Last Call: Pontiacs in Australia Edition


Fun fact: the bumper/grille portion of the 1968 Pontiac Catalina’s nose is reversible!
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20 responses to “Last Call: Pontiacs in Australia Edition”

  1. PaulE Avatar
    PaulE

    Talk about the tail wagging the dog!
    The Pontiac pedant in me says that this is actually a 1969 model. My parents had one of these (in station wagon flavor) when I was a wee toddler.

    1. GTXcellent Avatar
      GTXcellent

      yer absolutely right. Quickest way to tell is no vent windows.

  2. dr zero Avatar
    dr zero

    I hope that is water spilling out and not petrol or effluent from the caravan. Either way, it takes some guts to proudly pose next to the car that you presumably just flipped!

    1. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      It’s Coors.

      1. ptschett Avatar
        ptschett

        Phew. It’s so close to being water that there’s no reason for concern, then.

  3. salguod Avatar

    I’ve seen this picture before and it still bugs me. I mean there is absolutely no visible damage to the car, yet it’s upside down. How did this happen?

    1. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      Presumably the damage is on the passenger’s side. It looks like the trailer pushed it over from the back, there’s a reverse curve to the driver’s A-pillar that ain’t natural.
      (Hello, why do we have eight inch thick A-pillars today when an A-pillar the size of your mistresses forearm can let you both walk away from this?!? Not bitter.)

      1. Wayne Moyer Avatar
        Wayne Moyer

        I have two parents who were EMT’s (an early seventies term but people know it, so I’ll use it here) during this time period and I know full well why we do actually. The stories I heard about how the cars surviving and the people not making it were people graphic. The part that always sticks with me is the steering column and changes that were mandated to it.
        Oddly I would bet they got thrown from the vehicle at a slow speed.

        1. 0A5599 Avatar
          0A5599

          The driver’s side doors are shut, with windows intact. No evidence of the passenger doors being open when it rolled. They probably crawled through the passenger window.
          It’s hard to tell if we’re seeing the front or the back window of the trailer. If the front, then it is laying on the driver’s side, which would seem inconsistent with a tow vehicle rotating 180 degrees towards the passenger side.

      2. Inliner Avatar
        Inliner

        I’m rather surprised that we haven’t found a way to make pop-up pillar supports work. The idea’s been proposed before, and we have the technology to make pop-up roll-bars for convertibles, so why not the final step?

        1. outback_ute Avatar
          outback_ute

          Cost

  4. Alff Avatar
    Alff

    I’d like to get a new car but I’m upside down in a late model Catalina.

  5. I_Borgward Avatar
    I_Borgward

    Great Lake State! Back when you’d get a new plate in a different color every year… how cool is that?
    I have a copy of this photo because it reminds me of my Dad and all the cool summer camping trips we used to take with our travel trailer. It also looks like a predicament he might find himself in, we were in a couple of fender benders over the years.
    Huge style points for posing for pictures. You have to love a woman who’s still smiling after that!

  6. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    I’m not a BMW fan, but once in a while I see something outside the box. Exiting my local pub of a sunny day this BMW 2000 caught my eye. Never heard of it. Evidently the rectangular headlights were verboten in the United States when California was issuing black plates; so either the license plates or the grille have been retrofitted?
    It looks so well worn in, and casual, steelies dents and all. Hard to think someone is faking any part of it.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/af23395e5422635a80c1f81f4851c4059672263c4dc19beb2b50e65d16317769.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2e005dd1dbcf72caed39823e4b95ac9c9561f273546f415d99cfaefcdf6c151a.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/19286d8e8922f31d9cb29bd70826e30702deec74fac52c97193ba3ce5537da64.jpg

    1. Jaap Avatar
      Jaap

      My father traded in a VW 1500 Variant for a brand new white one.

    2. Inliner Avatar
      Inliner

      Well, the tiLux badge, if correct, would denote a top-of-the-line New Class sold only for a couple years in the late 1960s. My guess leans towards a period import (private or dealer), as it doesn’t have any side markers fitted. A full grille swap may not have been necessary – USA-spec models (and possibly personal imports) complied with headlight regulations with the fitment of quad headlights, which seem to take up the same amount of space as the regular rectangular headlights.
      Today, most people remember the New Class only for the coupes (the -02 series) that they spawned, rather than the original 1500/1600/1800/2000 sedan lineup.

  7. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    Lutz applied the knowledge he developed at Opel to get a full-sized Pontiac to handle as well as the compact Kadett.
    http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/comment-image/426556.jpg

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      “GG” in kid’s language: Good game.

  8. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Any way to use fewer words to illustrate the irrationality of markets?
    https://s26.postimg.org/uukc44609/IMG_20170412_102439.jpg
    From The Economist.

    1. outback_ute Avatar
      outback_ute

      The Autoextremist has a column on this including quotes from a financial analysist that clearly shows how not all analysis occurring is rational. But then the tech bubble is just one example that this has happened before.