1962 Pontiac Catalina Custom Coupe

[Peter Lombardo]

I am waiting for some ordered parts for Salt Shaker  and the custom decals I am making for the Riviera, and  then the motivation to finish the decals on my Ford GT, so why not start another project?  This is the AMT Pontiac Catalina.  I purchased this many years ago and it has been on the storage rack just staring at me for years so the other day I picked up the box, opened it and figured, why not?  So, first thing I did, which seems to be the first thing I always do with these cars is I started opening the doors.  But since I planned on removing and replacing the top, I only did the doors up to about 90% since I needed the strength of the doors to hold the body together once the top is removed.  Removing to the top was a snap.  4 quick cuts with the electric rotary saw and the top was gone.  The only tricky part was rebuilding new "A" pillars because the curved ones would not look correct since the new roof is significantly lower than the original.

I glued and puttied the new roof in place and sanded the joints smooth.  Then I opened the rear window and finished the side window area.

When I finished opening the doors and built hinges for them I moved on to the inside door panels.  Once the hinges were secured, I cut out the inside door panels from the kit supplied interior "sides" and glued them in place.  I then added plastic strips around all of the windows to represent the chrome molding which will be BMF after the car is painted.   Next, I will use bondo to make the door jams and finish them. 

I decided to add rear wheel opening skirts.  These were cut out in two layers because of the body contours and then glued and puttied in place.

I am planning a light pale yellow "pearlish" flat paint and maybe  some painted on white scallops to accent it.  of course, the colors are always subject to change as I may see another car that inspires me to go a different color direction, but as of now, the light pale yellow is looking good in my minds eye.

. This door actually fits perfectly, it is just not closed properly here.

Obviously, the doors and trim still need a little work to clean them up and align the doors exactly, but all is pretty close to finished on them.P.S., that is Max who came into my workroom to annoy me to give him, and his buddy, Dexter some treats,I dechromed the front and rear bumpers as they will be molded to the body and obviously paint body color.  I am planing a slightly modified air-cleaner for the engines 2 carb's and a very lowered stance.  Not sure if the door handles remain or get shaved yet.  Thinking of using the custom wheels from the 1965 Riviera since I have them just laying around on the workbench since I have different wheels for Riv, when I get to finish that car. 

[Peter Lombardo]

Three shots with the door openOh yeah, above you can see where I filled the two holes for the fender trim I am deleting.

[tbill]

That is looking cool, I’ll be following along on this one.

[crazyjim]

Nice work.

[espo]

Man that is a low looking roof. The rear window reminds me of a Dodge Challenger. Very Kool looking Kustom.  

[JohnU]

Ok... I’m on my iPhone and I don’t see any pictures! 

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, JohnU said:

Ok... I’m on my iPhone and I don’t see any pictures! 

I'm on my desk top and I don't either.

Nothing but "minus" symbols.

 

 

Steve

[ewetwo]

I don’t see anything either. Just a square with some lettered and numbers at the top.

[Bucky]

Same problem, here!

[Sam I Am]

No pics for me either.

[RichCostello]

None here either.

[espo]

Great pictures on your second post, same garbly goop on the first.   

[Peter Lombardo]

Guys, really sorry about the picture issues, I will look into it and get it sorted out.

[crazyjim]

I see the pics just fine.

[Bucky]

I see one pic, of the driver's side showing the fender skirt.

[Peter Lombardo]

See if you can see these.

[crazyjim]

I see those too.

[Bucky]

I got 'em, this time. Nice work going on with this project!

[StevenGuthmiller]

Now they're beginning to show up.

 

 

Steve

[Peter Lombardo]

Great, Thanks guys.

[Sam I Am]

All the pics are showing up just fine.

Great work !

[JohnU]

See pics now! Thanks! Nice work so far!

Edited October 9, 2019 by JohnU
Clarity

[espo]

This whole roof thing has me scratching my head. While I'm looking forward to what all you are doing with this, the roof just keeps me going. I now think the windshield may be the rear window from the base Catalina kit and the rear window still looks like a '60's Challenger. Again great looking work here.  

[Koellefornia Kid]

Cool project! Nice job on the roof!

[Peter Lombardo]

David, it is rather easy to explain.  The roof is a vacuum-formed roof that I made using a "buck" I formed out of sign foam.  I used a version of this roof on the '62 Buick Electra 225 And on the 1965 Pontiac Grand Prix And on the 1965 Riviera that isn't quite finished yetNow on the 1962 Pontiac CatalinaAnd now on my 1962 Chevy Impala.On the Electra 225, I was able to lay back the "A" pillar to accommodate the new lower roof..... same on the Grand Prix and the Riv because on these two cars the "A" pillars were straight upright , But on the Catalina and the Impala, the "A" pillars are curved and did not suit the new roof design, so I had to fabricate he pillars out of 3 pieces of plastic stock one flat, one larger half round and one smaller half round for the trim with a metal rod on the inside to get it the support necessary.  Does that explain it better?  I varied the side window shape and the rear window treatment to make it look like slightly different roofs.