Pontiac Built a Car With a Bent Driveshaft — And It Actually Worked
Pontiac built one of the strangest drivetrains Detroit ever put into a production car — and somehow, it actually worked.
The 1961 Pontiac Tempest had its engine in the front, its transmission and differential in the rear, and a long steel driveshaft connecting them.
But that driveshaft wasn’t straight.
Pontiac intentionally installed it with a curve.
The unusual system became known as the “rope drive.”
And that wasn’t the only strange engineering hiding underneath the Tempest.
Its massive 194.5-cubic-inch Trophy 4 engine was based heavily on Pontiac’s famous 389 V8 architecture, essentially creating one enormous four-cylinder engine.
In this video, we look at:
• Why Pontiac moved the transmission to the rear
• How the curved “rope drive” actually worked
• Why the Trophy 4 was basically half a Pontiac V8
• John DeLorean’s involvement with the Tempest
• The incredibly rare 421 Super Duty Tempests
• Pontiac’s factory drag-racing station wagons
• Why Pontiac abandoned the unusual drivetrain after only three model years
• How the Tempest eventually helped lead to the legendary Pontiac GTO
The 1961–1963 Pontiac Tempest looked like an ordinary American compact.
Underneath, it was anything but ordinary.
Would YOU trust a car with an intentionally bent driveshaft?
Tell me in the comments.
And if you owned or drove one of these Tempests, tell us what it was really like.
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