Hi everybody !

I'm Fred, I live in France.

Here below the story of my catalina 

A few years ago, in the french campain, close to bordeaux, my cousin told me about a car he knew when he was younger, a pontiac !

In the begining of the 80s, that was unforgettable to see that kind of car here on our very small roads... for remind, usual cars at this moment were renault 4, small peugeot.... :rolleyes:

As that man was still alive and not living so far from my house (around 5 km), we  decided to try to meet him, at least to share cars experiences !

That has been possible, meeting has been arranged by my cousin and we went in the begining of an afternoon...

We met a very nice american man, after many stories about his life in Chicago, his differents jobs here and there, the fantactics cars he owned in the past, he finally guest to see the pontiac wich was still here waiting into the barn :eek:

It appears that was a 68 convertible catalina, I bought as a new car and brought in Europe in the 70s while he was working as american diplomat.

The car was in amazing shape ! Here the climat is far from So cal climat, oldies are usually so rusty....

After a long and great moment talking about cars and especially about that one, I finally guest to buy it, to put it back on the road before the time wins on the mecanic :rolleyes:

So disapointed, he explains to me that this car is like a baby for him, he has a lot of memories with it and he has definitly enought money, he didn't want to sell his car (he is 85 at this moment).

Anyway, that's is life rules, you can't allways get what you are looking for, we continue talking, that was a really great meeting !

After a few hours talking, we finally decided to leave this nice guy and go back home. While escorting us to the gate, he saw my yellow beetle (my daily driver at this moment) and falled in love  for it, so we stayed a long time talking again about all the job which has been done on it, the ways which has been followed to make good quality job....

Well, we finally leave the place, happy about the meeting, even if no car :o

The story got an incredible turn a few weeks later as he took contact with me, after thinking about our meeting, and due to the good feeling he had with me, he finally agreed the car could become my property.... But as he still didn't need money, the deal was to give me the car for free to retore it and bring it back to the road.... :eek:

To save your time and your brain trying to understand my language, I will forget the details about the pick-up, the travel back with my new big package... As my garage was not complete, I had to park the pontiac in my mother's garage while I prepare the place at home....

here some pics

after a fast washing:

2 years later, when everything has been ready to bring the car in my garage, I started as #1 priority to retore all the drivetrains, the engine, everything except the body job, to put the car on the road quickly. The reason is simple, the scope was to show to my american new friend the car back and drivable.... what has been done few month later, there is approximatively 1 year now !

That was another great moment, I didn't inform him about the car I will use this day, as we keep contact since he gave me the car, he was not supposed to see me different this day....

Here most pics of the car as it is now, I still have as project to make it a bit lower from the front, but I have to finish my house before wich has been post-pone during I was working on the car :p

For your information, the catalina was not available in France and today it could still be a problem to get title for it.... but this one had a french "diplomatic" title in 1972 so that helped me so much....

Untill now, it's still the only one I know in France :cool:

Well, congratulations, for still reading my story, I hope it was not too boring and my english not too bad :o

Bienvenue, ton histoire est très sympa, ma première voiture était aussi une Pontiac se 68 que le proprio m'avait donné! Bravo pour le boulot que tu as fait, elle est super! 

Great Car !!!    God bless him for giving it to you... God Bless you for saving it   Welcome

Terrific find and a really good project in every sense of the word. It looks gorgeous.  I wish i could have seen it when we were in France this summer. Maybe next time eh? 

Great story Fred. I'm glad the former owner gave you the chance to bring it back to life. 

 Hello from Beautiful British Columbia ! Your last pic is a real beauty !!

Oh yeah!   Looking forward to going back!

Bienvenue à bord! I hope to see more pictures in the future. Je te souhaite que la voiture te donne beaucoup de plaisir dans les années à venir. Ici à Montréal. ma Parisienne 67 décapotable tourne toujours des têtes donc j'imagine qu'étant unique en France, la tienne devra le faire aussi!  Enjoy.