Quote:
Originally Posted by GTOguy
They were all based on the Tempest. Same body. The LeMans had nicer trim, tail lamps, and interior than the Tempest. The GTO was basically a LeMans with parking lights in the grille, handling package, and the 389 engine instead of the. The LeMans was every bit as luxurious as the GTO, just less engine and about $280 cheaper. The GTO in '66 and '67 had their own tail lights, different from the LeMans to further distinguish them. I have seen several LeMans's back in the day that had the 4 speed, console,, gauges, etc.---everything the GTO had, except the bigger engine. Attachment 98578
Attachment 98579
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Yes, I knew that, and was trying to make that point (I'm not Googling any of this, it's all retained memory so it might not be exact).
From around '60-'62 when the Corvairs came out (had a '61) Chevy IIs (had two) Cutlass (had a '63) Falcons (Dad had a '63) Valiants, Darts, yadda yadda, I remember the Tempest from around that era also, small ugly little car and it was similarly sized -- all designed for economy. Maybe gas shot up from 21¢ per gallon to 23¢ or something and scared everybody.
This is why my '70 Roadrunner had a Belvedere owner's manual in the glovebox, because that's what they were built from -- back in the day when manuals were only about 30 pages long and nobody ever really needed them.
And as things always go, the economy cars got bigger, the engines got bigger, and some turned into the early muscle cars.