by EconoCarl Fri Oct 01, 2010 12:55 pm
Copied from wikipedia:
1961-1963 Pontiac Tempest
"Despite sharing some of the Oldsmobile's sheet metal, the original Tempest featured an innovative drivetrain — a rear-mounted modified Corvair transaxle coupled to a torque shaft arcing in a three-inch downward bow within a longitudinal tunnel — coupling the forward engine and rear transmission into one unit and eliminating vibration. The arrangement, known as "rope drive", had been previously used in the 1951 Le Sabre concept car.
The combination of the rear-mounted transaxle and the front-mounted engine gave the car very nearly an ideal 50/50 front/rear weight distribution, enabled four-wheel independent suspension, and eliminated the floor "hump" forward of the front seat which accommodated the transmission in a conventional layout, such as the front engine/front transmission used in the Tempest's Buick and Oldsmobile sister cars — both of which mitigated the floor hump by employing a two-piece driveshaft."