Show Car Sunday returns with a very unique Pontiac!

FLASHY WELTERWEIGHT CHAMP

I found myself on the back roads of Long Island City recently when this improbable vision appeared: 

Yowza! This is a 1966 Pontiac Tempest Custom convertible in Burgundy Poly. To encounter any '66 Pontiac is cool, but this one boasts the single strangest collection of options I have ever seen!

Pontiac nailed it in the '60s with their aggressive split grill styling. The stacked headlights were introduced in 1965 and would continue until a major restyling in '68. The hood scoop is correct for the year though you usually see it on the upmarket GTO.

The Tempest convertible wasn't massively popular with only 5,557 produced in '66. Almost every time you do see a '66 Pontiac ragtop it's a Le Mans or GTO. The "Sprint" stripe placement between the wheel wells was a one year only option.

This is one of the most iconic muscle car body styles in history with the '67 GTO being identical. Perhaps the most remarkable achievement is that the same basic body was shared by the Oldsmobile F-85/Cutlass/442, Chevrolet Chevelle, and Buick Special. With the only differences being the front and rear facias the cars look totally distinct from one another.

Brand new for '66 was the single overhead cam *Sprint 6 engine. When this was introduced it was the only automobile engine of its kind in the United States. The block was visibly similar to the Chevrolet inline 6 with the exception of a large valve and camshaft cover. A fiberglass reinforced rubber timing belt replaced the traditional timing chain on this new engine.
*The Sprint was the high performance version of the new OVC6. It had a larger 4 barrel carburetor, hotter cam, higher compression pistons, dual valve springs, split/dual exhaust manifold, and a stronger coil than the base model.

Pontiac had one of the more audacious muscle car options with this hood mounted tachometer! The thought was that you could keep your eyes dead ahead while speed shifting in drag races. From what I can tell the first iteration of this option was with the 1967 Pontiacs as a dealer installed option. Perhaps this '66 sat on the lot until the '67 options were available? Who knows?

If beautiful chrome emblems came back the automotive world would be a better place. The CUSTOM designation was mid-tier above the base model but below the Le Mans and GTO.

The '66 and '67 Tempests were almost identical but the taillights can pinpoint it for you. '67 had larger horizontal taillights as opposed to these outer Vertical units.

The round lenses in the lower bumper are reverse lights. Believe it or not they were not yet required by law when this ride was built. Cars from 1969 through today need to have them but these were either an option or a part of the Custom trim level. My '67 Oldsmobile 442 had them from the factory but the base F-85 and Cutlass didn't.

To me this body lends itself to being a convertible better than most. Rollover protection wasn't worried about so when the top is down only the windshield rises up from the hood level.

At first glance I though this had three pedals which would mean a 3 speed manual transmission on the column. Then I noticed that there's a little chrome fixture on the top of the steering column which would normally mean an automatic. Another mystery!
A bench seat is great in a convertible because you can easily pile 6 people into this thing and cruise to the beach. You can't see from this pic but there was an optional reverb switch available to add some psychedelic sounds to the stereo in this era.

In '66 this was a midsize car! Take a look at the scale of that trunk. Even with the top folded down into the interior there is room galore. 

Well there we have it; a rare collection of options in one lovely set of wheels. We've got the muscle car body in an odd color with a white convertible roof and accent stripe, GTO hood with external tach, and the highest performance version of the smaller engine. When this was new you could walk into the dealership and order any bonkers combination of options you desired as long as you were willing to wait for the factory to produce and deliver the car. It seems that this is what happened here and I'm psyched somebody saw fit to restore a 6 cylinder.

A quick shot of America and a landmark chapter in the Muscle Car craze

GRAN TURISMO ALMOSTGATO

Lets start off this post with the most patriotic thing I've seen in a long time:

YES! Every once in a while you need an Eagle-Hawk-Bear-Wolf-12-point-Buck reminder of just how great this country is!
Now on to the star of the show which was almost entirely hidden from view;

I was across the street when I caught a quick glimpse of a taillight behind a wall of vans and meter maid trikes out near Sunset Park. Even though it was brutally hot and it meant leaving the shady side of the street I had to investigate. I'm glad I did!

This is a 1964 Pontiac Tempest wearing remnants of either Marimba Red or Sunfire Red. It can park on the sidewalk without fear of towing or reprisal of any kind simply because it has no plates. DO NOT try this in Manhattan, but in Brooklyn you can just leave a car wherever you want for as long as you want as long as there isn't a NY plate on it and nothing will happen.

Show some reverence, people because this is it! The one that started it all. The official start of the muscle car craze was a 1964 Pontiac Tempest with the GTO* option. Even though this one is not equipped as such it is a milestone in the American automotive history, not to mention a sweet ride.
GTO stands for Gran Turismo Omologato which was the name of a Ferrari at the time.

This car has seen some wear and homegrown repairs but seems remarkably complete otherwise. Still, riveting a piece of metal to a rusty section isn't really gonna cut it at the car shows. The original and simple hubcaps are nicely understated. She's sitting nice and high on new tires so someone's got plans for hooking this beast up.

The patina is great. 

Those three chrome accent lines would be replaced with vertical gills if it were a GTO. This was overlooked sometimes in the past by people trying to pass off a Tempest or Le Mans as a GTO when selling. However, real GTOs are worth so much these days that nobody would ever get away with it (especially since everyone has the internet on their phone and can search the VIN on the spot).

I thought this fender was wearing a different color but I can't tell if that's the case or not. If so the entire front end may have been replaced.

The seats are in pretty nice shape, the dash is solid, and it looks clean throughout. That original radio with PONTIAC written on it is sweet. The horn ring is a weird shape from the factory with a flat lower half. WHY with the dice people?

This is the base model 2 door coupe as opposed to the much more popular hardtop. At first glance with the windows rolled up it looks like it could be a hardtop, but the fact that the chrome window surround goes over the vent window on the door means it is a post car.

I think these tidy mid-'60s midsize cars are some of the best looking ever. They aren't too huge and have great proportions. The trademark Pontiac split grill with the beak gives it a tough look.

If this were a GTO those 3 letters would be sitting where PONTIAC is on the left. The following 2 years would feature stacked headlights. The 1967 is arguably the most popular year for the Le Mans/Tempest/GTO line with the split grill being shorter in the middle than on the ends.

This is the famous Pontiac emblem. The name comes from Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa Tribe, a war chief that battled the British in the Great Lakes region in the 1760s. Originally the logo was a stylized silhouette of the chiefs head in a circle, and later within a shield or arrowhead design. Finally the likeness of the chief was dropped entirely and this arrowhead became the logo.

This is all I could get of the drivers side since it was jammed against the wall of vans. This is the sort of ride that's still within reach price-wise, but can be souped up or restored to original very easily as most parts remain available. The Chevelle, Cutlass, and Skylark are all essentially the same car under the skin so any number of upgrades or engine swaps are possible too. I would love to just get a hold of this beast and drive it as-is, patina and all!