The Tempest was a new offering in the 1961 Pontiac Lineup, with the LeMans package becoming the top trim level toward the end of the first year of production. Stepping up to LeMans hierarchy got buyers more standard luxurious features and sporty equipment than the base Tempest, such as front bucket seats, but it wasn’t long before the LeMans became its own separate model in ‘63. The seller of this 1962 Pontiac Tempest LeMans here on Craigslist says this car has been stored for more than half a century and remains in original condition, plus there’s an unusual powerplant under the hood as well. This one’s priced at $15,000, so if you’ve been looking for an early sixties GM project, head on over to Oxford, North Carolina, and maybe you two can work out a deal.
Barn Finds reader Rob spotted this one, and we’d like to thank him for sending us the tip! A chicken house has been the Pontiac’s resting place for over 50 years, with the story here that this was the now 69-year-old owner’s first car after getting his license. The Pontiac is described as remaining in amazingly solid condition, but the front fender on the passenger side seems to be an exception, as there’s surface rust plus some rot near the bottom. Hopefully, that’s the worst area outside, and perhaps the rest of the panels will be good enough to work with.
It was a short-lived base engine and sort of a novelty, but under the hood is what’s known as the Trophy 4, an inline four-cylinder exclusive to Pontiac and only produced from 1961 through 1963. A well-known GM guru was responsible for this idea, John DeLorean, who decided it would be a good idea to lose half the cylinders from a 389 and incorporate just the top right bank. This resulted in a cubic-inch displacement of 194.5, precisely half the size of the V8, yet it incorporated many of the same parts. This one’s the 4-barrel version and paired with a manual transmission, but with more than 50 years of being still, the half-pint is probably long past due for a rebuild.
We get to view 4 photos featuring the interior, but it’s grimy and a bit dark in there, so it’s hard to tell how well the components will clean up. Other than a trio of aftermarket gauges, it appears pretty much stock in there, and it’s always nice to find a key still inside the ignition after all this time. The seller thinks this one’s a real gem for the Pontiac collector, and I agree that after a restoration, this would probably be a cool ride and fun to drive. What are your thoughts on this 1962 Pontiac Tempest LeMans?
I’m not seeing 15K of car. Rare yes but in sad condition. 3K would be a more generous offer.
The asking price is not anchored in reality. If this was a popular Mopar or something like a first generation Camaro the seller would be accused of being greedy, when it’s often a case if the seller being out of touch with the market. Maybe after a few months on the market the seller will start lowering his price.
Steve R
I 100% completely agree with you, this asking price is way deep into fantasy land.
“Fun to drive” might be stretching thins a wee bit.
I can still remember driving a four year-old Tempest :four” back in 1966. The engine was noisy and rough as a cob. I thought something was wrong with it. Turned out the only thing “wrong” was the engine itself.
Fortunately, the rest of the car was pretty much up to GM standards of the time, which is to say it worked.
To me, the price is in the “I know what I have” category.
I always thought that the “Half a V8” was kind of strange. It was a good idea on paper for sure, you could save some money engineering it. The only other “Half a V8” I can think of was from International. I’ve never had a chance to ride in or drive one so I have no idea personally what they’re like. Still, the 4 barrel and 4 speed make this one kind of unique. It would be nice if the photos were taken out in the natural daylight and being at least rinsed off. But this was a nice car back in its day.
My father owned a Scout 800 with the base engine, and as already said, I drove a four-cylinder Tempest.
Surprisingly, the Scout’s engine was noticeably smoother as I recall. It was, however, not exactly refined. Same holds for the majority of the “fours” I’ve driven over the years. That’s the laws of physics at work.
Of course the Tempest was otherwise a nicer proposition to drive. Independent suspension and sound insulation certainly beat riding around in a reverberating metal box suspended from two solid axles!
If half a 389 fit then a 389 should bolt right in. The rest of the drive train probably would not make it around the block but it could be a fun ride for that one block I think they did put 326 in these
I recall that International’s half-V8 looked much like the Pontiac engine, so I’ve always wondered whether they were, in fact, the same engine. Do you know, Ray?
@ RMac, the 326 became available beginning in 1963. For 1961-62 the Buick 215 aluminum v8 was an option.
The Scout 4 cylinder was half of the International V8. Same concept as Pontiac. The International engine was a heavier unit and engine mounts were stiffer in a frame chassis so that may be why they had a smoother idle.
In 1977, I drove a nice 1966 Scout with half a V-8. It was a fantastic climbing machine and fun rig. Sold it cause it wouldn’t go over 65 MPH even with the overdrive in it.
Just keep in mind that if DeLorean was involved with this vehicle, it’s “highly” likely it will stop on a dime bag!
And, the horn won’t honk, but it’ll toot. ;)
Cool little car. The price is ridiculous. $5000 maybe….. maybe. I would like to see it cleaned up a bit. It’s great to see the barn find dirt in a couple photos but it would be even better if we could see what there is to work with cleaned up and in daylight. Get her running right and maybe it’s worth the ask…..if the interior is complete and the under carriage isn’t rusted to bits.
Those engines were real shaking machines. Pontiac used very soft engine mounts in an attempt to reduce vibration felt inside the car.
Since the engine shares so many parts with the 389 V8 most of its parts should still be available. From what I’ve read though, replacements for the so-called “rope” driveshafts in these cars are unobtainium.
If this is a really a 389 with 1 bank gone, why not just swap in a 389. Pontiac did offer a 326 v8 in this platform in 1963 so it seems to me you might have an easy swap with room for an ac compressor and belts. Another easy swap would be the Buick or Olds 215 aluminum V8. Smooth and likely less weight than a cast iron 4 cylinder. What a great package. 4 wheel independent suspension and 4 speed.
That’s a popular thing to do with these cars. Especially given Pontiac V8 engines all have the same external dimensions.
Why purchase this for $15K and then swap out the original drivetrain?Then you still have all the body and interior work that needs to be performed. Then you have yourself a butchered Tempest worth at best what you pay for it here??
I believe the best route to take is to leave it as is and then maybe you can at least get your money back after restoring it, based on the uniqueness and rarity of the vehicle.
My first thought when discovering this 4 cylinder is exactly half of a 389 is if the flat plane crank of the 4 cylinder would fit in the 389 V8 block. If the rods for both engines are the same part number then the rod journals of the 4 cylinder crank are likely not machined to accept two rods sharing a journal as is the case for a V8. Maybe the 4 cylinder crank could be machined for that purpose.
A flat plane 389 in your GTO would certainly make you the talk of the cars and coffee event.
Mr. Seller, if you’re to lazy to do it yourself, earn your $15K and take it to a detailer!
I wouldn’t go near this for any price until I knew the driveshaft wasn’t broke, like most of them are, and there are zero driveshafts available. A vastly better car than this would be any Corvair.
Those are 4 digit cars at best until fully finished. A friend just sold a much nicer Olds version for 1 zero less than the asking price for this one.
No one in their right mind is paying $15K for this , it’s already butchered with barn rust/rot/mold, check the add , every picture shows rust, and it needs a real engine, get it cheap and build a hot rod if it survives pick hammer test.
15 Large? Whats this guy smokin’?
If the price were more realistic, I’d ditch this 4 banger and drop a 389 in its place. Great engines. This is the first time I’ve seen a half of a 389. Can you imagine finding parts to rebuild this half version? I’m guessing parts from a 389 may work. Strange bird.
The makings of an Arnie Beswick car.
I’ve seen 2 of these at cars and coffee and another show last week down here in SWFL. Restored both of them. Great looking car. Not on a lot of people’s radar including mine until last week. Now one pops up on BF. Too much scratch for this one though.
Owned this very model in college. It was not the most durable drivetrain. The 4cyl had a transaxle that tended to blow up as mine did. Got a replacement from the junk yard ready to be installed by a pro mechanic that noticed the replacement rattled. Got my money back from the yard but they told the state troopers I returned my bad unit. Mechanic kept me out of jail because my long hair was already strike #1.
I remember they upgraded the drivetrain with the 326 as it was just too puny to handle the ponies.
In the mid 1970s I owned a ’63 Tempest wagon with the Trophy Four, but the car was no prize.
My parents bought a ‘62 convertible brand new. Shook like crazy with no balance shaft, all the thrills of racing without exceeding the speed limit with the Corvair rear end. The front suspension broke twice and slid the car across the road. A complete piece of garbage. Ask the man who drove one.
The ’63 Tempest wagon I owned broke the passenger front lower control arm. That was the last ride it took before the ride through the crusher.
This “seller” even has after-market gauges — a red flag that it may have been driven hard in his exuberant youth, to begin with… until something broke, causing it to be parked. Great — so you saved it because it was your first car. But now that no longer works for you. Fine. Pay someone who fancies restoring this beast to tow it away, and be DONE with it. But I seriously doubt that someone will pay you much more than “scrap” value for it. Unusual vehicle? — yes. But desireable? — HARDLY! It was a clunk-mobile when new.
This “seller” even has after-market gauges — a red flag that it may have been driven hard in his exuberant youth, to begin with… until something broke, causing it to be parked. Great — so you saved it because it was your first car. But now that no longer works for you. Fine. Pay someone who fancies restoring this beast to tow it away, and be DONE with it. But I seriously doubt that someone will pay you much more than “scrap” value for it. Unusual vehicle? — yes. But desireable? — HARDLY! It was a clunk-mobile when new.
I’m betting there’s more rust/rot than pictured. My ’61 Special that was passed down to me from my grandparents had rot on on the lower part of both front fenders. And the engine looks like GM lopped off 1 bank of cylinders (Buick did the same – and I wouldn’t put it past GM to offer the same for Oldsmobile) and so you’d think you got a “slant” 4.
I had almost the same car, except it had an automatic. If it would have been a stick shift, I would have kept it. It was a fun car and I never drove it hard so I didn’t have some of the mechanical issues other people had. That curved torsion bar kind of weirdo drive line worked okay for me, though.
This Tempest is not worth $15,000 dollars .If it was in great shape the top price is $11,500.In this shape top end is $ 4000.00 ,Good luck
The Tempest had very good weight distribution. The transaxle was a modified Corvair unit, mounted at the rear, giving the car a nearly perfect 50:50 front/rear balance.
Didn’t the Y-body share some floor stampings with the Corvair, too?
Shared stampings, along with Pontiac using that transaxle, created some economies of scale that the Corvair program needed. I suspect that when Pontiac made the Tempest an intermediate in ’64, significantly reducing already limited parts sharing, it was one more nail in the Corvair’s coffin.
Not a four banger. The only slant engine was a slant 225 Chrysler product and Pontiac never built one. Take a closer look it’s a V8 duh!
Huh?????? Please tell me that you don’t really think that is a V/8.
Looking at this half 389 reminds me of looking at a Mopar slant six, minus two cylinders. I’m sure a full size 389 would bolt in no problems
Except for collapsing the front end and/or falling out.
Growing up as a youngster, I remember my parents had a silver wagon with the 4 cylinder engine. Seemed to suit them ok until the three of us kids got older and the car got replaced with a full size Chevy wagon.
Follow Along…
https://www.hemmings.com/auction/1963-pontiac-tempest-torrance-ca-781383
@RMAC and @HC. I believe 1/2 of a 389 fit because they were able to tilt it to one side to fit under the hood. I don’t believe you could drop in a 389 unless you removed the bonnet. Still a nice car. My best friend’s older brother bought one new, but after wrecking it 4 times, he enlisted in the Army. Perhaps alcohol was involved. He never spoke of the war, but had a successful career and a nice family.
Folks have different definitions of ‘stored’ for 51 years, it was left to rot and collect dirt for 50 years …. Now they want to play the rare classic card ..
Way off John Robinson Pontiac did make a slant 4 (trophy 4 half of a 389) and so did international
Chrysler Corp is maybe the only slant SIX if you seriously see a V8 in this Pontiac engine bay it may be time for an eye and/ or reality check lol