This 1964 Pontiac Catalina Safari started its life as a police wagon, about as unglamorous an origin as a muscle car story gets. Owner Mike Artman rebuilt it around a Nelson Racing Engines 468 cubic inch big block, turning a fleet vehicle into a genuine tire-shredding performance wagon. Watch the burnout and decide if wagons deserve more respect.
Station wagons do not usually get invited to a burnout contest, and they almost never win one. This 1964 Pontiac Catalina Safari breaks that rule so thoroughly it barely looks like the same category of vehicle anymore, and the story of how it got there involves a transformation most wagon owners would never attempt. It started its life doing paperwork most muscle car fans would find embarrassing, hauling gear for a police department rather than chasing quarter-mile times. What its current owner built on top of that unglamorous foundation is the kind of outside-the-box project that makes the rest of the segment worth watching all the way through.
From Police Wagon to Tire-Shredding Monster
Before it became a burnout showpiece, this Catalina Safari served as a police wagon, a role that demanded durability and cargo capacity far more than performance. Owner Mike Artman took that unglamorous starting point and rebuilt it into something closer to a factory hot rod than a family hauler, preserving the wagon’s distinctive styling while completely reworking what sits underneath it. That contrast between the car’s utilitarian origin and its current identity is a big part of what makes the build stand out on a show like this.
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A Nelson Racing Engines 468 Under the Cargo Floor
Powering the build is a Nelson Racing Engines big block displacing 468 cubic inches, a serious step up from anything Pontiac ever offered in a factory Catalina, wagon or otherwise. Paired with updated suspension components to handle the extra power, the drivetrain turns a car built for hauling patrol gear into one capable of the kind of tire-shredding burnout the segment title promises. It’s the kind of engine swap that changes not just the numbers but the entire character of the car.
Why Wagons Deserve More Credit
Vintage wagons carried real hauling capacity that rivaled modern pickup trucks while wrapping it in styling that has aged into a distinct collector niche of its own. Builders like Artman who take that unglamorous body style and give it genuine performance credibility are part of why wagons have slowly climbed out of the shadow of their two-door muscle car siblings in the collector world. A wagon with this much power under the hood forces a second look from anyone who assumed the body style was strictly about practicality.
A Build That Rewards a Second Look
What makes this Catalina Safari worth featuring isn’t just the horsepower total, it’s the completeness of the transformation from working police vehicle to purpose-built performance wagon. That full-circle story is rare even among heavily modified builds, most of which start as something more conventionally desirable than a fleet vehicle.
Riding the Wagon Collector Wave
Vintage wagon values have climbed noticeably over the past decade as collectors who grew up around traditional two-door muscle cars started looking for something less common to add to a garage already full of familiar nameplates. A big-block wagon build like this Catalina Safari sits at the intersection of that growing wagon interest and the more established pro-touring movement, giving it appeal to two different corners of the collector market at once. That crossover appeal is part of why builds like this tend to draw more attention at shows than a comparably powerful two-door would. It also raises the bar for what the next unusual wagon build needs to bring to the table before it earns the same kind of attention. Few builds manage to honor both halves of that identity at once, which is exactly why this one keeps getting brought up whenever the subject of wagon builds comes up.
Watch the full video and share your thoughts below.
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Nice wagon
just wondered if this might inspire Michael J. Dewolfe or Reid Stolz…
To do what?
Do big burn outs….
dragon wagon
Pretty cool
One Awesome Sleeper !!
That’s old news there already been done to a 68 Pontiac station wagon with a 400 ho engine back in the mid seventies
Awesome
The 421 Super Duty engine was a factory option in 64. I don’t know what’s in that one, but that SD was awsome!
Charlie Maraia, Anita Griefer Drier
Thanks!
That was cool. I need to get my 68 Merc on the road again.
Nice
This is a cool wagon !
Nicholas Fox
Cal Trevillion
Beautiful
The family Truckster