By Tim Odell
If I were a Leno-grade car collector, I’d be sure to add every example of the early Y-body GM compacts to my stable. They featured unique and impressive technology for the day that was seemingly “lost” until embarrassingly recent years. Most ironically, it was the Tempest LeMans GTO that kicked off the “sell the same big, dumb V8s over and over” era, but its roots were quite contrarian. This ’62 sports a four cylinder (that’s half of a 389ci V8) mated to a flexible driveshaft connecting to a rear-mounted transmission and independent suspension.
This particular one is refreshingly “driver grade”, with imperfect paint and a four year slumber that it’s waking from. No need to keep it perfectly stock. The cool part of the Pontiac four-pot is one could theoretically crank up the performance with a bunch of half-orders from Jegs or Summit. Meanwhile, upgrade to electronic ignition and drop on one of those bolt-on TBI systems to the four barrel intake to wring some drivability and efficiency out of the thing.
The reserve’s unmet at $3,500, but the Buy-it-Now’s set for $6k, which isn’t too far off the mark anyway. Could be a great mix of sport, comfort, economy and uniqueness that’d be hard to beat at that price.
1962 Pontiac Tempest for sale – eBay Motors
Jeff Glucker
Like so…
I rather prefer these older, smaller cars to the big, brash muscle cars of the day.
Make mine a Oldsmobile Jetfire, though!
http://hagleyserver.org/vinson/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/20121207_0010021.jpg
Have you seen this post from this week over at BaT?
That’s one gorgeous Pontiac above, in perfect colours. What would the expected fuel economy of the four cylinder be? And how much of a stigma was it to drive around with “half an engine” back in the day?
Very cool!
I actually hadn’t seen that one, mostly because I haven’t been able to keep up with all the articles BAT writes.
As for the stigma and fuel economy, I would expect it to have worse fuel economy, and better stigma that a VW Type 1.
I have no idea how it would compare to V8, although I’m sure somebody within the Hooniversal hive mind knows.
Take that revolutionary drivetrain, cram it in a Corvair and add a front mounted v12, voila – you win the internet. https://www.corvaircorsa.com/V-12-01.html
I am pretty sure the dude that put a 911 engine and transmission in a Corvair won the Internet.
i just read the build details on that and DAMN! that’s some nice work.
It is one of the most inventive and challenging yet subtle drivetrain swaps I’ve ever read about, by a large margin. A flexible drive shaft is news to me…
What’s the pro with a flexible drive shaft? Less strain on the drive parts? I had a kardan bike for a while. The drive shaft was apparently a bit flexible, too, which was utterly idiot biking uphill – felt like straddling a cake.
This is my understanding as a non-expert; somebody correct me if I’m wrong. The drive shafts in these Tempests connected the front engine to the transmission/differential unit in the rear. The more typical front-engine, front-transmission, solid-rear-axle arrangement required that the differential, to which the drive shaft was attached, be able to move up and down with the axle as bumps were encountered, and a rigid drive shaft was more suited to this duty.
The Pontiac’s rear trans/diff was rigidly attached to the frame, and thus only the independent rear swing axles moved up and down for bumps. While the Pontiac could have used a rigid driveshaft, the fixed relationship between the engine and the transmission allowed for the flexible shaft, sometimes referred to as “rope drive.” The flexible drive-shaft essentially “sagged” in the middle, and thus allowed for a flatter floor with less of the center hump a rigid shaft would require. In summary, the rear-mounted trans/diff allowed for near-neutral front/rear weight distribution, and the flexible drive-shaft made possible by the rear trans/diff allowed for a flatter floor.
Excellent explanation – I’d give you a bag of upvotes if I could.
It does sound pretty impressive, material science wise, for the time. But the issue of expected increased loss of power during transmission remains?
Astounding ! Quite a large turbo too.
How hard are they to find with the OHC I6? I feel like I’d rather cruise in that. Always like the Tempest, but I’m partial to the Falcon.
They never came with it. They did come with the V6 that was based on the Buick/Olds 215 V8.
Ok, so it was the second gen Tempests that did?