Collector Car Corner; Second in a series of Top Muscle Cars; The Fabulous 1962 Pontiac Catalina 421 SD

This week we present the second feature story in a series of Top 10 Muscle Cars of All Time, namely the 1962 Pontiac Catalina 421 SD. With development beginning in 1961, Pontiac was 100% behind this effort thanks to Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen, then head of Pontiac and a performance minded executive. Key was the success of the Pontiac brand in both drag racing and NASCAR, the latter fresh off a victory in the 1961 Daytona 500. In that ’61 500, Marvin Panch drove a year-old 1960 Catalina owned and set up by Henry “Smokey” Yunick.

Top of mind in my selections of these 10 Muscle Cars of All-Time is the important fact that the factory knew full well what it was doing. In building these cars, the manufacturers fulfilled the desires of this new breed of high horsepower loving consumers, led by the coming of age Baby Boomer generation. Additionally, and thankfully to the muscle car success, is the fact that the demographic of this consumer was not limited to young “crazy hoodlums”, who in reality wouldn’t have known the difference between a camshaft and a flywheel.

This Pontiac muscle car movement was driven by some of the brightest minds in making horsepower. Included are people like the aforementioned Yunick and Knudsen, joined by Pontiac PR pro Jim Wangers and cam designer Malcolm “Mac” McKellar. All of them young at heart for sure, but these marketing and mechanical wizards were all adults who knew there was a gigantic boom ahead as the Baby Boomers were earning their driver licenses by the thousands every day.

For those who follow my columns regularly, I’ve spoken many times of the Baby Boomers generation, and this time in its most important factor of all, i.e. the economic boom. From Howard Johnson’s restaurants and motels that offered 48 Flavors Ice Cream, to Sears & Roebuck and its Kenmore Appliances, the corresponding boom in sales arrived and added an additional economic push as many were walking down the aisle. 

So even though the use of the wording “muscle car” was many years away, it was the full-sized family cars that would end up carrying engines like the 389, 390, 406, 409, 413 and then 426, 427 and 428. I won’t name the car model associated with the above engine sizes because most of my readers have already figured out the answers.  

Unique, however, was Pontiac’s 421-V8 engine, which carried the SD moniker that stands for Super Duty. Listed at 405 horsepower and 425 lb. ft. of torque, I was told personally by Smokey who is aforementioned as one of Pontiac’s top advisors and engine builders, that the engine was putting out an easy 465 horses thanks to the factory enhancements.

Some of the SD upgrades included cylinder heads with larger valves, an 11.25 compression ratio, aluminum intake with two Carter four-barrel carbs, exhaust manifolds that were contoured for a header-like flow, “dump tubes” that allowed opening the exhaust before the mufflers, and a special McKellar #10 solid lifter cam that featured a duration that allowed the valves to be open longer in combo with a lower valve lift number in the .440 range. Noteworthy was the forged 4.00-inch stroke crankshaft, 4.094 bore and forged heavy-duty rods that made for a bulletproof bottom end when high RPMs arrived.

Previously, Pontiac’s smaller 389 SD kits for the four-bolt-main 389 block included high-flow heads with 10.75:1 compression and similar 421 internals. Single four-barrel kits were rated at 348 horsepower while Tri-Power versions upped the horses to 363.  

So, why is the 1962 Catalina 421 SD so special?

In 1961, if you wanted the SD package you had to order it as an ala carte upgrade, in that a customer had to order the parts at the dealership and then assemble the 421 SD engine in the customer’s garage (or pay someone to do it).  

However, in 1962 Pontiac was ready to run the Daytona 500 as a defending champ and Knudsen had to make sure the new 421 SD was an option that everyone could order at the local dealership in accordance with NASCAR rules. The result was both Catalina and Grand Prix models that offered a factory built 421 SD option for 1962, which sure made things easy for the performance minded owner.

As for that 1962 Daytona 500, Fireball Roberts swept the 500 in Smokey’s black and gold Catalina winning the pole, qualifying race and the 500. Further, Joe Weatherly won the ’62 NASCAR Grand National Championship aboard Bud Moore’s Pontiac, scoring nine wins and an astonishing 31 top-three finishes.

At the drag strip, Pontiac 421 SD cars with aluminum front ends and bumpers ran 12.5-second quarter miles at 115 mph. Popular with fans on the match race circuits. Wangers also drove Pontiacs to numerous national class wins in what I feel was one of the most successful of the early Pontiac drag teams behind the wheel of Ace Wilson’s Royal Pontiacs out of Royal Oak, Michigan. Other famous Pontiac drag racers back then included Arnie Beswick, Harold Ramsey and Don Gay, to name a few.

Amenities like radios and heaters were optional, and anything that saved weight was important. Thus Pontiac went further, offering a very costly optional aluminum front end “clip” that included inner and outer fenders, hood, front bumper, and radiator support. The result was a drop of 200 pounds to the heavier Catalina compared to lighter Chevy, MOPAR and Ford competitors. Still looking to more evenly compare the Catalina to the competition, in 1963 Pontiac cut round holes in the chassis and ended up with what would be known as the “Swiss Cheese” Super Duty 421 Catalinas.   

If you wanted an automatic transmission back then with a Pontiac 421 SD engine, you were out of luck. Only three and four speeds were available, most popular the optional Borg-Warner T-10 4-speed coupled to the only rear axle ratio available, namely a 4.30 posi unit.

The factory built 62 Catalina 421 SD carried no exterior identification, just a super clean Pontiac style. However, the true mission of this “muscle car” came when one could hear the engine’s 465-horses strutting in full-bore glory. As for the cost, the base price of a ’62 Catalina was $2,860 and when you added another $2,250 for the 421 SD factory built option, you were over $5,000 which back then was a hefty sum for sure.

Only 130 Catalina buyers ordered the 421 SD option in ’62, while Grand Prix owners that year were way less at just 16. Come 1963, and it was back to buying parts a la carte again as the 421 SD option was removed in accordance with the GM “no racing” mandate.   

That pretty much sums up the fabulous 1962 Catalina 421 SD, with full respect to the many 1961 SD Pontiacs that were non-factory built but crazy fast on the street, oval, and drag strip.

(Greg Zyla is a syndicated auto columnist who welcomes reader input on auto nostalgia, collector cars and motorsports. You can reach him at greg@gregzyla.com).