A couple of nice examples of very uncommon Pontiacs. While we have all seen more than we can count LeMans with orange engines I can't attest to ever seeing a six in one in person.
My best friend had a 74 Lemans Sport Coupe when we were young.Had a 455 in it with buckets and console...silver with red interior and was just a monster.It was a beautiful car.Wondering what were the factory engine options in those cars from 74?? I was shocked to see a 6 in this one after riding around in his car...never ever thought of a 6 cyl in that car.
My best friend had a 74 Lemans Sport Coupe when we were young.Had a 455 in it with buckets and console...silver with red interior and was just a monster.It was a beautiful car.Wondering what were the factory engine options in those cars from 74?? I was shocked to see a 6 in this one after riding around in his car...never ever thought of a 6 cyl in that car.
In Canada, 250 - 6, Chev 350 2 & 4 bbl with duals on 4 bbl , Pontiac 400 2 & 4 bbl duals and single depending, 455 4 bbl with duals .
In those pre catalytic converter days, single left hand tailpipe with the six, single right hand tailpipe with s/e V8s. The automatic 6s still came without a smog pump.
I have seen '74 Le Mans with sixes, but never on a Le Mans Sport with the louvered side windows. That's in 46 years.
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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
Wow!! Thanks Ray...I'm really really surprised that my buddies car had an original 455 in it.Always thought of the 350 and 400 but never imagined it as a factory engine.The brothers he bought it from in probley around 1979 were pretty handy guys and I thought had transplanted a 455 into the car.You should have seen that car Ray...I wish I had a picture as you surely would have loved it.The day he bought it i couldnt believed it was that nice and he drove the crap out of it and pretty much trashed it in the end.Guess he wasnt the first guy or the last guy ever to do that...I always envied that car and would have loved to have bought it from the sellers.
Sounds like the original owners knew how to order a car, Remember in 74 the GTO had transferred to a Ventura body so an performance A body buyer was more or less directed to the Grand Am or LeMans GT.
It would be nice to know if that 455 was original to the car, seems like it was by how you describe the car and that would make it pretty special. Wish I had seen it. Again I have to admit to never seeing an original 455 LeMans of this era although I do know of a 77 with a 455 in it that was originally a 305. That was a horrendous swap because the car was built in Oshawa with a Chevrolet engine. My 454 swap was easy since my Oshawa car was originally a Chevy 350.
Any way you cut it a Lemans with a 455 is darn cool and a 454 isn't too shabby either.
PS: I notice I missed the Pontiac 350 2bbl on my engine post, that would have been reserved for a car that had to be brought across the border to fill a Canadian order, could have been a special model or options that Oshawa didn't build.
-- Edited by 73SC on Thursday 21st of February 2019 01:17:25 PM
I've got a text sent to my buddy asking him if he knows if it was the original 455.If hes not sure I will contact the guys he bought it from and that will answer the question.They were very particular guys who I wouldnt be surprised ordered that car with the 455 and I'm sure might have some good pictures as well.Pictures wernt high priority for my buddy back in the day lol.Wouldn't it be amazing to have a 6cyl Lemans Sports Coupe and this car with a 455 in it sitting side by side.Blows me away still that they produced that car with the 6 cyl in a Sports Coupe with the side window louvers.Like Cam had mentioned before I've seen very few 74 Sports Coupes over the the years as I've always looked at any Pontiac Lemans from that era...maybe seen 2 cars over the last 40 yrs!!
I see the car has 14" wheels. It would have been equipped with bias ply tires although the '74s were the year GM really rolled out radials & RTS across the board as an option. Grand Ams, Corvettes & Cutlass Salon all got radials starting '73. GM even dabbled with radials as an obscure option on the Firebird in the late 1960s.
Below is a Proving Ground photo of a '74 Le Mans coupe with the larger triangular side window, GT equipment, G70-14 bias ply tires on 14" Rally II wheels, dual exhausts mean it could be something interesting under the hood (make mine a 400 4-barrel with a 4-speed manual).
That year in Canada only you could order a Le Mans with an orange Chevrolet 350 4-barrel L48 with duals & no a.i.r. pump (I know, in a '74?). U.S. made Le Mans had the blue Pontiac 350 4-barrel re-instated after being dropped for '70.
Well it turns out my buddy's car was born with a 350 but the guys who sold it to him offered up a 454 and they installed it for him ready to run! I knew it had a big block in it but after 40 years forgot the 454 and my head went to the 455.What an amazing machine...it totally takes me back to playing in baseball tournaments on weekends out all night and doing it again the next weekend!!Its pretty much the reason everyone is on this site in one form or another...these cars take us back to our youth!!Nothing makes us feel better than looking at a great car at a car show that reminds us of going to the drive ins,parties,girls and just feeling of freedom rolling down the road with the windows down and a smile on your face.How lucky are we all to have this hobby that makes us all just feel a little better about life and gives us all something to look forward to after a long cold winter!!Thanks to Todd's hard work we are able to check in here a few times a week(or every day!!) and just get that little lift we need in life!!
Well I can attest to the fact that a 454 LeMans is an amazing machine. Very easy swap as well in a Canadian built Chevy 350 car.
To Cam, the overwhelming majority of GT LeMans cars were 350 cars since the V8 was the basic requirement of the package. Duals were part of the packages so a 350 2bbl GT is not uncommon at all.
-- Edited by 73SC on Thursday 21st of February 2019 10:39:53 PM
