The mid-size Pontiac GTO is the best known 1960s muscle car, but Pontiac also made a larger, gorgeous high-performance car that's becoming increasingly popular -- the 1965-66 Catalina 2+2.

While GTO prices have soared, the Catalina 2+2 is bargain priced at $8,500-$8,925 for the two-door coupe version and $14,500-$15,225 for the convertible.

Sales of the GTO -- Detroit's first widely recognized muscle car -- soared after its 1964 introduction, so Pontiac felt it also could score with a high-performance version of its full-size Catalina.

The first Catalina 2+2 was a sporty 1964 model with bucket seats, a console and dressed-up interior. While basically a trim option, it was the first officially designated regular performance model among large Pontiacs.

By 1964 heavily chromed bodies and tailfins were long gone, and sports-car-style items including bucket seats, consoles and floor shifters were in. Many domestic automakers offered these items in flashier models, along with stylish "mag (for race-style magnesium) wheels."

The 1964 Catalina 2+2 offered those items in a $291 option package for its Catalina hardtop and convertible. The console had an engine vacuum gauge and a special Morrokide interior, besides unique exterior badges.

Power was provided by a 389-cubic-inch V-8 with 283 horsepower if ordered with a four-speed manual gearbox with a floor shifter and 267 horsepower if bought with a three-speed automatic transmission.

The 1964 option was a trial balloon to see if a sufficient number of Pontiac buyers would bypass the smaller GTO and opt for a bigger Pontiac muscle car with good family room. The "2+2'' designation was commonly used for fast European cars with two seats in front and two in the back -- basically four-seat sports cars, although the Catalina 2+2's back seat was roomy.

Only 7,998 buyers of the 1964 Catalina ordered the 2+2 option, but Pontiac was on a high-performance roll with its GTO and decided to go ahead with a redesigned 1965 Catalina with the 2+2 option. The automaker figured a Catalina 2+2 it could do nothing but enhance its high-performance image with such an auto. Wasn't a posher high-performance car larger than the GTO needed for older, more affluent, youth-minded Pontiac customers?

The 1965 Catalina had a larger, sleeker body than the 1964 model with a bold grille and curvy, dramatic new clean styling, besides a new, longer chassis. It was flat-out gorgeous in either two-door hardtop or convertible form.

Helping identify the car with the 2+2 option were vertical louvers for the front fenders and "2+2'' emblems on the hood, rear fenders and back end.

The new 2+2 became a full-fledged muscle car with a standard 421-cubic-inch V-8, which produced 338 horsepower and gobs of torque with its four-barrel carburetor. The engine worked with a three-speed manual transmission with a special floor-mounted Hurst shifter, heavy duty suspension, 3.42:1 performance axle ratio for faster acceleration and chrome engine parts, custom pinstriping and, naturally, dual exhausts.

Motor Trend magazine tested a 1965 2+2 hardtop and said, "Docile as a kitten in town, our 338-horsepower charger turned wild when we put our foot down. The 2+2 is one of those rare machines that ask to be driven fast and well."

The 1965 Catalina 2+2 V-8 also could be ordered with a higher-revving "High Output" V-8. It had a loftier compression ratio and produced 356 or 376 horsepower if the carburetor was replaced with Pontiac's "Tri-Power" setup of three two-barrel carburetors -- a setup also used by the GTO.

In addition, you could get a close-ratio four-speed manual transmission, gauge package with a tachometer, "Ride and Handling" option with stiffer front/rear springs, heavier-duty shock absorbers, front anti-sway bar, quicker-ratio power steering and aluminum wheel hubs.

In one of the most celebrated car buff magazine tests, road racer Walt Hansgen compared a 1965 Catalina 2+2 with those features and a 4.11:1 "Saf-T-Track" limited-slip differential with a rare, race-bred Ferrari 330GT 2+2. The smaller, nimbler 330GT was a new Ferrari that was much costlier than the Pontiac.

After driving both cars hard on Long Island's famed Bridgehampton track, Hansgen said, "If one totaled their relative strengths and weaknesses and took an average for each car, the net result would be nearly equal. They provide their drivers with a brand of automotive excitement seldom experienced off the race course. I just don't think the Europeans can build a car as cheaply as this, with this kind of performance and -- quite frankly -- with this kind of handling."

The Catalina 2+2 was timed at a startling 3.9 seconds during a 0-60 mph run, and it topped 130 mph. As expected, the Ferrari 330GT 2+2 had faster lap times, but didn't beat the Pontiac by much.

The 1965 Catalina 2+2 package now cost $419 for coupes and $397 for convertibles, but Catalina 2+2 sales soared 44 percent, with 11,519 sold. There were few changes for the 1966 Catalina 2+2, except it became an individual Pontiac model, not just a Catalina with the "2+2" option. The GTO also became a separate Pontiac model that year -- it had been sold with a high-performance GTO option package for Pontiac's Tempest model.

Pontiac focused mainly on details for the 1966 2+2, such as modified bucket seats and a revised exhaust system. Identifying louvers were moved to the rear fenders.

In sales literature, Pontiac called the 2+2 "two tons of exquisite engineering with a 421-cubic-inch engine that emits torque in seemingly endless quantities for people who like to put some weight behind their muscle.''

Sales of the 1966 2+2 fell to 6,383 units because it had too much competition from the smaller, more affordable GTO, which was more popular with young muscle car buyers, and the big, handsome Grand Prix and Bonneville, with which the 2+2 was priced and "imaged'' too closely. The 1967 2+2 again became an option package for that year's more plainly styled Catalina. The three-carburetor setup no longer was offered, and Catalina 2+2 sales only totaled 1,768 cars.

The 1965-66 Catalina 2+2 is a virtual steal at current prices, which are rising. But finding a good one can be tough because relatively few were made.