I'm finding a lot of good stuff on other sites this week but few if any will know that the 1973 GTO was named Performance Car of the Year by Cars Magazine. A fellow Canadian set out to recreate the car in magazine test and a few on board know him. GTO was only built in Oshawa in 1970 and 1973. Anyway here is the information:
-- Edited by 73SC on Thursday 26th of March 2009 03:00:53 PM
I was looking at my 1973 Pontiac Dealer Showroom Album last night and interestingly, it shows that the SD-455 was to be available in all Firebird, Lemans (including the GTO and Grand Am) models, and get this, in the Grand Prix as well! There is a supplement regarding drivetrain availability, and even though it is dated March 6, 1973, which is quite late in the model year, it still shows that the SD-455 was to be available in all of the above models. I would have suspected that at that late date, the supplement would have indicated that SD-455 was only to be available in the Firebird, but that was clearly not the case. Surely some people must have tried to order the SD-455 in models other than the Firebird before then, I wonder what explanation they got at the time as to why they had not received their vehicles yet?
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Hillar
1970 LS4 (eventually an LS5) Laurentian 2dr hdtp -and a bunch of other muscle cars...
Hillar, I have seen an internal Pontiac Motor Division memo dated March 17, 1973 as I reacall cancelling the SD-455 option, so it would seem that up until that time hopes were it could be certified. I knew it was slated for the cars mentioned, I've even seen discussion on other forums about factory prototype NASA/NACA hooded Grand Prixs. My owners manual makes mention of the solenoid operated hood scoops in the fuse box diagram.
Whoa! Is that your car? Did you fab the scoops yourself? Way cool!
Dave
Yes it's mine. Those scoops and hood are legit, the hood was optional on the LeMans line, in 1973 the GTO was an option on the LeMans line, not a model so anything you see on a GTO could be had on a Lemans.
I am posting a photo of a factory documented Lemans Safari with the special hood. Someone who thoroughly read the option sheet must have been the original purchaser of this one.
-- Edited by 73SC on Friday 27th of March 2009 11:17:31 AM
1956 Pontiac Pathfinder 2dr sedan, 496 - dyno'd 545 hp, stick shift, 4.11 posi - Hot Rod