Contrary to what this car may tell you, Pontiac never built a GTO as a station wagon. But if they had, it might look something like this 1968 Tempest. After all, back in ’64, a GTO was a Tempest before it was a GTO. This one certainly looks the part, right down to the hood-mounted tachometer. So, if you’re interested in getting from 0-60 with a full load of groceries in the back, this might your car! Located in Holbrook, New York (Long Island), this cool wagon is available here on eBay where bidding has reached $8,100, but there’s an unmet reserve to be dealt with.
The Pontiac Tempest began as slightly quirky compact for 1961 that had a unibody platform, four-cylinder engine and a two-speed, rear-mounted transaxle automatic transmission. It shared this configuration with the Buick Special and Olds F-85. Apparently, this didn’t pan out well sales-wise with GM bigwigs, so the Tempest and company became mid-size cars with more conventional layouts and drivetrains for 1964.
Generation #3 of the Tempest appeared for 1968-70 with streamlined “Coke-bottle” styling which helped Pontiac intermediate sales enormously. The 326 V-8 was replaced by a new 350 cubic inch motor that had horsepower ratings of 250 and 320, the latter of which the seller’s car apparently has (enabled by a 4-barrel carb). No longer options on the Tempest, the LeMans and the GTO had already become full series in their own right by then. The seller’s wagon appears to be a Tempest Custom, which differed little from the LeMans. Pontiac sold more than 86,000 of them in 1968, of which just 8,000 or so were wagons. So, the seller’s wagon actually saw sales much below that of a real GTO that year, which was around 88,000. (Source: PontiacRegistry)
The seller’s 1968 Tempest presents well, with no sign of rust anywhere on the body. We’re told the floors and trunk are also rust-free. It appears that painstaking efforts were made to emulate a GTO beyond just badging. The car has exterior striping, dual exhaust, bucket seats, floor shifter and the hood-mounted tach. It has new tires and wheels, although the wheels are not of the 1968-era variety. The wagon has factory air conditioning, but the compressor is not currently installed. The rest of the plumbing is there and in good working order, as we’re told.
Regarding the interior, it looks to be in very good condition. I doubt you could get bucket seats on a Tempest wagon, which means they were likely sourced from a GTO and the seating surfaces probably recovered to match. The seller is said to have had the car for about two years, but we don’t know if he bought it all this way or is the architect for the overall transformation.
The 350 motor is said to be the car’s original and runs and drives well. The carburetor has been rebuilt, which is not surprising at 74,000 miles. The automatic tranny is a 2-speed which would not have been the usual fare for a GTO back in the day. All-in-all, this looks to be a car that would be a bit hit everywhere you took it. This is at least the second Tempest/GTO wagon I’ve seen as someone else did it with a ’65 that I found on the web. It will be interesting to see how high the bidding goes. Will it go beyond what a typical Tempest would bring and get into GTO territory or stay at or below whatever the seller’s reserve is?
I’m up in the air on this one- I’m a stickler for originality and this was certainly isn’t , and finding a solid station wagon is hard to find , but whoever built this did a very nice job and I cant find a fault with it !
I can. Why do people attempt to deceive others? Pontiac did not make a GTO on the station wagon platform. It is a Tempest. The craftsmanship is really good. I like the colors…but, I can do without the racing stripes on a wagon. If ya want a race car, build a race car.
I’ve seen a few tribute wagons – Yenko Chevelle wagon, Hurst Olds Vista Cruiser, Super Bee wagon…. all make a plain wagon a head turner.
Yea.
Its a cruiser. They did a nice job on this Car.
Not a big fan on Stripe work.
Should of hit hood.
My thinkin they replaced hood and got color on hood no stripe.
Your thoughts?
Its possible , and you’re right , they should have striped the hood
Better if they left off the stripe altogether.
Really like it when people built 1-of-0 vehicles that should have been made and this one seems well thought out. It becomes a problem though when half-heartedly ‘clones’ come along to surf on others’ success.
This is a great build and looks factory for the untrained eye. I also hope it doesn’t inspire a trend as unmolested OE-looking ‘lesser’ wagons make great hobby cars on their own
I like it. I had a 70 Chevelle wagon. I painted the grille black, got the SS grille emblem, put some Chevy SS wheels on it. Didn’t put the side fender emblems or the tailgate emblem. Looked good!
Also, there was an Olds dealer in the Boston area that had a nice clone 442 Vista Cruiser. Berejik Oldsmobile. They would be at the Dedham show every July with it.
It needs a body colored rubber front bumper.
and hideaway lights!
“Little GTO, you’re really lookin’ fine” “hey, you kids stop fighting back there or we’re gonna turn right around…
VERY creative!! Nobody else will have one, that’s for sure.
A couple of 2 door, doors, and spark up my welder and this would be awesome.
Growing up, we had a 70 Lemans wagon. It was ordered from Pontiac with a 400 and had a 4 speed with a Hurst shifter on “the hump.” Learned to drive stick in it. Wish I had it now, but in 1982 it was just another old station wagon.
The Monkeys mobile?
Very cool wagon but in my opinion it’s cool enough being a tempest wagon and not some want-a-be GTO that was never made!! Just make it what it is or customize it some other way than buying aftermarket GTO emblems!!
Oh dam! I had one of these I created back in the early 80’s. I had acquired a 69 LeMans Sport Wagon, I bought off the original owner who had ordered it special for his growing family in 69. It was an absolutely loaded example with power everything, AM/FM 8 Track, Power split bench seat, rack wood grain sides, chrome roof rack, factory tow package that came with a 3:42 Posi Trac rear and trailer hitch. But when I bought it there was over120,000 hard, but very well cared for miles. The body an interior were in fantastic condition that bugged out and looked great cleaned and ArmorAll’d. But the 350/4 brl, TH350, was tired. So I found a wreaked GTO, rear end totalled, that I got from the insurance company cheap! Then took the 400/4 brl, TH400 most of the dual exhaust, front buckets, console and carpeting that totally matched the dark green, in an out! Sure the good an front runner bumper were a very slightly different shade of dark met green, but you could only see the difference in the sun at a certain angle! I had the ONLY GTO “Woody” around! I had also installed brand new MOOG Cargo Coils and Monroe Magnum Shocks in the rear, with full sized Pontiac Wagon Coils in the front with Monroe Magnum Shocks in the front, that made the wagon ride about an inch higher, so I was able to fit huge tires all around, like a pickup truck, that really helped on dirt roads and big bumps! Plus great in the snow!
Growing up in West Los Angeles in the 60’s I had a friend from a very prominent family who wanted a 66 GTO as his first car. His mom was concerned about him having such a high performance car at age 16 but they sent him to Tom Bell Pontiac in Glendale to procure a “slightly safer” alternative. The dealer had done a lot of business with the family so he was able to special order his car. The result: a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville station wagon, Tiger Gold with a black vinyl top, cast aluminum turbine wheels, bucket seats, console and all the power accessories. The drive train is where the special order really became interesting. It came with a 421 tri-power engine with a 4 speed manual, limited slip rear end and red line tires. Not sure of the actual engine specs but it sure was a beast. Many a muscle car driver saw its taillights after making comments about him driving “mommy’s station wagon”.
i am interested in this car but can not find out how to purchase phone is937-423-2462 greenville ohio or dfellers@woh.rr.com
The listing ended. The link is in red in the first paragraph above.
Click it, then click above the photo, “see original listing” to see if there is a phone number or “contact seller” is still active.
Seller’s email: no1bodyman65@yahoo.com
is there a buy it now price or is it sold?
I posted the sellers email above. The auction ended but I’m sure he won’t mind an email.
Ok, back in the early 80’s things were tight for me. I had found a 69,LeMans Sport Wagon, in dark met green with matching deluxe interior, that had plenty of options, like the 350/4 brl, TH350, with tow package and 3:55 posi rear, HD brakes with disks in front. The interior was very nice with arm rests front and rear, with nice tinted solar ray windows, plus AM/FM, 8 track. Nice wood grain and full instruments, no idiot lights. A very nice well cared for car off the original owner, a Sgt I worked for at Ft. Carson CO. The miles were high though at just over 100,000, because he used the car every day, plus took yearly 30 day leave/vacations, towing a 26’ camper all over with the wife and two kids. So by the time I got it, for a song, it needed at least a trans an valve job. But I had a 69 GTO, that I had been T-Boned in a mall parking lot, by some salesman flying across parking spaces I had not seen till his hoof ornament hit my arm hanging on the top of the door! At about 20 mph! That spun me all around, luckily not into anything else. The dr side was pushed in to my side and bent the frame. So I had everything I needed. A fresh strong 400/4 brl, headers, TH400, bucket seats an console and entire front clip! Plus Rally Wheels. All in the very same colors! I ended up with a beautiful GTO Wagon! I also had to rebuild the front suspension, so I added Bonneville Safari front springs that raised the front about a half inch, but really beefed up the action, plus I added MOOG Cargo Coils in the rear that raised the rear just over an inch, leaving plenty of room for the big wide 15” H70 snow tires in the rear and nice set of wide ovals in the rear, that were great on the dirt mountain roads!