Stretch Limo Conversion: 1964 Pontiac Catalina
Several well-known coachbuilders have been creating ambulances, hearses, and limousines for the last hundred or so years. One of them is Armbruster- Stageway, which originated in 1887. Usually, they begin with a luxury sedan or station wagon and go from there. In the case of the seller’s car, Ambruster-Stageway used a Pontiac Catalina instead of a Bonneville. This running stretch limo from 1964 needs some cosmetic work and can be found in Phoenix, Arizona. It’s available here on Facebook Marketplace for $3,000. Not a bad price, but what would you do with it? Is your garage big enough to park it in?
We’re guessing that the seller’s limo was built to serve the not-so-rich-and-famous clients, like to shuttle folks to and from hotels and airports. Otherwise, why would the less opulent Pontiac Catalina have been used as the starting point instead of the more upscale Bonneville? The Catalina would have fewer amenities for the Robin Leach’s of the world (remember the 1980s TV show?). We assume the conversion process began by removing the body from the chassis, adding wheelbase in the middle, and putting it all back together with an extra set of doors.
No history is provided by the seller in terms of how this limo was used. It has 91,000 miles and has undergone an engine change from the original 389 cubic inch V8 to a 400 from 1967. Some recent work has been done that eats into part of the asking price. Those efforts include new tires, brake components, a water pump, hoses, and a partial tune-up. We’re told it runs and drives but has not been tested (for speed and distance?).
The seller appears to be its second owner and acknowledges there is some body damage from being hit more than once. But he/she has three spare doors to go with the vehicle for when you decide to fix it and apply new paint. The color appears to be cream (not white), and the interior is mostly okay but there is some separation of the seams in the upholstery. If you have a pile of kids to haul around, this thing would be as good as a 9-passenger station wagon (except for the soccer gear). Our thanks to Tony Primo for another interesting tip!
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Comments
I love it. But not in the game.
“…some body damage from being hit more than once.” I assume that is from people just trying to get this off the road.
Hopefully, someone will try harder in the future.
Imagine the U-turn in this beast.Looks like a Clyde Wanslee sticker on the trunk.Old time car lot in Tucson.Car matches his slogan,”Ugly but Honest”
The limo for the lower middle management, back in the Mad Men days.
This is basically an airport taxi/shuttle. I would never call this a limo. But that’s just me perhaps.
The 64 Pontiac was a very nice design, but this conversion does nothing to enhance that.
With six doors and a forward-facing center seat, this is a shuttle or funeral limo. A VIP limo would have only four doors, a divider window, and a rear facing center seat or jump seats. The idea is that people in a VIP limo are open to conversation, people in a shuttle or funeral limo don’t necessarily want to look at or talk to each other.
Given this car’s downmarket origin, the author is most likely correct – it was an airport or hotel shuttle.
Why would there be two radios?
The heater controls on that era of Pontiac had a control box that resembled the radio.
Fix it up and use it again as a super-Uber airport transport, which is what it most likely was from the beginning.
To use this as an airport transport vehicle once again, with multiple [not one-at-a-time] passengers, will require the vehicle to be registered as a taxi or commercial limo, something you can’t do with Uber or Lyft. This is part of the FAA regulations for airport services. I’m familiar with this situation, as I was in the limo business years ago.
There is another problem; companies like Uber & Lyft limit the age and mileage of their vehicles. This car won’t qualify. It’s really not a viable car for such use anyway. Compared to modern vehicles, systems like the brakes, suspension, ability to keep up with high-speed traffic, etc., make it the wrong choice for airport services. And it doesn’t have A/C!
FWIW, in the early 1970s I used to own an identical car, except it was medium grey. Note the difference in the middle seat compared to the front seat. To keep manufacturing costs down, Stageway used a standard center seat assembly of their own design for all the 6 & 8 door cars they made, be it a GM, MoPaR, or Ford product. I also had a Stageway Ford, a 1971 6-door Ranch Wagon, with the same seat assembly!
They sewed the upholstery for their own version of the bench seat, except the sew line thread isn’t the same type, it’s a simple thread to “sort-of match” the front seat pattern. And of course they didn’t go to the expense of buying the Pontiac seat emblems! My Catalina was ordered by Stageway without carpets, instead the car had the rubber mats as used in the GM taxicab option, and this car probably has the rubber mats too.
I could be wrong, but based on location on doors just ahead of the rear wheels on both sides and no damage to rear quarters, I’m guessing it wasn’t hit multiple times. It looks more likely they hit something multiple times. Someone didn’t turn wide enough and kept clipping the inside corners because they couldn’t judge it’s length/turning radius.
Well, I love it. Put my 65 Superior hearse followed by my 69 Fleetwood limo and let this follow up the the rear and get some friends and drive through town. Decent price also. The only downside is the trannys in theses can be a pain and an even bigger pain to find a competent rebuilder today, otherwise this is an inexpensive unit to do aside from chrome. Since it is in Arizona the bumpers and pot metal trim are likely very nice driver quality. I like off the wall units but stuff like this was always so rusty in the east and shipping big units like this is no a bargain anywhere. Go luck to it though. I would love to have it.
When I was in mortuary school in 1993 a classmate from Arkansas told the story that his boss had a Pontiac hearse and when chided about it vs a Caddy or Lincoln he’d tell folks, “See that; PONTIAC-poor old Neal thinks it’s a Cadillac.” I’ve only driven Cadillac hearses in my day. And it takes a bit of getting used to to take a turn.
Why not use a Bonneville? Because there was no Bonneville sedan model, only hts. The exception being the Safari.
Many years ago I was fortunate to have several conversations with a former manager of Armbruster-Stageway. When I asked why they supplied more Pontiac stretched airporters than Chevrolets, he said because by the time the Chevy Biscayne or Belair was ordered with the upgraded mechanical systems like suspension, wheels, and brakes, The base price for the Catalina was actually cheaper, while already equipped with the specs that were optional on the Chevrolet cars.
He also said that the other small coachbuilders [like National Coach] who didn’t have the much larger production abilities A-S had, meant they could buy Pontiacs for less than comparable Chevrolets. Their typical advertising suggested “Get a Pontiac Airporter for the price of a Chevrolet or Ford!”