Found my '59

Subject: Found my '59 Sat Jun 18, 2016 8:27 pm

Hello everyone,
Just joined the group and I'm pretty exited to present my newest acquisition, a '59 Catalina Sports Coupe that I bought in Washington State. I have owned 3 other Pontiac's ('63 Star Chief Vista, '65 Catalina Sports Coupe and a '68 Bonneville Sports Coupe), but I've always looked to 1959 as my favorite year. Not too many of these around and since I wanted a hardtop the pickings were even slimmer. Been looking at Star Chief and Bonneville Vista's but the prices weren't too friendly, so when this Catalina showed its face I was sold. I live in Southern Idaho so I consider the Northwest as my home grounds and don't mind travelling a bit for the right deal. Here's the story of "Rose";
According to the seller (who was the middle man who found this vehicle earlier this year), the car was sitting in a field in the high desert of Oregon since 1976 when it was parked by its owner. She was covered by rose bushes (thereby the name "Rose") when he found the car and it took me a few weeks to finally get rid of all the thorns and the remains of the bushes, but now she's finally cleaned up. This is a big project but little by little she's coming alive and I just love the transformation. All the floors are rusted out except the right rear, but I already purchased new floor pans including the trunk. The car is complete (except for the front seat but I have a '64 Bonneville Coupe 6 way power seat which should fit nicely) which is awesome, no need the chase parts all over as I've done this before and it can drive you insane. She's now gutted out and I have a long ways to go, but the engine turns over, I'm in the prossess of cleaning up the electrical's, the heater core and radiator are both tested and in good shape, just bought all the side glass for replacement, greased up all the channels, replacing all bulbs fuses, got rid of the trailer hitch, fuel tank and sending unit in great shape, except for the floors the rest of the car is super solid including the rocker panels and I love the sun burnt patina. This car has never been painted or worked on so no bondo, still sporting its original Cameo Ivory white paint with the Medium Green Mettalic interior so no mickey mouse stuff except for the hitch I removed. Freeze plugs will be replaced and I'm hoping she'll fire up as the original mileage is just around 100000 miles according to lube stickers in the door. Engine turns over nicely with no abnormal sounds, so with oil/filters/hoses replaced I'm hoping she'll be happy Laughing

The Catalina model was the base model so everything was optional, so I was pleasantly surprised when this car sported power brakes and power steering. I also found the build codes inside each door panel (both sides) when these were removed which is pretty cool. Anyhow here are a few photos from how she was sitting for 40 years in a field, to how I bought her, to how she's now sitting in my shop getting some love...
Enjoy