1965 Pontiac chassis anyone?

[djflyer]

I recently acquired two 1965 Pontiacs - a Grand Prix and a Bonneville.  Both are in unused condition but are basically bodies and chrome only.  I can some up with running gear but was wondering what the best source for a detailed multi-piece chassis would be.  Am guessing the '62 Catalina for the GP, but I know the Bonne has an even longer wheelbase than the '64 version that was discussed in the past.  Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[Snake45]

Stretch the chassis of a Revell '65-'66 Impala? 

[Brutalform]

Or maybe stretch the AMT Catalina chassis by adding some square stock in the middle of the chassis somewhere, until the wheels are centered in the wheel wells. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

You've come to the right guy!

It just so happens that I've been working on this issue, except with '64 Grand Prix and Bonneville kits.

I can't attest to how accurate the '62 Catalina chassis is for the '65 Pontiacs, but it is close enough for the '64, so it shouldn't be far off for the '65.

 

The '62 Catalina chassis seems to fit quite well in the Grand Prix body, but as with the '64 Grand Prix, if anything, it's a tiny bit too long.

Wheel base is good, but I had to trim back the inner front fenders and frame behind the front wheel to assure that they would not protrude into the wheel opening.

 

If the '65 Bonneville is anything like the '64, it appears that the '62 frame may require a very minimal stretch to fit as far as wheel base goes.

To save some work, it might be just as easy to move the rear suspension back just a hair.

I don't think it is going to take much.

 

Your biggest issue is going to be the fact that the Catalina kit has the interior floor detail molded to the chassis plate and the transmission tunnel is very large.

This requires that some fairly extensive surgery be done to get the chassis, interior tub and body to go together properly.

You can go take a look at my "1964 Pontiac Grand Prix" thread in the On the Bench section to see how I chose to tackle this issue

 

In the meantime, here are a couple of photos of the '62 Catalina frame installed in the '65 Grand Prix and Bonneville bodies just to give you an overall feel of what you're dealing with.

 

 

Grand Prix.

 

 

 

 

 

Bonneville.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

By the way, it appears that if anything the '65 Bonneville's wheel base might be just a bit shorter than the '64, although the wheel openings are larger on the '65.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[drodg]

on the 1:1 cars isn't the 65 Grand Prix on the same chassis as the Catalina and the Bonneville is a longer wheelbase?   

[64Comet404]

9 hours ago, drodg said:

on the 1:1 cars isn't the 65 Grand Prix on the same chassis as the Catalina and the Bonneville is a longer wheelbase?   

The wheelbase is supposed to be longer on the Bonneville over the Catalina/Grand Prix. A ‘65 or ‘66 Impala from Revell would make a good donor chassis, and the roof from the Chev would make a good replacement for the Bonneville’s roof (who let the tool through QC without noticing the window openings were different from side to side, anyway?)

[StevenGuthmiller]

9 hours ago, drodg said:

on the 1:1 cars isn't the 65 Grand Prix on the same chassis as the Catalina and the Bonneville is a longer wheelbase?   

Yes, The grand Prix, like the Catalina, was on a 120" wheel base in '64, and 1" longer in '65 at 121".

The Bonneville was at 123" in '64, and 124" in '65.

 

 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

6 minutes ago, 64Comet404 said:

 A ‘65 or ‘66 Impala from Revell would make a good donor chassis

The '65 Impala chassis was even shorter at 119".

 

 

 

Steve

[djflyer]

11 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

You've come to the right guy!

Your biggest issue is going to be the fact that the Catalina kit has the interior floor detail molded to the chassis plate and the transmission tunnel is very large.

This requires that some fairly extensive surgery be done to get the chassis, interior tub and body to go together properly.

You can go take a look at my "1964 Pontiac Grand Prix" thread in the On the Bench section to see how I chose to tackle this issue

 

Thanks so much everyone for all the information !  Not sure how I now have so many Pontiac projects ('64 GTO custom, '64 Grand Prix, '64 Catalina conversion, '65 Grand Prix, '65 Bonneville) but I'm not complaining.

The Catalina chassis fits all of them quite well, but as Steve said, will require some mod's to the interior floors to get them to work.  The rear inner fenders will also require some mods to keep them tucked away in the Bonneville and it looks like I will have to add on to the area behind the frame at the back end. 

I did try out the Revell Impala chassis and it will work with a few mm spliced in to correct the wheelbase but the missing piece of the bottom of the floor kinda bugs me.  How can Revell just not mold that part?  They did all the small under hood details but didnt bother to put in a complete chassis??  That's what I call a major fail (re. review of Tamiya Mustang GT4).  Hopefully they have stopped with the 'part of this and part of that make up what should be a one piece chassis' style of tooling.  (This is what it should look like btw)

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by djflyer