I bought this car new for 4 grand in the fall of 1963. I never found a model of it when I got into model building in 1984...it would have made a beautiful model.
The car was big all over and like you say the big trunk. I drove the car way down to Manzanillo, Mexico with my wife and 3 kids in 1970. The trunk carried all of our stuff. In 1971 I got a contract from PBS-TV, to go to American, Samoa in the South Pacific so I took the car down there on a boat. I sold it down there when I came back to America in 1977.
What I did not realize was when I took the car to Samoa it was surrounded by the salt water ocean. As a result, the air was full of microscopic salt crystal's, which in time mixed with the weekly rains which I drove in. Within 2 years, the car showed extensive metal rust around the rear fenders, including the fender skirts.
I should have known better as I live in Akron, Ohio where they loaded the streets with salt in the winter time to melt the ice and snow on the roads. Since I never drove the car in the winter in Akron, it was rust free. Samoa was summer-time 24/7 all year long. When I came back to California in 1977 I had to buy a vehicle...man-o-man...live and learn...as some of my friends said: "Dumb A*s Rodney!"
My Father had a 1973 Catalina, as it aged and rusted, one day while driving on the highway the vinyl roof [one of the worst inventions of the American car industry] separated from the car, He said there was a big woosh noise and he could see it flapping in the wind behind him in the rear view mirror.
A friend has a 64 Bonneville convertible. It’s a huge car. There’s almost enough room in the trunk for me to park my Mazda Miata.
Back in the day of drive-in movie theaters (am I dating myself ? ) it was fun to stuff extra friends in the trunk before the ticket wicket.
The car was big all over and like you say the big trunk. I drove the car way down to Manzanillo, Mexico with my wife and 3 kids in 1970. The trunk carried all of our stuff. In 1971 I got a contract from PBS-TV, to go to American, Samoa in the South Pacific so I took the car down there on a boat. I sold it down there when I came back to America in 1977.
That's an impressive car, Rodney, what we might call a real "Yank Tank".
Or a "Land Yacht".
The AMT kit goes for a pretty penny if you can find it.
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/amt-6624-150-1964-bonneville-hardtop--1143069
Lovely car and lovely memories @f2g1d!
What I did not realize was when I took the car to Samoa it was surrounded by the salt water ocean. As a result, the air was full of microscopic salt crystal's, which in time mixed with the weekly rains which I drove in. Within 2 years, the car showed extensive metal rust around the rear fenders, including the fender skirts.
I should have known better as I live in Akron, Ohio where they loaded the streets with salt in the winter time to melt the ice and snow on the roads. Since I never drove the car in the winter in Akron, it was rust free. Samoa was summer-time 24/7 all year long. When I came back to California in 1977 I had to buy a vehicle...man-o-man...live and learn...as some of my friends said: "Dumb A*s Rodney!"
My Father had a 1973 Catalina, as it aged and rusted, one day while driving on the highway the vinyl roof [one of the worst inventions of the American car industry] separated from the car, He said there was a big woosh noise and he could see it flapping in the wind behind him in the rear view mirror.
I'll bet he was holding his ladies hand and was not paying attention to his car rules.