After General Motors anointed the world with the muscle car – a brainchild of John DeLorean and his band of wrench-turning hotheads – in 1964, the craze spread like wildfire. Detroit followed suit, and the new segment grew at breakneck speeds. Even Pontiac was caught up in the fray and upped the ante with a ruffian edition of one of its long-standing full-size nameplates, the sales sweetheart Catalina.
In 1965, the Catalina saw its best production year, with over 270,000 units dispatched to dealerships. That same year, the 2+2 package became a full-blown performance promise, with a 376-hp triple carbureted V8 and 461 lb-ft of rear-wheel-smoking torque (381 PS and 625 Nm).
It was quite the jump from the original offering introduced in 1964. In a somewhat confusing manner, the 2+2 package was introduced in 1964 on the Catalina. In 1965, the same 2+2 became a separate model, albeit a short-lived wonder, retired in 1967.
So, we have Pontiac Catalina 2+2 in 1964 and Pontiac 2+2 in ‘65, ‘66, and ’67. After that, the Catalina soldiered on for another twenty-four years, but the 2+2 went into the history books. In 2010, Pontiac itself vanished from GM’s records.
In 2023, we can only scroll through the archives and fantasize with nostalgia about one of motoring’s undeserving fallen ones. There is a faint ray of hope; however, in the form of this oxymoron construct of modernity, we like to pamper as “virtual reality.”
Courtesy of 3D artist and Automobile Visualist Timothy Adry Emmanuel (social media call sign adry53customs), the 2+2 is back, albeit in the realm of pixels and hexadecimal-binary paradoxical duality.
Since everything is possible in a computerized imaginary environment, this interpretation of the famed Pontiac is about as good as you’d expect it. The Coke bottle styling is maintained, but it has several modern touches. In true resto-mod fashion, the eight-lug wheels have been replaced in favor of oversized alloys.
Those magnificently black anodized ten-spoke wheels wear tires so thin in the sidewalls that they might as well be taken for rubber bands wrapped around the metal core. Then there’s the road-scratching stance and the front lower lip that could easily be mistaken for a carbon-fiber snow plow. The flared fenders sport air-expelling rear vents on all four corners. If the speed hint wasn’t obvious enough, the alligator snout air duct on the hood leaves no room for uncertainties.
And yes, the burble is a sacrosanct proof of worship for the iconic 421 cubic-inch (6.9-liter) V8 from the mid-sixties I mentioned earlier. The stacked dual headlights are LEDs to compliment the sleek and smooth looks of the car, and the cockpit features a digital instruments cluster with a massive central touchscreen and a steering wheel that nods to the Hennessey Venom speed demon.
Quadruple exhaust pipes behind each front wheel and a rear diffuser that would put any hypercar to shame are the most in-your-face claim for lifting the ban on all speed limits. With its ship-prow front clip and massive overhang, this cybernetic dream of a Pontiac gem is something to write home about. In all capitals - using burnouts as ink and a quarter-mile-long strip of neat asphalt as a postcard.
After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads. Full profile
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