For the majority of the musclecar fans, the Pontiac Tempest holds a sacred place in hot rodding lore because John DeLorean, Pontiac’s chief engineer at the time, had the idea of taking Pontiac’s intermediate coupe and stuffing the biggest motor in the brand’s parts bin into the engine bay, along with the notion of marketing the car to an entirely new demographic of the car-buying public under the name GTO. It is – at least by terms of mass popularity – considered by most to be the car that started the mid-’60s musclecar craze.

It might have started out life as a basic means of transportation, but the Tempest’s simple layout, diminutive proportions and rear-mounted transaxle would prove to make it a formidable opponent at the track. Image: Wiki Commons

But even before the GTO brought hot rodding to the masses, Pontiac was already turning the Tempest into a jack of all trades – including an NHRA terror that struck fear into the hearts of Factory Experimental (FX) class competitors across the country in the early 1960s.

Origin Of An Icon

Designed by DeLorean, the Tempest first hit showrooms in 1960. Riding on a platform it shared with the Buick Skylark and Oldsmobile Cutlass, the Tempest was intended to serve as the brand’s entry level compact coupe and sedan – a job it performed quite well with an innovative rear-mounted transaxle that allowed for four-wheel independent suspension, 50/50 weight distribution and more interior space. It would go on to earn the Motor Trend “Car of the Year” award for 1961, while Road & Track proclaimed it to be “one of the very best utility cars since the Ford Model A.”

Initially powered by the Trophy 4 inline four-cylinder motor – which was essentially the right half of the 389 V8 – the power plant was marketed as an option for those seeking good fuel economy. But DeLorean wanted bigger things out of the Tempest – he saw more than just a bread and butter commuter car in Pontiac’s new entry.

The ’63 model grew both in stature and prominence within Pontiac’s lineup. But more importantly, it could now house the biggest motors in the brand’s lineup.

By 1963 the Tempest had grown in size and stepped up the totem pole in terms of its place on Pontiac’s roster. Along with the promotion, the Tempest also got an optional 326ci V8. Dimensionally identical to the venerable 389, rumor has it the engine’s displacement actually measured 336 cubes, but with General Motor’s edict at the time that no production engine in GM’s stable would be larger than the 327 found in the Corvette, it was labeled as a 326.

The Tempest Gets Prepped For Race Duty

By this time in the early 1960s, Super Stock racing had already become a legitimate motorsports juggernaut, producing interest from competitors, teams, and most importantly, car-buying fans. During a time when the expression “Race on Sunday, sell on Monday” was very much a real thing, proving who could build the fastest factory-built machines had some legitimate merit for manufacturers’ bottom lines.

Not only did the Tempest Super Duty dominate at drag strips around the country during its brief stint in motorsport, it also proved to be a formidable combination in NASCAR racing as well.

By 1963, Pontiac had already established themselves as a force to be reckoned with on the drag strips and road courses of America with its Super Duty parts program and the factory-built Super Duty Catalina and Grand Prix race cars. But the folks from the Mopar camp were keeping the pressure on everyone with the 426 Wedge motors that they were using in light weight Dodge and Plymouth racers.

Pontiac responded back by offering aluminum body panels and cutting holes in the Catalina race car frames in order to shed weight, but the results of these efforts proved to be mixed at best, as the reduction in rigidity caused frames to break, and the weight savings was negated once competitors’ began running aluminum-bodied cars of their own. Another solution was required – and it came in the form of the Tempest Super Duty.

Super Duty Engineering

Fortunately for Pontiac engineers the burly 421 was externally the same size as the 326 V8. This made fitting the motor a relatively easy exercise, although the special aluminum headers did make it a tighter fit than the typical powerplants used in the Tempest. Image; Mecum

Pontiac engineers took the 389 cubic inch Pontiac V8 and punched it out to 421 cubes, and along with dual four-barrel carbs, specially designed iron cylinder heads, aluminum alloy pistons with 12.0:1 compression (13.0:1 pistons were optional), low-restriction aluminum exhaust headers, a special forged “990” crank with large 3.25-inch main journals and four-bolt main bearing caps, the engines produced a grossly underrated 405 horsepower and 425 lb-ft of torque – a figure widely assumed to be well over 500 hp in reality.

The notion of putting a 421 powerplant into the Tempest had already been floating around since 1962, as famed racer Mickey Thompson, Detroit-area performance dealership Royal Pontiac and even Pontiac’s own skunkworks team had already built their own iterations of the 421-meets-Tempest combination. And while these early experiments showed promise, it wasn’t until the Super Duty Tempest program sprouted up that the concept got the engineering firepower it really required.

One of the key tasks for Pontiac’s engineers to sort out was the transaxle. Eager to put more of the Tempest’s weight over the rear axle to help it launch out of the hole, Pontiac came up with a new four-speed transaxle known as the Powershift, which – in the simplest terms – was essentially two Corvair Powerglide two-speed automatic gearboxes fused together in a custom case (with the requisite retooling) to produce four forward gears that could be controlled either by a clutch or a torque converter. And because it was originally produced for use in the Corvair, the new transaxle was rear mounted, helping to keep the Super Duty’s weight on the rear wheels, which in turn aided traction.

Taking a page from the Super Duty Catalina and Grand Prix race programs, engineers also fitted the Tempest with aluminum front end bodywork, and most of the inner door bracing was tossed in the name of weight savings as well.

But just as quickly as it began, the Super Duty program came to a grinding halt when General Motors announced a ban on all factory-backed racing efforts on January 24th, 1963, essentially putting an end to GM’s participation in all motorsport endeavors during some fairly pivotal years, and stopping the Super Duty Tempest program dead in its tracks.

A Rare Piece Of Factory-Backed Motorsport History

Just fourteen Super Duty Tempests were built before corporate headquarters pulled the plug: Two prototype Tempest coupes, six LeMans-trimmed Tempest coupes, and (surprisingly), half a dozen Tempest Super Duty station wagons, the latter of which were produced for the purpose of putting even more of the car’s weight out back to aid with the traction issues they were having with these powerful, light weight cars that were paired up with relatively primitive tire and suspension technology. In grand sleeper tradition, all the cars were painted in Pontiac’s Cameo White hue, wore 326 badges, rolled on painted steel wheels, and their interiors were outfitted with minimal frills.

Of the six proper Super Duty coupes built, only two runners are known to exist, as four were destroyed beyond repair over the subsequent years. Until late in the 2000s there was actually only one coupe thought to be left, but the fifth car among the six built was discovered a few years ago after decades off the radar.

Although it was missing nearly all its original special factory equipment, it has since been restored back to its former glory by Scott Teimann’s renowned Super Car Specialties in Portland, Michigan, to its configuration as originally raced by Stan Antlocer, who delivered a run of 11.93 seconds at 123.95 MPH with the car back in day, capturing an A/FX class record and earning the car the title of “World’s Fastest Tempest.”

When that car went up for auction in 2008 as a complete basket case – and missing its motor – the bid amount hit $226,521.63 before the auction closed. After being restored, it sold for $335,500 at a Russo and Steele auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, last year. Dana Mecum, of Mecum Auctions fame, is in possession of the other Tempest Super Duty Coupe, as well as one of the six original Tempest Super Duty Wagons. Who knows where the program would have gone had it stayed for the duration, but it was very memorable in its short time with us.