1961 Pontiac Tempest annual kit sought

[Wickersham Humble]

Tempest owner would like to find a 1961 Pontiac Tempest AMT 1/254-door sedan annual kit, or glue-bomb assembled car; object to convert to coupe (like my 1/1 alloy V-8 rarity) I can afford. Well, Mom always insisted 'you never know until you try!'  I have one '61, an annual that I bought back that year, that I long ago converted to the Pontiac show-car 'Monte Carlo' roadster.  (I also have a '62 convertible built as a LeMans I owned, an unbuilt '63 coupe, a conversion of a ragtop '63 to coupe, and a '63 421 'SuperDuty' or 'Powershift' factory race car 'interpretation' that I did in '63.

I'm low on trading stuff to offer, but am willing to negotiate for compensation, if you have one to spare.  Y-body Tempests/LeMans are kind of an obsession with me; I wrote the first/original history of the 1961-63 Tempest for SPECIAL INTEREST AUTOS Magazine (Hemmings) back in 1976 -- when most of the guys who designed or raced it were still available for interviews!   Wick

[64SS350]

I would contact Ron at RMR, he may already make a two door.

[chryslerjunkandstuff]

I do not have one at all, nor do I know right off hand where one could be gotten..

Alls I have to add is that your '62 Monte Carlo concept car, with what I assume is a factory show display for car shows, is one of the coolest builds around!

[Wickersham Humble]

Earl,

Nope, I made it all; began in summer of '62 by promoting the AMT 1/25 scale Tempest four-banger from my cousins LeMans kit!  It's hard to build an exact replica of the original show car because PMD changed it to a '62 with light lemon-yellow paint and Halibrand mag wheels for another year's showing. The real one supposedly still exists, but has some features (like a folding top) that were never on the original.  

I made this one from a sectioned four-door sedan, with the prototypical twin-headrest tonneau cover from a '63 kit, Corvair, I think.  Pontiac had Mickey Thompson under contract to set records with their cars -- and/or engines -- which he did with a vengeance.  He built a kit to put the small GMC 3.71 blower on the fours, and sold the company several for Tempests; also set FIA acceleration record with one in a slingshot, plus another with the cast-iron banger cut into a two-cylinder mill!  All in HRM.  The transaxle and diff wouldn't stand up to the 421 power, so he (and later many others) converted the car to the Pont-Olds 9.2-in. rear end.  Won Stock Eliminator (A/FX) at the '62 NHRA nats.  '63 SS/FX also.  

Thanks for the approval!!

Wick