Tell us what your car finds – here’s mine!

1980s Magazines published by CSK Publishing Muscle Car and High-Performance Mopar Magazine (and others) has a column written by veteran journalist and enthusiast Jerry Heasley where readers can submit their latest finds. When I found my 1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 convertible, I submitted my submission. Today, we have Ryan Brutt’s Barn Finds as a millennial version of the concept.

But not all cool finds are hidden in barns. With the ubiquity of the Internet in our lives, we’ve come full circle – Facebook Marketplace and even Craigslist are the new world versions of newspaper classified ads. We at ClassicCars.com Journal would love to hear about your collectible finds and tell your stories like I’m about to do.

In July of 2023, I was visiting family in Buenos Aires, getting ready to go home. My friend Danny sent me a message showing me an ad on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for a 1968 Pontiac Catalina coupe with a 428 and a four-speed transmission. I had only heard of one other car like this, owned by a friend of mine in Michigan. His car was a 390-horsepower 428 High Output, while this car was a regular 428 rated at 375 horsepower.

The 428 HO is extremely rare, as are the 1968 full-size Pontiacs with four speeds. Most of the four speeds were Grand Prix and Catalina, the latter usually hardtops. The coupe was a fairly unusual find. I was excited and told Danny that if he didn’t buy it, I’d like the chance.

While overseas, I communicated with the seller and then purchased an invoice from PHS Auto Service, which showed that the car was built in Cameo Ivory, with a blue interior, a custom instrument cluster (but unfortunately, Pontiac no longer offers a tachometer on full-size cars), a trim group (including chrome window moldings, deluxe wheel pans, deluxe steering wheel and pedal trim), and a few other items you can see in the order above. The invoice also confirmed the 428 four-speed combo.

Danny’s cousin lived in Southern California, so he could handle the inspection, but he and the seller couldn’t agree on a price, so the car was passed on to me. I bought it and had it shipped to Phoenix. The Catalina was in bad shape, with rust in unusual places more common in Northern California cars, but that wasn’t enough to put me off – instead, I wanted to learn how to fix everything on it. If anything, the car had license plates and was drivable. The interior, on the other hand, was in worse shape, but that gave me more room to learn. The biggest problem was that I had a broken ankle and couldn’t drive it!

The day after I took possession of the car I found the name of the original owner. Since the car was a one-of-a-kind Italian, I tracked him down easily and discovered that he was 89 years old and still among us. He said he was a Mopar fan but hated the ’62 Dodge, so he took the advice of a Tri-Power owner friend and bought a Pontiac. When he needed to buy another car in 1968, he chose a Poncho, specifically a Catalina coupe. He didn’t like the GM automatic transmission, so he went with the M20 wide ratio transmission. He sold the car a few years later to a co-worker who is now deceased. He gave me the names of several people who owned the car in the mid-1970s, but I have never been able to track them down.

Since I bought this car, I have found another 4-speed Catalina coupe, this one from HO in New Hampshire, and while I have not yet started the restoration (kids and life have their own agenda), it will be done soon.

Tell us about the car you found. Fill out this form, submit a picture, and we’ll take care of the rest!