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Final Parking Space: 1967 Pontiac Catalina Convertible
We just saw a Pontiac in this series a few weeks back, but we’ve been lacking in full-size GM cars of the 1960s here and that made me decide to push this once-rakish big Pontiac ragtop to the front of the line. Currently residing in the U-Pull-&-Pay in Aurora, Colorado, this car was one of America’s best deals for a massive, powerful convertible during its era.
I had a couple of my regular readers tip me off about this car soon after it hit UPAP’s inventory, and I was excited about documenting the super-rare 8-lug wheels that I saw in the yard’s online photo.
I got there the day after it arrived, but the wheels and brake drums were gone by then. There was a veteran Colorado parts seller stripping just about everything of real-world value off the car, but he was good about letting me get my photos as he worked.
The Catalina name started out as a trim-level designation for the 1950-1958 Pontiacs, then became a model in its own right starting in 1959. For the 1965-1970 generation of full-size Pontiacs, the Catalina was the entry-level big car, with the Executive, Bonneville, and Grand Prix higher up the prestige ladder.
The 1967 Catalina convertible had an MSRP of $3276, or about $31,772 in 2025 dollars. That wasn’t much more than the $3254 price tag of its Chevrolet Impala Super Sport convertible sibling, provided that the Impala SS had the optional V-8 engine instead of the base six-banger.
However, if you got the Impala SS convertible at that price, its V-8 was a 283-cubic-incher with just 195 horsepower. Meanwhile, the least powerful engine in the 1967 Catalina with the base three-on-the-tree manual transmission was a burly 400-cubic-inch mill rated at 265 horses.
However, this car has the optional Turbo Hydra-Matic three-speed automatic transmission, so it was built with the 290hp version of the two-barrel 400. The Catalina must have cannibalized quite a few sales from its Chevrolet-badged brethren.
This car arrived in fairly rough condition by the standards of not-so-rusty Front Range Colorado.
This rust wouldn’t be considered particularly serious on a 58-year-old Detroit convertible in Maine, Minnesota, or Michigan, but there’s plenty of adobe-thick body filler (covering who-knows-what damage) that isn’t obvious in the photos.
I found some cassettes from the late 1980s and early 1990s among the ruins of the interior, so I think this car got parked about 30 years ago and never moved under its own power again.
If this car had been a Bonneville or Grand Prix with one of the hairier 400s or a 428, it might not have met this fate.
The Catalina name managed to hang on all the way through the 1981 model year, after which American Pontiac buyers had to choose either a Parisienne (through 1986) or a Bonneville if they wanted a full-size car.
Forget the “low-priced three” and get yourself a pricesaver lifesaver!
Sadly this looks like a good mouse house at this point in it’s life.
It’s pretty bad off but it is a pretty cool car. The sort of thing if I could get for next to nothing I might try to resurrect as a far-from-perfect driver
Finnegan and Freiburger could have fun with this!
I just sold a ’72 Catalina hardtop coupe with 24k original miles and in fantastic, original condition and optioned with the 400. Drove like a dream, still had original paint, and would boil the hyde(s) off with its peg-leg rear end. Even in brown over brown this thing had more personality than almost anything on the road today.
Many quaaludes ingested before making that lifesaver commercial.
😂🤣😂
I know that it is in rough shape,but,it looks like most of the important parts are there. There’s people that are building Mustangs’ and Camario’s out of two doors and a roof. If I weren’t seventy-seven years old I’d probably be tracking down.
Time to watch the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Scar Tissue” video. They’re driving a similar car (including the condition).
The 400 engine and 400 trans are likely gone to someone; 67 was first year for the 400, 66 and earlier were 389. Interesting that it’s a P/S and manual brakes car. Being from CO and convertible, easy to see why not having A/C option.
The short block & trans are relatively desirable, the heads not so much. Being a 2-bbl 400, the heads have smaller intake & exhaust ports. And the rocker studs are pressed in, not threaded. Still, a 4-bbl intake with 600 cfm carburetor & dual exhaust would make for longer burnouts 😀
My Father had a ’61 Catalina Convertible. It was a pale yellow with a matching yellow top. He would let me, being 18 at the time, use the car on Friday and Saturday evenings. It was a cool ride with the top down on hot summer evenings in the Chicago suburbs. It had a 389 cu. ” engine with a 2 bbl. carburetor and automatic transmission. My Father added under dash a/c and an FM radio converter and a reverberator. What was also cool about the car was it had a rear speaker located in the top center of the rear seat cushion. Not quite stereo but as close as one could get back in the day.
Our Ol Man bought a 67 Catalina convertible in desperation (almost) having waited months for an on-order Galaxie XL convertible to be built. But there was a long UAW strike then and he found the Pontiac in refrigerator white/black interior. Wide trackin, 8 trackin (Tiajuana Brass), over-boosted PS and over-boosted PB, it was a comfy whale. Learned that it had a strong motor from this article though. Next daily driver was the 64.5 Mustang I had him find and I still have.
I had a 67 Impala convertible with the 300hp 327, TH400, PS, PB, power top, power windows, factory 8 track. Swapped in a SS dash for the gauge pack. You had two maybe three chances at stopping before it was Fred Flintstone time. I swapped in 68 Corvette front discs, calipers and caliper brackets with the prop valve. Stopped much better. This was in the 80s before there were aftermarket brake kits. Went to Hot August Nights a few times and it would cruise at 80 all the way up the 80. Miss that car…