[Casey Marks]

Not '62 COPO, but since the Poncho stuff came up ......

One of my best friends does all of the automatic trans restos for SuperCar Specialties (Scott Tiemann). Either last year or the year before, Scott did one of the (6) wagons you speak of. The trans in those cars were absolutely mind-boggling. Called the "Tempest-Torque", it was mounted in the rear of the car companioned with the rear-axle (think front drive Toronado style - only in the back). The "driveshaft" basically connects directly to the engine, and runs back to the trans. The "Tempest-Torque" itself was what was used during this time period, BUT, this did not use the same "off-the-shelf" internals that a regular production trans would have. The owner had spent years and copious $$$ aquiring legit SD Tempest-Torque pieces specifically for this rebuild. The SD parts had different hardness levels than the regular stuff, as well as "Experimental" stamped pieces, etc. It really was a neat piece. Hard as hell to do, but when it was done, it was a sweetheart. Many of the pieces had to be made from scratch because they were absolutely unavailable. The best part ?? The guy was going to make some passes down the track with it !! Too cool !