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Estate Rescue: 1966 Pontiac Catalina

It seems some people have all the luck, as this 1966 Pontiac Catalina survivor was an estate sale find. Although this one has sat for a few years, it is still a real beauty, and appears to have only covered 84,000 miles in its lifetime. After collecting this sweet estate sale find the seller is looking to move this one along to a new home. Bidding has reached $6,350 with the reserve unmet. Find it here on ebay out of Concord, Virginia.

Despite being covered in a layer of dust, you can see that this Catalina is a very nice condition car. The extremely clean, and well painted V8 does not run, but the engine turns over by hand. 30 seconds with an air hose and some compressed air would clean this beauty up in nothing flat. The only eye sore in the engine bay is the rusty brake booster, and master cylinder. Beyond that, this Pontiac looks mint under the hood.

Looking inside of this Pontiac reveals a nice interior that is just short of being excellent. Obviously the front bench seat has some condition issues, but the rest of the interior is very nice. It is a shame that the front seat suffered damage, as the rest of the front seat is in nice shape. All of the coloring in the interior is vibrant and fade free. The only other concern is all of the dirt and leaves in the interior. Granted a vacuum will solve this issue, but it just seems strange that there is so much evenly dispersed amongst the interior, as if a door was left open for length of time. Although dirty, the loop pile carpet does look excellent with no obvious fraying or wear. One aspect that I am not in love with, is that there are aftermarket speakers installed in the front kick panels. I am all for good music in a classic, but I refer a hidden and stock like appearance.

Even though the paint looks a little odd in the photos, it appears that this Catalina was dusty all over and then saw a light rain. The paint looks nice but there is some question about what is, or is not, original paint. It would seem that most of the car wears original paint, but the wiper cowl has been repainted. Rust appears to be nonexistent on this one, which is fantastic. The body is straight, and the chrome emits a mirror like shine. Clean and beautiful, this Pontiac will likely be on the road once more after a little work and time. What do you think this Catalina will sell for?

Comments

  1. Avatar rmward194 Member

    What a beautiful car. Love everything about it including the fender skirts.

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  2. Avatar Blindmarc

    Haven’t seen a 2 door one in years. Nice ride…..

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  3. Avatar redwagon

    very nice car, lovely styling, great color, looks very original down to the blue pontiac vinyl carpet covers. would love to get a bit of that 389 action even with the auto. about the only undesirable thing would be the full frame door. it would look nicer as a pillarless coupe. o, and as long as im dreaming let’s make the interior a different color, black or white. still a lovely car, wish it was in my garage.

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  4. Avatar Jeffro

    It takes up space in 2 time zones!

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  5. Avatar John

    I sold my running, original 66 grand prix with a/c 6 years ago for 9k. My top prediction for this 7200. I will be interested to see if I am as out of touch with the market as I think I am

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    • Avatar Adam T45 Staff

      Bad news for you on that front my friend. It’s at 8 grand with 3 days to go! It’s nice to know that there are others like me in the world.

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  6. Avatar Tom Evans

    Coupes like this are rare. I had a 66 GTO coupe, not a hardtop, less wind noise and a stronger more rigid body overall. I’d like to see the production numbers on that one. Also no mention of engine size. 421?

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    • Avatar Utes

      Of course there’s no “engine mention”…..If you’re a Pontiac guy you know why. If not, your answer’s below from “redwagon”.

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  7. Avatar redwagon

    I believe the base engine was a 389. iirc the 421 came with additional badging on the grill and front quarters behind the wheelwells. and i do not see either.

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  8. Avatar Anthony Rodrigues

    This body style 5211 was the lowest production body style for all 66 full size Pontiacs with only 7925 produced Pretty unique car with the custom wheel covers and skirts. I assume the original purchaser wanted a two door, but not a hardtop. This Catalina was the only full size two door sedan.

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  9. Avatar 68 custom

    First the kick panels are a great place to install speakers, that is were the factory installed them during those years.
    I really like that this one is not a hardtop very uncommon.
    all it needs is a set of eight lugs!
    I bet it would be quite easy to get it running though I would replace the lousy nylon timing gear…

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    • Avatar Utes

      @ 68 custom……
      Only the OHC 6 had nylon timing CHAIN’s, not gears.

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      • Avatar Anthony

        The pontiac ohc 6 had metal gears and a timing belt. The v8’s had a timing chain but the gears were nylon coated to reduce noise and the nylon would get brittle and break off. Pontiac used that up through 1970

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  10. Avatar CJay

    Great car.
    I’m much happier to see the kick panels cut for the speakers rather than the door panels!
    Great find , but too echo other people thoughts. Unload it off of the ____ trailer for photos.

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  11. Avatar Woodie Man

    Another fine whine…why can’t people, I mean flippers, invest the time to roll the car off the trailer, clean it up, and get it running? Who would pay what appears to be darn near top dollar for an non running mystery mobile?

    While a completely different car, my sainted late mother bought a 70 four door after her divorce, as she knew absolutely nothing about cars. It was as big as an aircraft carrier, as is this.

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  12. Avatar John M.

    It shouldn’t take much to get this land yacht sailing smoothly down the open road again.

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  13. Avatar RicK

    the three prong spinner caps are pretty rare too, think those look better than 8 lugs, at least on this car since it came with them. either way, still looks good and being on a flipper trailer doesn’t even detract from that. wish it had at least one rear mounted radio antenna

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    • Avatar DrinkinGasoline

      They are Tri-Bar Winged Spinner Hubs to be exact according to Pontiac Motor Division.

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  14. Avatar Loco Mikado

    Like it and no power window motors to go bad. How I hate power windows.

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  15. Avatar Rustytech Member

    This is a very nice car. This has to be a rare body style too. I remember 2 door hardtops, 4 door hardtops, wagons, 4 door sedans, and convertibles, but I’ve never seen a pillared 2 door. Great find!

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  16. Avatar Bob C.

    Hardtops were definitely more popular, but there is still a coolness about 2 door sedans.

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  17. Avatar JaxPontiacs

    I love these B-I-G Cats!

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  18. Avatar DWL

    My uncle Harry in Manitoba, CA had a maroon 2 dr. post Paresienne, 3 speed column shift, overdrive, clock and radio delete, and with same fabric interior but in black. Poverty hubcaps. He bought it new in Canada. I thought it was such a strange grouping for a Pontiac, even as a young teen and car enthusiast. He wintered in Florida and I believe he left it there in a garage of a place he rented; I would sure love to know where it went after he passed on and his estate settled. He was as fussy as an old lady and kept his car and pickups ( an old International and late 40’s Chevrolet ), his farm home, and himself as neat as could be. I always remember seeing him wearing a suit to anything involving family occasions. Can you imagine this thought process in today’s world ? Highly unlikely

    Like 0

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