Coming Full Circle

Coming Full Circle

The current owner, Tommy Brooks, sold this 61' Pontiac Catalina Tri-Power bubble-top, 35 years  ago. Now, I know what you must be thinking, if he sold it 35 years ago, how in the world was Tommy able to get this car back into his collection? Well, it's a astonishing story to say the least. When Tommy sold this car 35 years ago, it was an all original, numbers matching car. Everything was just as it was when it left the showroom floor back in 1961. After Tommy sold the car, years went by and he eventually lost track of the car, and ultimately forgot about it. Well, he forgot about it up until about 10 years ago when  he received a call from a buddy of his who claimed to have just bought a beautiful blue, 61'  Tri-Power bubble top Catalina. This spiked Tommy's interests and he began to wonder if the Catalina that his buddy just bought could be his old Catalina. Tommy wondered so much about this car, that eventually he couldn't stand wondering anymore, and had to get some answers. 

So, he went down to his buddy's place where the car was, and as soon as he laid eyes on it, he immediately knew it was his old car. Of course his buddy was in denial and exclaimed that there's no way it was his car. Determined to prove him wrong, Tommy asked his buddy two questions that would prove or disprove that it was his car. First, he asked if it came out of Kentucky. His buddy responded, "hell yeah." Then asked him if it had a leather key ring with a name on it. His buddy responded, "hell yeah." With those two questions answered, there was no doubt in Tommy's mind that the Catalina his buddy had bought was his old Catalina. However, over the years it had changed slightly. Though it wore the same light blue paint, it was not the original, it wore eight-lug wheels, and now had 40,000 miles. However, it still had the original interior and original Tri-Power. 

Of course, being his old Catalina, Tommy wanted to buy it back, and fortunately his buddy let him buy it back. When Tommy brought the car back home, he swapped out the factory automatic with a factory four speed, but other than that, he preserved the car in its factory state. Along with preserving the physical state of the car, Tommy wanted to preserve the history of the car. He got in touch with the Pontiac Historical Society, and they sent him a copy of the original build sheet of the car from 1961. To this day, the car is in the rightful hands of Tommy as he continues to love and care for it, just like he did, 35 years ago.