64 Pontiac Tempest build

[damannhw]

Several people have requested, so it's time to start documenting my project. I got bitten by this pro-tour bug several years ago. I'm gonna blame Bill Howell for this !! He will never remember it, but I met him years ago at the Shades of the Past in Pigeon Forge in his '65 GTO vert and was just floored by that car. He told me about RTTH and I went up and watched a couple of years. Then I got my feet wet the last 2 years with my '70 Formula at a couple of the local events. I"ve had so much fun that I want to go a little farther now, but I've been looking for the "right" car for awhile now. I love GM A-Body's, had a '66 SS396 and another '65 Lemans in recent years, but I've REALLY wanted a '64 Tempest post for quite some time. I like the post cars because the windows seal up nicely and they feel tighter to me.

Back in December '12, I finally found a nice rust free southern car. It had lived in south Georgia (Waycross) it's whole life with only one lady owner until just recently and was garaged it's entire life. The car still had it's original paint when sold by the family and brought up near Atlanta in '11. Originally it was a Tempest Custom w/ a 326 AT on the column with PS, PB, and AC. The car changed hands twice before I got it. The second/third owners stripped the car to bare metal and repainted it, polished all the trim, rebuilt the 10 bolt w/ an Eaton 4:10 posi, installed a fresh '66 389 with tri-power and a 700R4 trans. The body is amazing, NO RUST ever and straight as an arrow. The interior is all original except for the front bench getting recovered sometime during it's life. Here's a shot of it before the teardown started.

Anybody need any '64 parts



My plans are for a modest budget pro-touring car that is reliable, gets decent fuel economy, can be driven anywhere, will haul my family and our gear, and handles as good as I can afford a '64 Pontiac to handle.