RAREST WAGON! 1965 Bonneville Safari 421HO 3x2 4 Speed! Parked 30+ Years Revival!!

Video Description

In this video, I work on bringing back to life one of the rarest station wagons in existence! It's a 1965 Pontiac Bonneville Safari wagon with a factory 421HO engine with three 3 barrel carburetors, backed by a Muncie 4 speed manual transmission! Other notable options are the Kelsey-Hayes 8 lug wheels, tilt column, luggage rack, and special order bucket seats with map pockets on the back of them. It is also a factory Starlight Black car!! The previous owner bought the wagon in the early 80s and parked it somewhere around 1989 or 1990 when it had an engine fire (like a lot of the tri-power cars suffer from). The damage was somewhat minor, but it was enough of a fire to melt the wiring and distributor, damage the carburetors, and burn the paint on the back of the hood and cowl. Since the damage, the car had been kept inside, and the condition of the wagon reflects that. The interior is in unbelievable condition for being a car with average miles for the time (89,000). I was unable to find any rust holes anywhere, and it appears to have had a repaint. This beauty apparently was well-known across the country. Once I started posting pictures of it on the internet, many people recognized it as Dean's car. At some point, Dean ordered the PHS (Pontiac Historical Society) documents for the car, and the results were shocking. This monster was confirmed to have been born with a 376 horsepower 421HO engine with three deuces, long-branch exhaust manifolds, and a 4 gear. This was the highest horsepower engine available from Pontiac in '65! This, paired with the other options, truly made the car a sleeper in the most literal sense of the word, with it's big mill, manual transmission, and 3.42:1 Posi-Trac rear end! But the most surprising part of the PHS documents is what was written at the bottom of the report: "We are sorry to say that we do not have any production stats, other that total Safari wagons built. Yours IS the rarest I've ever seen. Nice Car! -PHS." If PHS hasn't seen another wagon like this come across their desk, then there likely isn't another one in existence! Especially with only 1,300 Safaris being built in 1965. With this car being as special as it is, I'm trying to be as thorough as I can with the revival. Although I'm leaving a lot of the cosmetics as they are, I'm doing everything I can to make this hot rod reliable and fun again. I removed the engine and transmission to have them rebuilt, and in this video I do everything to the car that it needs prior to installing them again. We have no intention of ever selling this car. Please do not ask! There will be a second video when I get the drivetrain back from getting rebuilt! Thanks for watching!