1962 Pontiac Tempest

Convertible

215 V8

Automatic

162K4187

Clear

Gasoline

1962 Pontiac Tempest convertible factory aluminum 215 V8 engine One of the most unusual American cars ever made, yet it's GM, so it's relatively easy to find parts for it in the United States. I bought this one from a private Pontiac collector in Kansas in March 2009. It had been sitting derelict on a farm for some time and sold in an estate sale. To bring it back to life, after some repairs in a local motorcycle shop, I drove it to Texas, then with a friend through New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon and home to Washington state. It's been garaged in Seattle since then. The engine is a factory-original Buick 215 V8, stamped by hand with the Pontiac VIN next to the machine-stamped Buick code at the Pontiac plant in Kansas City, Kansas in December 1961 (please see the photo of the engine stampings). Even in its unrestored state, or for some, because of it, it’s a beautiful machine. The exterior is painted a dark metallic 50615 Burgundy Poly with a brighter 50568 Belmar Red Poly on the dash and doors and a Jeweltone Morrokide tri-tone maroon, brown and white interior and a white top like you commonly see on Catalinas/Venturas. The body plate or cowl tag reads: 12B (built in the second week of December 1961) STYLE 62-2167 (1962 Tempest base convertible) BODY BK 195 (built in the Kansas City, Kansas plant; weld shop sequence # 195) TRIM 210 (maroon interior) PAINT N1 (N = 50615 Burgundy Poly. exterior lower body color; 1 means a soft top, white, instead of a letter for an upper body color) ACC. 1-12 (if you know what “ACC. 1-12” means, please message me here) I installed the dual exhaust and a Pertronix kit in Texas to make it drive better. Don't believe the Pontiac purist haters: Buick’s 215 V8 is a great engine. It weighs just 320 pounds wet, substantially less than the base engine, the four-cylinder Pontiac 195 (about 470 lbs), puts out more horsepower and torque, and it's much smoother. That's why it's been put in so many other cars, like MG, Corvair and Toyota, and after GM sold it to Rover, it was made another 35 years. This version has what I'm 99 percent sure is the original GM Rochester four-barrel carburetor and is rated at 185 hp. The car averages between 19-22 miles to the gallon and easily holds 80 mph on the freeway. John DeLorean's ropeshaft and transaxle design gives it an independent rear suspension and near-50/50 front-to-rear weight balance, which means the car is unusually stable and handles well even by modern standards. At one point on the trip the friend and I hit a solid sheet of ice that was protected by the hot Texas sun by a bridge outside Amarillo, and the Tempest went into a slide. But it didn’t spin and we didn't feel any body roll. We shot across the ice smoothly and when we hit dry pavement on the other side, the car simply resumed down the road.A few people have written to ask if they can simply drop a regular Buick 215 V8 in a regular four-cylinder Tempest and get the same benefits. You can’t, at least not easily. The Tempest crossmember is different than Buick's, so to fit in a Tempest, a 215 has to have its own special oil pan, oil pickup, and dipstick, as well as bellhousing, flex plate, and two spacer plates to connect the engine to the Tempest torque tube. The engine mounts, battery tray, radiator, radiator shrouds and Powerglide automatic are also different than the four-cylinder Pontiac engine. When I picked up the car in Kansas, the whole drivetrain was very dirty, caked with crud on the outside and covered in varnish and gum on the inside. Oil dripped and spattered from several places around the oil pan. During the trip, we rebuilt the brakes, flushed the cooling system, differential oil and ATF twice each, and the engine oil six times. I carefully unbolted the oil pan and threaded in a new pan gasket without removing the engine from the car. I also removed the transmission pan, cleaned it and painted the underside with Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black, and resealed it. There are now no engine or transmission leaks. Compression readings are as follows (September 2013): CYLINDER READINGS (PSI) 1 − 130 2 − 130 3 − 95 4 − 115 5 − 95 6 − 95 7 − 95 8 − 95 There’s plenty for a restorer to do. Rocker panels under door sills are rusted out, like it was parked in weeds that held water against them, but the car’s body must have kept the weeds under the car dry, because there's very little rust underneath. The trunk floor will need to be replaced, and there’s some rust in the footwells of the front seat, as is common in convertibles. The engine stumbles slightly on launch, possibly due to a leak in the accelerator pump diaphragm. I haven’t rebuilt the carburetor. The speedometer is noisy, probably because it needs a new cable. The driver’s side ball joints are also noisy and need to be replaced. The driver's side door panel is missing. The front bench seat has partially shredded and split, revealing stuffing and springs. The lower half of the back seat is missing. One snap is missing from the convertible boot/tonneau cover rail. The old white top material shredded in the wind on the highway and I removed it to avoid looking like a storm-ravaged pirate ship, however, the clear plastic back window remains and could be resewn into a new top. All of these issues could be solved with an ordinary four-cylinder Tempest parts car and a few parts from an aftermarket Pontiac specialist such as Ames Performance (http://www.amesperf.com/), that now has a catalog specifically for the '61-'63 Tempests.Or, you could just drive it. I love this car, but I'm forced to sell. This is the third time I've listed it. The other times had a reserve. This time, bidding starts at $1, no reserve. Sold strictly in "as is" condition. I have clear title. The car has Washington state collector plates on it, so no tabs are needed. A $500 deposit is due via PayPal 24 hours from auction end. If you win the auction and don't make the deposit or contact me, expect to see the car relisted. If you've got a zero or negative feedback and don't message me before bidding, expect to see your bid canceled. After the deposit is made, the balance is due in cash on pickup, 14 days or less from the date of the auction, unless we make other arrangements. Please message me with questions.