If you're a fan of vintage Pontiac models and have a passion for old school drag racing, then you might be interested in one very special and rare machine going under the hammer at this weekend's Dana Mecum Original Spring Classic 2014 event.
Even though Pontiac is defunct since 2010, the American car manufacturer made a handful of truly remarkable machines in decades past. The 1963 "Swiss Cheese" Catalina drag racer is without a doubt one of them.
But before telling you what made the Catalina great, let's talk about the background of 1960s drag racing competitions. Back then, major American manufacturers such as Ford, Chrysler and Chevy were investing obscene amounts of money into their NASCAR and NHRA efforts. In order to stay competitive, Pontiac played the same game by developing a very special version of the '63 Catalina.
With emphasis on lightness and structural rigidity, engineers decided to use industrial quantities of aluminum for the drag racer. Literally. They went to such lengths that even the cast iron exhaust manifolds of the standard car were replaced with special high-flow aluminum units. What's wrong with that? Well, if you run the car for prolonged periods of time, the hot exhaust gases can actually melt the metal.
But the bonkers engineering doesn't end here. Further mods involved drilling 120 holes in the sides of the frame rails for removing as much weight as possible while maintaining just enough structural integrity. That's how the racer got its "Swiss Cheese" moniker. Aluminium body panels were used wherever possible, even for the splash pan, while very thin plexiglass sheets make up the greenhouse.
This "Swiss Cheese" Catalina is questionably the most famous of the 14 ever built before General Motors' racing ban. Packer Pontiac employee Howard Maselles set the NHRA C/Stock class record in 1963 at the wheel of this car, with a 12.27 second quarter-mile run at 114.66 miles per hour, a record that would stand for five years.
A 421 cubic inch (6.9-liter) pushrod V8 with dual Carter AFB carburetors and Bathtub Ram intake powers the drag racing legend. 405 horsepower and 425 lb-ft (576 Nm) of torque are sent to the rear axle via a T-85 short radio three-speed manual gearbox. By comparison, the 7.0-liter V8-powered Ford GT40 produced almost 600 horsepower in top tune.
Previously auctioneered at Dana Mecum's 2010 Original Spring Classic Auction, it failed to sell even with a high bid of $475,000. The car was driven by legendary names such as Jim Wangers, seeing its latest nut and bolt restoration job in 2000. For this weekend's auction event, Dana Mecum estimates the car will sell for anything between $600,000 and $800,000.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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