The rarest American muscle car from the 60s that no one remembers

We look back with a sense of immense pride and nostalgia on the muscle car scene of the 1960s, an automotive industry so incredibly different from the automotive industry we face today. It was a time of pure, unplugged power, regardless of emissions and regardless of lack of efficiency. While such ruthless brute force would no longer apply to today’s consumers, it was an era that saw the birth of some truly legendary cars: the Ford Mustang, the Dodge Challenger, and the Corvette Stingray, to name a few. They are all prized for their roaring V8 engines and classic American style.

While most of these cars had a certain mischievous challenge to them, there is one particular muscle car that was not only immensely powerful, but was also born out of pure rebellion. A real monster, and one that was so rare that no one seems to remember it. It looked a lot like the Pontiac GTO, but its power was on another planet and very few were made.

The 1963 Pontiac Super Duty was a troublemaker from the moment it was conceived. In 1962, GM decided that the safest bet would be to enforce a ban on all factory-backed racing, fearing possible investigations by authorities. Ministry of Justice. But a small handful of passionate engineers at Pontiac weren’t going to let their ambitions of untamed performance disappear so easily. They spent the Christmas holidays of 1962 assembling 12 of these so-called “Tempest Super Duties” by hand, completing the project just before the ban in late January 1963. Although some hid their true nature, something very special lay beneath them.

What the engineers did to make the Tempest unique

• Rear-mounted transaxle, two two-speed automatic transmissions joined together to create a four-speed transmission

• Incredible 50/50 weight distribution for better starting traction

• Unique flexible steel drive shaft

• Aluminum housing for extreme weight loss

The result was an astonishing achievement

With the creation of the Tempest Super Duty and the Pontiac GTO the following year in 1964, the company had something accidentally spectacular. They had an influential and useful muscle car for the masses, one of the very first to receive such an award, and created the unhinged, rebellious Super Duty – whether GM wanted it or not. With a dedicated commitment to performance, Pontiac’s small team not only focused on transmission and weight-saving measures, but also used a ridiculous 6.9-liter Super Duty V8 that proved to be quite the driving force.

Pontiac Tempest Super Duty VS Pontiac GTO

While the masses enjoyed ample performance with the GTO in 1964, the Super Duty’s performance at the time was truly mind-boggling. With an initial 1/4 mile drag race time of just 12.1 seconds, the Tempest is still extremely fast today. That’s the same as a modern 6.4-liter V8 Dodge Challenger.

Accolades from the insane super duty

The defining moment for the Super Duty was the 1963 250 mile Daytona Cup. This was a huge opportunity for that small group of Pontiac engineers to prove what was possible with real, logical mechanical skill. Up against multi-million dollar European prototypes, Corvette Z06s, Ferrari 250 GTOs and E-types, the Tempest had strong competition. But it didn’t matter. The Super Duty lapped Ferrari eight times and managed to embarrass everything else on the field.

Pontiac Super Duty VS Speedfreak Competitors

And then came 1963 NHRA Winter Nationalsthe Tempest in his element. Although the 426 Stage II Max Wedge cars were seemingly unbeatable at the time, the Super Duty was about a second faster per run than anything else, and their incredible consistency earned them a win. Not only that, but a new record was set, with the Pontiac’s fastest run being a remarkable 11.89 seconds.

The fate of super duty

As only 12 of these were ever built, only a few still exist. Originally there were six compartments and six wagons. In 2026, it is said that only two or three coupes will still be on the road. Even rarer are the wagons. Hope was lost for years until one was found in the 1980s and sold for $450,000 in museum-ready condition in 2010. There was another story from 2008 that was about a rusty old Pontiac from the early 1960s. While the starting bid was $500 and the owner didn’t know what it was, muscle car collectors flocked to the listing, and the winning bid was $226,521. Eight years later it sold again for $335,500.

The most valuable Tempest was restored to pristine condition in 2017 and has been valued at over $500,000 due to its astonishing originality. But there are so many unanswered questions: What the heck happened to the other vehicles? Due to a combination of factors, from possible destruction by GM for legal reasons, crashed examples and the odd possibility that there is still one in a shed waiting to be discovered, there are only a few left.

The verdict on the rare and ridiculous Tempest Super Duty

While most legendary muscle cars of the 1960s were built with sensible goals in mind, involving both sales figures and raw V8 performance, the Tempest Super Duty was a fiend from day one. Born out of disgust at corporate executives and the passion of a few dedicated engineers for racing, the Tempest is a symbol of what can be done in a short time by a team of truly talented people. Although GM considered racing risky and not worth it, the Super Duty’s astonishing victories showed them what their ground engineers were really capable of: beat Ferrari and beat everyone.

With seriously impressive technology like the rear transaxle and flexible cable drive, the Super Duty managed to achieve truly remarkable milestones in driving dynamics for a massive muscle car. With forward-thinking technology going hand in hand with good, old-fashioned weight saving by drilling holes in the chassis, and the more refined solution of an aluminum bodywork working together, it provided the perfect platform to support a monster. And that was a powerful 6.9-liter engine, which put all modifications, both innovative and primitive, in the spotlight, winning at Daytona and dominating fierce competitors on the drag strip.

Sources: Bring a trailerPontiac/GM, Ferrari, Classic.com