[64woodwheel]

I thought I'd share what I've been up to lately. For new members (since 2013 or so) I was the one behind the repro. 64 wood wheel. This project is paused for now.

I have been working outside of the hobby for 4 years now and have finally started work on my '64 Tempest (my first car from age 16). I first bought this car in August 1985. It was Singapore Gold w/ saddle interior, 6 cyl, auto, 2 door post, 34K org, miles when I bought it with hard earned detasseling money. The first mod was 14x6 Cragar SS wheels and removal of the 14x5 steel wheels and poverty hub caps.

Circa 1985:

[pestwagon64]

nice beginning!!!

[64woodwheel]

In 1988 I painted the car red. I went to a GMC dealer and found a red I liked on a new truck. "Bright Red" I think it was...

[tempest1964]

Chad, good to see you posting again. Any more details? Engine, etc.

[b-man]

Keep 'em coming.

Nice car, equipped pretty much the same as my Tempest was originally.

[pestwagon64]

You removed the lower front fender trim? in 1988? You were "before your time" for that! But I agree that does look better! I would have liked drip rail trim in that pic...

[Dick Boneske]

Very similar to Grenadier Red, a stock '64 color.

Car looks great!! Glad you're back with us.

[1_Wild_Cat]

Also pretty close the the factory red of my '70 Buick Wildcat..."Fire Red" if I recall the name correctly.



Nice lookin' Tempest...

[John V.]

Chad, I am also anxious to see where you take your build. Will it be returned to "original" or will it be modified?

Seems the Tempest is the rarest of the rare today. Personally, I would love to see a '64 Tempest amongst the sea of GTOs, GTO clones, Lemans', and even the Tempest Customs that seem less rare than a Tempest.

Does it retain the base cloth & vinyl Saddle trim? Base rubber floor matting or carpet option?

However you do it up, I'm sure it will be awesome.

Looking forward to seeing progress and more pix. How bout some of the interior??!!

[Tom Vaught]

I personally would like to see the external appearance of a Tempest with a few of the external "Period correct" type changes, 60s Wheels/Tires/etc stock looking Tempest Interior but a early 421 style engine like Bart did for his vehicle. Dave B has a cnc program for cast iron D-Port heads that would get you 240-250 cfm which would be 20 cfm more than a RA-IV head (assuming 25" water test pressure).
You could drive that thing all over the USA and everyone would be smiling when they saw the car. But I would do the proper Safety stuff to the car, Seat Belts (if none) 11" Disc Brakes, etc. Most would not blink an eye on that deal.

Tom V.

[64woodwheel]

Interesting back story on this car... In 1991 I took out the bench seat and put in a black Lemans interior. I could not find a black steering wheel so I put a black leather cover on the tan wheel. Looked funny with tan hub and spokes, but I never painted it. I sold it in 1994. In 2010 I was browsing CL and spotted it for sale. I could tell it was mine. Still had the leather cover on the tan wheel.

[64woodwheel]

The car is disassembled now. The black Lemans interior was really trashed. I found the proper bench seat and a vinyl floor mat from another 64 Tempest.

Little known fact is a heavy duty frame (convertible) was available on 64 Tempest sedans. I'm not going all out pro-touring so an aftermarket chassis was not a priority. I found a rust/accident free 64 Lemans convertible frame and brought it back from California last year. The added strength and rigidity will be nice.

[64woodwheel]

The interior will be stock. I am not going back to the saddle color though. I thought the silver/gunmetal color would be more interesting. I have only seen one 64 Tempest in person with this color interior and have never seen on the internet. SMS is supplying the door panels and other soft trim (embossed arrows on the seat backs, welt cord, reproduction vinyl, etc). On order for over a year now.

[64woodwheel]

The run down on the chassis is as follows:

ABC Perfomance mini-tub kit (moves rear frame rails in 2" per side)
Chassisworks FAB9 coil spring converion w/ G-link control arms
Chassisworks front tubular control arms, coil over conversion
Wilwood 12.19" 4 wheel disc brakes
15x10 15x7 rally I's 325/50/15 235/60/15

The goal is to build a versatile chassis. It's not going to be the perfect drag chassis or perfect pro-touring. Just something to have fun with and easily return to stock look with wheel/tire changes and suspension adjustment.

[tempest1964]

Are you going to keep the red exterior to go with the silver interior? That would be sharp!

[64woodwheel]

Originally Posted by tempest1964

Are you going to keep the red exterior to go with the silver interior? That would be sharp!

Yes, that would look good. I'm not sure yet. But might go with black. hopefully the new quarters from AMD will be available.

[John V.]

Chad, I know you have already studied this and posted on it a few months ago.

But as it may interest others...

The "silver" interior has intrigued me for years. PMD called it "Medium Gray with Silver Pattern and Dark Gray" in some places, "Silver with Gunmetal" elsewhere.

Sales Code 205.

The '64 Tempest Safari wagon (2035) came standard with an all-Morrokide (vinyl) interior trim and to my knowledge, there were only 3 color choices.

205 - Gray
206 - Saddle
207 - Red

With only 3 colors to choose from, you would think the Code 205 would be fairly common in a Tempest Wagon.

The Tempest vinyl trim pattern was not the same as the standard all-Morrokide interior trim in the Tempest Custom (and no gray/silver in the T.C.).

The Code 205 trim was standard as part of the 071 Tempest Police Group option that could be ordered as a 4 dr. sedan or 2 dr. Sports Coupe.

It was also standard as part of the 074 Taxi Group option, this option only available for the 4 dr. sedan.

The standard trim in a Tempest 4 dr. sedan or Sports Coupe was cloth & vinyl.

Since it WAS a legit trim code, I assume somebody "in the know" could have ordered the Code 205 as a Special Equipment item choice and gotten it approved on any 2027 or 2069 build. But whether anybody actually did so for a family car purchase, impossible to know.

Your previous post was looking for insight into the door panel color combo. Wonder what you've decided?

Here's my take.

The 0 deg Upper Instrument Panel was painted Oxford Gray, Dupont 4433-L. Generically called Dark Gray metallic.

The only Tempest Safari wagon interior pictures I could find were for the 2 Tone Red all-Morrokide.

It used a Burgundy (Dark Red) Upper Instrument Panel with a Medium Red paint on the door, pillar posts, lower dash, etc. to give the 2 tone effect.

So I believe the same parts with the Silver interior would have used the lighter gray that was called Camden Gray, Dupont 9010-L in a 60 deg gloss. Generically called Medium Gray metallic.

I believe the paint scheme was a carry-over from '63, same combination of colors to give a 2 tone effect in the '63 Tempest.

Whereas the Police Trim for the '63 Catalina used the same 0 deg gloss for the Upper Instrument Panel Oxford Gray/Dark Gray as the '63 Tempest.

But the '63 Catalina 60 deg gloss parts were painted Oxford Gray/Dark Gray as well, code 9009-L.

In my '66 MPC, this distinction was clear for '63 by Trim Code. But for '64, not as clear since the usage by Trim code was inexplicably omitted for the (2) 60 deg. Gray paint choices. And code 205 is actually shown as one of the Trim Codes for 60 deg gloss Sunfire Red which must certainly be a typo (Sunfire Red is listed in the line immediately above Camden Gray) for whatever that is worth).

I believe the mistakes in the MPC listing may have sprung from a change made for '64 vs. '63 for the Catalina Police Trim (also a silver/gray color).

Whereas, the Police Trim for the '63 Catalina used the same 0 deg gloss for the Upper Instrument Panel Oxford Gray/Dark Gray as the Tempest, for '64 they used Velvet Black.

The '63 Catalina 60 deg gloss parts were painted Oxford Gray/Dark Gray as well, code 9009-L, so would have had a much more subtle distinction than the 2 tone in the Tempest.

In '64, the 60 deg gloss parts were painted Starlight Black on the Catalina.

That meant no '64 usage of the 60 deg gloss Oxford Gray. My guess, when they made the switch to Black paint for the Catalina Gray interior trim, they neglected to remove the 60 deg gloss Oxford Gray paint listing from the Chart.

And they mistakenly listed code 205 under Sunfire Red most likely because in '63, Trim Code 205 was a Red, while the Gray was Code 206. When Code 205 became Gray in '64, looks like somebody got crossed up.

Bottom line, I think:

Upper Instrument Panel 0 deg Oxford Gray/Dark Gray metallic - Dupont 4433-L, 863-56571

Top of Door Panels 60 deg Camden Gray/Medium Gray metallic - Dupont 9010-L, 863-95554

Hard to get a good perspective of each color from a color chip.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page, was the best I could come up with.

http://www.oldride.com/library/1964_pontiac_gto.html

[tempest1964]

Nice post John V. !

[64woodwheel]

Making a little progress on the chassis.

[tempest1964]

Judging by that beefy rear end housing, I'd say that think is gonna scoot when it's done.