Pontiac wanted a coupe utility, that much is for certain. In fact, there were at least three attempts between 1959 and 2008 that had Pontiac actively involved in a concept car/truck combo: this very modified 1959 Catalina, a 1968 LeMans-based deal and of course, the G8 ST that almost made it to production before a strange flushing sound was heard in every General Motors office space around 2008. The 1968 LeMans has floated around a bit and we salivate at the thought of a late-model LS-powered ute when we see G8s drive by, but this “El Catalina” skips the muscle side of the house for the most part and rides in on 1950s class. 

The “El Catalina” you see here was part of Bunkie Knudsen’s plan to inject life into Pontiac by any means necessary. This was when Pontiac had first embraced “Wide Track” styling and when there were major differences between the brands, so even though an Impala-based El Camino had been sourced for the project, Pontiac engineers had to put serious work in blending the styling of a Catalina Safari wagon into the El Camino body. Trimmed out to the nines and fitted with a 389 and a Hyrda-Matic transmission, the Catalina Safari truck was presented to Knudsen (and potentially John DeLorean) for review. The timing wasn’t great…Ford didn’t move 10,000 Rancheros in 1958, a recession had hit, and management had concerns. The El Catalina was the first of three planned prototypes, but as the body was being finished on the second car, Knudsen canned the project.

The two Pontiac trucks led vastly different lives: #2 was used at Pontiac’s Engineering Center until it was crushed, and this one was snuck out of the back door via some funky paperwork, had been privately owned at least since the mid-1960s and had been driven often…not the normal for a prototype. The restoration story on the El Catalina is unreal, which you can read about at Hemmings. But a restoration did take place and now the parts-hauler is a knockout beauty that is going up for auction in July. History has shown that Knudsen did make the right call to not produce the coupe utility for Pontiac, but do you think that this car wore the body better than the bat-winged El Camino?

Mecum Auctions July 2018: Lot F138.1 – 1958 Pontiac Catalina Safari Pickup (Concept)