LA has got to be the best place on the planet to find grand old cars. Cars with character before they were blanded out and slab sided and began to look the same. Rolling sculpture, chromed and polished – they made a statement. My favorite are not trailer queens, but those old beasts that are daily drivers. Often still with the original owner.
Found on a detour this morning a 1967 Pontiac Catalina Convertible. This was the bottom end of the full size Pontiac line. It was the last year for the vertical stacked headlight positioning. Standard engine was the newly introduced that year “400”CID V8 cranking out a some 260 horsepower with a 2 barrel carb. (You could of course uprate through a couple various engines to a huge 428 CID 4 barrel that managed a whopping 376 horsepower). It was about flare. It was about straight line performance. It was made for the pillow soft ride. You aimed that beast, you did not drive it.
Pic by me more can be found in my “found on road alive” flickr set.
One of my favorite works by Ed Ruscha;
Pontiac Catalinas, 1984 oil on canvas 64 H x 64 W (inches)
‘nuf said :)
Thanks for the comment and the link. It made me laugh, I needed that to start the day.
Schweet. But what’s up with the Tweety Bird yellow? Definitely not a stock color! (*sniff*)
The color is pretty garish, there was a yellow but more on the tan side in ’67.
http://www.tcpglobal.com/aclchip.aspx?image=1967-pontiac-pg01.jpg