[axxe55]

Originally Posted by readygirl

Yea... I wonder who made that decision at Dodge, lets take the biggest, baddest motor we have, and put it in the smallest car we make, and sell it to the public....lol

don't know, but i'm glad they did! it made for one badazz street racer!

for your viewing pleasure!

[dango]

Mo-fo-par...........!

[Colby]

Originally Posted by dango

I'm thinking the 1964 Tempest was a rear mounted engine.? Not sure though.!
Sort a like Chevy Corvair , but a little larger , not much..!

Dango, my friend! Your confused! Not accustomed to seeing you confused!

The 64 Tempest was the midsize body that the first GTO was built on. A 64 Tempest and a 64 GTO (the first GTO) were the same car - but with engine difference and trim differences. The engine, of course, in the GTO was the 389.

You're thinking about the earlier series of Tempests. The Pontiac Tempest began with the 61, as Pontiac's answer to the sudden "compact car" push - competing with Ford's Falcon and Chevy's Corvair. All brought on by the onslought from Europe - the VW Beetle mostly - but Renault Dauphine and the Saab, etc.

The Tempest was a 4 cylinder (half of a 389 @194 1/2, really - slanted, even - from cutting the V8 block). The transmission was in the rear - called a "transaxle" because it had the rear axle gears in the case, too - and it had a "flexible drive" from the clutch back... It was considered a remarkable feat of engineering in it's day. That engine and body continued in 1962.

In 63, they grew the body somewhat (it looked nicer, more modern) and kept the four cylinder but gave you an option of a 326 V8 in a normal front transmission and rear end configuration. This was a nice engine package in that light car.

Then they grew the body even farther for the 64 Tempest and gave you the choice of the typical family style or the new AMAZING GTO version! Which of course, was the start of the muscle car thing.

I owned one of the early four cylinder transaxle Tempests. It went through a lot of throw-out bearings...(manual- it was)

And now you know way more than you ever wanted to know about the beginnings of the Pontiac Tempest.
They kept growing them unfortunately - and they got kind of huge (and heavy) - lost the real GTO performance thing they originally had going.

[Colby]

Originally Posted by dango

I'm thinking that whole line , 283 through 327 was not any radical block changes
just subtle tweeks that mattered .

The Chevy small blocks were basically the same block (with bore width and stroke height differences) from the original 265 from 1955 up to the 350 of even 1995. Same cylinder angles, bearing placements, bolt patterns, ...
265, 273, 327, 302, 350, 305

[Colby]

Originally Posted by axxe55

i am thinking 1967 was the first year it was it's own model. IIRC, those prior were rebadged Tempests.

1964 was the first year for the GTO. The Tempest body with the 389 offered.

[Colby]

Originally Posted by dango

With everything said so far here , if only one of these cars between 1960 and 1978 , what car would you pick as the meanest , leanest looking machine ?

A Chevy man here so I've got to go with that 70 cuda..! Should been a "Pin-Up" in play Boy..!

I would have to go with two -- very different - but very important cars.

The 63-67 Stingray was just such a radically different and beautiful car for it's time. Nothing else was anywhere close to it in looks when it debuted. So, I'd have to pick one of that series. The best of the bunch, technically, was the 67. But the first - the 63 - was just soooo startlingly different and beautiful for it's time - I may have to pick the original - the 63.
The Fall of 1962 - when that car came out on the street for the first time - and you saw that car! OMG! The car culture had just changed!! ----------- I delivered newspapers to a single guy who owned one of the first! It was just amazing to get to see that car nearly every day delivering papers!

The second pick would be the 70 - 71 Challenger. This car and the Cuda are the same basic car. The Challenger was just a little higher class - nicer internals and externals. Both had the Hemi. What is not to like here!?

[axxe55]

Originally Posted by Colby

1964 was the first year for the GTO. The Tempest body with the 389 offered.

i know that 1964 was the first year of the GTO, but what we were trying to determine what year was the first year it was it's own seperate seperate model line and not just an option on the Tempest. i am thinking 1966 or 1967.

[readygirl]

Not sure what this is, just found it cruizing musclecar pics on the net. But i know its a MOPAR. My sisters boyfriend is a big Mopar nut, starting to rub off on me. I cant imagine any hotrod being much cooler than this one...

[dango]

Yo , Colby...........Eeeeck.!

[axxe55]

Originally Posted by readygirl

Not sure what this is, just found it cruizing musclecar pics on the net. But i know its a MOPAR. My sisters boyfriend is a big Mopar nut, starting to rub off on me. I cant imagine any hotrod being much cooler than this one...

i think that's a 1970 SuperBee.