1962 Pontiac Tempest LeMans convertible - $12,500 (Toms River)

[Joe Cocuzza]

https://jerseyshore.craigslist.org/cto/d/toms-river-1962-pontiac-tempest-lemans/7424031515.html

 

Very nice driver. Many new parts. Great $1,400 radio. Electric power top 3 yrs old. Great tires. Very fun car to own! The car with 1/2 an engine! 4 cyl rope driveshaft, automatic transmission in rear. Rare car if you want a nice convertible that you won't see at every car show like all the others.

 

[alsancle]

Amazing to me how many people can't ask their grand kids to help them take pictures.   This is super rare.  You will see 1000 of the 64 before you see one of these.   The ask of 12,500 might not be too insane if the car is nice.

 

 

[suchan]

I can only recall seeing one of these early Tempests, and it was a hardtop. The 4 cyl sounded like a tractor, but maybe it was just that car's issue.

Good-looking cars, more interesting than the later models.

Agree the price might be in the ballpark.

[Gearheadengineer]

This is one of my bucket list cars. I love it. I like the ‘61s and ‘62s, before they toned the styling down a bit. 
 

Great color combo.  I would prefer a stick but could live with the auto. Looks like it’s in good shape, although the pics kinda suck so who knows. I would change the tires for a narrower white stripe but other than that I’d leave it alone. 
 

Price could be reasonable depending on condition. 

[Brooklyn Beer]

They actually put a 4 cylinder in these ?  I thought they were long gone in mid sized cars by then

[suchan]

31 minutes ago, Brooklyn Beer said:

They actually put a 4 cylinder in these ?  I thought they were long gone in mid sized cars by then

Yup. Supposedly one bank of cylinders from a 389. Like Ford did by designing the 9N tractor engine from half of a Mercury flathead V8.

[Brooklyn Beer]

Not many of those must have made it into cars. Not many must be left in cars originally with it either. 

[Bleach]

I knew a guy who had a 4 door in the late 80's. His aunt gave it to him. It was in good original shape but had one of the worst 4 cylinder engines I'd ever heard.

I was intrigued by it and he would have probably sold it to me for cheap. I just wouldn't have know what to have done with it. I wonder if anyone swapped 326's or 389's in them?

[Leif in Calif]

Half an 8 engine, Rope drive and a transaxle. I have to salute the engineering management that was free enough to allow these ideas to be developed.

I can't imagine the corporate culture permitting it today.  

Might be a lot of fun and could probably be made to handle with a few suspension tweaks. 

 

[41 Su8]

I had one of these in 1970, great car. I used it to go back and forth to college.     John

[kevin1221]

My Dad had one of these in the mid 60s. His was a 4 cylinder convertible with an automatic trans. It was silver-blue with a white top. He had it several years, until it developed engine problems. I remember it as a fun car ride in as a child.

 

The car featured in the ad looks like a nice car.

 

Kevin

[Gary_Ash]

I was given a red one in the early 1970s, used it to commute to work for a year. It performed OK, was fun, though it had started to rust out. 

[TAKerry]

Theres a guy in my town that has one of these in hardtop version as his daily driver. I was talking to him at the gas station one day because of my fondness for Pontiacs. He showed me the slant 4 motor and explained the drivetrain. I had no idea such a crazy thing existed before that.