1959 Pontiac Catalina, I have owned this car since 2003. It was built in Kansas City, Missouri and left the factory with a 389 engine topped with 3 carbs known as a tri-power. The transmission is hyrdramatic 4 speed. The original engine and transmission are still in the car and operating perfectly. The car looks fully customized from the factory, I added wide white wall tires and 100 spoke Tru-Spoke wheels to complete it. This car is very powerful and drives beautifully.
In 1959, soon-to-be-retiring GM Design chief Harley Earl loved the big, chromed cars of the past, and wanted to restyle the new bodies in the same theme. While Earl was away in Europe, however, his designers secretly rebelled. They created designs to Earl's specs, but crafted an all-new body behind the scenes.
President Harlow Curtice supported their efforts, sensing that the corporation was falling behind the industry in design. Eventually, after much turmoil, Earl relented and the wide track became reality.
The body was 64 inches wide, the widest in the industry. It was so wide that engineers needed to broaden the track by five inches to accommodate it. Knudsen was quoted as saying the car "looks like a football player wearing ballet slippers." Milt Coulson, a copywriter at Pontiac ad agency MacManus, John and Adams, created the term "Wide Track." The car was unique because its broad, low, bold design featured relatively little chrome. It also was technologically advanced for its time.
The new split grille came at this time, as well. It was a huge styling hit, and instantly became a Pontiac trademark. But designers, not expecting such overwhelming approval, had dropped the split grille for 1960. They quickly made plans to reintroduce it in 1961. Pontiac also debuted its arrowhead emblem in 1958, replacing the Indian Chief logo.
The division sold 399,646 cars in '60, and Pontiac built its 7 millionth car in 1959, a 1960 Bonneville. In 1960, Pontiac had 16 models representing four series: Catalina, Star Chief, Bonneville and Ventura, an upscale version of the Catalina.
Note: In Canada the models were the StratoChief, Laurentian and Parisienne. All were built on the full size Chevrolet platform and had Chevrolet engines, transmission & differential and lacked the wide track design.
