1964 Catalina Restoration

[redvettemike]

Hello: I am a new guy from Madison, Ms. I do a bit of restoration work on some old cars and we have taken on the job of restoring a nice 1964 Pontiac Catalina 4 door hardtop. This car has been owned by the same family since new. it has been stored (inside thankfully) for the last number of decades and has not been cranked since the early 1990's. It is a 389 automatic with P/S and P/B. No Air. 86000 miles. Interior is excellent, all original. Painted once there seems to be little rust through (is outside of New Orleans). I may get the car on 2/16. In any case I will be posting some photos of the progress for this car and am glad to have found this site. Tks, Mike Martin

 

[melsg5]

thanks for sharing your new project and the pictures of your other cars. What year is the C2, 64, 65 and what color are you painting it?

 

[redvettemike]

The car is a Catalina Ventura. It is totally unmolested @ 86000 miles. Not cranked in 3 decades. Bought new at Jefferson Motors in '63 at Marrero, La.

 

[redvettemike]

A few more photos.

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[melsg5]

looks like a project with good bones, good luck with it

 

[redvettemike]

Floors good. Trunk needs just a bit of help. Surface rust on frame and suspension. We will blast and R Angle grind, rebuild suspension. Needs new exhaust. We plan to rebuild engine and trans.
Is there someone who can restore the steering wheel like this one?

 

[redvettemike]

Chrome and trim looks like they will polish out good enough to use without rechroming. The car has been kept inside for most of it's life and that has saved it.

 

[redvettemike]

Disassembly.

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[melsg5]

Steering Wheel

Floors good. Trunk needs just a bit of help. Surface rust on frame and suspension. We will blast and R Angle grind, rebuild suspension. Needs new exhaust. We plan to rebuild engine and trans.
Is there someone who can restore the steering wheel like this one?

I cant recommend anyone specifically for steering wheel restoration but just searching online I came across a few companies. In addition depending on how deteriorated the wheel is there are some DIY videos.

 

[redvettemike]

Who sells the correct blue engine paint for a 1964 Pontiac? We bought some from Hirsch(spl?) for a '63 we worked on and it wrinkled on us. Pontiac engines '57 - '65 I think were all this color blue.
Mke

 

[cammerjeff]

You are correct 59-64 used the same color. Here is a link that lists several suppliers P/N's I do not have any personel experience with any of them, sorry.

http://www.pontiacpower.org/enginecolor.htm

 

[melsg5]

I assume the engines were cleaned before painting? The only engine paint I have ever used are the Duplicolor engine paints for Pontiac and Chevrolet and never had an issue with them

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[redvettemike]

My Pontiac expert in Tx says that Plasti Kote 208 is the correct paint for the '64 engine. Amazon has that. Very little rust in this '64. A bit on bottom of radiator support beneath battery and a spot in back pass floor where there evidently was a leak in the back windshield. The truck floor is the worse part. May have to replace that.

 

[redvettemike]

Bought new coil springs from Eaton. Anyone have any experience with those folks?

We are going to use Ames a good bit for parts on this work. They know the most about Pontiacs. Right? Carpet, weather strip, more will come from them.

 

[melsg5]

Eaton is the source for anybody restoring an old Corvette for original springs, so they are fine.
I personally use Ames but for certain interior parts you might be better off going to the actual manufacturer, such as Legend for interiors.

 

[redvettemike]

Eaton is the source for anybody restoring an old Corvette for original springs, so they are fine.
I personally use Ames but for certain interior parts you might be better off going to the actual manufacturer, such as Legend for interiors.

The seat covers (upgraded due to this being a 'Ventura' as I understand it) are really nice. We are having new foams put in the front and the springs stretched there as it is too soft after 50+ years. The bottoms of the door panels need some help and maybe we can get some sort of carpet strip to go over the base. Tks.

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[redvettemike]

Work continues: front suspension rebuilt; cleaning/painting engine parts. Trans (Roto Hydramatic 'Slim Jim') being rebuilt. Waiting on engine to come back from machine shop (hope there will be no surprises there.) .

 

[redvettemike]

Few more photos.

 

[melsg5]

thanks for the updates

 

[redvettemike]

The folks that own this car are from Lulling, La. The car was bought new at Jefferson Motors in Marrero, La. That dealership is long gone now. the owner's father was the original buyer. We are going to put Vintage Air in the car. Will insulate with Dynamat and Dynaliner.