One must note that the independent rear suspension of the ‘61-‘63 Tempest saved the main characters from the movie “My Cousin Vinny” from going to jail during the climactic murder trial at the end of the movie!
I heard the clip from the trial in which the female lawyer compares the '63 Tempest to the '64 Skylark. Much of what she said was wrong, including the claim that the cars shared the same wheelbase, but I doubt most people watching that movie (in maybe 1992 ?) noticed.
I had a 1962 Tempest in 1969. A friend joking said I should put a 327 in it and I did. I strengthened the unibody to support leaf springs for the rearend and transmission and welded a new floor for the transmission. It was quick. I blew the 327 and ran it with a 283 for a few years and sold it.
That engine really was very common to the 389-V8. One time my dad was tuning up a friend's Tempest and the local parts store did not have the required distributor cap. Dad bought the cap for the V8, put the plugs in every other wire nipple, and it worked great.
At 08:30 there were actually two V8's available by 1963, the Buick all aluminum 215" V8 (2 and 4 bbl. carb.s?) and the Pontiac iron '326' V8 (actually 336" because Pontiac developed it before the GM 330" size limit mandate for mid-sized cars)... The 4 bbl. carb. 4 banger engines were basically half of upcoming GTO V8 engines at 1/2 GTO HP/torque but same higher RPMs... The 4's could also have been named 'Sewing Machine 4's' because, unfortunately, that's what they sounded like...
We had a 1961 Tempest with the aluminum V-8. One thing about the transaxle- there was no Park position. I worked as the janitor at a church in my hometown of Sierra Madre, CA. Set up against the San Gabriel Mountains, the north-south streets were pretty steep. I had turned the front wheels out and rolled against the curb, left the car in Drive and crammed on the emergency brake. I was inside when I heard a series of serious noises. Imagining that the car was rolling backwards down Baldwin Avenue. I rushed outside and saw that the Tempest had rolled, but, with the wheels turned, it jumped the curb, rolled actually uphill and then forward, over the curb and sidewalk and into a bed of ivy. Wow! I backed it out and made sure to park on a flat street from then on.
My dad bought a used 61 Tempest for my mother in 1966. Great car, I learned to drive in this car. The original owner had it repainted , was like knew when we got it. I remember the gear selector was mounted on the dash and there was no park just neutral. Sold it back to the original owners son a few years later when my dad bought my mother a 68 Galaxie 500 in 1971. Thanks for the memories Adam.
Thank you for the memories. I had a 63, 2-speed auto. Badge “ tempest” on the exterior, “ Le Mans” of the interior. No guts in power, shook and whined at idle. But fun to drive.
I turned 16 in early 1965. My parents had previously purchased a '62 Tempest as a second car, which then came to me. Four-door, front bench seat, 3-speed on the floor. I don't recall which engine was in it. It may not have been blazing fast but that little 4-banger was easy on the gas and more fun than having one of those late 50s behemoths that some friends had. It was a great vehicle for a 16-year-old high school boy. It was easy to work on and required only basic maintenance. It was replaced by a 1965 Tempest Custom Convertible which, in turn, was replaced by a brand-new 1967 Firebird. I would love to have any one of those three back in my garage. Thanks for the great video.
Approached one of these, a beautifully restored 1963 Copper 195 CI 4 Speed convertible, from the right side at a show and shine in White Rock, BC a couple of years ago. All of sudden I realized it was a 4 Cylinder. Never knew they existed. Spoke to the owner and learned about the tranny being in the rear. Such an interesting conversation piece and nice car. Glad you did this review and got this story out there. Thanks.
Another great video that brings back memories! My parents purchased a 1962 Tempest Lemans, white with "powder. blue" leather seats and factory a/c (a large breadbox that rested on the floor under the dashboard). This went along with their 1956 Pontiac Star Chief 2-door coupe, also white with blue leather interior. I can still remember what the two of them looked like together in the garage. Thanks, Adam.
I had a 63 with 326 V8 and a three speed manual floor shifter. It was a pretty fast car and would really burn the tires ! It was my first car when I was 17 years old and I was pretty proud of it . I do remember having to replace the clutch in it 👍
I had either a Tempest or Lemans (can't remember) but it had a 326. Nice running car. My girlfriend had a Pinto and loved driving my Pontiac because it had so much power. I drove her Pinto a few times and couldn't believe what a "slug" it was.
@@BuzzLOLOL Yes I know it got the crossflow after a while. The Puke was actually based on the Brazilian version of the Chevy ll 4 banger. Which was based off of the Chevy 6 as I understand it. If so its has the same bore spead as the Small Block and could probably take an LS head with some surgery.
I worked for Pontiac in 72-74. The 4 cyl Tempest with the 4 barrel, duel exhaust and standard transmission was a decent performance car. It was competitive with the OHC six in the 66 Tempest comparatively equipped. Enjoyed your commentary Adam.
My parents bought a brand new dark blue 61 Tempest in early 62. Half a 389 with a 2 speed automatic connected to the transaxle with a "rope" driveshaft. I wasn't old enough to go to kindergarten when they bought it. I cried when we got rid of it.
And with certain mods, those motors made STUPID power.....ergo Nunzi's '63 4 cyl Tempest......Nunzi was known as the Pontiac Expert.....i had the honor of knowing him thru my brother (who used to have lunch with him every week in the '80's)...he took that motor, put a Super Duty head on it, a large camshaft, and with a 4 sp manual, and 4brl carb, ran the quarter mile in 11:70 secs at a 113 mph.......absolutly RIDICULOUS power he made........you can find a vid or 2 under Nunzis 63 Tempest on u-tube......find the later one, it has that 11 sec pass......i'm VERY proud to have his LAST 3" Super Duty scoop on my '64 Tempest......i run 10:90's on pump gas in the qtr at 120, but i have a built 455, with lits of goodies, he was a MASTER of Poncho Power makin!!
I remember that. My dad was a product engineer at Pontiac from '47 to '85, so I took a big interest in cars and Pontiacs in particular. In the late '60s, I actually had a '64 GTO with the 389 cu in V8 engine. Engines today are so-o much better with fuel injection and precise monitoring of the air-fuel ratio not to mention the tight tolerances of the machined parts. Thanks for this walk down memory lane.
Also remarkable about today's V6 engines is with the power they generate with regular gasoline; yet, the modern engines can have fuel mileage equal to, or better than, of early generation compact cars.
Thank you Adam. Out of small things come big things indeed. It is interesting how the Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick versions of this car were so different from each other. They all went on to become massive legends in their later years. They used to really engineer the cars and and it shows. Pontiac was building excitement back then. There was so much innovation back then as well. Tempest became LeMans and we know what happened after that as you were saying with the GTO. Thank you again.
I learned to drive in a '63 four-banger Tempest wagon, which my Dad bought after I tore the oil pan out of a '56 Plymouth after going airborne on a country road. Guess he thought it might slow me down. The wagon was a decent performer and the '63 style change made it look more like a GTO. With all the glass and the transaxle in the rear, it was unstoppable in the snow. I nearly rolled it once when the swing axel swung tucked under on a sharp turn, but the Tempest had better front-to-rear balance than the Corvair.
Adam, I was happy to see you do a video of the 61-63 Tempest with the "Trophy 4". My first car was a '62 4-door with 101,000 miles. That engine was a good one. With the transmission in the rear it went through snow like nobody's business. The drive train was the only thing good about it, though. It was a rust bucket and the bench seat was tore up but the radio worked and it started every time. Even in the coldest weather. I really enjoy your channel.
I had a 1962 Skylark 2 door hardtop with the 190hp 215 V8 with factory air, ps, pb and power windows. It had a LOT more room inside than many modern "full sized" cars.
Adam, I'm so glad you did a feature on this very interesting engine and car. I hope you do another one on the overall drivetrain someday. I've always found the engineering rather fascinating and innovative for the time.
@@cdjhyoung I know it's called a 'rope', but the driveshaft is just a piece of 5/8 steel rod that is forced into a small arc by some bearings in the torque tube. Keeping in mind that GM did this engineering on a cheap car means that, in typical fashion, everything was done as cheaply as possible. Funny thing, but when Porsche came out with the 924, and later 944, it was laid out exactly as GM did: Half-a-V8 4cyl, enclosed curved driveshaft, and rear transaxle. Of course, being Porsche, it was done with a much higher grade of refinement.
@@61rampy65 I read in an article from 1961 introducing the Tempest, that Pontiac matched the sag that gravity imposed on the long shaft if it was supported only on the extreme ends. Can’t remember which magazine, though.
DSP I was glad Adam brought up this car.As for the trans had no parking sprawl so you used the emergency brake for parking.Many rolled away on inclines.My dad a 62 as a 2nd car for over 10 yrs that wasn,t the best but was dependable.If you had a plug foul it was very bad.Put it on a lift and look at the rear wheels camber in .Strange little car.Good sounding solid state radio.Funny looking gear shift on the dash.
I had a 62 Pontiac Tempest when I was in high school. Mine was the convertible with the four-barrel engine 3-speed transmission on the floor. Great car I loved it!
I owned a 1962 Lemans convertible for 162,820 miles. White/Red buckets/Blk top. Best car I ever owned!!!! In my youth I cut a wide swathe with it. The ONLY reason I sold it was the fed reg that was gonna end convertibles and I wanted another vert!! (turned out that never happened but too late for me LOL) LOVED THAT CAR!!!! (best part next) This wont help anyone now but after I cut 2" holes on either side of the radiator and fed the air cleaner with cool outside air, it gave me "back" more than 80HP. (Smokey Yunick "showed me how"). You would be surprised how many 215V8 F85s and Skylarks I surprised. (if ya want I'll explain the math why)
These cars were very similar in concept to the Porsche 924/944/968 and the 928 models. My understanding is that Porsche did not copy the Tempest drivetrain, but came upon the rear transaxle layout in order to get away from the rear-engine trailing throttle oversteer effect that made the 911 such a squirrel. The 928 was a 100% bespoke design, but the 924 family was a Volkswagen/Audi parts bin special. And the 944 even used half of a 928's engine! The Tempest itself was basically a way to use the Corvair chassis with a front engine, hence the famous "rope drive". I drove a 928 for 19 years and in some situations, you could get a harmonic twisting of the driveshaft that gave the same effect as what the Tempest was known for. Great video!
@@BuzzLOLOL Porsche's cars have always competed with GM's Corvette. They weren't thinking about the Camaro when the 928 was designed in 1972, they simply wanted something that would appeal to Americans and have a front engine. Afterall, the Camaro/Firebird/Mustang products were in a totally different price range. Emissions controls were coming meaning that power would drop so they went with a large water cooled V8. Also, they feared that the US government would soon ban rear-engine cars, so their 911 replacement, the 928, was built and sold with a front engine/rear transaxle. As to the 928 being a replacement for the 911, we can see how that worked out....
Did these Porsches have the drive cable in a tube or was it a rigid torque tube? I assume Porsche made the unit true and straight unlike the offset in the cheaper GM car
I had a Uncle that was a Pontiac Man, He had all the great ones thru the years and in 1962 He bought a Maroon Tempest for a second car that He drove everyday to work at Kaiser Steel in Fontana California! He Drove that car until 1965 when He he died of a heart failure. His Son kept the car for several years and parked it in a Garage until His death in 1999! The car was sold at a estate auction for $500.00 dollars and the guy that bought it drove it Home! It was a great little car!
When I started at the local Pontiac dealership in 1972 a few of these were still coming in for service. I got to drive a 1962 4 cylinder and a 1963 326 V8, both were automatics. Never seen one with the aluminum 215 V8, but the 326 ran really good!
@@jimhaines8370 They were technically available on the Pontiac, but Pontiac had to buy those engines from Buick, so they charged a huge amount of money for the V8, until they came out with the 326 in 63.
As a transmission rebuilder back in the day, I rebuilt several of the "Tempest torqs" (spl?) transmissions.... basically a modified Power Glide. Corvair also used a similar design. Ah the good old days before electronics go involved!! LOL
Those Tempest transaxles had extra concentric shafts in them versus a regular automatic transmission. I saw one of those Tempests back in 1984 when I briefly worked in the torque converter shop of a transmission shop in Pittsburgh. I remember the tranny dipstick tube was behind the license plate. Did you guys charge extra to rebuild them and did they hold up OK compared to other trannies of the day?
My dad bought a 63 tempest 4-cylinder four-door hard top with 3 speed manual on the floor and 2 barrel carb, new in 63. His twin brother bought a convertible at the same time. Later my dad sold it to my grandfather. My grandfather eventually parked it and it sat for 10 years. Around 1980, my uncle towed it to my house. I went through the whole thing, pulled the engine apart, the old oil was like roofing shingles. I steam cleaned the inside of the engine, rebuilt the carb, fixed the brakes, etc. In total including the steam cleaner rental I invested about $200. It was 17 years old at that point, so no gasket sets were available, but some smart parts dealer ordered me what I remember as a 326 set, but which must have been a 389 set, and I used the half I needed. He threw in a tube of permatex for free to help construct the cork intake manifold gasket. I drove that from Connecticut to Virginia to college and back several times. It was a fun car, although it had a bit of rust inside and out, common for the era. It had a cool stock white cue-ball shift knob, but smaller. The distance between first and second gear was severe, so you had to rev it up pretty good to make the switch. Going up a very steep hill from a slow speed or stop required a fair bit of skill as a result. It was awesome in snow, because of the corvair "unsafe at any speed" suspension. When you jacked it up to change a rear tire, the rear wheels would lower and toe in - you had to jack it up pretty high. That combined with a relatively even front/back weight distribution is what made it so good in snow. Also, it had unusually large wheels for the time - most cars tires look too small in stock 60s cars, but not this one. You could literally get past cars stuck in the snow by going off-road!
Very Nicely Done! Pontiacs were wonderful cars, our neighbors had one of the Tempest station wagons of the model years you described and yes, it had the four cylinder engine. Also, the control lever for the automatic transmission was mounted on the dashboard, also a unique feature! Thank You Very Much!!!
Thank you Adam. As always, a comprehensive and interesting presentation with a great balance of photos and vintage engineering documentation. My Mother had an early (‘61 or’62) Tempest in the same gold color. Great memories.
I got stranded out of state with a bad transmission as a broke teenager in 1975. I found a 61 Tempest in very rusty but very good running condition at a used car lot for $75. Drove it 500 miles home, sold it for $90. The buyer got several years use out of it. LOL
Thanks for this, it was fun seeing it. In the 1990s I purchased from a couple of college students a red '62 Tempest convertible with 2-speed automatic transmission for my wife, who was born in 1962. It was a bit tired but we enjoyed driving it. I feel a little sad that we eventually sold it. But it went to an afficionado so I'm sure it's still rolling around somewhere out there!
My parents had the Buick Special which was based on this Y Platform...Tempest and Olds F-85. It had the Buick V6 which pretty much evolved into the 3800 V6. Dad liked the car, though it was a basic "keys and a heater." It had a 3 speed on the tree manual and he said it would get 27 MPG on the highway at 65 to 70 mph. I think the next generation...the 64 A body Intermediates were a step backward in innovation versus the Y body of 61 to 63.
In Jan. 1966, I bought a slightly used 1964 Pontiac Tempest, 6 cyl.(first of the larger version Tempests) which ran flawlessly for another 16 years, until being vandalized! I only drove the smaller 1963 V-8 model once, but it was compatible with a GTO in performance! Until this video, I had no idea that the earlier model 4 cyl.'s engine/transmissions were configured that way!
I was assigned to Robins Air Force base in Georgia in 1982, having returned from Germany. A fellow Airman in my radar shop had driven his 62 Tempest convertible from California. It had the 4 cylinder engine. He was on a two lane road somewhere along the way and a semi pulling a box trailer was traveling the opposite direction. The wind whipped the convertible top so hard that it ripped the fabric off of the frame. I'm sure it was dry rotted from being in sunny Calif it's whole life. One thing you didn't comment on was the A6 Fridgidare compressor on the car you showcased. Back then GM had only that one size fits all compressor so it would have been right at home on the series 75 Cadillac or the Tempest with half a V8. You can be sure that when the AC was cranked up on a hot summer day that probably 1/4 of the engines output went to cool the car. Great video.
My first car was a '63 Pontiac Tempest with the 4 cylinder engine. In the late 1960s they were called "gutless wonders". The 63 was much better looking than the earlier models. The timing chain was a weak point. It only lasted about 60,000 miles. Good Luck, Rick
Hi Adam. Thanks for this interesting video. It brought back memories of the 1963 Tempest that my parents had in the early 1970's. A rather odd car but roomy and dependable. It had the gearshift lever on the dashboard and just a small driveshaft tunnel providing much more interior space due to it's transaxle design. They replaced it with a brand new Ford Maverick in 1975 ( 4 door sedan ). One the first things I noticed when riding in the new Ford was how much less leg room there was due to the bell housing tunnel.
I had one, a 1963 convertible. A real shaker, but also a sleeper. The shifter was in the lower dash board. The carb was a 600 cfm Carter. Tranny was a power glide. I loved it. A "mechanic" said it had a burnt valve, took it apart. Never ran again
That was fun Adam,, I love the oddballs !! I'd really like to see an in depth video on the "rope drive" and rear transmission setup,,, that is classic GM oddballery in the extreme..
I am old enough to say I worked on those in the mid 1960s they had a front engine rear transaxle set up. A pretty unique car for the time, I really enjoyed this video very interesting and informative.
My mother had a 1963 Pontiac Tempest Le Mans with a 326 cubic inch V8. I got to drive it from time to time. It had the quickest throttle response time, which made it hot off the line. I loved that car in its Burgundy exterior and black bucket seats. I had a 1966 GTO with a 389 and a single 4 barrel carb. I only had the GTO for a year when it was stolen in Euclid, Ohio at a Holiday Inn. Sadly, 6 months later it was found in a junkyard and it had been gutted for ALL its parts and accessories. i would go on to have several Grand Prix's one of which was a 1976 with a 455 cubic inch V8. Good road car. I eventually sold it to a friend who had it for a very long time.
In 1969 I bought a white 1962 Tempest convertible. It ran great, but kept pulling the left rear axle shaft out of the trans ... and the automatic trans shops were killing me. I sold it and bought a 1965 Bonneville convertible, red, red gut, white top ... which I wish I still had today.
The rear-mounted transmission was a brilliant idea and the Trophy Four was clever though inferior to Chrysler's Slant Six. Back then, GM still did some real engineering.
My parents bought new a '62 Pontiac Tempest Station Wagon. They sold it to me when I was 16. It had the 4 cylinder engine in it that was an 8 cylinder block with only half of it being used. Wildest looking 4 cylinder engine I've ever seen. The independent rear suspension was great in snow or mud. Loved that car.
That ad actually shows the '62 Tempest, but great video! Back in the early '70s, my best friend's neighbor had a '61 Navy-Blue Tempest with that strange 4. She let me have a look at the engine. But I never learned what other weirdness lurked under those cars until many years later. By the way, there are a few Corvairs around that have had GMs small aluminum V8 swapped in the rear!
I learned to drive in a 62 tempest, 3 on the floor. A long stretch between 1st and 2nd, very spartan car no extras. We lived in Seattle. My dad would make me drive up really steep streets, then make me stop in the middle of them, and start back up. You learned how to drive doing that. Warm place for that little brown car, all rubber steel and vinyl in the cab.
My family bought a ‘61 Tempest brand new with an automatic transmission as a second car. It had an interesting dash-mounted short throw gear shift lever. I was 7-years old at the time and I remember the engine vibrations and rather loud exhaust note compared to our primary vehicle which was a gorgeous blue 1960 Buick Invicta hardtop. Good times!
I bought a 1962 Tempest convertible with the 🏆 4 in high school for $100. It was in rough shape and old even then but I drove it for a whole (very fun) summer and then the motor seize around back to school time in September. I found a guy with a nice Tempest convertible who gave me $300 for it as a parts car. Nothing like being 16 with a convertible, even for just one Michigan summer. Great memories, thanks for the video!
I took my license in our 61 tempest it didn’t have park on the transmission rolled down a hill thank goodness the curb stopped it the parking brake was fully on after it ate it’s second chain dad traded it for a new 65 impala 327 loaded with air. We never missed the Tempest rough running 4 cyl engine
I got a 63 Tempest in 68. My second car and loved it! 2 door sedan , 3 speed floor shift! Great little car! Big difference after my first car, 50 Ford convertible, 3 speed on the column! Loved that car too!😊
What’s terrifying is I heard of this engine only yesterday, read about it before bed and hear a video from my favorite channel pops ups the next day about it. Well done and fascinating i say.
Yup. I was a kid when my dad bought a new 1962 white tempest station wagon. When I got older I was surprised to learn that it was a four cylinder! It served us well for a number of camping trips. I'm pretty sure ours was an automatic. Thanks for the memories and interesting facts!
My parents bought a new 1963 Lemans 4-cylinder convertible only to trade up to a ‘65 inline six powered Lemans. The ‘63 was plagued with driveline chatter, uneven rear tire wear and timing chain issues. Years later my oldest brother bought a used version equipped with 326 V8 devoid of those problems. Now that was a sleeper!
I’ve always been fascinated with these cars - the funny little foreign car built by GM. Well, along with the Corvair, with which it shared a ton of DNA. Of all the first generation GM compacts, this was the only one that started production with a 5-lug wheel nut pattern. An oddball one at that. The supply of spare brake drums completely dried up (last I read) but the work around was to use a Ford Ranger drum, which could be retrofitted once a bit of machine work was done. The 15-inch wheels gave it sort of a puppy foot appearance, to me. I’m glad you fit this into your content, Adam.
Wow, when they play the VERlZON commerical before the clip, one of the Actors goes "Ho-HOAH!" Sounds exactly like a good friend who passed recently. Thank you Verizon. Thank you.
As an owner of a very nice ‘67 GTO in the Navy, I was made caretaker for a friend’s ‘62 Tempest for a month. it had a 2bbl version of the Trophy 4. I really enjoyed driving it around and loved the idea of the half-a-V8 engine. Very cool 😎
The 1963 Tempest had an optional 326 CID V8, a debored 389, available. It was slightly undersquare. The flexible rope drive shaft would keep rotating when in neutral with the automatic, which irritated some people.
My mom bought a 1963 Tempest wagon. She loved it at first but it started having lots of problems. One time the idler arm broke and fell out of the car. My mom had me go out and pick it up. By 1968 my dad got tired of dealing with the problems and traded it in on a Chevy Nova. According to my parents the vibration from the driveshaft spinning at engine speed was noticeable. I recall the car as being okay and we went all over the place in it but I was only 10 when it was traded in.
There was a Hotrodding book which featured a 2 cylinder version of the tempest 4. It allowed the same car to run in several displacement classes. I did not know about the rear mounted transmission. It is funny this car grew into the basis for the GTO and launched the muscle car era. Thanks for this new old news!
I bought a 1963 Tempest LeMans with this 4 cylinder engine as poor college student in 1970. It was my second car purchase. Paid $300 for it if memory serves me right. Thats more money than it seems. Minimum wage was well under a buck and my good paying summer construction job paid a little less than $100 per week. It was wonderfully inexpensive to drive and the motor was great. The wonky drive train; not so much. I had to replace the torque tube that held the 1" diameter drive shaft rigid. (Damn wintertime midwest road salt.) It did have a habit of eating clutches as well, but that might have been the varied girlfriends trying to learn to drive it. Thanks for reviving old memories.
Back then, I was obsessed with maximum hp...as an older man now, I really appreciate the tempest package...wow, a 4sp, 166hp 4cyl would be such fun to drive around in now...that car would offer offer both decent handling, and enough power to move that rather light vehicle down the road...and with 4-wheel independent suspension too? Very impressive effort for that time period...Of course, the eventual 6cyl, OHC engine was an even better choice for those who wanted at least a modicum of gas mileage--and also more performance. But this 4cyl adventure is very cool!
I think the 4 banger eventually reached 180 HP... 1/2 that of a later tripower 360 HP GTO 389" V8... and was available with a 4 speed manual... by '63 had Buick 215" and Pontiac '326' (336")V8's... Back in 1960's, my daily driver was the 1962 Olds Jetfire version of this car body: ua-cam.com/video/Jzw5W1rRMog/v-deo.html
You need to remember the Tempest had the same swing axle rear suspension that got the Corvair labeled as "Unsafe at Any Speed". I don't know if it suffered from the same wheel jacking problems as the Corvair, but the swing axle wasn't a great arrangement in most cars that used it. The swing axle rear end contributed to my brother rolling a Triumph GT6 that had it.
Although not a Tempest, my first car was the 67 Firebird. It had the lower power OHC six. My buddy had the Firebird Sprint OHC six. Mine came with a single barrel carb and his had the four barrel quadrajet. I believe the Sprint was rated at 250 HP, I could be wrong though. He could burn rubber in all three gears! We just loved are Pontiac’s!❤
@@nealrehm6895 We had a 66 Lemans with the OHC 6 and Powerglide 2 speed trans. If you floored it from take off, it would hold first gear to 65 mph. Don't know how fast the engine was spinning, but it didn't sound like you wanted to hold that gear any longer.
I drove my dads 1961 Tempest in the mid 70's for a short time. It had about 140,000 miles on it used a bit of oil but handled very well for an old high milage car. It was a three speed floor shift as I remember and had great leg room. It was slow on steep hills but other than that was a fine car.
I've always been fascinated by all of the GM Y body cars of this time, especially the Tempest. Have my eye out for a nice clean one as I think it would be a great and inexpensive collectible.
Very interesting video. I didn’t know about that engine until today. In 1970, my second car, replacing my leaky ‘62 Impala convertible, was a ‘61 Olds F85, gray 2-door post with bucket seats. That had the 215 V-8 with the Slim Jim automatic. P-N-D-L-R configuration. Where the Chevy was leaking everything, the Olds was smelly. I ultimately sold that shortly before going into the Army.
The Olds F85 was P-N-D-S-L-R... 2nd gear was called "Super" for quick passing use... of course, there was also the factory turbocharged V8 version: ua-cam.com/video/Jzw5W1rRMog/v-deo.html Buick Special and Pontiac Tempest automatics had just D and L... 2 gears...
@@BuzzLOLOL Yes, I forgot about the S tucked in between D and L. I saw that turbocharged version, Jay Leno’s Garage video. 1st to 2nd was practically instantaneous and 3rd came soon after. It was an odd car all around.
In the mid 70's I had a 1961 Buick Special with a V-6. I believe it had an aluminum block with the transmission in the rear as the Tempest you speak of here. Pontiac had some great engines. I particularly liked their overhead cam straight 6.
@@Rick-S-6063 Thanx for correcting me. I had it for a while but never laid eyes on the transmission. The body was pretty much rusted out with holes in the floor so I did not have the car for very long.
That whole car deserves a vid. Derived from the corvair, Slant i4, rear tranny, rope drive, swing axle rear suspension. Its alot of coolness.
One must note that the independent rear suspension of the ‘61-‘63 Tempest saved the main characters from the movie “My Cousin Vinny” from going to jail during the climactic murder trial at the end of the movie!
I heard the clip from the trial in which the female lawyer compares the '63 Tempest to the '64 Skylark. Much of what she said was wrong, including the claim that the cars shared the same wheelbase, but I doubt most people watching that movie (in maybe 1992 ?) noticed.
Although by the time the movie came out it was out of date and those cars were mostly off the road...
The first thing I thought about when I saw this video on my feed.
I had a 1962 Tempest in 1969. A friend joking said I should put a 327 in it and I did. I strengthened the unibody to support leaf springs for the rearend and transmission and welded a new floor for the transmission. It was quick. I blew the 327 and ran it with a 283 for a few years and sold it.
@@msmeyersmd8 me too
That engine really was very common to the 389-V8. One time my dad was tuning up a friend's Tempest and the local parts store did not have the required distributor cap. Dad bought the cap for the V8, put the plugs in every other wire nipple, and it worked great.
At 08:30 there were actually two V8's available by 1963, the Buick all aluminum 215" V8 (2 and 4 bbl. carb.s?) and the Pontiac iron '326' V8 (actually 336" because Pontiac developed it before the GM 330" size limit mandate for mid-sized cars)...
The 4 bbl. carb. 4 banger engines were basically half of upcoming GTO V8 engines at 1/2 GTO HP/torque but same higher RPMs...
The 4's could also have been named 'Sewing Machine 4's' because, unfortunately, that's what they sounded like...
@@BuzzLOLOL The 326 was a sweetheart of a motor...great torque, and smooth. Perfect motor for a car that light.
@@BuzzLOLOL First year for 389 was '59, they were in full size before GTO.
INTERNATIONAL HARVESTOR DID THE SAME THING FOR THE
SCOUT ,A COMPETITOR OF BLAZER AND BRONCOS
It was half a 389
We had a 1961 Tempest with the aluminum V-8. One thing about the transaxle- there was no Park position. I worked as the janitor at a church in my hometown of Sierra Madre, CA. Set up against the San Gabriel Mountains, the north-south streets were pretty steep. I had turned the front wheels out and rolled against the curb, left the car in Drive and crammed on the emergency brake. I was inside when I heard a series of serious noises. Imagining that the car was rolling backwards down Baldwin Avenue. I rushed outside and saw that the Tempest had rolled, but, with the wheels turned, it jumped the curb, rolled actually uphill and then forward, over the curb and sidewalk and into a bed of ivy. Wow! I backed it out and made sure to park on a flat street from then on.
The Pontiac and Olds were the best looking. I would love a 63 F85 V8.
Odd ball engines are awesome. I'd love a video on the Pontiac Sprint OHC 6, too.
If I'm correct, I think Adam did a video on the Pontiac OHC engines a while back...
My neighbor had a new one,OHC 6. Very interesting to a young kid like myself.
@@timmotel5804 Me too. My cousin raced one with his old 56 Ford V8 and the Poncho won.
The biggest problem I remember with the Pontiac OHC 6 was camshaft failure. The cam lobs would wear down to nothing.
Me too i seen one of those cars in junkyard once
I remember back in the sixties my aunt had a Pontiac Tempest that was a really fun little car!! She drove it for many years!!! 👍👍🙂
My dad bought a used 61 Tempest for my mother in 1966. Great car, I learned to drive in this car. The original owner had it repainted , was like knew when we got it. I remember the gear selector was mounted on the dash and there was no park just neutral. Sold it back to the original owners son a few years later when my dad bought my mother a 68 Galaxie 500 in 1971. Thanks for the memories Adam.
Thank you for the memories. I had a 63, 2-speed auto. Badge “ tempest” on the exterior, “ Le Mans” of the interior. No guts in power, shook and whined at idle. But fun to drive.
geesh you are a Gold Mine of Car info! you should have millions of subs!
I turned 16 in early 1965. My parents had previously purchased a '62 Tempest as a second car, which then came to me. Four-door, front bench seat, 3-speed on the floor. I don't recall which engine was in it. It may not have been blazing fast but that little 4-banger was easy on the gas and more fun than having one of those late 50s behemoths that some friends had. It was a great vehicle for a 16-year-old high school boy. It was easy to work on and required only basic maintenance. It was replaced by a 1965 Tempest Custom Convertible which, in turn, was replaced by a brand-new 1967 Firebird. I would love to have any one of those three back in my garage. Thanks for the great video.
Approached one of these, a beautifully restored 1963 Copper 195 CI 4 Speed convertible, from the right side at a show and shine in White Rock, BC a couple of years ago. All of sudden I realized it was a 4 Cylinder. Never knew they existed. Spoke to the owner and learned about the tranny being in the rear. Such an interesting conversation piece and nice car. Glad you did this review and got this story out there. Thanks.
GM did it before Porsche!
Very high praise for archiving little-known facts of Pontiac's early 60's mechanical innovation. The '63 Tempest was particularly handsome.
Another great video that brings back memories! My parents purchased a 1962 Tempest Lemans, white with "powder. blue" leather seats and factory a/c (a large breadbox that rested on the floor under the dashboard). This went along with their 1956 Pontiac Star Chief 2-door coupe, also white with blue leather interior. I can still remember what the two of them looked like together in the garage. Thanks, Adam.
I had a 63 with 326 V8 and a three speed manual floor shifter. It was a pretty fast car and would really burn the tires ! It was my first car when I was 17 years old and I was pretty proud of it . I do remember having to replace the clutch in it 👍
Where was the clutch 🤔
Front or back
I had either a Tempest or Lemans (can't remember) but it had a 326. Nice running car. My girlfriend had a Pinto and loved driving my Pontiac because it had so much power. I drove her Pinto a few times and couldn't believe what a "slug" it was.
Clutch change was a PITA - didn’t know how to do it with the torque tube & trans-axle.
It's also a cross flow head design which is rare for 4 cylinders back then
Well it is a 389 head. Their later Iron Puke was also cross flow
@@mpetersen6
I loved the Iron Duke.
@@mpetersen6 - Iron Duke got cross flow head and DOHC head later on...
@@BuzzLOLOL
Yes I know it got the crossflow after a while. The Puke was actually based on the Brazilian version of the Chevy ll 4 banger. Which was based off of the Chevy 6 as I understand it. If so its has the same bore spead as the Small Block and could probably take an LS head with some surgery.
@@mpetersen6 Thats what midget racers did with the Chevy II 153 back in the 60s and 70s and they made great power.
I worked for Pontiac in 72-74. The 4 cyl Tempest with the 4 barrel, duel exhaust and standard transmission was a decent performance car. It was competitive with the OHC six in the 66 Tempest comparatively equipped. Enjoyed your commentary Adam.
"blah blah blah .. 4 barrel, duel exhaust ..."
Banjos?
"dual". A "duel" is 2 guys with pistols or swords!
I really doubt that.
My parents bought a brand new dark blue 61 Tempest in early 62. Half a 389 with a 2 speed automatic connected to the transaxle with a "rope" driveshaft. I wasn't old enough to go to kindergarten when they bought it. I cried when we got rid of it.
And with certain mods, those motors made STUPID power.....ergo Nunzi's '63 4 cyl Tempest......Nunzi was known as the Pontiac Expert.....i had the honor of knowing him thru my brother (who used to have lunch with him every week in the '80's)...he took that motor, put a Super Duty head on it, a large camshaft, and with a 4 sp manual, and 4brl carb, ran the quarter mile in 11:70 secs at a 113 mph.......absolutly RIDICULOUS power he made........you can find a vid or 2 under Nunzis 63 Tempest on u-tube......find the later one, it has that 11 sec pass......i'm VERY proud to have his LAST 3" Super Duty scoop on my '64 Tempest......i run 10:90's on pump gas in the qtr at 120, but i have a built 455, with lits of goodies, he was a MASTER of Poncho Power makin!!
I remember that. My dad was a product engineer at Pontiac from '47 to '85, so I took a big interest in cars and Pontiacs in particular. In the late '60s, I actually had a '64 GTO with the 389 cu in V8 engine. Engines today are so-o much better with fuel injection and precise monitoring of the air-fuel ratio not to mention the tight tolerances of the machined parts. Thanks for this walk down memory lane.
Also remarkable about today's V6 engines is with the power they generate with regular gasoline; yet, the modern engines can have fuel mileage equal to, or better than, of early generation compact cars.
haha. Pontiac was extremely innovative in motors during this time. i LOVE this idea !
Thank you Adam. Out of small things come big things indeed. It is interesting how the Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick versions of this car were so different from each other. They all went on to become massive legends in their later years. They used to really engineer the cars and and it shows. Pontiac was building excitement back then. There was so much innovation back then as well. Tempest became LeMans and we know what happened after that as you were saying with the GTO. Thank you again.
Another innovation which came along a few years later was the Pontiac OHC6. I'd love to see a feature on that engine!
rode in a friends in High school back in 67 and it rode great, he always had troubles with the trans though.
I learned to drive in a '63 four-banger Tempest wagon, which my Dad bought after I tore the oil pan out of a '56 Plymouth after going airborne on a country road. Guess he thought it might slow me down.
The wagon was a decent performer and the '63 style change made it look more like a GTO. With all the glass and the transaxle in the rear, it was unstoppable in the snow. I nearly rolled it once when the swing axel swung tucked under on a sharp turn, but the Tempest had better front-to-rear balance than the Corvair.
Adam, I was happy to see you do a video of the 61-63 Tempest with the "Trophy 4". My first car was a '62 4-door with 101,000 miles. That engine was a good one. With the transmission in the rear it went through snow like nobody's business. The drive train was the only thing good about it, though. It was a rust bucket and the bench seat was tore up but the radio worked and it started every time. Even in the coldest weather. I really enjoy your channel.
Very cool!
I had a 1962 Skylark 2 door hardtop with the 190hp 215 V8 with factory air, ps, pb and power windows. It had a LOT more room inside than many modern "full sized" cars.
Dad had a 61 when I was a kid. We lived in the hills of southern Wisconsin. The car had plenty of power to go up those hills.
Adam, I'm so glad you did a feature on this very interesting engine and car. I hope you do another one on the overall drivetrain someday. I've always found the engineering rather fascinating and innovative for the time.
Like the enclosed rope drive shaft back to the transmission?
@@cdjhyoung I know it's called a 'rope', but the driveshaft is just a piece of 5/8 steel rod that is forced into a small arc by some bearings in the torque tube. Keeping in mind that GM did this engineering on a cheap car means that, in typical fashion, everything was done as cheaply as possible. Funny thing, but when Porsche came out with the 924, and later 944, it was laid out exactly as GM did: Half-a-V8 4cyl, enclosed curved driveshaft, and rear transaxle. Of course, being Porsche, it was done with a much higher grade of refinement.
@@61rampy65 I read in an article from 1961 introducing the Tempest, that Pontiac matched the sag that gravity imposed on the long shaft if it was supported only on the extreme ends. Can’t remember which magazine, though.
DSP I was glad Adam brought up this car.As for the trans had no parking sprawl so you used the emergency brake for parking.Many rolled away on inclines.My dad a 62 as a 2nd car for over 10 yrs that wasn,t the best but was dependable.If you had a plug foul it was very bad.Put it on a lift and look at the rear wheels camber in .Strange little car.Good sounding solid state radio.Funny looking gear shift on the dash.
I wrote prawl not sprawl boob tube changes like they are smart but not
I had a 62 Pontiac Tempest when I was in high school. Mine was the convertible with the four-barrel engine 3-speed transmission on the floor. Great car I loved it!
I owned a 1962 Lemans convertible for 162,820 miles. White/Red buckets/Blk top. Best car I ever owned!!!! In my youth I cut a wide swathe with it. The ONLY reason I sold it was the fed reg that was gonna end convertibles and I wanted another vert!! (turned out that never happened but too late for me LOL) LOVED THAT CAR!!!! (best part next)
This wont help anyone now but after I cut 2" holes on either side of the radiator and fed the air cleaner with cool outside air, it gave me "back" more than 80HP. (Smokey Yunick "showed me how"). You would be surprised how many 215V8 F85s and Skylarks I surprised.
(if ya want I'll explain the math why)
These cars were very similar in concept to the Porsche 924/944/968 and the 928 models. My understanding is that Porsche did not copy the Tempest drivetrain, but came upon the rear transaxle layout in order to get away from the rear-engine trailing throttle oversteer effect that made the 911 such a squirrel. The 928 was a 100% bespoke design, but the 924 family was a Volkswagen/Audi parts bin special. And the 944 even used half of a 928's engine!
The Tempest itself was basically a way to use the Corvair chassis with a front engine, hence the famous "rope drive".
I drove a 928 for 19 years and in some situations, you could get a harmonic twisting of the driveshaft that gave the same effect as what the Tempest was known for.
Great video!
The 928 was intended to cut into the vast Camaro/Firebird market...
@@BuzzLOLOL Porsche's cars have always competed with GM's Corvette. They weren't thinking about the Camaro when the 928 was designed in 1972, they simply wanted something that would appeal to Americans and have a front engine. Afterall, the Camaro/Firebird/Mustang products were in a totally different price range. Emissions controls were coming meaning that power would drop so they went with a large water cooled V8. Also, they feared that the US government would soon ban rear-engine cars, so their 911 replacement, the 928, was built and sold with a front engine/rear transaxle.
As to the 928 being a replacement for the 911, we can see how that worked out....
Did these Porsches have the drive cable in a tube or was it a rigid torque tube? I assume Porsche made the unit true and straight unlike the offset in the cheaper GM car
I had a Uncle that was a Pontiac Man, He had all the great ones thru the years and in 1962 He bought a Maroon Tempest for a second car that He drove everyday to work at Kaiser Steel in Fontana California! He Drove that car until 1965 when He he died of a heart failure. His Son kept the car for several years and parked it in a Garage until His death in 1999! The car was sold at a estate auction for $500.00 dollars and the guy that bought it drove it Home! It was a great little car!
When I started at the local Pontiac dealership in 1972 a few of these were still coming in for service. I got to drive a 1962 4 cylinder and a 1963 326 V8, both were automatics. Never seen one with the aluminum 215 V8, but the 326 ran really good!
the only 215 aluminum engine cars I ever saw in person was a Buick and an Oldsmobile
@@jimhaines8370 They were technically available on the Pontiac, but Pontiac had to buy those engines from Buick, so they charged a huge amount of money for the V8, until they came out with the 326 in 63.
@@61rampy65 I really don't question it but just never have seen one
@@jimhaines8370 Neither have I, I just know stupid trivia like this.
Jim Haines correct. Don't know if Pontiac ever put aluminum V8 in production cars. Have seen them in Buick and Oldsmobile.
As a transmission rebuilder back in the day, I rebuilt several of the "Tempest torqs" (spl?) transmissions.... basically a modified Power Glide. Corvair also used a similar design. Ah the good old days before electronics go involved!! LOL
Those Tempest transaxles had extra concentric shafts in them versus a regular automatic transmission. I saw one of those Tempests back in 1984 when I briefly worked in the torque converter shop of a transmission shop in Pittsburgh. I remember the tranny dipstick tube was behind the license plate. Did you guys charge extra to rebuild them and did they hold up OK compared to other trannies of the day?
My dad bought a 63 tempest 4-cylinder four-door hard top with 3 speed manual on the floor and 2 barrel carb, new in 63. His twin brother bought a convertible at the same time. Later my dad sold it to my grandfather. My grandfather eventually parked it and it sat for 10 years. Around 1980, my uncle towed it to my house. I went through the whole thing, pulled the engine apart, the old oil was like roofing shingles. I steam cleaned the inside of the engine, rebuilt the carb, fixed the brakes, etc. In total including the steam cleaner rental I invested about $200. It was 17 years old at that point, so no gasket sets were available, but some smart parts dealer ordered me what I remember as a 326 set, but which must have been a 389 set, and I used the half I needed. He threw in a tube of permatex for free to help construct the cork intake manifold gasket. I drove that from Connecticut to Virginia to college and back several times. It was a fun car, although it had a bit of rust inside and out, common for the era. It had a cool stock white cue-ball shift knob, but smaller. The distance between first and second gear was severe, so you had to rev it up pretty good to make the switch. Going up a very steep hill from a slow speed or stop required a fair bit of skill as a result.
It was awesome in snow, because of the corvair "unsafe at any speed" suspension. When you jacked it up to change a rear tire, the rear wheels would lower and toe in - you had to jack it up pretty high. That combined with a relatively even front/back weight distribution is what made it so good in snow. Also, it had unusually large wheels for the time - most cars tires look too small in stock 60s cars, but not this one. You could literally get past cars stuck in the snow by going off-road!
Very Nicely Done! Pontiacs were wonderful cars, our neighbors had one of the Tempest station wagons of the model years you described and yes, it had the four cylinder engine. Also, the control lever for the automatic transmission was mounted on the dashboard, also a unique feature! Thank You Very Much!!!
Thank you for this video presentation. I had never heard about this engine. Awesome!
Thank you Adam. As always, a comprehensive and interesting presentation with a great balance of photos and vintage engineering documentation. My Mother had an early (‘61 or’62) Tempest in the same gold color. Great memories.
Adam I'm speaking for most of us, (I'm sure) we always enjoy your shows, and knowledge of the Autos you speak of. Thanks Adam
I appreciate that!
I got stranded out of state with a bad transmission as a broke teenager in 1975. I found a 61 Tempest in very rusty but very good running condition at a used car lot for $75. Drove it 500 miles home, sold it for $90. The buyer got several years use out of it. LOL
Thanks Adam for featuring this unsung engine, love your channel, peace brother
Thanks for this one! I love some of the Pontiac "interesting" engine set ups from the 60s such as this and the OHC Six they put in a Firebird.
Thanks for this, it was fun seeing it. In the 1990s I purchased from a couple of college students a red '62 Tempest convertible with 2-speed automatic transmission for my wife, who was born in 1962. It was a bit tired but we enjoyed driving it. I feel a little sad that we eventually sold it. But it went to an afficionado so I'm sure it's still rolling around somewhere out there!
My parents had the Buick Special which was based on this Y Platform...Tempest and Olds F-85. It had the Buick V6 which pretty much evolved into the 3800 V6. Dad liked the car, though it was a basic "keys and a heater." It had a 3 speed on the tree manual and he said it would get 27 MPG on the highway at 65 to 70 mph. I think the next generation...the 64 A body Intermediates were a step backward in innovation versus the Y body of 61 to 63.
Olds had an aluminum v8.
In 1984 I acquired a 62 trophy 4 still have it today. I still drive it to car shows. It gets lots of looks 👌. Thank you for the video
In Jan. 1966, I bought a slightly used 1964 Pontiac Tempest, 6 cyl.(first of the larger version
Tempests) which ran flawlessly for another 16 years, until being vandalized! I only drove the
smaller 1963 V-8 model once, but it was compatible with a GTO in performance! Until this
video, I had no idea that the earlier model 4 cyl.'s engine/transmissions were configured that way!
I was assigned to Robins Air Force base in Georgia in 1982, having returned from Germany. A fellow Airman in my radar shop had driven his 62 Tempest convertible from California. It had the 4 cylinder engine. He was on a two lane road somewhere along the way and a semi pulling a box trailer was traveling the opposite direction. The wind whipped the convertible top so hard that it ripped the fabric off of the frame. I'm sure it was dry rotted from being in sunny Calif it's whole life. One thing you didn't comment on was the A6 Fridgidare compressor on the car you showcased. Back then GM had only that one size fits all compressor so it would have been right at home on the series 75 Cadillac or the Tempest with half a V8. You can be sure that when the AC was cranked up on a hot summer day that probably 1/4 of the engines output went to cool the car. Great video.
My first car was a '63 Pontiac Tempest with the 4 cylinder engine. In the late 1960s they were called "gutless wonders". The 63 was much better looking than the earlier models. The timing chain was a weak point. It only lasted about 60,000 miles. Good Luck,
Rick
Hi Adam. Thanks for this interesting video. It brought back memories of the 1963 Tempest that my parents had in the early 1970's. A rather odd car but roomy and dependable. It had the gearshift lever on the dashboard and just a small driveshaft tunnel providing much more interior space due to it's transaxle design. They replaced it with a brand new Ford Maverick in 1975 ( 4 door sedan ). One the first things I noticed when riding in the new Ford was how much less leg room there was due to the bell housing tunnel.
Dependability? not so much with the YES a Corvair two speed powerglide transaxle. went through two of them.....
The advertisement at the end actually sold it quite well. Now I want one.
This was an excellent edition. Thank you,
Thanks for another great video. International Harvester did the same with their 4 cyl for the Scout. It suffered the same vibration problem.
I enjoyed this very factual look at tempest cars by pontiac.... it was a throw back to a different time.....
My Father had one of these. I loved riding init with him.😊
I had one, a 1963 convertible. A real shaker, but also a sleeper. The shifter was in the lower dash board. The carb was a 600 cfm Carter. Tranny was a power glide. I loved it. A "mechanic" said it had a burnt valve, took it apart. Never ran again
Super interesting! I had no idea this motor existed. Thanks for shining the light on it!
That was fun Adam,, I love the
oddballs !!
I'd really like to see an in depth video on the "rope drive" and rear transmission setup,,, that is classic GM oddballery in the extreme..
I am old enough to say I worked on those in the mid 1960s they had a front engine rear transaxle set up. A pretty unique car for the time, I really enjoyed this video very interesting and informative.
We are very old ! love to you.
My mother had a 1963 Pontiac Tempest Le Mans with a 326 cubic inch V8. I got to drive it from time to time. It had the quickest throttle response time, which made it hot off the line. I loved that car in its Burgundy exterior and black bucket seats. I had a 1966 GTO with a 389 and a single 4 barrel carb. I only had the GTO for a year when it was stolen in Euclid, Ohio at a Holiday Inn. Sadly, 6 months later it was found in a junkyard and it had been gutted for ALL its parts and accessories. i would go on to have several Grand Prix's one of which was a 1976 with a 455 cubic inch V8. Good road car. I eventually sold it to a friend who had it for a very long time.
In 1969 I bought a white 1962 Tempest convertible. It ran great, but kept pulling the left rear axle shaft out of the trans ... and the automatic trans shops were killing me. I sold it and bought a 1965 Bonneville convertible, red, red gut, white top ... which I wish I still had today.
The rear-mounted transmission was a brilliant idea and the Trophy Four was clever though inferior to Chrysler's Slant Six. Back then, GM still did some real engineering.
Trophy 4 wasn't inferior in HP, though... up to 180 HP...
My parents bought new a '62 Pontiac Tempest Station Wagon. They sold it to me when I was 16. It had the 4 cylinder engine in it that was an 8 cylinder block with only half of it being used. Wildest looking 4 cylinder engine I've ever seen. The independent rear suspension was great in snow or mud. Loved that car.
All new information for me!
Thx Adam!
That ad actually shows the '62 Tempest, but great video!
Back in the early '70s, my best friend's neighbor had a '61 Navy-Blue Tempest with that strange 4. She let me have a look at the engine. But I never learned what other weirdness lurked under those cars until many years later.
By the way, there are a few Corvairs around that have had GMs small aluminum V8 swapped in the rear!
I learned to drive in a 62 tempest, 3 on the floor. A long stretch between 1st and 2nd, very spartan car no extras. We lived in Seattle. My
dad would make me drive up really steep streets, then make me stop in the middle of them, and start back up. You learned how to drive doing that. Warm place for that little brown car, all rubber steel and vinyl in the cab.
My family bought a ‘61 Tempest brand new with an automatic transmission as a second car. It had an interesting dash-mounted short throw gear shift lever. I was 7-years old at the time and I remember the engine vibrations and rather loud exhaust note compared to our primary vehicle which was a gorgeous blue 1960 Buick Invicta hardtop. Good times!
We had a 62 Olds F85 (the next generation), with the 315 aluminum block v8. I loved that engine, even had people who wanted it for their kit plane.
I bought a 1962 Tempest convertible with the 🏆 4 in high school for $100. It was in rough shape and old even then but I drove it for a whole (very fun) summer and then the motor seize around back to school time in September. I found a guy with a nice Tempest convertible who gave me $300 for it as a parts car. Nothing like being 16 with a convertible, even for just one Michigan summer. Great memories, thanks for the video!
I took my license in our 61 tempest it didn’t have park on the transmission rolled down a hill thank goodness the curb stopped it the parking brake was fully on after it ate it’s second chain dad traded it for a new 65 impala 327 loaded with air. We never missed the Tempest rough running 4 cyl engine
I got a 63 Tempest in 68. My second car and loved it! 2 door sedan , 3 speed floor shift! Great little car! Big difference after my first car, 50 Ford convertible, 3 speed on the column! Loved that car too!😊
What’s terrifying is I heard of this engine only yesterday, read about it before bed and hear a video from my favorite channel pops ups the next day about it. Well done and fascinating i say.
We have invaded your mind. You have entered... the twilight zone.
Love the unusual features you highlight in your videos.
I had NO idea this engine existed. Thank you for educating me! 🙂
This is an interesting and informative video.
Thanks for presenting it!
Yup. I was a kid when my dad bought a new 1962 white tempest station wagon. When I got older I was surprised to learn that it was a four cylinder! It served us well for a number of camping trips.
I'm pretty sure ours was an automatic. Thanks for the memories and interesting facts!
You come up with some of the most interesting stuff...thanks.
Thank you for this great video!
My parents bought a new 1963 Lemans 4-cylinder convertible only to trade up to a ‘65 inline six powered Lemans.
The ‘63 was plagued with driveline chatter, uneven rear tire wear and timing chain issues. Years later my oldest brother bought a used version equipped with 326 V8 devoid of those problems.
Now that was a sleeper!
I’ve always been fascinated with these cars - the funny little foreign car built by GM. Well, along with the Corvair, with which it shared a ton of DNA. Of all the first generation GM compacts, this was the only one that started production with a 5-lug wheel nut pattern. An oddball one at that. The supply of spare brake drums completely dried up (last I read) but the work around was to use a Ford Ranger drum, which could be retrofitted once a bit of machine work was done. The 15-inch wheels gave it sort of a puppy foot appearance, to me. I’m glad you fit this into your content, Adam.
Wow, when they play the VERlZON commerical before the clip, one of the Actors goes "Ho-HOAH!" Sounds exactly like a good friend who passed recently. Thank you Verizon. Thank you.
As an owner of a very nice ‘67 GTO in the Navy, I was made caretaker for a friend’s ‘62 Tempest for a month. it had a 2bbl version of the Trophy 4. I really enjoyed driving it around and loved the idea of the half-a-V8 engine. Very cool 😎
Great Video, lot's of things I didn't know about this car even though I had been in one and around in that era.
Great job on the Pontiac video , true Americana 😎👍 🇺🇲
Amazing video as always Adam, I saw this exact car and engine in burgundy at a car show in Oshawa back in 2017.
I was in abandoned building in 1978 I found one it was pretty good for sitting there i wish I could have been the one who saved it
The 1963 Tempest had an optional 326 CID V8, a debored 389, available. It was slightly undersquare. The flexible rope drive shaft would keep rotating when in neutral with the automatic, which irritated some people.
My mom bought a 1963 Tempest wagon. She loved it at first but it started having lots of problems. One time the idler arm broke and fell out of the car. My mom had me go out and pick it up. By 1968 my dad got tired of dealing with the problems and traded it in on a Chevy Nova. According to my parents the vibration from the driveshaft spinning at engine speed was noticeable. I recall the car as being okay and we went all over the place in it but I was only 10 when it was traded in.
My Father had one. It was a torque monster! 4 cyl, 4 barrel carb, and 4 speed transaxle. You could climb any hill in 4th gear!
There was a Hotrodding book which featured a 2 cylinder version of the tempest 4. It allowed the same car to run in several displacement classes. I did not know about the rear mounted transmission. It is funny this car grew into the basis for the GTO and launched the muscle car era. Thanks for this new old news!
I bought a 1963 Tempest LeMans with this 4 cylinder engine as poor college student in 1970. It was my second car purchase. Paid $300 for it if memory serves me right. Thats more money than it seems. Minimum wage was well under a buck and my good paying summer construction job paid a little less than $100 per week. It was wonderfully inexpensive to drive and the motor was great. The wonky drive train; not so much. I had to replace the torque tube that held the 1" diameter drive shaft rigid. (Damn wintertime midwest road salt.) It did have a habit of eating clutches as well, but that might have been the varied girlfriends trying to learn to drive it. Thanks for reviving old memories.
Very informative. Thank you. 😁😁😁
Back then, I was obsessed with maximum hp...as an older man now, I really appreciate the tempest package...wow, a 4sp, 166hp 4cyl would be such fun to drive around in now...that car would offer offer both decent handling, and enough power to move that rather light vehicle down the road...and with 4-wheel independent suspension too? Very impressive effort for that time period...Of course, the eventual 6cyl, OHC engine was an even better choice for those who wanted at least a modicum of gas mileage--and also more performance. But this 4cyl adventure is very cool!
I think the 4 banger eventually reached 180 HP... 1/2 that of a later tripower 360 HP GTO 389" V8... and was available with a 4 speed manual... by '63 had Buick 215" and Pontiac '326' (336")V8's...
Back in 1960's, my daily driver was the 1962 Olds Jetfire version of this car body:
ua-cam.com/video/Jzw5W1rRMog/v-deo.html
Gimme a V8! 😀
You need to remember the Tempest had the same swing axle rear suspension that got the Corvair labeled as "Unsafe at Any Speed". I don't know if it suffered from the same wheel jacking problems as the Corvair, but the swing axle wasn't a great arrangement in most cars that used it. The swing axle rear end contributed to my brother rolling a Triumph GT6 that had it.
Although not a Tempest, my first car was the 67 Firebird. It had the lower power OHC six. My buddy had the Firebird Sprint OHC six. Mine came with a single barrel carb and his had the four barrel quadrajet. I believe the Sprint was rated at 250 HP, I could be wrong though. He could burn rubber in all three gears!
We just loved are Pontiac’s!❤
@@nealrehm6895 We had a 66 Lemans with the OHC 6 and Powerglide 2 speed trans. If you floored it from take off, it would hold first gear to 65 mph. Don't know how fast the engine was spinning, but it didn't sound like you wanted to hold that gear any longer.
I drove my dads 1961 Tempest in the mid 70's for a short time. It had about 140,000 miles on it used a bit of oil but handled very well for an old high milage car. It was a three speed floor shift as I remember and had great leg room. It was slow on steep hills but other than that was a fine car.
My dad had a 63 tempest convertable.he loved that car
i had a friend thathad a 62 tempest 4 cyl. 4 bbl. 4 speed, it was a station wagon, it was a fun car to drive. this was back in 1965.
I've always been fascinated by all of the GM Y body cars of this time, especially the Tempest. Have my eye out for a nice clean one as I think it would be a great and inexpensive collectible.
That was a good-looking car, very stylish.
Very interesting video. I didn’t know about that engine until today. In 1970, my second car, replacing my leaky ‘62 Impala convertible, was a ‘61 Olds F85, gray 2-door post with bucket seats. That had the 215 V-8 with the Slim Jim automatic. P-N-D-L-R configuration. Where the Chevy was leaking everything, the Olds was smelly. I ultimately sold that shortly before going into the Army.
The Olds F85 was P-N-D-S-L-R... 2nd gear was called "Super" for quick passing use... of course, there was also the factory turbocharged V8 version:
ua-cam.com/video/Jzw5W1rRMog/v-deo.html
Buick Special and Pontiac Tempest automatics had just D and L... 2 gears...
@@BuzzLOLOL Yes, I forgot about the S tucked in between D and L. I saw that turbocharged version, Jay Leno’s Garage video. 1st to 2nd was practically instantaneous and 3rd came soon after. It was an odd car all around.
In the mid 70's I had a 1961 Buick Special with a V-6. I believe it had an aluminum block with the transmission in the rear as the Tempest you speak of here. Pontiac had some great engines. I particularly liked their overhead cam straight 6.
@@Rick-S-6063 Thanx for correcting me. I had it for a while but never laid eyes on the transmission. The body was pretty much rusted out with holes in the floor so I did not have the car for very long.
Nice! I just learned about a motor I never knew existed!