History 1963 Pontiac Tempest Lemans Super Duty at Mecum

That's my understanding, just from what I've read about it.

 

Hey Fellas, I know we all want to puke over what all these cars have become. Like some form of high priced art being collected and traded, just so some guy can park iot in his mgarage or museum and say"looky what I got!""
Having said that, Detroit muscle is near and dear to my heart and I devour ALL the info that I can learn from y'all. Thanks for the comments and info. ALmost cannot watch these auctions anymore. Plus, I have some close friends whom have worked on some of this supposed classic muscle and they tell me they some have been a mechanics nightmare. Again, a few bad apples spoil it for the rest.
Spending the weekend at Daytona Speedway, helping a GT race team with a test session for the upcoming 24hr race. Tons of cool wicked fast cars all over the place. Sounds from the tech inspection dyno today would make any gearhead smile
I wonder if any these purpose built "body in white" Mustangs, Camaros, Challengers and even our trick 400+hp dohc Aston Martin will command the money, in years to come , that these rare old race cars are doing today.?????
Guess I will just have to at least find out what that Poncho brought. Just know it's gonna make me ill.

JT

 

Wow, alot of people just rehashing the same information over and over in this thread.....LOL

This was not one of the two Mickey Thompson coupes. The Beswick coupe was originally owned by Thompson and later became the "Tameless Tiger".

There were originally 6 '63 Lemans SD coupes and 6 '63 Tempest SD wagons built. This does not include the 2 prototype SD coupes built earlier.

The original aluminum front end for this car's location has been known about for many years, going all the way back into the '80s. It was in fairly rough shape and was punched full of louvers. The owner just wanted to much money for it from what I've been told so the decision was made to make a new one.

I have a hard time believing the owner will get his money out of this car with all that has been invested. My guess is it has a very high reserve and will be a "no sale" at Mecum...

 

Very cool .. But , Could own a lot of cool cars for $500K

 

The 63 super duty Catalina went up to 575000 in Dallas and the reserve was not met. I think this one will do the same. Seeing these cars makes me want to get my original 421 4 speed 63 Catalina done!

 

I'll be down there watching the proceedings, should be an interesting event.

 

Damn! Talk about a transformation! Nice work to the restorers.

This is interesting to know. I wonder what it cost to have that front repopped in aluminum?

And, like I mentioned before as well as agree, I don't think the owner will recoop his investment. I think the car will do $450,000-$475,000.00. Not bad but won't be enough in the seller's eyes.

There's a huge difference between the value of a S.D. Tempest and a '63 Swiss Cheese Catalina.

 

Mecum's auction estimate for this car is $475,000 - $550,000. I have to assume the reserve is somewhere within those brackets or it's not really for sale. Since Dana Mecum has owned a few of these cars, I would also assume he can price this one about as well as anyone.

But as we know, it's a real-time market. If nobody is hot for the car on auction day, it won't sell, but if two guys really want it, it could easily sell for twice the auction estimate.

 

Here's a link to the facts:

http://www.highperformancepontiac.com/features/hppp_1102_1963_pontiac_lemans/viewall.html

Should answer the questions about how the body was found, the nose details, the resto cost etc...

 

My friend works for the owner and it resides around the block from my shop.i was at this photo shoot when it was shot and yes ,it is something else in person.It sounds bad ass.
What I can tell you is the owner is a Pontiac fanatic with a fine stable of cars.
The frontend was replicated in aluminum and it runs a 57-64 olds Pontiac rear.
There was no mention of reserve or expected price but I do know there was no mention of money invested either so your guess is as good as mine.

 

When does it sell?

 

Well I was a little off.

The car was a No Sale at just $325,000.00

Either way, I figured that it would be a no sale.

 

Good call. Often these deals are a trial run -- test the market, start generating awareness that the car is out there, etc.

 

Figuring the Ebay price of $225K plus the "money is not the issue" restoration, I would guess the minimum break-even would be 425K
It still baffles me as to how some of the cars sold at these TV auctions , go for way less than the build cost...Must be nice to be able to lose that much money and not want to jump in front of a train...

 

I think what hurt the value most was that the car was restored back to its "last raced" condition and not to its "as built" condition.

 

That makes sense. The conventional drivetrain now installed subtracts much of the mystique and appeal of the car, for me anyway.