1965 Pontiac Tempest Pickup

[Chuck Most]

From 1954 to 1994, Anderson Brothers Pontiac served Sickles, Michigan and the surrounding areas. And for a pretty good chunk of that time, they had a unique shop truck.

Built by Steve's Auto Body in late '65 from a rear ended '65 Pontiac Tempest and a '65 El Camino that had been wrapped around a telephone pole, the Tempest pickup was a custom order. Steve Hill built a few different "what if" car-pickups, and elder Anderson brother Joe commissioned the Pontiac pickup for the dealership.

The Tempest became a local legend in it's own time, and served the dealership all the way up to 1990, though by 1970 or so it had been joined by a series of Chevrolet and GMC pickups. It then ended up under the ownership of Darren Villarreal, who had started out as a salesman at Anderson Brothers in 1978 and had become general sales manager by 1985. He stayed with the dealership until 1995, a year after the Andersons sold the dealership to Andrew Russo, who eventually ran the operation into the ground. But let's not go there.

Darren sold the Tempest to Lyle Abbott, owner of Acme Auto Salvage, in 1997. Lyle has, in his own estimation, completely rebuilt the car at least three times in the 28 years he's had it. Not all at once, but cumulatively. He recently treated the interior to a refresh, including GTO bucket seats and center console. The one thing that's never been touched? The bodywork Steve did back in 1965. And yes, the Tempest still sees regular use, even if it's just advertising Acme Auto Salvage with it's presence.

The model is the new AMT Craftsman Series '65 GTO cut and spliced with the '65  Chevrolet El Camino. The door decals and most of the stuff in the bed came from several Moebius F-Series kits.

Now if Round 2 ever trots out a '64-'67 Buick Skylark I can do a a trilogy of B-O-P coupe utilities.

[bondo bill]

great job very cool

[WillyBilly]

I love it. Pontiac should have built it. The closest they ever came was in 2008 with the G8 ST, but it never made the US market.

[Belugawrx]

Great work on the conversion Chuck !

[redscampi]

Nice build and a great story as always!

[ksnow]

That's a cool looking conversion. Love the color scheme. Nice work.

[NOBLNG]

Great idea and beautiful execution!😎👍

[Mark W]

Perfect execution! You did a fine job. The level is in the bed cool.

[PappyD340]

Very nice build!

[Zippi]

Now that's one you don't see every day.  Looks pretty kewl.  

[ChrisR]

NICE!

[ncbuckeye67]

That's really cool! Excellent body work on that.

[slusher]

Sharp build Chuck, neat story!

[DJMar]

Cool! Makes you wish the BOP guys had their own versions of the El Camino.

[stavanzer]

Awesome Build, Chuck! Your backstories really add sparkle to your builds!

 

Good Show.