[Brian Baker]

Never spoke with Tom Goad personally, just know from interviews I've read. He wanted to purchase the wagon from GM as equipped (ie - with the Grand Am nose and functional ram air). GM wouldn't do it, not without first removing anything from the car that identified it as a Grand Am. So technically speaking, even though it began life as a Grand Am station wagon "mule" car, it was sold to Tom as a LeMans wagon, with a LeMans front clip on it. Of course, Tom immediately converted it back to its Grand Am roots. I don't think the car was sold to him with the ram air, but he added that back onto the car as well.

Now regarding Jack Hoffman, I have spoken to him personally, therefore any information I received from him is considered "primary source" information. He ordered his car in December 1972 with the following "pertinent" options:

455-SD
4-speed manual transmission
posi rear (3.42 I believe)
NACA hood with functional ram-air
Starlight Black exterior with black vinyl top
"Saddle" interior with buckets and console

The car was delivered with the 400/4-speed sans ram-air (although it did have the NACA hood), and the posi rear I believe came with 3.23 gears (the car is equipped with power steering, power brakes, and air conditioning). Starlight Black with black vinyl top and "saddle" interior were complemented by Honeycomb rims.

Jack was present at the dealership when it was unloaded off the car hauler. He was not a happy camper when he came to the realization the car was built with the 400. This is something the dealer did not even know (or if they did, they didn't let Mr. Hoffman know before he came down to see the car). He decided to take the car anyway.

He then spent the better part of the next 18 months trying to piece together all of the parts needed to make it a "numbers correct" 455-SD. He never was able to get a correct block for it from the dealer, not in the timeframe he was working within (Feb 1973 - Sep 1974). He settled for a 455 out of a wrecked 73 GP. Same goes for the intake manifold, he had to settle for a '70 R.A. IV intake. He was able to procure the cylinder heads, rods, exhaust manifolds, and carburetor for the 455-SD over the parts counter, as well as all of the ram-air pieces (save for the lid). He found the lid through a car club friend that worked at GM. Inside the lid is housed the solenoid and flapper door to make it functional under WOT conditions. It actually more closely resembles the solenoid setup on the '74 GTO than it does the Firebird systems.

Jack only racked up 32,000 miles on the car by the time he sold it to Phil in 1996, and never drove it in the rain or snow. It still has the original chrome exhaust tips on it, just like what we commonly see on 73 GTO's. Phil still takes it to local shows when he can, but it doesn't get driven much anymore. It still sports its original paint, top, and interior. When people see the paint, they can't believe it's going on 40 years old.

Lastly, Phil let me drive the car not long after he bought it. He brought it over to my house one Saturday morning and we pulled it into the garage to whip a tune-up on it. Let me just say that if Pontiac had ever decided to release this engine for the 73 GTO, that the 73, as ugly as many people think it is, would have been the baddest GTO ever built.