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 monocoque (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. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 600 × 450 pixelsFull resolution (600 × 450 pixel, file size: 52 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Automakers, also known as carmakers, automobile manufacturers, motor manufacturers, or the automobile industry are companies that design and manufacture automobiles. ... Pontiac is a marque of automobile produced by General Motors and sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico from 1926 to the present. ... General Motors Corporation, also known as GM, is the worlds largest auto company by annual production volume as of 2006, and the second largest by sales volume as of the first half of 2007, behind Toyota Motor Corporation. ... The Pontiac Bonneville was an automobile built by the Pontiac division of General Motors from 1958 to 2005. ... The Pontiac Grand Am was originally a mid-size car and later a compact car that was produced by the Pontiac division of General Motors. ... The Pontiac Grand Prix is an automobile produced by the Pontiac division of General Motors. ... Car classification is subjective since many vehicles fall into multiple categories. ... The Rambler American introduced in the late 1950s was an early compact car. ... A mid-size car, frequently referred to as an intermediate, is an automobile with a size between that of a compact and a full-size or standard-size car. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2560 × 1920 pixel, file size: 2. ... Cars can come in a large variety of different body styles. ... Estate car body style (Saab 95) A station wagon (United States usage), wagon (Australian usage, though station wagon is widely used) or estate car (United Kingdom usage) is a car body style similar to a sedan car but with an extended rear cargo area. ... A notchback full-size luxury sedan. ... 1995 Buick Riviera coupe A coupé (from the French for cut) or coupe is a two or four-seater car with a fixed roof and two doors. ... Saab 900 Convertible 1962 Rambler American 1981 AMC Eagle 4-WD convertible Convertible can also refer to a convertible security A convertible (sometimes called cabriolet in British English) is a car body style with a folding or retracting roof (aka soft top or top in USA, hood in UK). ... In automobile design layout is the place where both the engine and driven wheels are. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... An automobile platform is a shared set of components common to a number of different automobiles. ... The General Motors A platform (commonly called A-body) was a mid-size car automobile platform. ... The straight-4 or inline-4 is an internal combustion engine with four cylinders aligned in one row. ... The Liberty V8 aircraft engine clearly shows the configuration A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders. ... The Liberty V8 aircraft engine clearly shows the configuration A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders. ... The Liberty V8 aircraft engine clearly shows the configuration A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders. ... Transmissions provide a speed-power conversion known as gear reduction (in speed) to a higher torque (rotational force) using gearsets. ... The automatic gear selector in a Ford Five Hundred vehicle An automatic transmission is an automobile gearbox that can change gear ratios automatically as the vehicle moves, thus freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually (similar but larger devices are also used for railroad locomotives). ... A manual transmission (also known as a stick shift, straight drive, or standard transmission) is a type of transmission used in automotive applications. ... The automatic gear selector in a Ford Five Hundred vehicle An automatic transmission is an automobile gearbox that can change gear ratios automatically as the vehicle moves, thus freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually (similar but larger devices are also used for railroad locomotives). ... A manual transmission (also known as a stick shift, straight drive, or standard transmission) is a type of transmission used in automotive applications. ... Corvair convertible The Chevrolet Corvair was an automobile produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors from 1960 to 1969. ... 1963 Oldsmobile The Oldsmobile Cutlass was an automobile made by the Oldsmobile division of General Motors. ... 1968 Pontiac Tempest at the weekly Garden Grove, California car show Photo credit: User:Morven Capture date: May 21, 2004 Location: Garden Grove, California File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Cars can come in a large variety of different body styles. ... Estate car body style (Saab 95) A station wagon (United States usage), wagon (Australian usage, though station wagon is widely used) or estate car (United Kingdom usage) is a car body style similar to a sedan car but with an extended rear cargo area. ... A notchback full-size luxury sedan. ... 1995 Buick Riviera coupe A coupé (from the French for cut) or coupe is a two or four-seater car with a fixed roof and two doors. ... Saab 900 Convertible 1962 Rambler American 1981 AMC Eagle 4-WD convertible Convertible can also refer to a convertible security A convertible (sometimes called cabriolet in British English) is a car body style with a folding or retracting roof (aka soft top or top in USA, hood in UK). ... In automobile design layout is the place where both the engine and driven wheels are. ... In automobile design, an FR, or front-engine, rear wheel drive means a layout where the engine is in the front of the vehicle and drive wheels at the rear. ... An automobile platform is a shared set of components common to a number of different automobiles. ... The General Motors A platform (commonly called A-body) was a mid-size car automobile platform. ... This article or section includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... 1965 Pontiac Le Mans The Pontiac LeMans was an intermediate-sized automobile offered by the Pontiac division of General Motors from 1962 to 1981, replaced by the downsized Pontiac Bonneville for the 1982 model year after the fuel crises of the 1970s. ... 1963 Oldsmobile The Oldsmobile Cutlass was an automobile made by the Oldsmobile division of General Motors. ... The Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme was a mid-size car produced by General Motors for the American market. ... Buick Century is a model name used by the Buick division of General Motors for a line of fullsize performance vehicles from 1936 to 1942 and 1954 to 1958; Buick also used the Century name from 1973 to 2004 for its value-added midsize cars. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 276 pixelsFull resolution (1004 × 347 pixel, file size: 46 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Chevrolet Corsica is a front-wheel drive compact* automobile that was produced by General Motors from 1987 to 1996. ... Linden is a city in southeastern Union County, New Jersey, United States. ... : Chemical Capital of the World , Corporate Capital of the World , Credit Card Capital of the World : A Place to Be Somebody United States Delaware New Castle 17. ... Cars can come in a large variety of different body styles. ... A notchback full-size luxury sedan. ... In automobile design layout is the place where both the engine and driven wheels are. ... In automobile design, an FF, or Front-engine, Front wheel drive, layout places both the engine and driven wheels at the front of the vehicle. ... An automobile platform is a shared set of components common to a number of different automobiles. ... The General Motors L platform (commonly called the L-body) was a midsize car automobile platform produced from 1987 through 1996. ... The straight-4 or inline-4 is an internal combustion engine with four cylinders aligned in one row. ... The straight-4 or inline-4 is an internal combustion engine with four cylinders aligned in one row. ... The Ford Essex V6 engine V6 and V-6 redirect here. ... The Ford Essex V6 engine V6 and V-6 redirect here. ... Transmissions provide a speed-power conversion known as gear reduction (in speed) to a higher torque (rotational force) using gearsets. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Chevrolet Beretta was a front wheel drive coupé produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors from 1987 through 1996. ... The Rambler American introduced in the late 1950s was an early compact car. ... Karl Benzs Velo model (1894) - entered into the first automobile race An automobile or motor car (usually shortened to just car) is a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor. ... Pontiac is a marque of automobile produced by General Motors and sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico from 1926 to the present. ... General Motors Corporation, also known as GM, is the worlds largest auto company by annual production volume as of 2006, and the second largest by sales volume as of the first half of 2007, behind Toyota Motor Corporation. ... Monocoque (French for single shell) is a construction technique that uses the external skin of an object to support some or most of the load on the structure. ... The Y platform, or Y-body, is General Motors high-end rear wheel drive automobile platform from the 1980s through the 2000s. ... The Y platform, or Y-body, is General Motors high-end rear wheel drive automobile platform from the 1980s through the 2000s. ... 1940 Buick Coupé Straight 8 Special 4. ... The Buick Skylark was a passenger car produced by the Buick division of General Motors. ... The Oldsmobile Cutlass is a type of automobile made by General Motors. ... 1963 Oldsmobile The Oldsmobile Cutlass was an automobile made by the Oldsmobile division of General Motors. ... 1965 Pontiac Le Mans The Pontiac LeMans was an intermediate-sized automobile offered by the Pontiac division of General Motors from 1962 to 1981, replaced by the downsized Pontiac Bonneville for the 1982 model year after the fuel crises of the 1970s. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into List of GM platforms. ...

1961-1963

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 powertrain 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." A torque tube system is an automobile driveshaft technology, used in cars with a front engine and rear drive. ... In an automobile and other four-wheeled vehicles, a differential is a device, usually consisting of gears, for allowing each of the driving wheels to rotate at different speeds, while supplying equal torque to each of them. ... Transmissions provide a speed-power conversion known as gear reduction (in speed) to a higher torque (rotational force) using gearsets. ... A transaxle, in the automotive field, is a component that combines the functionality of the transmission, the differential and the drive axle into one integrated assembly. ... John Zachary DeLorean (January 6, 1925 – March 19, 2005) was an American engineer and executive in the U.S. automobile industry, and founder of the De Lorean Motor Company. ... The Packard family coat of arms, adopted as the companys logo in 1928 Packard red hexagon wheel hub center made its debut in 1905, with the color red added in 1913 Packard was a United States based brand of luxury automobile built by the Packard Motor Car Company of... The dominant form of power transmission for front-engine, rear-drive cars in the twentieth century is called the Hotchkiss drive. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Motor Trend is one of the oldest automotive magazines still publishing. ... Car of the Year is a phrase usually considered to have been invented by Motor Trend magazine in the 1950s for their annual award for best automobile. ... Road & Track is an automobile enthusiast magazine in the United States, founded by two friends in 1947. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

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; a 10.25:1 high-compression with single barrel; and a high-compression engine 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·lbf 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. The straight-4 or inline-4 is an internal combustion engine with four cylinders aligned in one row. ... Pontiac V8 engine with Tripower carb setup From 1954 to 1981 the Pontiac Division of General Motors manufactured its own, unique V8 engines. ... The Pontiac Bonneville was an automobile built by the Pontiac division of General Motors from 1958 to 2005. ... 1964 Pontiac Catalina 2-door hardtop The Pontiac Catalina was part of Pontiacs full-sized automobile line. ... Bendix-Technico (Stromberg) 1-barrel downdraft carburetor model BXUV-3, with nomenclature The carburetor, carburettor, or carburetter (see spelling differences), also called carb (in North America) or carbie (chiefly in Australia) for short, is a device that blends air and fuel for an internal combustion engine. ... hp, see HP (disambiguation) The horsepower (hp) is the name of several non-metric units of power. ... The watt (symbol: W) is the SI derived unit of power, equal to one joule per second. ... For other uses, see Revolutions per minute (disambiguation). ... The foot-pound force (symbol: ft·lbf) is an English unit of work or energy from the English Engineering System. ... Torque applied via an adjustable end wrench Relationship between force, torque, and momentum vectors in a rotating system In physics, torque (or often called a moment) can informally be thought of as rotational force or angular force which causes a change in rotational motion. ...

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 4.5 inches apart ("five-on-four-and-a-half") and 15-inch wheels. This was a second configuration shared by no other GM cars but would be identical to the wheels on the Ford Mustang when 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. Additionally the driver's side wheel lugs used a left hand threaded stud designed to tighten themselves with the wheels' rotation. The Ford Mustang is an automobile produced by the Ford Motor Company, originally based on the Ford Falcon compact. ...

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 lb 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. Like its sister General Motors divisions, Buick produced its own family of V8 engines to replace its straight-8 engines. ... -1... Corvair convertible The Chevrolet Corvair was an automobile produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors from 1960 to 1969. ... 1965 Pontiac Le Mans The Pontiac LeMans was an intermediate-sized automobile offered by the Pontiac division of General Motors from 1962 to 1981, replaced by the downsized Pontiac Bonneville for the 1982 model year after the fuel crises of the 1970s. ...

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. A trim package is a set of cosmetic (mostly non-functional) embellishments to a vehicle. ... A hardtop is a term for a rigid, rather than canvas, automobile roof. ...

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·lbf 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. Pontiac V8 engine with Tripower carb setup From 1954 to 1981 the Pontiac Division of General Motors manufactured its own, unique V8 engines. ... The Chevrolet Corvette is the sports car that has been manufactured by Chevrolet since 1953. ...

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.

1964

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 1970s. The Oldsmobile Cutlass is a type of automobile made by General Motors. ... 1963 Oldsmobile The Oldsmobile Cutlass was an automobile made by the Oldsmobile division of General Motors. ... 1940 Buick Coupé Straight 8 Special 4. ... The Buick Skylark was a passenger car produced by the Buick division of General Motors. ... The General Motors A platform (commonly called A-body) was a mid-size car automobile platform. ... 1965 Pontiac GTO convertible The Pontiac GTO was an automobile built by Pontiac from 1964 to 1974, and by General Motors Holden in Australia from 2004 to 2006. ...

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. 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 The Oldsmobile 442 (pronounced four-four-two) was a muscle car produced by the Oldsmobile division of General Motors. ... Buick Gran Sport, 1970 455 Stage 1 Buick GSX, 1970 455 The Buick Gran Sport or GS was a high-performance option package available on a number of Buick models, including the Riviera and Wildcat. ...

Revival

For Canada only, a version of the L-body Chevrolet Corsica was sold as the Pontiac Tempest, starting in 1988 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. The General Motors L platform (commonly called the L-body) was a midsize car automobile platform produced from 1987 through 1996. ... The Chevrolet Corsica is a front-wheel drive compact* automobile that was produced by General Motors from 1987 to 1996. ... The Pontiac Bonneville was an automobile built by the Pontiac division of General Motors from 1958 to 2005. ... The Pontiac Parisienne was a full-size rear-wheel-drive vehicle that was introuduced on General Motors B-body in 1977. ... The Pontiac 6000 was a conservatively styled mid-size car introduced by Pontiac in 1981 for the 1982 model year, slotting between the Bonneville and the Phoenix. ... The Pontiac Grand Prix is an automobile produced by the Pontiac division of General Motors. ...

References in popular culture

In the motion picture My Cousin Vinny, a key argument in the murder trial is linked to the technical similarities and differences between a 1964 Buick Skylark and a 1963 Pontiac Tempest; notably, that the '63 Tempest had "Positraction" (the GM term for a limited-slip differential) and independent rear suspension, while the Skylark did not. My Cousin Vinny is a 1992 American movie, released on Friday, 13 March, starring Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei. ... A Limited Slip Differential (LSD) is a modified or derived type of differential gear arrangement that allows for some difference in rotational velocity of the output shafts, but does not allow the difference in speed to increase beyond a preset amount. ...