Highway 61 1:18 1963 Pontiac LeMans Super Duty 421- Ltd Ed of 2502

In late 1962, Pontiac unleashed on the drag racing world its “1000 pound Tiger” in the form of a compact Tempest LeMans equipped with Pontiac’s Super Duty 421 V8 and the results were mind blowing!

In the late ‘50’s with its “Wide Track” promotion, Pontiac decided to change its image from a dowdy family car to an up-scale performance machine. But to defend its position as a performance line, it had to be competitive at the drag strip among the 409 Chevys, 413 & 426 Plymouths and Dodges, and the 427 Fords and Mercurys……. remember, win on Sunday, sell on Monday! Pontiac tried to be competitive with its “swiss cheese” Catalina, but even with all the extreme attempts at reducing the weight of the Catalina, it didn’t achieve the desired results.

Enter the compact Tempest LeMans. Initially created to compete with Falcons, Corvairs, and Valiants, the Tempests were first introduced with a front-mounted four-cylinder (half of a V8) engine and a rear-mounted transaxle derived from the Chevrolet Corvair, connected by a flexible torque tube. Later, to fit the performance image, Tempests were made available with Pontiac’s 326 cu. in. V8. It was in this light-weight compact that Pontiac decided to install its 421 cu. in. “Super Duty” V8. This would finally get their attention!

A total of 12 cars were made: 6 coupes and 6 station wagons including a “mule” coupe. Each had the 421 SD engine with “bath tub” manifold and two Rochester four barrels, 12:1 pop-up pistons, and a highly modified transaxle that allowed launching with the clutch and then shifting like an automatic. They had aluminum front sheetmetal and bumpers, windshield wiper and heater delete, a special straight-through exhaust system and a hood scoop snatched from a medium-size Ford truck. Three of the coupes (some say two) went to Mickey Thompson who had led the Pontiac performance charge with his “Challenger” and “Attempt” Bonneville efforts. Ultimately, Arnie “The Farmer” Beswick, Arlen Vanke, Jess Tyree, “Wild Bill” Shrewsberry, Arnie Behling, Bob Spar and others handled the driving chores on these wonderful cars with quarter-mile times in the 11’s @ over 120 mph and an A/FX win at the 1963 NHRA Winternationals.

Highway 61 made the Beswick-liveried car and now makes this Cameo White model representing the cars as they were rolled off the production line sans livery. They have done a wonderful job of creating a model with all of the minute detail of the real car including all the wiring and hoses, valve stems, working wind wings, gas filler door, glove box, and sun visors with the make-up mirror. The steering wheel has blue and clear plastic sections just like the real thing. The half-shafts rotate with real universal joints and the transaxle is highly detailed with starter motor, solenoid and all of the appropriate wiring. The hood has scissor hinges with springs and the doors swing on accurate hinges, not dog-legs. The trunk features the re-located Delco battery with wiring and the “black box” that allowed easy access to the transaxle. There are even minute decals next to the “black box” reminding the owner to change the transmission oil every 6000 miles. The grille is backed-up by real wire mesh so you can see through into the engine compartment. And thanks for making the packaging mounting lugs on the chassis almost invisible…… now if we could just get rid of them completely.

Highway 61 has done a terrific job of creating this car that was such an important part of drag racing and Pontiac history. Good job, H61!

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