Here are some pics of my "new" Canadian (Toronto Plaza Pontiac) sold 74 Trans Am SD 455.Car has 56,000 original miles and still has its original muffler (SD specific)
Nice, nice> I would trade almost anything for an SD car. I have a local friend that owns a 74 as well sold new at Kipp Scott in Red Deer. Its white too with blue striping and a red interior. Does yours have the original drivetrain still ?
The Super Duty was always a rare one. To me it is astonishing that Pontiac even tried to bring it out at a time of engineering crisis due to the difficulty in meeting the new emission standards of the day. The hairier the engine, the tougher it was to meet the emissions standards. Add to that the dwindling market due to a major insurance crackdown on any high performance cars, and the concentrated effort to get cars to meet the emission laws (they had to concentrate on the engines that were selling the most, not the low production ones). Follow that with the Arab oil embargo in October 1973 and you can see why Pontiac cancelled any 455 in the Trans Am for 75.
I remember seeing a video back in the 1970s (they weren't even called videos back in those days) of Bachman-turner Overdrive from back in 1974. Randy Bachman was driving a brand new Buccaneer Red 1974 Trans-Am SD-455 with the "chicken" decal on the hood & honeycomb wheels. Meanwhile the soundtrack was "You ain't seen nothin' yet". Does anyone recall seeing that?
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67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.
In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...
Cam, Toronto.
I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton
Yes, I concur with 694279 on this one, no SD-455 but still a big cube 455 in '75 and '76. In '75 engine code Y was offered mid year and made 200 net HP. In '76 engine code W was offered with 200 net HP, last year for 455 in Firebird, sold about 7,100 units.
Yes, I concur with 694279 on this one, no SD-455 but still a big cube 455 in '75 and '76. In '75 engine code Y was offered mid year and made 200 net HP. In '76 engine code W was offered with 200 net HP, last year for 455 in Firebird, sold about 7,100 units.
True enough. The 455 was dropped for '75 on the Trans Am but returned mid-year. It was just the plain station wagon engine (I'd still take one!) backed by a B-W Super T-10. Previously that was an automatic-only engine, but the TH400 would not fit in the Trans Am's transmission tunnel once the floor was recontoured for the catalytic converter.
The SD-455 was a special engine for sure, having unique heads, rods & pistons, plus provisions for a dry sump oiling system. Heck, GM was supposedly not into racing. A lot more parts to make engines were made, but due to theft at the engine plant they came up really short. There must be parts floating around out there somewhere.
Hey Carl Stevenson, is your avatar a picture of Wild Willy Borsch?
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67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.
In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...
Cam, Toronto.
I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton
"Hey Carl Stevenson, is your avatar a picture of Wild Willy Borsch?"
Yup, that's him!!! I couldn't find a shot of him driving sideways, one handed like he often did. I will find a shot like that yet. I've seen it in the car mags.
Sure took guts to drive those things.
And my numbers matching engine/TH400 SD car I sold a couple of years ago was NOT quite as nice as this white one!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars