Roadside Find: This 1962 Pontiac Tempest LeMans Hides Pontiac's Wild "Trophy 4" Half-V8Finding Old CarsJohnny PuckettThu, September 10, 2026 at 1:16 PM UTCAdd us on GoogleRoadside Find: This 1962 Pontiac Tempest LeMans Hides Pontiac's Wild "Trophy 4" Half-V8Earle's Classic Cars found this 1962 Pontiac Tempest LeMans sitting on the shoulder of a Georgia road, and the tag on the back tells most of the story: it hasn't been registered since 1983. Forty-plus years of sun, rain, and pine straw have taken a toll, but the car is remarkably complete for something parked since the early Reagan years.The Tempest was Pontiac's first compact, and 1962 was only its second model year, which makes the engineering under this car's skin far stranger than its modest size suggests. Instead of a conventional driveshaft, it used a flexible "rope drive" running back to a rear-mounted transaxle, one of the more controversial ideas the division ever put into production. The LeMans badge on this particular car marks it as the sportier trim above the base Tempest, riding on the same swing-axle rear suspension and unusual driveline layout.Pop the hood and the real oddity shows up: Pontiac's "Trophy 4" engine, essentially half of the division's 389 cubic-inch V8 cast as a slant four. It was an unusual solution to a compact-car problem, and it gave the Tempest a personality unlike its 1962 rivals from Chevrolet, Ford, and Chrysler. Pontiac abandoned the format within a few years, moving the Tempest to a conventional platform before building the performance reputation that later produced icons like the GTO and the Trans Am.AdvertisementAdvertisementInside, the car still wears its original bucket seats, and the crew found a set of factory hubcaps tucked away in the cabin, a nice detail for anyone considering keeping this one stock. The roof and headliner have suffered from decades outside, and rust has taken hold in the usual spots on a car that's sat exposed to the weather for this long. Anyone walking up to a find like this should run through the same checks Earle's crew did here, starting with rockers, floors, trunk, and cowl, in line with our own walk-around guide for evaluating a barn find before you buy.That leaves the question the video poses directly: full restoration, parts car, or leave it where it sits. The Trophy 4 and its unique driveline make this LeMans a poor donor for a quick engine swap, so anyone chasing an original early-60s Pontiac is likely looking at a genuine restoration rather than a shortcut project. If you're weighing that kind of decision on a find of your own, our breakdown of barn find vs. restomod vs. survivor projects walks through how to match the scope of work to your budget and goals.Watch Earle's Classic Cars walk through the full find, badge by badge, in the video below.
