn’t need a ” rodent engine ” in it! Pontiac’s can be made to run well also!
Well he’s seems to have built this well looking at how the the wiring has routed and the tidiness of the engine bay but I agree an O/drive would make it more agreeable to drive to the track
Nice car, good job and love the color! Code 63 camel tan same as my 1978 Gmc Caballero.
Got to thinking about this one, like the build and all that stealthy appearance and that’s my problem with it. Those too young to remember these when they were new won’t give it a second glance , those of us who do will know it’s armed and dangerous. As stated in one of the comments above it’s too plain, on purpose so to speak, and hearing the engine rattling away through a pair of Flowmasters or whatever it has is a dead giveaway.
It would, to me anyways, be more of a “sucker” run or hustler if it had cheapy mags maybe two different styles, raised white letter tires, some sort of stripes, Grant steering wheel, and a quiet exhaust thru full tailpipes. That sort of thing. Kids will chuckle at the so called fugazi performance car, older dudes will think it’s a doggy 403 in wolf’s clothing. Let em have it then, fake mustache, members only jacket and all, not by much or everyone will find out. A sleeper only remains one until word gets out that darn lunch bag colored Pontiac is hiding something special. Later!
That’s the nickname for the car, as discussed above – “lunch bag”.
I’d like to see if there was a hidden shot of nitrous hidden in the trunk. I bet that car would scream with if.
I have a car similar to this one. Mine is a 77 4 door sedan with a 469 CI Pontiac engine with KRE aluminum heads, factory style HO aluminum intake, Ram Air IV cam and HO style exhaust manifolds. It has the Corp. 10 bolt Safety T Track with 3:23 gears and a Turbo 400 with a 2800 stall converter. It still has all the options it left the factory with including A/C, power steering, brakes etc. and cruises comfortably down the highway at 70 MPH and runs 12.20s in the quarter mile. Have lots of fun winning many races at the local racetracks here in north Texas.
Really, what’s the use of having a 5k boob job on an ugly girlfriend ! ?
I dig it. I don’t care if it’s not a Poncho motor. They were all corporate mitts by this time anyway. I might paint the rims body color though, as this would’ve been built in true poverty spec…you know this had those shower drain wheel covers!!! Surprised it didn’t get hacked up for roundy-rounds back in the ‘90s. Would be even better with the AC plumbed back in and a Gear Vendors overdrive.