General Motors added three new compact cars to its roster in 1961: the Buick Special, Oldsmobile F-85, and the Pontiac Tempest. They were the first “unibody” automobiles built by the company. All three would remain compacts for three years before being promoted to mid-size status in 1964. The Lemans was a premium trim option on the 1962 Tempest and a 215 cubic inch aluminum-block V8 was optional and rare, only going into about one percent of Tempest/LeMans production that year. The seller’s survivor-quality car is one of them.
The Y-bodied Tempest differed from its companions at first because the standard engine was a “Trophy 4” created by taking the right side of a 389 cubic inch V8 engine and building it as a standalone. The Tempest also used a rear transaxle layout that was similar to the Chevy Corvair and resulted in a near 50/50 balance in weight for the front vs. rear halves of the vehicle. This setup eliminated the driveshaft hump and made the Tempest quite roomy for its overall dimensions.
Just 3.662 Tempests are thought to have been built with the 215 V8 borrowed from Buick. It was paired with an optional 2-speed automatic transmission that had the shift lever on the dashboard instead of as a stalk. This variation of the LeMans makes the seller’s car an unusual find today since so few were built and likely are to survive. I’m guessing the hood scoop on this car is fake and was added later (there are no photos shown on the engine).
We’re told the Pontiac runs well but needs a new battery and could stand to receive a tune-up. For some reason, only two of the four wheels shown in the photos are “mag” rims and they won’t come with the car (regular wheels will be substituted in the front). The mileage is unknown (a placeholder is used in the listing), but the auto will go with some spare parts. If you’re looking for something different, how about this 1962 Tempest? It’s available in Kingston, New York, and here on craigslist for $11,700. Mitchell G. is at it again with great tips!
Nice week for a road trip to Kingston.
A-men! Won’t last long.
Before moving to Colorado, I spent a summer near Kingston, in Olivebridge on the Ashokan Reservoir. Right near the start of the Catskills, it’s a nice place, but too busy. Can’t forget a side trip to Woodstock to see “Grandpa Woodstock”( look him up), cool place.
The Tempest/Special/F-85 cousins were not the first GM unibodies. The Corvair, which came out in July 59 as a 1960 model was GM’s first unibody car.
A high school friend had a white, red interior 326 powered 63 LeMans with the 2 speed semi automatic transaxle and the Tempest’s unique “Rope-Drive” flexible drive shaft. It certainly was an interesting little car that was fairly quick and handle well for it’s era. Though it doesn’t appear to be a real Pontiac Super Duty hood scoop on this car, it does resemble the scoop found on the half dozen 63 Tempest 421 powered Super Duty drag cars Pontiac built.
If I’m not mistaken, the hood scoop in question actually came from Ford, used on their Super Duty heavy trucks at the time.
That’s true, only mounted backward on Ford trucks directly from Fords parts bin. Mack had a smaller version as well.
Ha ha. My parents bought a ‘62 brand new and it handled horribly. The only car you could have all the thrills of racing without going over the speed limit. Insane oversteering.
The front suspension broke twice, fortunately when I was driving. Half a V8 without a balance shaft.
A total POS.
Some big names drove a Tempest drag car, Mickey Thompson, Hayden Proffitt, Arnie Beswick, Wild Bill Shrewsberry, and I think that is a genuine Super Duty hood scoop and also, Corvair used that dash shifter as well. It’s a far cry from a REAL Super Duty, of which, as mentioned, only 12 were made, and if I had this, I’d make a clone of that car. 421 powered, they made an underestimated 405 hp and not many beat them. That would be the Tempest to have, a stock one, meh,,
But the 12 Super Duty 421s were 1963 models not 1962s.
I had a silver blue 62 with the half a v8, it was in mint condition back in the mid 80’s
NO engine picture, wow.
Very nice car, if is as nice as it looks it’s a great deal, wonder why there is no engine pics. I really don’t trust Craigslist ads too much a lot of scams on there, i’d have to see this in person
I had the Buick Skylark variant, also a white ‘62. It had the “Ultra High Compression” 185hp engine. If I recall correctly, the standard 215 was 145 horse. They also made an uber rare super charged version. It would be nice to know which one this car has.
They are quick little cars with the high compression 215!
The Buick/Olds/Pontiac 215 ci V-8 was 155 SAE hp with 2-barrel carb, 185 hp w/4-bbl and 215 hp in the 1962 & 1963 turbocharged (not supercharged) Olds Jetfire.
Olds version (Still really a Buick engine with an additional head bolt per cylinder drilled and tapped), had different heads and higher compression than the engine used on Buicks and Pontiacs. It made 190 HP normally aspirated and 215 with the turbocharger. The turbo engine actually maintained the 10:1 compression heads…They used a methanol injection system to supplement gasoline octane.
All 12 Pontiac Super Duty 421s were 1963 models not 1962.
It actually came in a 4 barrel version that put out 215hp. Block was aluminium. We used the motors in old Willey’s jeeps
That transaxle isn’t “similar” to the Corvair’s, it is the same transaxle, with slight modifications, of course.
One of the factors that doomed the Corvair was that it shared relatively few parts with other GM products, making it expensive to make. This car uses the same transaxle, and I think a bit of invisible sheet metal. The proposed all-steel Q-Corvette would also have used a variant of this transaxle, improving economies of scale.
Cancellation of the Q-Corvette, and the decision to bloat the Tempest/F-85/Skylark models are big factors in the demise of the Corvair.