Pontiac performance began well before the vaunted 1964 GTO, and key evidence rests in this 1962 Pontiac Catalina Super Duty. The 1 of 162 special-order unit wears an aluminum hood, front and rear bumpers, and inner and outer fenders, normally all steel. This drag-racer’s secret weapon trimmed quarter-mile times by lightening the burden on the burly solid lifter dual-quad 421 V8. The shiny red runner comes to market on March 21st, 2026 at Mecum Glendale. No market value estimate accompanies the listing, but Hagerty suggests $65,000 to over $100,000. Thanks to Mitchell G. for spotting this rare factory special.
Claimed original dual Carter carburetors top the 405 HP 421 cid (6.9L) V8, and manual brakes and steering keep things simple on a car that probably covered most of its reported 21,616 miles 1320 feet at a time. While a gentleman’s agreement (and potential insurance nightmares) typically capped advertised horsepower numbers in the low 400s, Hemmings reported that Motor Trend calculated their ’62 Super Duty test car made something like 465 HP and 505 lb-ft of torque. All that power and factory 4.30 gears in the Saf-T-Track (limited slip) rear end would probably lay rubber in all four gears until you threw on slicks.
Nearly everything except the paint on this feature car hails from the factory or matches the correct date codes, according to the listing, including the glass, engine, and interior. Despite its later application, that brilliant paint job is unlikely to draw many complaints. Wow!
Like most things from the ’60s, the clear plastic top and bottom sections of the spindly steering wheel have discolored with age. That cue-ball knob tops a factory angled Hurst shifter, and the Hurst logo decorates the factory radio delete panel. People know you’re serious about speed when you jettison your tunes to save weight. Usually the cloth is the first thing to go on seats from this era, but these are hanging in there.
Pontiac’s Wide-Track lineup echoed the evolution of a nation bristling with optimism after WWII. The Eisenhower highway system opened the door to comfortable all-day cruising. With narrow rutted byways fading into history, low-and-wide caught the eye of modern buyers. Before the market shift to mid-sized performance (the classic “muscle car” is a mid-sized with the larger engine from a full-size), most buyers expected performance to increase with size, and this lightened Catalina did not disappoint. With no engine size callouts or special model identification of any kind, this bruiser could barely be distinguished from your neighbor’s grocery getter until you uncork the tweaked 421. Even with ’60s rubber, a stock SD could snatch mid-12s around 115 mph. Full size vs. mid-size: do you prefer Pontiac’s killer lightweight ’62 Super Duty or the ’64 GTO?
Someone at Pontiac must’ve had a tip on Spider-Man debuting in 1962 and thought “we need a car Peter Parker would drive when he’s not swinging through the skyscrapers..”
465 HP/505 torque. Astonishing for that time.
DEFINITELY take this over a ‘64 GTO!
It’s funny. Everyone’s car gets 4/10 of a second quicker with every passing decade!
This is one very rare, very special Pontiac. It’s absolutely amazing. As much as I’d love to take this for a very aggressive drive. I’d be afraid to, because I wouldn’t want to have anything happen to it. Super Duty Pontiacs we definitely at the top of the performance heap in the early 60’s. And they looked great too.
You could do the old $20 bill on the dash challenge and never lose w this Catalina. True boulevard bruiser. 🏁
I love GTO’s but I’d take this Catalina. How much fun blowing the doors off young guys in hot Civic’s, WRX’s, or 370 ZX’s. Looks so much like a plain Jane ‘62 Grand Prix even with 8 Lug Wheels.
Now a question to the Pontiac purists here. The Catalina was also offered in Canada but we all know that many Pontiac vehicules of the era had slight differences and Chevrolet drivetrains. Would this have been a dual quad 409 in Canadian trim or was such a monster ever offered
I have seen somewhere a Canadian Pontiac with a 409. I cannot remember what year it was. Probably just longer than my old mind can grasp.
The Canadian market Parisienne had a 409 Chevy option in 1964. Not sure about the Cat.
One of each works for me.
yea baby !!!!! want a 62 grand prix badly but this would surfice
With out a doubt,if I had kept one of my 64 GTO’s,this is the motor I would have dropped in the engine bay. That much hp in a smaller car would have been too much fun. I just love them Ponchos. This should bring big money.
I read that when Pontiac released the 64 GTO, the one that they gave to car mags to test had a 421, not a 389. The car mags were all quite impressed. This one is a 1/4 mile warrior. No radio, no heater, 4.30 gears. What a beautiful beast.
My mistake, this Ponch does have a heater.
Yes, John Z. Delorean at Pontiac thought so too… Pontiac dropped their super duty 421 into twelve of their little 1963 “senior compact” Tempests (6 LeMans coupes & 6 Tempest station wagons). Like this 1962 Catalina, these little 1963 Tempests ruled the dragstrips…
Beautiful car. 1962 is my favourite year for the Pontiac until the 1968 year.
My heart started to race when I saw the picture. (Slight nose up attitude) And then verified 421 SD and the heart skipped a beat. I had never heard of one of these until 1972. While in college I started working at a Pontiac store and the GM/part owner was a former Pontiac area sales guy. (And a car/performance nut) He told me about these and had driven one. A year or so later we had a ’62 Catalina 2 door traded in. And he grabbed it for himself. A week or so later we had a 1965 Catalina 2+2 (with the 421 engine) traded in and he grabbed that too. We pulled the 421 out and had it gone over and tried to make it as close as possible to 1962 421 SD specs. Meanwhile the body was getting a stock makeover. All the while the techs in the shop were giving him grief about wasting money on that dog. Once it was back together with the 400 hydomatic from the ’65. He wiped the street with one of the techs 442 4 speed. It was a drag race until the 442 shifted to second gear and the Ponco was gone. Even though not even close to a real 421SD. It was still lots of fun to drive. (I gotta drive it once!) I thought that I remembered that these cars came equipped with aluminum exhaust manifolds in the trunk for drag racing use only.
The NHRA banned aluminum front caps because they weren’t readily available. People would tech and then go switch the front cap to the aluminum ones. NHRA got hip and started waiting in the staging area with magnets! “BUSTED”!
Another problem is that they were “soft” to say the least. One car had “dimples” as its name because of the dents from people leaning over while working on them.
Okay I will take this over a GTO. But to me it’s sort of like the old Ginger or Mary Ann conundrum. IMO this S D Poncho will probably be hammered at the auction close to the six figure mark. So the best thing I can hope for is to enjoy watching it on TV.
One serious Pontiac here…
I think a 62′ Canadian Pontiac would/could have a 409, but it would also have a Chevy differential which would not last long….
The ‘62 Pontiac has always been my favorite and this factory light weight SD is absolutely first choice.
this is the best of the best. i would take this body style poncho S/D or not over any GTO any day hands down. GTOs are as common as ants at a picnic, these are not
Be still, my heart! My all time dream car. “If I was a rich man….”
I would love to be the proud owner of this.
My first car was a red 1962 Pontiac Bonneville convertible with lots of power. It is nice to see that the body style still has a lot of respect.
Like…..
What a knockout!
All I have to say is 421/4 speed!!
You forgot the SD part! (Which means aluminum body parts!)
If you want to see 421 Ponchos. Go to Bills Backyard Classics in Amarillo Texas. Lots of other interesting cars but I have never seen so many 421/8 lug/aluminum wheels in one place.You get a guided tour and me being an old Ponco fan tried to trip up the kid giving the tour. He answered every question correctly! All cars are registered and driven once a .month! And there’s alot of cars! If you are a,gearhead like me,you will really enjoy it. (Even my wife enjoyed it!) If you are a Poncho fan like me, you will be in heaven! They do all the maintenance and repairs there in their shop.I was there when they were installing a road racing frame and chassis under a ’55 Chevy.