By Tim Odell
I’m a big fan of GM’s Y-body platform. Why? In an alternate universe, it could’ve been the progenitor of a line of well engineered mid-size sports cars. With unibody construction, four wheel independent suspension, rear transaxles (or engines!) and a host of peppy small displacement engines, it’s a script GM didn’t had to re-discover relatively recently. A personal favorite being the Olds F-85 with its turbocharged 215ci (3.5L) aluminum V8. Today’s example sports the more common (and less problematic) half-a-389 slant-four. In 4-barrel trim, that engine would make 166hp…not bad for a nearly 50 year old 4-pot.
The styling is decidedly early-60s Googie, which is either really weird looking or a welcome departure from more common muscle car lines. The paint and exterior look decent, at least as far as we can tell from the Craigslist-resolution pictures. It’s not obvious from the listing whether the rear-mounted transmission is a manny-tranny or the 2-speed Powerglide. Either way, $3000 minus a dollar is super-cheap for a seriously rare, seriously interesting ride that could easily be your commuter.
Jeff Glucker
thats pritty sweet. really love the profile lines
This was my high school ride in 70-71,
Mine was with black buckets. I think I paid $200 for it.
Developed an oil leak i didn't notice and the engine siezed up
It wound up going for scrap — never could find another slant 4 engine
With that 194.5ci four (half of a 389 V-8), and rope drive, rear transaxle and swing axle rear suspension. Crazy, man. I've read that the biggest headache the engineers had with the slant four was getting a timing chain and tensioner that wouldn't tear itself apart. The "rope drive" is a solid shaft running in ball bearings, inside a square tube (actually a hat section stamping with a plate bolted to the bottom), that forced the shaft into a curve. This was to make the floor as flat as possible. Olds accomplished the same thing in the F-85 by using a two-piece driveshaft. The Y-Body cars were out there on the bleeding edge.
You know, advertising your car for sale with the hood up and a gallon of anti-freeze probably isn't the smoothest move.
I was going to do this as a separate posting, but I guess I'll spill the beans here. The 1963 Tempest and LeMans had the option of the 326 CID V-8. It was actually larger than the Corvette 327, but corporate pressure lead Pontiac to "Re-size" it. There were also 12 produced with the Pontiac 421 Super Duty, virtually dominating the Drag Racing Scene until GM stopped supporting teams in 1963. Read the CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Piece: http://blog.cardomain.com/2010/04/06/cardomain-ob…
<img src="http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/8118/pontiactempestlemanscon.jpg" alt="" />
(You could order the 215 in a 1961 or 1962 Tempest, that is; as UDMan says, the '63 had the Poncho 326, along with a revised rear suspension.)
I revel in the idea of buying one upgraded Pontiac V8 head and one header as sup-up parts for that 4-banger.
That aluminum 215 is apparently a ridiculously light engine. Back in the 60s, one of the old-school drag teams (forget who) had a dragster powered by dual-215s with aluminum headers welded on to the heads. Apparently two guys could pick up an engine by the headers and carry it around.
Buick quoted 318 lb dry, with all accessories. The Olds version (which had different heads and pistons) was around 350, and the Rover version was around 375.
Although you could get a lot of odd color combos in the 60's, the tan interior leads me to suspect a repaint in a non original color. The "rear bearing" the seller says it needs is probably a rear axle bearing, a common problem in first-gen Corvairs which have basically the same suspension.
By the way, of the front engined cars on this platform only the Tempest had independent rear suspension, and swing axles at that. The Olds and Buick had more conventional parts in back.
I suspect this is a slushbox car because I don't see a shift lever on the hump. View is a bit obstructed, but I think you could see it if it were there. Slushbox Tempests have a tiny dash mounted shifter just like Corvairs.
Yes, with the Corvairs, people generally disassemble (drill out rivets) and repack the bearings nowadays, even found NOS bearings. There have been some repros in the past (like from Clark's Corvair Parts), but they had durability issues, along with binding with the changing angles of the swing axles, a problem that the original GM (New Departure Hyatt) bearings didn't suffer from.
These are really neat little cars. Here's an article on one and its owner in the New York Times. This is a woman with good taste in cars. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/automobiles/col…
Just watching Prius owners cry, or rend their clothes, would be worth the price of admission.
It's technically "Tempest Le Mans," not "Le Mans Tempest." All the Pontiac Y-bodies were Tempests; the Le Mans was a sub-series.
You could theoretically order the Buick 215 in a Tempest, although very, very few were so equipped. The Pontiac engineers were not pleased with the combination, which made the Tempest a little more tail-happy than it already was. (The 215 weighed nearly 200 lb less than the slant-four.)
The hotter slant-four's 166 hp, it should be remembered, is a gross rating, which is not really comparable to modern power ratings. My guess would be that net horsepower at the flywheel was something like 125-130 hp — out of a 3.3-liter engine, to boot.
Make mine Metallic MInt Green with Michelin XGV tires.
I just love the "techno-toys" from the 60's. They're just designed with such wide-eyed optimism and belief in that the technology will make the product better – reliability and cost be damned!. Economy car with a turbocharged and methanol injected aluminum V8 that runs a rear mounted tranny on swing axles? It's the way of the future, sign me up!
I owned one of these in the mid-sixties. It was the convertible equipped with the slant 4, a four-barrel and a manual four-speed. It was a great little car, and I regret not keeping it for life. It had surprising torque and power, yet managed to get decent gas mileage. (As though that mattered at 35 cents a gallon) The bucket seats were comfortable, and it was a joy to drive. Many a muscle car got surprised when it would outrun them from light to light. Above sixty, the gear ratios failed to deliver, and it would fade quickly, having lost too many rpm. This one looks like a bargain at the price.
I had one these also in the sixties. A white hardtop with turquoise interior,4-speed and 4 bbl. One of my all time favorite cars. Unfortunately I found out the hard about the rear swing axles to tendency to fold inward on a wet roads leading to an instant snap 360 and totaled car.
I HAD A BRAND NEW 62 TEMPEST 166 HP 4 CYL. WAS HALF OF THE 389 3 SPEED ON THE FLOOR I BOUGHT A 421 HEAD FROM THE DEALER AND THEY INSTALLED IT WITH 1 HEADER AND A DUMPER OR OPEN HEADER FOR THE STRIP. IT DID 15.9 IN THE 1/4 MILE BEATING STOCK 55 CHEVYS WITH THE 265 ENGINE IT WAS THE GTO OPTION FOR THE 389 HAD THE 421 HEADS. IN 86 I BUILT A REPLICA OF A LAMBO MAKING ALL THE BODY PARTS FROM SCRATCH USING CLOSED CELL FOAM BOARD USED TO BUILD BOATS.. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW IT WAS DONE.E MAIL ME.