1962 Pontiac Catalina 421 SD: 4-speed, Super Duty Sleeper

Foreign muscle, we have something really cool. This is a

1962

Pontiac Catalina 421. This is basically a factory built drag car for those who wanted something that was a little low key but would be one of the smokes at the drag strip. and it's showing up right now here on muscle tested in this episode of muscle tested I'm behind the wheel of a car I never thought I'd have the chance to drive this is a

1962

Pontiac Catalina 421 Super Duty one of 162 made and it has a total of you guys ready for these 7501 miles this is a dream car for so many hot drivers in the 60's for a presenter and a journalist like me friends this is a proven muscle episode that you guys I'm just going to love it so what? where did this car come from?

This car is part of the collection of the Gilmore Automobile Museum in Hickory Corners Michigan. You know, they were nice enough to let us use the car to film it and I'm going to say this. If you've never been into guild warfare, you have to put it on your automotive bucket list. It's a 90 acre campus with some of the most beautiful cars out there, not only are they running, they have a

super

car show, but they also have a ton of pre. - war stuff, they have a ton of motorcycles, but even cooler, they've actually replicated a midwestern main street with a Ford Lincoln and Cadillac dealership and when you walk into the dealerships you know what's there, real cars from the era in the one where the distributor was created there is an old Shell gas station there is an old school restaurant there with the five best I have ever seen in my life and that goes with any part of the world proven muscle brought to you by American collectors insurance with value policies agreed upon variable mileage plans and the option to use the repair shop of your choice, it's no wonder American Collectors Insurance is the number one collectors insurance company with five star reviews nationwide, let's talk style for a moment and let's talk about the era in which this car.

It became known in the early 1960s that we were coming out of the jet era, that the United States was coming out of the jet era, so the big fins were disappearing. In the early 60's things started to change, the lines of the cars started to become a little more contemporary and the cars became more user friendly, right, not that a '59 caddy wasn't, just you know, from what we think today back then, this car is a very, very attractive car, especially when you combine the black paint with This tricolor blue interior doesn't really improve much, it's very interesting, it's very strange that a car has somewhat masculine lines, you know, elegant and yet have a muscular stance, now all that culminates. when you look down below the belt line under the window, you know you have this beautiful stainless steel bead strip that goes to the back, you have these beautiful, beautiful 14 by six and eight wheels that are actually big brakes old drums. right, these four to buy Six drums, you know, but the most important thing about this car, the thing that probably catches your attention, is that big old shovel, big old shovel on the front, now the hood scoop, which is an ultra ultra rare option and we have I did some pretty extensive research to find out that that first on this car was actually installed at the factory.

This is the only one I've been able to find where that is a real thing. In 1962, Pontiac had the idea that they were going to make a car perfect for drag racing, it's perfect for that guy who wants to go to the race track on Sunday, shift some gears and really enjoy his kind of executive Business Coupe. . They did it with this one, the 421 Catalina Super Duty as far as the exterior goes, I just love it. I love all stainless steel. I love tracking. You know, on the edge of the front fenders you have these beautiful struts that come off.

They really catch your eye to let you know where the corners of the fenders are. However, what is interesting, it has no side. rear view mirrors in this car none of us have seat belts but we don't have side mirrors I don't know if anyone in the comments could let me know I don't know when side mirrors were mandatory um but if you know and don't let me know because I personally would like to know the another thing is that when you look at the way the taillights are angled in this sort of crescent shape again, it's one of those rare cars that the more you look at it the better it gets and the color is just badass black, that's , black white walls rough and tough as nails, right, um.

I feel like if this car, if you were in the mafia in the '60s, you could drive it. you could pull up to someone, intimidate the hell out of them and they'd say "I should probably give all my money to this gentleman okay so let's talk inside for a moment big guy 6'4 245 total total Greenhouse my visibility is Fantastic but like this It was a big task, it's a very, very minimalist spartan interior, there's no radio, we have a heater control, believe it or not, there's a rear speaker on this and a front speaker, but there's no stereo and it was optional on that one. way and we don't really know why, this particular car was restored about 15 to 18 years ago, roughly the interior here is 100% original, it's in surprisingly good condition, most Super Duty's are bench seats, this one had the upgraded tricolor interior from the Pontiac Ventura, which was an option, so you know, we have these really very comfortable bucket seats.

We don't have a center armrest or a center console, but I will tell you, for my size, it's still very comfortable now that the. Dashboard frames Chrome and everything here has been redone, but the seats themselves are original and it's pretty amazing the condition they're in. As for the low-back seats, they are actually quite wide and offer nothing to get in the way. of support, so if you go around the corner and you know you drop, you're most likely going to fall off this seat, the board itself, the group is actually pretty spartan, I mean, I have a meter for my generator. because there are no alternators yet, a beautiful sweep, you know, a

speed

ometer that goes up to 120 miles per hour and a gas gauge, that's right, that's all I have now inserted in the cluster itself that you can't see, yeah , there is a temperature gauge, but something really cool is that when you start this up with a cold start, a green light comes on and under that green light it just says cool c-o-o-l just to let you know.

Don't drop on this car yet, don't jump. on it because it's not up to temperature and if you do that you're going to break something. Something about the 421 Super Duty that you should also know is that front ends on these cars were an option, but it was a light front end. In the end, that meant aluminum fenders, aluminum hood, aluminum bumper, front and rear aluminum radiator support, and aluminum inner fender. Now, this car is not a

super

lightweight, so everything up front here is all steel and that's totally fun. I mean, you know, you look at this thing. and it's a cruiser, you know, because it's a super job, you've got a huge rear end, I think it's a 9.3 inch rear end with 430 gears, so you're not going to take this on the road, are you?

We're sailing, right? now at about 45 about 45 miles per hour and we're turning it at 2100 RPM 50 is about three thousand dollars so this is to the race track on a trailer or to your local race track and run it and then drive it all kinds of. of car, these cars were also not known for sitting properly, it's not the kind of car you want to sit and let idle, it's something you want to have constant airflow with and to be honest we've been driving this car for for quite a while and because of that huge air intake on the hood and the fact that it's only about 80 degrees outside, the temperature has never gone above 170 degrees, which is very admirable for a car like this sitting on top of the 421, It has twin 625 CFM.

With Carter carburetors, you know the power output is 405 horsepower and 425 pound-feet of torque, but as most people know, Pontiac grossly underestimated the power of these things, most of the time. people will tell you it's more like 450 to 465 horsepower and about 500. pound-feet of torque now again, you know we're just driving this car and you know we're not going to abuse it in any way. because it's a very rare car and it's probably the cutest super service ever, but you know you're in third gear 2800, like you just turn it slowly, it pulls and it's not like now, it's interesting, it's not violent in any way, It's more to us than a bulldog-like acceleration, like a punch in the back.

How does all that power get to the pavement? Right here, this is a T-10 waterboard and it's a close ratio box. It's got like a nine and three quarter inch rear end on the back and it's got 430 gears, so it really comes out and really dances when you step on it, you know, quarter mile, 12 and a half seconds, low, 12 something like that, If you're really chasing it, you know, from a driving perspective, you don't see this at all. is happening, it's more of a guide wheel than a steering wheel, turn it enough and it will go one direction, but don't ever think you're doing some kind of emergency maneuver here as far as the brakes are concerned, look underneath. that hood has the smallest master cylinder ever it's that big the drums on all four wheels the 14 by 6 inch drums now if I'm going to slow down the car what a criminal stop sign right now it stops it sure will and you know In a panic stop, you'll probably get it to stop relatively well once, but it's not something I'd like to make a clutch habit of.

You know, mid-range, step on the ground. God, what's going on with this table. Warner is that the shifts are so tight that it's really a close ratio box and what's even cooler is that I feel like an old school drag racer, right. I feel like you know you're down here, you have your hand on it every shift you make, you literally lean forward so your whole arm is extended because the shifter is so small now that we're talking about handling, we're coming into a corner here, we're literally going probably 45 miles an hour, um The whole car moves, you don't feel any bumps, mind you, but what you do feel is that everything is absorbed back into that suspension, it was never made to turn into a corner, never It was made for driving, you have these very, very thin tires.

However, what it often does do is one of the smoothest cloud rides you've ever experienced in a car from the '60s and '70s. It's absolutely delightful to drive. It really is wonderful. The other thing is that I love Stuart Warner's approach. He's perfectly set in your eye line, it's very well made and it's great because every time you look at the attack, you look at that wonderful hood scoop and it lets you know that you're driving something. special, you know, we've been going around with this for a good part of the afternoon and I can't even tell you how many people have come up and commented that they want another year, they want to know, they do, they want I know how many were made and it's such a car. cool and again the more you look at it the more you go oh now I have to go get one because this is cool.

You know, it's always a cool experience when I get to get behind the wheel of something I've never driven before, something I never thought I'd have the opportunity to experience. This was one of those cars, you know, the 421 super

duty

is one of those iconic cars that you hear about. and then you might see it at a car show, but you never really get to experience it and the fact that I got to get behind the wheel of this was just an incredible experience. This is the definition of executive muscle and I can't help myself. I think God, so many European manufacturers in the '70s, '80s and '90s looked at cars like this from the '60s and thought well, how can we do that?

You're going to laugh when I say this, but this is a 1962 two-door M5. This is that car that people walked into the dealership with and didn't know they could check the boxes to get it, but if those lucky few got it right, they got it. They were wearing this. This is one of the coolest cars I've ever driven. I love it. I have to thank the Gilmore Automobile Museum for taking it out of their collection and allowing us to experience it, so thank you, thank you, thank you and we'll see. next time on test and muscle