[Tempest T-37]

I just got my PHS back and instead of confirming what I thought to be true, it's muddied up the water a bit.

I have the original bill of sale from Bennett Pontiac. Under model it lists "T-37" (they didn't even add the word "Tempest." The previous owner always told me it was a T-37, and I didn't have any reason to doubt him. I remember him telling me that something went away when it was repainted...could have been the dealer installed body moldings, could have been the decals.

After owning almost 11 years I've finally got space to begin restoring it, so I sent off for and received my PHS back. Under model it lists "Tem Ht Cpe." I had attached a copy of my original bill of sale when I sent off to them and asked them to see if they could confirm Tempest T-37. Their response was that "this car is NOT a T37," without any further explanation.

It was my understanding that it was just a name change mid year for the Hardtop Coupe only. Is this not correct? I have seen the memo from the end of February 1970 online, but I can't seem to find it now. If anybody has it saved can you please post it?

The reason I'm still so unsure whether my car is Tempest or T-37 is that the build date (03B on cowl, shipped 3/17) is only about 2-3 weeks after the memo was released. The car then sat on the lot until it was sold October 2, 1970. Could the dealer have simply written T-37 because that's how the 71s were called? Could they have added a T-37 decal to try and move a car that had sat around for several months by making it look newer? Could it have actually been a T-37 and that wasn't listed anywhere on the invoice?

So does anybody have a PHS on a confirmed '70 Tempest T-37? What does it say for model? What I'm wondering is, Does the invoice distinguish T-37 from Tempest in 1970 and if so when did it start doing so? Would T-37 show up as an option package?

Anyways here's a picture of her from about a month ago. She's a little better and a little worse off than she was 10 years ago.


It's a 350 2 barrel, 350TH car. It came with Rally IIs, G78-14 WW FG tires, power steering, soft ray glass, dual horns, push button Radio, and carpet

['ol Pinion head]

What plant was car built out of?

Does the car have standard (plastic buckle) seatbelts?
If so, does the passenger side front seat belt have a retractor, or is the outer most male seat belt just a loose male belt?

[Tempest T-37]

It's from Arlington.

The belts all have blue plastic covers. Driver and front passenger lap belts both have retractors on the male side. Those are the only retractors in the car.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

They (PHS) may have confused that you were insinuating GT-37 , rather than T-37.
Just throwing that out there , because I don't know anything about those cars.

I have 4 invoices for 1970 GT-37 cars ... and they all list GT-37.
So maybe they confused the question/answer.
idunno

[Tempest T-37]

I thought about that too. But I didn't want to assume that they didn't know what I meant. At least with a GT-37 there's an option package. Though, I'd assume these cars don't pop up for PHS anywhere near as often as GTOs do.

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by Tempest T-37

I thought about that too. But I didn't want to assume that they didn't know what I meant. At least with a GT-37 there's an option package. Though, I'd assume these cars don't pop up for PHS anywhere near as often as GTOs do.

Immediately thought the same, as ones not going to run across a production '70 1/2 GT-37 built before the very end of April. Over the decades, out in yards, I've pulled parts off quite a few washed out original paint 70 Tempests and several late built T-37's. nearly all of the 70 T-37s had its faded out black and white T-37 decals on the fenders, and upon cking the cowl tag, were late Spring (April and May body builds) with a few June builds thrown. Not scientific, just recollection, but I have been writing down body build dates, body build numbers, trim numbers, pertinent info, and VIN on these for a very very long time.

On the seatbelt tangent, just threw that out, i might be off base. Need to double check what std content was for seatbelts on a '70 Tempest vs a '70 1/2 T-37. If deletion of the passenger side seatbelt retractor was part of the content revision for the late 70 season T-37's (like it was for '71's) then your car's build being mid March '70, would point to it being a Tempest, not a T-37.

[Tempest T-37]

Originally Posted by 'ol Pinion head

Immediately thought the same, as ones not going to run across a production '70 1/2 GT-37 built before the very end of April. Over the decades, out in yards, I've pulled parts off quite a few washed out original paint 70 Tempests and several late built T-37's. nearly all of the 70 T-37s had its faded out black and white T-37 decals on the fenders, and upon cking the cowl tag, were late Spring (April and May body builds) with a few June builds thrown. Not scientific, just recollection, but I have been writing down body build dates, body build numbers, trim numbers, pertinent info, and VIN on these for a very very long time.

On the seatbelt tangent, just threw that out, i might be off base. Need to double check what std content was for seatbelts on a '70 Tempest vs a '70 1/2 T-37. If deletion of the passenger side seatbelt retractor was part of the content revision for the late 70 season T-37's (like it was for '71's) then your car's build being mid March '70, would point to it being a Tempest, not a T-37.

Hmm, interesting about the seatbelts.

Is there any way to find this out for certain (the standard content)?

What's your take on the Bill of sale from the dealer?

[johnta1]

Can you post pics of the PHS and the bill of sale?

[Held for Ransom]

On the bill of sale. At the time of sale they were calling them T-37's, not the Tempest anymore. Just a name slip is all.

[Tempest T-37]

Sorry, these pictures may be huge.

Bill of sale


PHS

[SteveGB21]

Love the car. From Arlington, right? Mine is from there too. Still is a Texas car.

[Tempest T-37]

Originally Posted by SteveGB21

Love the car. From Arlington, right? Mine is from there too. Still is a Texas car.

Thanks Steve. Yep, Arlington. I think I bought a carb and some wheelcovers from you several years ago.

-Adam

[Jack Peters]

Remember T-37's were also coupes (post) cars also not just HT's in '70.

[Diego]

So has anyone ever determined why the name change?

I've always had the impression it was a spring promotional thing to tout the Tempest/T-37 hardtop (which I think was a new bodystyle for the line) as the lowest-price hardtop in the market. But we know the T-37 was also built as two sedans, so I dunno.

[Tempest T-37]

I'm going to try and get in touch with the previous owner and see if he has any pictures of it from before it was repainted.

[Tempest T-37]

Originally Posted by Jack Peters

Remember T-37's were also coupes (post) cars also not just HT's in '70.

They were?

[Diego]

I'm thinking T-37 was hardtop-only in 1970 despite what some GT-37 literature suggests.

Unless Pontiac applied the GT package to both the T-37 hardtop and the Tempest post coupe.

[Tempest T-37]

I believe that there are many GT-37 post coupes, but the T-37 post was news to me also.

Does anybody still happen to have the scan of the memo about the mid year name change to T-37 saved? I've searched my old hard drives and searched the forum a fair bit and haven't been able to find it.

[Diego]

Not quite what you're looking for, but . . .

http://www.gt-37.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=6662

http://www.gt-37.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=7141

http://www.gt-37.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=7145

http://www.gt-37.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=7149

http://www.gt-37.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3423

[Tempest T-37]

I checked the GT-37 site also.

This was a document from late February 1970 that only talked about the Tempest changing to the Tempest T-37...I believe it was titled as a memo. I had seen it as an attachment on this site many years ago and thought I had downloaded it...but it seems to be gone now, or I just haven't found it again yet...I know the forum has moved a couple times so maybe that's part of it.