Although the market for full-size performance cars declined rapidly after the introduction of GM’s A-body intermediates and midsize muscle cars like the Pontiac GTO, there were still some buyers who preferred to buy their protein in bulk. This 1965 B-body Catalina was ordered with Pontiac’s Tri-Power 421 engine, a 4-speed manual transmission, and the stiffer ride and handling suspension — a real full-size muscle car.
The listing for this 1965 Pontiac Catalina hardtop includes reproductions of the original window sticker and order form, which offer some revealing insights into the priorities of the original buyer. They specified the second-most-power engine Pontiac offered in 1965, along with a heavy-duty radiator, heavy-duty suspension, a 4-speed gearbox, and a radio. Other than a couple of cosmetic items, that was about it — wind-up windows, no power steering or power brakes, no air conditioning. (This car has power steering now, but it wasn’t ordered that way.)
All this suggests a purchaser with definite ideas and, to borrow a phrase from Top Gun, the need for speed. Interestingly, the buyer forewent the Catalina 2+2 package, which would have included bucket seats, fancy wheel covers, and fender vents, and they didn’t bother with the factory tachometer or gauge package. Factory tachometers were often none too accurate, and bucket seats and center consoles didn’t make you go any faster, so why bother?
To show that they weren’t barbarians, they did pony up for the rather pricey Ventura Custom Trim package, which listed for $118.36 and provided plusher expanded vinyl upholstery for the bench seats.
In addition to the radio, they also ordered an electric clock.
If the original buyer wanted to go fast, why didn’t they order a GTO? My guess is that they figured the 421 engine would make up for the Catalina’s extra mass. They might have been right, too. I haven’t found any period tests of a 1965 B-body Pontiac with the WH Tri-Power 421, but Car Life managed 0 to 60 in 7.4 seconds and a 15.8-second quarter mile in a more heavily optioned Catalina 2+2 with the less powerful four-barrel 421. This lighter, more powerful car would surely be at least a little quicker.
I would be curious to know the rationale for specifying the 356 hp WH engine rather than the even hotter 376 hp 421 H.O. engine. Both engines had Tri-Power, dual exhausts, and 10.75 to 1 compression, but the 356 hp version used the somewhat cooler camshaft of the 421 four-barrel rather than the warmer H.O. cam, which had longer duration and more overlap. For street driving, it probably wouldn’t make much difference. The H.O.’s power advantage was at higher engine speeds, a realm where contemporary testers found the 421 had a habit of shedding its fan belt.
The H.O. engine would also have cost more. Ordering the WH engine on this car was a not-inconsequential $300.69, while the H.O. listed for $401.48, an extra $100.79. Since this was a California car, it was also equipped with the closed positive crankcase ventilation system, a $5.27 mandatory option; GM and the Automobile Manufacturers Association were still unwilling to supply closed PCV systems except where required by law, and even then, they charged extra for them.
The all-synchro 4-speed manual transmission was ordered on only 1.8 percent of full-size Pontiacs in 1965, including just 877 cars with the WH 421 engine and 1,082 cars with the 421 H.O. Through 1964, the 4-speed stick was worth ordering just to avoid the wretched 3-speed Roto Hydra-Matic, but for 1965, the B-body cars got Turbo Hydra-Matic, which was the same price ($231.34) and gave away very little in performance to a 4-speed. Unless you were insistent on shifting for yourself, automatic made more sense. It was ordered by 94.5 percent of Catalina buyers.
A 1965 Catalina was 8.5 inches longer than an A-body LeMans, stretching 214.6 inches on a 121-inch wheelbase. With a curb weight of around 4,200 lb with the 421 engine, it was around 600 lb heavier than a GTO. However, the Catalina hardtop was still a very handsome, broad-shouldered sort of car, a four-wheeled Joe Namath.
For my money, 1965–1966 was the last time the Pontiac styling studio got the full-size models exactly right. These cars have a pleasing amount of dynamic curvature (more than the camera can readily capture), but they never feel overwrought, and all the details are just where they should be. They also look good in almost any of the 15 standard color choices, a neat trick not all cars can pull off. (Capri Gold wouldn’t be my first choice, but it doesn’t look bad.)
Although it now wears blackwall tires and the ever-popular 8-lug aluminum wheels with integral brake drums — a $134.81 option the original buyer didn’t specify — this car was ordered with standard wheels and whitewall tires. I’d never criticize anyone for adding the 8-lug wheels, but modern collectors seem to be in denial about the popularity of whitewalls in this era. About 70 percent of all passenger car tires sold in 1965 were whitewalls, and even a lot of muscle cars had them.
The Catalina sold quite well in 1965: 271,058 cars, a little over one-third of 1965 Pontiac production. Of those, 92,009 were the two-door hardtop sports coupe, the most popular body style.
The Tri-Power 421 engines were considerably rarer, installed in only 3,602 cars this year. That and the 4-speed make this particular Catalina something special: It fetched $60,500 at Mecum Kissimmee 2023.
Related Reading
Vintage Car Life Review: 1965 Pontiac Catalina 2+2 421 HO – 2 Plus 2 Does Not Equal GTO (by me)
Vintage Car Life Review: 1965 Pontiac Tempest GTO – The Special-Order Supercar (by me)
Vintage Car Life Road Test: 1965 Pontiac Bonneville Vista – “Excellent Within Reason” (by me)
1965 Pontiac Catalina 2+2 – “Stop Telling Me I’m Beautiful, Love Me For What’s Inside” (by Aaron65)
Aaron I agree with you that the ’65 and ’66 were the last full size Pontiac’s with “it” styling, with the ’65 getting the nod for me because it aped the ’63 Grand Prix front end styling.
I did a double take because I thought this was a 2+2. I’m old enough to remember when full size muscle cars had a certain macho cachet and ultimate performance was not the be all and end all. The Hathaway shirt guy would drive one.
In the mid sixties many guys would remove the hubcaps and show the black rims set off by the whitewall tires.
Not everyone’s cup of tea, but I also liked the 1967 big Poncho. 1968s, though, looked like an Edsel.
I don’t care too much for the “bucket” seats of this era. Unless you were in something like a Corvette or Porsche 911, they were basically a bench seat without letting your significant other being able to “cuddle up,” and the center console had what, an ashtray? On an auto you might get some interesting Jet Age shifter, but this has a four speed which is my preference anyway.
I’m not sure there were any cooler wheels at the time than 8-lug Pontiacs, and my understanding is they were actually pretty functional at cooling the brakes, at least a little. But they simply look the business.
I’m utterly puzzled by “extended vinyl” on the seats. What on this planet could extra vinyl be an improvement over? That crappy green carpet people put on their porches? Terrible single ply toilet paper that somehow miraculously combines the strength of tissue paper with the texture of sandpaper? Bare metal springs?
There has never been finer automotive upholstery than the indestructible velour used in 80s/early 90s midsize to large Japanese cars. In a previous life (about 6 months 20 years ago now) I sold Lexus, and I once took a first year LS400 in trade that actually had the base velour interior. That car was filthy EVERYWHERE, except the danged blue velour seats that looked factory fresh despite being in a dirty 17 year old (at the time) car with a quarter million miles. I wish I could have taken those seats but the car actually ended up on our lot after a VERY thorough cleaning.
If I had a long commute, I’d own an LS400 or 430 and try for a million miles. Best cars ever made, and gave me a real appreciation for what Toyota did with that car. Truly the best Cadillac ever built, IMO.
I really like to see these old “real” Pontiacs. Here in the great white north they have always been a rarity. I guess if you were willing to pay you could order one (very steep duty on US built cars then). If you wanted a hot Pontiac like this in ’65, the Canuck equivalent would be a Parisienne with a 409 sourced from Chevrolet. And yes, they did build a few that way. It would be interesting to see which was actually quicker.
I don’t think we ever got the 8 lug wheels here, and if I recall the clear steering wheel didn’t come on Canadian cars either.
Nice car, and if I had an extra 120K (cdn) or so lying around I’d be interested!
This is a beautiful car, but the photo of the interior shows its shortcoming: terrible space efficiency. A car this large should have better rear seat accommodations than those offered.
I can also see why the manual transmission was so rare. The THM400 was an excellent unit and I doubt it gave up much to the four speed manual.
I have never seen the three cab thing in person. Given the skill of most mechanics at the time, I doubt it could be properly set up.
FWIW, the front seat was clearly moved to the maximum rear position for that photo.
The specs say the minimum rear legroom on this car was 34 inches, which was only 0.8 inches more than a LeMans two-door hardtop. The four-door bodies were significantly roomier in back.
No power brakes? No power steering? What was the buyer thinking? Would be unpleasant to drive.
Drum brakes did not need power assist. At the time, I found the power ones too “touchy” without today’s anti-lock. Our ’65 Impala wagon weighed at least as much and i never missed power, just wanted better fade resistance for mountain driving, which those finned aluminum drums should have provided.
GM’s excellent integral recirculating ball power steering is another matter. Quicker ratio was reason enough to get it. Did the original purchaser worry about losing a couple of horsepower to the pump?
I remember my own father saying that the reason he didn’t have power steering on his 1970 Pontiac was that it sopped too much power. The real reason was that he was cheap.
“The real reason was that he was cheap.”
You mean he was smart and frugal with his own money?
There’s a fine line between cheap and “smart and frugal”. It wouldn’t have been very smart to have a full size Pontiac with manual steering unless you really, really wanted it that way. A pain to park, but fine on the open road. Clearly there’s a substantial difference between the buyer of this car who knew what he wanted in a performance car and a family many too cheap to get PS for the family sedan.
If you’ve ever had an injury to your arm, manual steering was a nightmare. My parents’ 1979 Mazda GLC nearly redislocated my mother’s elbow months after the original dislocation healed.
I have a suspicion they were worried about losing the belt to the revs, so to speak. The 421 had a bad habit of shedding its belts at higher rpm — most of the car magazines had this happen at least a couple times in acceleration testing, typically right around the 5,000 rpm point where you’d want to upshift. Without power steering, it might still toss its fan belt, but without power steering, that would be only one belt to reattach rather than two.
The fact that they paid for the fancy interior trim makes me think they didn’t want power steering rather than that they couldn’t afford it. (Power steering cost less than the Ventura Custom Trim option, and was well worth it if you were concerned at all about ever reselling your car.)
Yeah drums are self energizing and drums with power assist can be grabby. A fair number of pickups in the 80s and 90s had antilock only on the rear at least partially for this reason.
I had a very modded Miata that had its power brake system deleted when it was upgraded with Wilwood discs and calipers up front. Never had a car feel overbraked except that one, but it also was pretty stripped out and tipped the scales at about 2,050 lbs even with a roll bar and Flyin’ Miata turbo kit, so power assist wasn’t really necessary. It was also an early 1990 model so it never had power steering to start with.
These were rare cars. A friend and work colleague of mine when I was in high school had a 65 Wildcat convertible with four speed. It was a twin, in terms of colors and interior of the one in the article and video below except that it had the Wildcat 465 (torque) and did not have power windows. Unlike Aaron’s subject Pontiac it did have power steering and brakes. I used to wash it for her once a week just to get a chance to drive it. Her husband’s family owned a GM dealership in the Cleveland area and it was special ordered.
That Buick was so much fun to drive, with power that would push you back in your seat, and with power assists was not that difficult to maneuver and park for such a large car. Never drove it on anything other than fairly straight and flat roads so cannot speak much for handling (never saw the build sheet or window sticker so don’t know if it had a heavy duty suspension). My recollection, granted from many decades ago, was that it rode well. One of the few large cars ever in my dream car portfolio.
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/1965-buick-wildcat-convertible-parades-super-rare-cool-feature-you-didn-t-know-existed-228789.html
This is a beautiful car; Pontiac’s full-sizers definitely hit their peak in 1965-66.
I’m wondering though why this car has parallel wipers — I thought all models that year (and up to 1969 IIRC) had opposing (clap-hand) wipers with articulation to fully reach both edges of the windshield.
Some ’65 B Bodies still had the tandem wipers, including Catalinas. but they were relatively rare. Full story here: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-the-mystery-of-gms-two-wiper-systems-the-answer-was-pretty-obvious/
Thanks Paul, I had bookmarked that article but forgot about the limited number of ’65 B bodies retaining the tandem wipers like the pictured Catalina.
Shocking: that AM radio cost an inflation-adjusted $918! That seems absurdly high. A very nice portable Sony AM/FM cost less than half that amount.
But a Sony AM/FM portable radio was not designed to take the vibration and extremes in heat or cold that a Delco (or Philco) automotive radio was. An apples to oranges comparison.
Yes automakers charged a lot for optional items, as did the dealers. But a factory Delco was more than likely a hell of a lot better quality than a typical Kraco etc until the middle of the 70s. Sony, Jensen, Kenwood and Alpine etc got so much better so fast in the 70s.
I guess it depends on how frugal one was with their own money.
As a kid I was fascinated by windshield wipers, of all things, on vehicles of my childhood. A lot of windshield time riding in front as a child, or maybe it was the Eddie Rabbit song about driving my life away and windshield wipers slapping out a tempo? Anyway, the pivot/radial sweep wipers caught my attention on this model since I recall most Catalinas of this era had sequential sweep overlapping wipers. The overlap certainly did a better job of wiping than Chrysler’s, which did not overlap. However, I do recall sometimes they could get caught in the wrong position in those old style automatic car washes.