Gray Ghost

[Tikiman]

Most of us at Hagerty Media weren’t around to witness the 1971 SCCA Trans-Am season first-hand. We learned about the legendary cars and drivers from history books, our fellow enthusiasts, and from the next best thing, seeing these cars in action at events like the Rolex Motorsports Reunion and Velocity Invitational. It was at these recent events that we came to appreciate the 1964 Pontiac Tempest known as the Gray Ghost. It’s been restored and raced at several events over the last 10 years, and now it’s up for sale.

General Motors suspension engineer Herb Adams built the Gray Ghost from his wife’s daily driver with help from fellow GM engineers Tom Nell and Joe Brady. Despite being larger than the competition and lugging around a full frame, the car was shockingly competitive and surprised a lot of spectators and many of the fastest drivers in the series, placing in the top five in three of the six races it entered. Keep in mind that these races often had 20-30 entries. Those three top-five finishes placed the Gray Ghost ahead of every single Camaro in the field.

Because of its recent racing schedule, we don’t have to work hard to imagine how strange it must have been in 1971 to see the newest, hottest pony cars from Ford, Chevy, Plymouth, and AMC in the same race as a 1964 Pontiac Tempest. The Tempest, at least one generation in styling behind and a size larger than the rest of its competition, was an entirely different beast. Despite having a car named after the race series, Pontiac bowed out of Trans-Am competition for 1971. While the Mustangs, Camaros, ‘Cudas, and Javelins were vying for car buyers’ attention with their vibrant paint schemes, the understated Gray Ghost was a passion project. Adams’ smarts, along with the driving skills of Bob Tullius, made the car a contender.

Operating on a shoestring budget compared to the factory-backed teams, the underdog Gray Ghost is a monument to hot-rodding creativity and ingenuity. We hope that the next owner is as active as the car’s current owner, John Hildebrand, has been. This piece of racing history is best appreciated at speed.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enthusiasts/the-gray-ghost-was-pontiac-s-true-trans-am-star/ar-AA1s6dtt?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=8922e0539c6a4a71ba6fad1f86c00140&ei=92

[TheHammer]

:cool1:

[04 commemorative]

:seasix:

[AUTOHOLIC]

I think $625,000 is a pretty optimistic asking price for this car.:sadangel:

[MadInNc]

Sounds like Smokey Yunick

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nascar/smokey-yunick-a-true-larger-than-life-american-original

I know people that have his manifolds, heads etc…. A true NASCAR legend. Never recognized by the Hall of Fame

[Mick]

I've heard that a 1963 Pontiac Tempest could be confused with a 1964 Buick Skylark, but I'd like to discuss it with an expert in general automotive knowledge personally, just to be sure.

If anyone could make that happen for me, that would be great. Thanks in advantage. :yesnod:

[Tikiman]

I've heard that a 1963 Pontiac Tempest could be confused with a 1964 Buick Skylark, but I'd like to discuss it with an expert in general automotive knowledge personally, just to be sure.

If anyone could make that happen for me, that would be great. Thanks in advantage. :yesnod:

Paging GTOguy. GTOguy to the white phone, please.

[Moond0ggie]

I've heard that a 1963 Pontiac Tempest could be confused with a 1964 Buick Skylark, but I'd like to discuss it with an expert in general automotive knowledge personally, just to be sure.

If anyone could make that happen for me, that would be great. Thanks in advance. :yesnod:

Paging GTOguy. GTOguy to the white phone, please.

Paging Marisa Tomei
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7YoxrKa4f0

[Mick]

Paging GTOguy. GTOguy to the white phone, please.

No, no, no! I want to meet Miss Mona Lisa Vito!!!!!!

[GTOguy]

Paging GTOguy. GTOguy to the white phone, please.

I have seen the Grey Ghost at Laguna Seca in action many times over the years. It always kicks ass. What most people don't realize is, that in spite of it's appearance of being a bigger car, it really isn't all that much. It has a long trunk and shorter hood, like the mid-sized sedans of the day. The pony cars it competes against have the long hood, short deck look that the Mustang made popular. The '64 Tempest /Lemans/GTO weighs about the same. My '65 GTO weighs 3400 pounds, as a complete car. The Ghost weighs a lot less. Modern Firebirds and Camaros weigh a lot more. In addition, the Ghost is a full frame car, making it very stiff. The other pony cars are all unibody cars, and need massive tie-bars and sub-frame connectors to stiffen them up to the same degree.

As for the '63 Tempest, it's a completely different car from the '64 and up A body cars. The '63 had a rear transaxle and swing-axles, along with a curved solid 'rope' driveshaft. The '64 and up cars had solid rear axles, full frames, and conventional driveshafts....a much more 'normal' and much easier configuration to modify and race.

[PLRX]

112794

[Torqaholic]

Didn't read.

Never drove a Tempest but I can spot one from a mile away :yesnod:

[snide]

No, no, no! I want to meet Miss Mona Lisa Vito!!!!!!

I'd like to meat her too. :yesnod:

[DDSLT5]

Nice write up!

[Frankie the Fink]

The thread title had me thinking of the Gray Ghost in an old popular TV series....and that would be......(trivia alert).

[A/E]

Delivered Plenty of Newspapers over the Years whilst Riding my Beloved GREY GHOST

112810

The Rear Slick sucked in the Snow, but Hey, $1.85 a week was serious Ca$h for 10 year old kid back then; you did what you had to do get Cigarette Money

[TheHammer]

Pontiac was the shit back in the early 60's

[MikeB]

Pontiac was the shit back in the early 60's

My 2nd car back in '69.
'62 GP, 4 spd 389ci 4bbl, 8 lug wheels.
112829

[AUTOHOLIC]

Pontiac was the shit back in the early 60's

They were good, but Mopar was better. Actually, Mopar created the first true muscle car 1961 max wedge.

[GTOguy]

They were good, but Mopar was better. Actually, Mopar created the first true muscle car 1961 max wedge.

Nope. Big engines have been put into smaller cars for over 100 years. The 1911 Marion Bobcat. The 1912 Mercer Raceabout. Stutz Bearcat, same era. Moving forward, the 1936 Buick Century. The 1949 Olds 88. All of these were the smaller car of the division with the biggest engine.

The neat thing about the Mopars were that they misread the market and chopped the size of their 'full size' cars to the same size as the other brand's intermediates. All that weird Virgil Exner styling. So the Mopars flopped on the showroom, but on the racetrack, they were cleaning up.

IMO, all cars of this era were very interesting and have merit.
A black '62 Grand Prix with a 4 speed and a red interior is on my bucket list.

[TheHammer]

Back when I was a young kid, my father came home with a brand new, basic, 1962 Pontiac Catalina. Said he "got a deal on it". Well, my father was a pit crew member for arguably, the most susccesful stock car dirt track driver ever, Ernie Derr. Ernie ordered a new 1962 Pontiac and had his shipped to Ray Nichels, a Pontiac stock car builder at the time from Indiana. So, when Ernie ordered his car from GM, he piggybacked my father's Catalina "in the deal".

https://www.motortrend.com/news/hppp-0804-ray-nichels-pontiac-engineering/


https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/640x480q70/923/Rwurwr.jpg

[m and t's77]

Herb Adams is the suspension king. He made 2nd gen Trans-Am's out handle the Z/28's with the ws6 package.

[Frankie the Fink]

I had a race car guru that did the body shop work on my Dad's lot pretty much sum up the whole racing biz when I asked him about it.

"How fast do you want to go and how much money do you have?"

You can argue marquees all you want bu that's pretty much the deal.

A previous owner of my '61 Corvette races at the Salt Flats in a converted F-86 Super Sabre drop tank:

[GTOguy]

I had a race car guru that did the body shop work on my Dad's lot pretty much sum up the whole racing biz when I asked him about it.

"How fast do you want to go and how much money do you have?"

You can argue marquees all you want bu that's pretty much the deal.

A previous owner of my '61 Corvette races at the Salt Flats in a converted F-86 Super Sabre drop tank:

You should have kept the '61 and just drove the wheels off of it. It wasn't perfect, but it was rock solid, simple, and reliable. Not complex to maintain like the '63 you dumped. You had addressed all the mechanical stuff on the car down to a 5 speed conversion and killer sounds system.
I actually have driven several C2's since I got my '61 and have to say I prefer the C1 solid axle 'fast tractor' platform. Simple, solid, reliable. And not worth a gazillion bucks so not scared to drive it a lot. Not sure if I will ever even buy a C2 at this point. I'd rather have a '56 or '57.