1962 Pontiac Catalina Super Duty - Patina Of Preservation

With truck and trailer loaded, Herb headed toward Minnesota to see the car and picked up Dewey Miller along the way. "When we arrived, I found the Catalina was in excellent condition. It was last raced in 1972 and had sat since, but it was very original. I found four other potential buyers were there, too, however, and the bidding war was on. I became the Catalina's third owner after about six hours of negotiating and for twice the price I initially offered, but I didn't care--I had my dream car!"

The Preservation
The 12-hour ride back to Crete gave Herb lots of time to devise a course of action. "The car was in such great shape that I decided to preserve it as opposed to restore it. It was last painted in 1969 and in a different shade of blue, so I planned to repaint it Ensign Blue, but I also wanted to retain the condition that the existing paint was in. I decided on giving it a patina like that of a vintage racecar, letter it like Gay had, and then show it and occasionally race it in Nostalgia classes," he says.

Immediately upon returning home, Herb disassembled the Catalina and took its body to E-3 Restorations in Lincoln, Nebraska, where owner Ed Dedick stripped it to bare metal using aircraft-grade paint remover. According to Dedick, the body was completely rust free, and the only cosmetic surgery required was removing a few dents from the aluminum fenders and a small dent in the right rear quarter-panel. Ed then prepared the aluminum and steel body panels for paint.

The Catalina was treated to three coats of PPG urethane primer. It was then block-sanded, sprayed with three additional coats of primer, and block-sanded once again. Dedick followed that with two coats of PPG epoxy sealer, four coats of PPG Ensign Blue lacquer, and five coats of PPG clear lacquer. It was then wet-sanded with 600- and 1,200-grit papers, and polished with 3M products.

Knowing that Herb was striving for the appearance of a preserved racecar, Ed gave the finish a unique dull-and-aged look. "We applied five coats of PPG lacquer thinner directly onto the fresh finish and let it sit for 48 hours to dry since the thinner softens the lacquer surface. The good base preparation gives the finish a consistent dull look throughout, providing Herb with the aged appearance he was after," says Dedick.

With the exterior refinished, Herb had Jim Hetzler of JC Hetz Studio in Muscatine, Iowa, apply the weathered graphics. "James Osteen told me that the side graphics frequently changed," says Herb. "I settled on replicating what was on the car when Don won the '63 NHRA Championship. The Gay family gave me approval and Jim applied them perfectly."

The Powerplant
The Catalina's original 13B Super-Duty block was tired and in clear need of a rebuild. Since Herb's intentions not only included showing the Catalina, but making occasional dragstrip passes with it, he elected to save the numbers-matching block and transfer most of the Super-Duty components onto another.

Beginning with a typical '62 389ci block, Herb increased its displacement to 407 ci by boring it 0.060 to 4.15 inches, and filled its cylinders with a set of forged-aluminum Sealed Power pistons and Hastings rings. The original forged-steel Super-Duty connecting rods rotate about the 389's original 3.75-inch-stroke Arma-steel crankshaft.

Herb topped the block with the Catalina's existing No. 980 heads, cast-aluminum intake manifold, and Carter AFB carburetors. A No. 041 hydraulic flat-tappet camshaft containing duration specs similar to the McKellar No. 10 was employed. Unlike the original Super-Duty cam, however, gross valve lift measures 0.520 inch when combined with 1.65-ratio rocker arms.

A Melling 60-psi oil pump pressurizes the lubrication system from within the original Super-Duty oil pan. Spark is initiated within the original dual-point Super-Duty distributor and specific canister-type coil. Electrical current is transmitted to Champion No. 44 plugs by way of Taylor wires, and total spark lead measures 30 degrees. Herb reinstalled the 180-degree headers that Visovatti custom-made, which feature 1.75-inch-diameter primary tubing and 3.5-inch collectors without mufflers.

The Aftermath
Since its completion in early 2008, Herb has taken the Catalina to a number of national shows and races. "I enjoy letting people see the car and talking with them about it. Many believe it still wears its original exterior finish, and I especially love hearing stories about the car from those who had a connection with it. That includes the Gay family and James Osteen, Arnie Beswick, Bill Blair, Warren Johnson, Hayden Proffitt, and Jess Tyree.

When asked what he best likes about his Pontiac, Herb replies, "In my opinion, it's among the most recognized '62 Super-Duty Catalinas in the world. Don Gay won two major championships with it, and beyond a repaint and an engine-block swap, it appears all original and just as it was raced then. I plan to rebuild and reinstall the original Super-Duty 421 engine and three-speed transmission, but it's otherwise staying like this. I want to preserve this piece of Pontiac history as best as I can."

Conclusion
Research has documented only 179 Super-Duty Catalinas produced during the '62 model year and there's no telling how many survive today. A great number of those have been flawlessly restored and look as good as or better than the day they rolled out of the assembly plant. Herb Patton took a different approach, however, and the weathered exterior on this Super-Duty truly gives the appearance of an unrestored racecar. You'd swear this Catalina just rolled out of a barn.

Special thanks to Jim Howe of the MidAmerica Motorplex in Pacific Junction, Iowa, for use of the track during the photo shoot.