Many of the people we come across tell us they’ve had their car for a long time, and that time frame is just barely into double digits. But Paul Minore from Orange, Connecticut, has surpassed many of those people three-fold. His 1964 Pontiac LeMans was purchased right out of high school and has been in his possession for 32 years now. It wasn’t new at the time, with some 18 years under its belt already, but he had plans for it.

While most people know the musclecar-era LeMans as an A-body, it began as the Y-body Tempest, a sub-compact car that was shared with Buick and Oldsmobile in the early 1960s. Pontiac’s designer du jor from that decade was none other than John DeLorean, who had a hand in making the early Tempest a bit more unique than its Buick and Olds cousins.

The 1961-63 Tempest sported a rear transaxle, giving it four-wheel independent suspension much like the Corvair’s swing-axle set up. The 1961 to 1963 Tempest was the only early GM sedan with the rear transaxle, as Buick and Olds ran a conventional setup with the transmission up in front.

The early years saw the LeMans as a trim package to the Tempest, but 1964 began a new life for the Tempest, and the platform was to become the new A-body that we see here before us. 1964 was a great year for Pontiac’s A-body platform, it was the same year that the famed GTO was introduced to the world – amidst jeers from the Ferrari camp who felt that it was a bit of a slap in the face. It was that car that is rumored to be the beginning of the musclecar era, and Jim Wangers – the father of the GTO – helped to make the 1964 A-body car everything that it could be, and the musclecar era was upon us.

Having such a storied and historical background to Lemans, Minore’s LeMans didn’t start life with the same fanfare that the 1964 GTO generated. His ’64 intermediate-sized coupe was powered by the smaller, 215 cubic inch inline six-cylinder engine. It was his daily driver, and the car went just about everywhere with him and is still driven a bit today. But, in true gearhead fashion, the car had been missing a couple of cylinders and needed more power.

The view most people see when they come up against Paul Minore’s Tempest.

Minore had big plans for working on the car in one way or another, but life was always going on around him during the 20 years or so that it took to transform the car into the street machine you see here before you. Minore says, “It took about twenty years to build it, I got married, bought a house, had kids – you know the story.” Fortunately, Minore kept the car rather than getting rid of it once the family life told a stronghold.

He completed the car about 2002 with the help of some friends, but he did a good amount of the work himself. He did a complete back halve, built a roll cage, and the exhaust, and then with friends they got the car together using a who’s-who of performance parts. Beginning with the motivation for this beast is Moroso‘s 468ci BBC Marine engine, pumping out 635 horses of supercharged fury. The engine has been converted for street use, spinning the rollers at 500 rwhp.

The eye of the Tempest is a Vortech V-1 centrifugal supercharger, pulling in massive amounts of air and forcing it through an Accel Digital Fuel Injection (DFI) system. The fuel delivered via and Aerospace Components fuel pump. The fires in the holes are lit with an MSD 6AL ignition box delivering the the spark through the Moroso Ultra 40 spark plug wires, with that spent gasses exiting through Hooker Headers and a custom 3-inch exhauset.

Taking power from the flywheel is a Turbo 400 transmission that has been set up with a reverse, manual valvebody, with a Hurst pistol-grip shifter doing the duties of getting through the gears. The custom fabbed Competition Engineering Ford 9-inch rearend houses a set of Moser 35-spline axles spun by a Detroit Locker with 4.56:1 gearing. Helping to keep all that power planted is a Competition Engineering 4-link setup with Koni adjustable coilovers, while Weld Racing Draglite wheels are shod in 33×19.5-inch Mickey Thompson Sportsman tires.

Up front, QA1 adjustable coilovers help keep the suspension in place, and Wilwood disc brakes help bring the car to a halt. To pull of the burnouts, like the one in the video above, a Moroso anti-roll control line lock keeps the front tires held securely so the huge MTs out back can create a smokescreen. Keeping things in check, Minore’s running a set of Auto Meter Sport Comp gauges in a customized dash and center console, wired with an Ron Francis fuse panel and wiring kit.

To keep Minore planted in the stock front seats, and RCI harness locks him into place, and the swingout door bars on the roll cage make the entry and exit a bit easier. In the back, a fabricated back seat with a set of RCI harnesses keep additional passengers secure for those wild romps around the Moroso parking lot, or on some of the cruises that Minore has participated in. On the Hot Rod Power Tour, he’s pulled in a Best Engine award in Cecil County, Maryland, as well as a President’s Choice award at Quinnapiac College car show in Hamden, Connecticut.

The quarter panels have been stretched two inches to make room for the massive rollers.

The Body has also received its share of custom work, from the smooth firewall to the steel tubs on the stretched quarter panels. The drip rails have been shaved and Ford YO Windstar white paint was laid out by JJRau in Southington, Connecticut, over the fine bodywork performed by Al Mizger. Minore thanks Moroso Performance for helping out with the many performance products, as well as Dave Waterman for the upholstery in Niantic, Connecticut, and Ed Sobinchinski for the pinstripes and graphics in North Haven, Connecticut.

Minore’s taken the Tempest down the quarter mile in 11.51 seconds, hitting the traps at 117 mph in this 4,100 pound Pontiac. He tells us that his favorite part of owning this car has been the ability to lay down a pair of fat black stripes wherever he goes. He knows the car is never really going to be finished, and has been searching for the driver’s side lower window trim – but that hasn’t kept him from enjoying the Tempest and driving it as often as possible when the weather permits, hitting up the local cruise nights and showing a couple times a year.

It’s hard to imagine what this car looked like when it rolled off the line in 1964, looking like the kind of car someone’s aunt drove around with it’s grocery-getting inline six cylinder power plant, but seeing the result of over 20 years of putting things off come to fruition makes this Tempest one that is going to get all sorts of attention to make up for the neglect it received so many years ago. The car has been a part of the family, and is being kept in good company with a completely stock 1950 Ford F-1 that Minore also owns.

The Tempest is a race car that does see some action, but Minore likes the burnouts the most – knowing he can paint stripes anywhere he goes.