1961 PONTIAC TEMPEST CONVERTIBLE

PROJECT CAR OF THE MONTH

1800.00

HISTORY

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·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.

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