Pontiac 215 V8 Engine

The Pontiac 215 V8 was first introduced in 1961 and would be the first all aluminum engine produced by GM on a large scale. The 215 V8 was a designed and built by Buick but would also be used in the Pontiac Tempest. There were not many Tempests with the 215 V8 engine option probably due to the fact that the Pontiac 389 was gaining a lot of popularity. Production numbers from Pontiac where around 3,660 for the 215 V8 so finding one could be of particular interest for collectors.

An interesting fact regarding the Pontiac 215 V8 was that they all received a hand stamp at the factory that coincided with the VIN number of the car that they would be used in. It is very easy to identify the engine blocks and year of the vehicle because the engine had either a 161P in the VIN or a 162P. The 161P meant of course that the car was a 1961 model and 162P a 1962.

Some people get the 215 V8 confused with the Pontiac 215 inline 6. These engines have nothing in common other than the cubic inch size of the engine. The 215 V8 would only last for 2 years with Pontiac but it continued on to be used by GM as well as many other car companies such as Rover and British car manufacturers like Triumph, TVR and MG.