SUPER STOCK STREETER

Ian Paki’s name is no stranger to our pages, and now it returns once again, with Ian’s radical 1963 Pontiac Catalina build. Ian stumbled across the Catalina on Trade Me when he wasn’t planning to build or buy anything, but he couldn’t say no, having always had a soft spot for cars with a point of difference. Ian has read a few books about the muscle car wars of the ’60s, and, realizing that Pontiacs are actually doing very well as far as the ‘race on Sunday, sell on Monday’ ethos goes, he set about planning to build his in the vein of the iconic Collingwood Motors ‘Swiss Cheese’ Catalina. Ian is intending the car to be road legal, with Collingwood Motors–inspired livery and a retrostyled interior. It will be powered by the highcompression 400ci small block Chev that has run a 10.6-second quarter-mile in Ian’s old Capri drag car. This will be backed by a Chuck Mann–built TH350 transmission, as well as the disc-braked nine-inch diff that came with the car. Fortunately, the bulk of the bodywork has already been taken care of, so Ian can focus on the lessfrustrating aspects of the build. He’s in no rush to finish the car, but, when he does, you can expect a full feature in NZV8.