[Primitive Artist]

Pretend that GM was to revive production of these 61 -63 compacts and appointed you to decide how to assemble 1 brand from the 4 makes Corvair, Skylark, Tempest and Cutlass. The car would appear as a totally new division or perhaps would get labelled a small Caddilac.
How would you put this together from a grab bag of all these cars?
Here's what I would do.

1st, I would keep the dashboard from the Corvair and scrap all others. They were ugly, anyway:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmXwqRjMeTs

2ndly, I'd use the Pontiac floorpan and v-8 drivetrain.

Next!

[triathlonx13]

Didn't the Skylark, Tempest and Cutlass share a very similar roof ?

[azkeebler]

I agree with the corvair dash,

then maybe the front clip off the '61 tempest,

tail panel off the '62 special.

Obviously bucket seats out of any,

I'm debating on either the pontiac 326 v-8 or the olds jet-fire supercharged for powersupply, which would determine which drivetrain and flooring to use.

Have to make an exception from stock by incorporating a retractable hardtop and using the town car body style tempest roof design.

Let's try to incorporate a 5-lug wheel somehow.

Obviously, have to have the '63 posi and four-speed one way or another.

[63Banshee]

Originally Posted by Primitive Artist

1st, I would keep the dashboard from the Corvair and scrap all others. They were ugly, anyway:

At least the corvair has one thing going for it...

[Primitive Artist]

http://www.hemmings.com/mus/stories/..._feature8.html

Originally Posted by Hemmings

BRAKES
Don't think that, because turbo Corsas did not come from the factory with disc brakes, they lack stopping power. The servo-assisted four-wheel cast-iron drums stop the Corvair with aplomb; the 9.5 x 2-inch front and 9.5 x 2.5-inch rear brakes, which were shared with heavier 1964-1972 GM A-body cars, offered 168.9 square inches of effective lining and 268.6 inches of swept drum area. Upgrading to metallic brake linings is easy, and if you insist on fade-resistant disc brakes, conversion kits are on the market to update both the front and rear of the car...

I'd use a Buick interior, for now, until I find something better.
I like the color combination and the steering wheel:

[tarheeltempest]

I'll always be partial to the 63 Tempest since I own two coupes, 1 four door, and two convertibles (all not running). If I were to give on the 63 Tempest exterior sheet metal design, I'd have to recommend using the 1963 Tempest tri-tone burgandy interior. It's clean, classic, and just has that '61 Ventura look. I don't think that the tri-tone interior was offered as a bucket seat option, but I'd like to see a reproduction interior using a set of 63 buckets. The dark burgandy, metallic maroon, and the ivory just is awesome with a black or white paint job. The ivory piping really catches my eye on the seats.

As far as instrument panels are concerned, I still like the Pontiac pods rather than one large sweeping speedometer like the Buick and Olds. The Corvair instrumentation is good too. This has probably been mentioned before, but I wonder if anyone has ever installed a 65 GTO rally dash cluster in a 63? The checkered flag over the speedo in a 65 cluster would go nice with the 63 Lemans dash script with the checkered flag design.

[tom s]

63 tempest dash,buick or olds solid axel with a V8 326 and a 4 speed.Pickum on the interior as long as its buckets.Also a 2dr HT,NO post.JMHO,Tom

[Mr. Unbelieveable]

I would take the '63 coupe put in a 389. Get rid of the interesting, but silly rope driveshaft but keep the rear transaxle, just beefed up. Add a better geometry rear suspension.
The ropeshaft is neat, but if you really think about it, the lack of trans hump is the striking aspect of the design . I can't imagine it saves more than a few inches in shaft tunnel height to go to a solid shaft with a u-joint or two with a couple carrier bearings.

Not exactly what you were asking, but my wish list if I had a time machine and could talk to the skunk works guys.

[tom s]

actually the transaxle is the weak link in the tempest,NOT the rope drive shaft.They held up to 405HP 421 SD engines when the transaxles could not.FYI,Tom

[Mr. Unbelieveable]

Hence the part about the beefed up transaxle.

I have seen three snapped '63 ropeshafts.

[Mark W]

I love everything about the looks of a 63 Tempest! However the drivers side dash pod should have been mirrored over to the passengers side, and I hate to say this...like an old Mustang. with a center console, and buckets, and a shifter!
The center point of the nose/grill should have stuck out just a little bit more.
And the drive train should have been designed to allow any Pontiac motor to be bolted in! and handle it! more like a Olds Tornado only sepperated. ( motor front -tranny rear )
Speaking of Oldsmobile. I absoluley love the looks of the 63 Olds. F-85 tail lights!
But maybe thats just because I am an old Hippie, and like peace signs!

[Primitive Artist]

Originally Posted by tarheeltempest

... I wonder if anyone has ever installed a 65 GTO rally dash cluster in a 63?...

Anything is possible. Be the 1st one to do it. Go for it

[afx421]

the 6 white, 1 gray, 1 blue super duty 63 tempest/lemans coupes were the ultimate! end of story!

[afx421]

oooops, forgot about the 6 sd wagons also. sorry!

[Primitive Artist]

None of them had good looking rear ends. But, if you were to cut off the fins, this might be a winner:

[Primitive Artist]

Tear off this instrument panel



And mount it here:

[Primitive Artist]

Modern turbocharged engines use a short distance between exhaust ports and turbo unit, to decrease lag. Using twin turbochargers and lowering the compression to 8.1 would eliminate the need for a water-alcohol tank and the 50 or so special fittings: