1963 LeMans Tempest sells for $226,521

[excess11]

Has anyone heard this story. I did not see it posted and thought some of you might like reading it.


http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/10/e...s-for-226-521/

[Montreux_Blue]

Did you know that the 1961-1963 Tempest had a wire drive shaft that ran to a unified differential and transmission in the rear making an almost 50/50 weight distribution? It also allowed for four-wheel independent suspension and could be ordered with posi-traction.

[yadada]

Yea I knew all that, My Cousin Vinny told me.

Didn't know about the wire driveshaft though. How's that work?

[oseaghdha]

It was a 3/4" wire rope, known as "Rope Drive".

[Montreux_Blue]

It was similar to a weedeater shaft or speedometer cable, it was 3/4" flexible steel drive shaft running on bearings and riding inside a steel tube.

"The Tempest's flexible driveshaft, jokingly termed "rope-drive," was an 87.25-inch-long by .65-inch-diameter (with automatics) or 82.29-inch by .75-inch (with manual gearboxes) bar of forged SAE 8660 triple-alloy steel that was shot-peened, magnafluxed and coated with a flexible protectant. The shaft, located in a hollow box called a torque tube, arched just under three inches at its center, and it transmitted power to the rear transaxle like a torsion bar. The flexible shaft was designed with center bearings to absorb some of the vibrations inherent in the non-balance-shaft-equipped four-cylinder engines."