Now, with the 1960 Corvair waiting in the wings, DeLorean’s longstanding plans to build a truly advanced and practical car would finally come to (not quite ripe) fruition.ĭeLorean was particularly interested in the benefits of independent rear suspension, which so many European cars, including VW, Porsche and Mercedes, had been using since the thirties.
He was as aware as anyone of the limitations of Detroit’s big-car formula: What it produced was invariably too big, too thirsty, front-heavy and dull-handling. John DeLorean’s tenure at Pontiac may be more remembered for the ’59 Wide-Tracks, the GTO, the Pontiac OHC six, and the ’69 Grand Prix, but in my opinion the 1961-1963 Tempest stands as his most ambitious and creative engineering effort. Sadly, and unlike the Corvair, the Tempest was never given a chance to sort out its easily fixable blemishes if it had been, the result could have been even more remarkable than the ’65 Corvair. But in true GM fashion, penny-pinching resulted in a 1961 Tempest that, like the Corvair, was flawed from the day of its introduction. When GM gave its engineering talent the freedom to innovate, the results were often extraordinary.
#1963 PONTIAC TEMPEST MANUAL#
If only Pontiac had stuck with it.Ĭonsider its high-performance, four-cylinder engine with four-venturi carburetion four-wheel independent suspension four-speed stick shift perfect 50-50 weight distribution a light, compact, yet fairly roomy body decent manual steering and neutral- to over-steering handling: Those specs parallel those of the all-new 19/1800–or perhaps even a Mercedes or Rover 2000? But there was one thing none of those cars had: A rear transaxle and a totally revolutionary flexible drive shaft. Although the Corvair and the Toronado tend to get the lion’s share of attention, the Tempest’s format was by far the most enduring essentially, the Tempest was a BMW before BMW built one of their own.
Nonetheless, from 1960 to 1966 GM built three production cars that attempted to upend the traditional format: The rear-engined 1960 Corvair, the front-wheel drive 1966 Toronado and the 1961 Tempest. Planned obsolescence, chrome, fins and financial rationalization were the real moneymakers, especially during the technologically conservative fifties. But GM’s technological prowess was just one facet of its constantly-at-war multiple personalities. ( first posted at CC on ) In the thirties and forties, GM pioneered and brought to market some of the most innovative, successful and lasting new technologies: Diesel-electric locomotives the modern diesel bus automatic transmissions refrigeration and air conditioning systems high-compression engines independent front suspension and many more.
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