Minneapolis Strreet Sighting: Pontiac Catalina

For one reason or another, most of the big GM boats I see languishing in this city are of the Chevy or Buick variety, and perhaps an Oldsmobile a week; Pontiacs of any variety (at least the ones cool enough to shoot) are few and far between. Riding down a side street just across Lagoon Ave, I saw a little glimmer of what I thought were tailfins; I immediately sprang into action, thinking that some sort of Cadillac would greet me when I arrived. I was wrong; very wrong.
1959 was a good year for GM styling; the Cadillacs looked unmistakable, the Chevy lineup looked badass with its "slit eye" taillights and accompanying fins, the Oldsmobiles looked a bit goofy, and the Buicks simply looked mean. I think my second favorite 1959 GM lineup is the Pontiacs. They have the same badass look as the Chevys, but somehow the split-grille front end seems to suit this cars a little bit better than Chevy's chrome-laced fascia. Don't get me wrong, I do like the Chevy, but the Pontiac styling seems to fit this bodystyle a bit better.
As I stated earlier, 1959 was a pretty awesome year for GM styling; across the board, each GM lineup had their own styling cues, and while some of the vehicles could be called mere rebadges, casual observers wouldn't notice; unlike modern GM rebadges, each brand utilized their own respective engines, trannies, and little more than basic body structure was shared. While Chevy, Buick and Olds had a series of engines, Pontiac opted for a lone 389 with various setups for carburetors, and dealt with two different trannies to increase horsepower. I don't remember whether this car was motivated by a stickshift or auto, but whatever the case, it probably has enough power to pull the trailer I tried so hard to remove from the pictures.
As with all older cars in this state, it appears this classic Poncho is infected with tinworm; thankfully, although the paint is dry, drab, and there is a fair amount of surface rust, it doesn't appear to be too gone; for all we know, this could clean up with a bit of elbow grease. The badges are in decent shape, as are the probably-hard-to-replace hubcaps; even the glass (taillight lenses in particular) is in excellent shape, especially considering the age of this thing. The first thing I would do is get what little body rust there is fixed, and then do a decent wash, wax, and polish; depsite my love for aftermarket wheels on classic cars, I'd spiffy up the stock hubbies and rock em. A car like this deserved to be left stock, and that's exactly what I'd do.