Pontiac Tempest: Тарихы мен сипаттамасы

Automobile manufactured by Pontiac

The Tempest is an automobile that was produced by Pontiac from 1960 to 1970, and again from 1987 to 1991. The name "tempest" is from Old French tempeste (French tempête), from Latin tempestas ("storm"), from tempus ("time, weather"). The Tempest was introduced as an entry level compact in October 1960 at the Paris Auto Show for the 1961 model year. Built on GM's first unibody chassis, its new Y platform was shared with the Buick Special/Skylark and Oldsmobile F 85/Cutlass. While the Buick and Olds versions used a conventional drivetrain, the Pontiac had a unique, innovative design. The Tempest featured a front engine/rear transaxle layout that very nearly resulted in an ideal 50/50 weight distribution, together with independent rear suspension for nimble handling (a swing axle design similar to the Chevy Corvair). A Slant 4 engine connected to the 2 speed automatic transaxle via a flexible "rope" drive shaft. This configuration eliminated the driveshaft hump, yielding a flat floor with increased interior space. The Pontiac "Trophy 4" was also unique, created by basically halving a standard Pontiac V8 block. Buick's aluminum 215 V8 was also optional in 1961 and 1962, but very few Tempests were so equipped. The Tempest line offered an optional LeMans trim upgrade. In 1964 the Tempest was redesigned as a mid size car on the updated GM A body platform, which used a conventional drivetrain. The base Tempest, Tempest Custom, and Lemans became separate trim packages, with an optional GTO performance option available on the LeMans for 1964 and 1965. The GTO was offered as a separate model line beginning in 1966. The Tempest name was retired after 1970, replaced by the T 37 as the base model, which in turn gave way to the LeMans name in 1972. In Canada from 1987 to 1991, Pontiac marketed a rebadged version of the compact L body Chevrolet Corsica under the revived Tempest name.

Perhaps the most famous of all Tempests were the 12 1963 "Super Duty" cars built to compete in the NHRA Factory Experimental class. These were assembled at the Pontiac plant in Michigan over Christmas 1962 with the knowledge of an impending General Motors ban on factory racing. Among those who successfully raced them was Wild Bill Shrewsberry, who turned low 12 second quarter mile runs in the 1963 NHRA Winter Nationals driving for Mickey Thompson. Shrewsberry still owns his car, and it is still equipped with Pontiac's "Powershift" transaxle as retrofitted later in the 1963 season. Developed specifically for the Super Duty model, this was essentially two Chevrolet Powerglide automatics in a single four speed unit, allowing clutchless shifting in much the same manner as modern drag racing transmissions do. On October 31, 2008, one of the rarest factory race cars, the missing Stan Antlocer Super Duty Tempest Le Mans Coupe was auctioned on eBay. The seller started the auction at $500 being unaware of the car's true value. Eventually, the car was sold for $226,521.

Pontiac marketed a rebadged version of the compact L body Chevrolet Corsica as Tempest, for Canada, Israel and GCC only, beginning in model year 1987. The Tempest was built alongside the Corsica at the Wilmington Assembly plant in Wilmington, Delaware. Discontinued in 1991, the Tempest was replaced with the Grand Am sedan. The 1987 1991 Pontiac Tempest came in two trim levels, base (equivalent to the U. S. Corsica LT) and LE (equivalent to the U. S. Corsica LTZ) The main differences that separates the Tempest from its L Body twin are different grille, emblems and taillights (the taillights were later adopted as the U. S. Corsica's taillights). The only other differences were wheel options, DRLs and a metric instrument cluster. This model was also sold briefly in Israel; there are brochures showing Canadian spec models from 1990/1991.