With a starting bid of $500, the seller had no idea that this Pontiac LeMans Tempest was one of the fastest drag racers in its day. Nine days later, the ending bid was $226,521. All that and it didn't even have a motor or a transmission!

eBay Find of the Day: 1963 LeMans Tempest sells for $226,521 - Autoblog



/Hotlinked like it's going out of style...

 

umm,.. DAMN i wish i could have bought it from him for 500 bucks, then ME put it on ebay haha

i'll tell you one thing.. sorry everyone but i wouldn't be getting a fit :p

 

For the year, the interior is in amazing condition.
I like how the gear selector just says "PARK."

*LAUGHS!*

 

oh man that must be a great feeling, selling a car for that much.

 

I'm jealous haha

 

A little more info:

The original Super Duty 421 Lemans Tempests were Pontiac factory-built drag race-only coupes and station wagons, designed to combat other factory lightweights that had a weight advantage over the big Super Duty Catalinas. One "mule" car was built as a Tempest coupe in Silvermist Metallic and Blue interior, which was the testbed for the series. Eventually six Lemans-badged coupes were built, along with six Tempest station wagons in Cameo White with blue interiors. All sported deceiving 326 V-8 emblems, cleverly hiding the 421 cubic inch monster lurking under the hood.

In addition to the 421 engines, the Super Duty Lemans Tempests featured aluminum front sheetmetal, aluminum bumpers and a unique clutch-operated 4-speed transaxle. This transaxle arrangement placed more weight over the rear tires and allowed clutchless shifting, much like modern drag racing transmissions. Special parts on the 421 SD's included dual 4-barrel carbs mounted on the massive "bath tub" intake manifold, sealed aluminum cross-flow radiator with special overflow tank, and factory exhaust dumps. Other features included heater delete plates on the firewall, trunk mounted battery, special "black box" access door to the transaxle and clutch assembly, and hood scoop lifted from a competitor's medium duty truck line and given a Pontiac part number for the SD project.


The Super Duty Tempests were built over the Christmas holiday of 1962 and delivered just prior to the GM corporate racing ban of Jan 23, 1963. Pontiac abandoned factory-sponsored racing shortly thereafter, but not before making legends out of the drivers such as Arnie "Farmer" Beswick, Jess Tyree, and Arlen Vanke.

I would love to see a Tempest station wagon destroy the 1/4 mile. I have always had a soft spot for station wagons.

On a side note, in high school, I had a friend with a Honda Accord wagon with a lightly built H22. Bolt-ons, cams, Super VAFC, etc. It was fairly quick, but lacked the torque to really get moving.

 

Thats pretty cool.

 

Wow just imagine if that thing would have gotten away for $500....Pretty clever engineering for early 60s technology. I would love to see what the new owner does with it...I'm guessing a big 572 or an LSX

 

Wow....the gauges on our 74 Stingray are almost exactly the same lol.

 

I guessing it's going to be restored to all-original condition. Classic-super-collectable cars are worth less if they're "custom".