Pontiac Tempest

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Pontiac Tempest was an entry-level "compact" automobile produced by the Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors, introduced in September 1960 for the 1961 model year. It shared the new unibody Y platform, or Y body, with the Buick Special and Skylark, and Oldsmobile F-85 and Cutlass. It also appeared under the LeMans nameplate beginning with the 1962 model year. For 1964, the platform was redesigned with a frame, and renamed A or A body. The Tempest name was discontinued after the 1970 model year in favor of LeMans, a nameplate used for upmarket versions of that series.

1 1961-1963
2 Super Duty
3 1964
4 Revival

[edit] 1961-1963

1961 Pontiac Tempest sedan

In its first iteration, though it used some of the Oldsmobile's sheet metal, underneath it was radically different. The Tempest's drivetrain employed an innovative tunnel (called a torque tube) that spanned almost the length of the car and housed a flexible steel propeller shaft (colloquially dubbed the "rope shaft") connecting the engine in the front to a unified differential and transmission in the rear. The combination of the rear-mounted transaxle and the front-mounted engine gave the car a weight distribution near an ideal 50/50 between the forward and rear wheels, enabled four-wheel independent suspension, and had the added benefit of eliminating the floor "hump" forward of the front seat needed to accommodate the transmission in conventional cars. The designer of this car was John Z. DeLorean, the division's chief engineer and a Packard veteran who would later become the division's head and still later famous for building cars bearing his own name. Since its Buick and Oldsmobile sister cars used a conventional Hotchkiss front engine and front transmission drivetrain setup, the Tempest was truly unique. The Tempest was Motor Trend magazine's 1961 Car of the Year. Road & Track praised the Tempest as "exceptionally roomy" and "one of the very best utility cars since the Ford Model A."

Power came from a 194.5 in³ (3.2 L) straight-4, marketed as the "Trophy 4," derived from the right cylinder bank of Pontiac's 389 in³ V8, the standard powerplant Pontiac used in its larger cars, such as the Bonneville and Catalina. The engine was advertised as a gas-saving economy motor for thrifty consumers, but Pontiac also saved money because it could run the engine down the same assembly line as the 389. There were three versions of the engine: an 8.6:1, low compression, single-barrel carburetor mill; a 10.25:1 high-compression with single barrel; and a high-compression with a four-barrel carburetor. While the single-barrel version produced between 110-140 horsepower, the four-barrel was capable of 155 hp (82 kW) (SAE gross) at 4800 rpm and 215 ft/lbs of torque at 2800 rpm. All three versions had a fuel economy ranging from 18-22 mpg, and the engine was generally reliable though it had a reputation as the "Hay Baler," a derogatory label applied by dealer mechanics (ostensibly from farm states) who experienced the violent kicks it could produce when out of tune.

Another departure, lesser but still notable, from the Special/Skylark and F-85/Cutlass were the wheels. Both Buick and Oldsmobile had standardized their Y body cars on an odd nine-inch brake drum with four lug studs, 4.5 inches apart (a "four-on-four-and-a-half" bolt pattern), using 14-inch wheels, shared by no other GM cars at the time. Pontiac also went with a nine-inch drum, but used five studs, four inches apart ("five-on-four"), and 15-inch wheels, a second configuration shared by no other GM cars, but what would be identical to the wheels on the Ford Mustang when it would be released some four years later, in mid-1964. Perhaps only coincidentally, the Pontiac plant that produced the Tempest's undercarriage was in Los Angeles, across the street from the Ford plant where the Mustang's was developed.

Of particular note is that the innovative aluminum Buick-built 215 in³ (3.5 L) V8 was optional in the Tempest in 1961 and 1962. It is estimated that just 3,662 Tempests were ordered with the 215 engine, or about 1 percent of production. This motor produced, in its various incarnations, from 155 to 215 hp, despite weighing just 330 lbs installed. The Pontiac 215 blocks are distinct from other Buick 215 blocks, because in addition to the factory Buick markings, they were hand-stamped at the Pontiac plant with the VIN numbers of the individual cars they were installed in. Thus in 1961, all Pontiac 215 blocks begin "161P"; the 1962 cars, "162P." Further code numbers told whether the car had an automatic or manual transmission. In 1961, this would have been either a three-speed column-shifted manual with a non-synchromesh first gear or a two-speed automatic controlled by a small lever on the dash to the right of the ignition. This automatic, called "TempesTorque" in company literature but unmarked on the unit itself, was a type of Powerglide similar to, but sharing very few parts with, the one in the Chevrolet Corvair. (The next year a floor-mounted, fully synchromesh four-speed manual was added.) At the introduction, the Tempest was only available as a four-door pillared sedan and as a Safari station wagon. A pair of two-door coupes, one of which was named LeMans, were added at the end of 1961, both in the 1961 body style.

By the time the 1962 models arrived, LeMans, primarily a trim package upgrade featuring front bucket seats, also came as a new convertible. There were now a total of four models: station wagon, sedan, coupe, and convertible. All four came as Tempest; customers who wanted a more deluxe coupe or convertible could pay extra for Tempest LeMans. There was no LeMans station wagon or sedan. And although Oldsmobile and Buick had pillarless hardtops in the higher-option Cutlass and Skylark respectively, there was no pillarless hardtop LeMans. In 1963, the LeMans became a separate series, reaching nearly 50 percent of all combined Tempest and LeMans production.

1963 Pontiac LeMans coupe. "V326" badge on grill advertises 326 V8 engine option

The 1963 version, slightly larger and heavier than the previous two years (now designated a "senior compact"), and with a redesigned transaxle that improved handling, offered a high-performance option much more powerful than the scarcely ordered 215. The 215 was replaced by Pontiac's new 326 in³ (5.3 L) V8, a motor with the same external dimensions of the venerable 389, but different internals, designed to produce more torque. A new version of the automatic transmission (now officially stamped "TempesTorque" on the case) was designed with beefier internals to handle it; the four-speed was not, so few, if any, V8 cars were built with four speeds (the three-speed remained for both motors, however). The high-compression 326's output was 260 hp (197 kW) and 352 ft-lbs of torque. The actual displacement was 336 in³, but according to lore, since no GM division was allowed to have a motor larger than the Corvette's 327, the advertised number was 326. The cast-iron mill brought weight up 260 pounds over a 194.5 in³ Trophy 4 and weight distribution changed only marginally to 54/46. Performance was strong enough that Car Life magazine stated; "No one will wonder why they didn't use the 389," and fuel economy with the 326 ranged up to 19 mpg. The V8 option proved popular: 52 percent of the 131,490 Tempests and LeMans sold in 1963 were ordered with the 326. The 326 sold in the 1963 cars is a one year-only motor; the next year the displacement was adjusted so that it was actually 326 in³.

[edit] Super Duty

Perhaps the most famous Tempests built were 1963 cars. Just 11 in number, they were built at the Pontiac plant in Michigan over Christmas 1962.

[edit] 1964

1968 Pontiac Tempest

In 1964, the Tempest was redesigned as a much more conventional vehicle. The unibody, torque tube and transaxle were gone in favor of the traditional front engine, front transmission, frame and solid rear axle design used by all of GM's other cars, with the exception of the Corvair. Together with its sister cars the Oldsmobile F-85/Cutlass and Buick Special/Skylark, the Tempest/LeMans was migrated to the new A body platform, and all three cars received updates and modifications standardizing them throughout ♠ including the wheels ♠ by GM edict. The LeMans name was discontinued as a separate series, so now the cars were, in ascending order, Tempest Custom and Tempest LeMans. The popularity of the high-performance V8 package the year before prompted Pontiac to make it available again on the Tempest LeMans and give it a name: Grand Turismo Omologato, or GTO, producing a watershed car of the 1960s and '70s.

Interestingly, the success of the GTO prompted Oldsmobile to rush out its own high-performance option package for the F-85/Cutlass called the 442 that year, and the next year, for Buick to release a high-performance version of the Skylark called the Skylark Gran Sport, or GS. Both cars would enjoy success and contribute to what in retrospect has become the "muscle car" era.

[edit] Revival

For Canada only, a version of the L-body Chevrolet Corsica was sold as the Pontiac Tempest, starting in 1987 as a compact sedan, to take place of the Bonneville, which had returned to full-size to replace the Parisienne. It was discontinued in 1991, and this car (along with the Pontiac 6000) was replaced by the Pontiac Grand Prix sedan.