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#21
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Thanks for all the great info Rocky .
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#22
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Rocky
Great update. It is a shame Pontiac crushed that car. Do you know if it was one of the VIN #'s listed in Pete McCarthy's book? I tried to get in the horsepower range you wrote with a 496 with cast iron SD heads. Fell far short of those numbers since the heads had a bad port job prior to my purchase and maybe a little under cammed. Thanks, Jim Last edited by napster; 12-20-2021 at 02:04 PM. |
#23
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The gold shaker may have been a flapper version , and the other perhaps a fully opened model for testing potential performance increases.
Just an additional thought Would be great if pics of the red car and the black car surface someday too. Supposing the inner metal rear body panel would have been slotted/drilled/cut/modified to go along with the venting holes in the fiberglass outer panel. Or the vents next to tail lights would have been useless. Too used and modified to sell it out to Joe Public But it would sure be extremely valuable if an insider had managed to tip their hat in time. Not sure whether its Ram IV Inception would be worth more restored, or its test car configuration ? Last edited by Baron Von Zeppelin; 12-20-2021 at 04:05 PM. |
The Following User Says Thank You to Baron Von Zeppelin For This Useful Post: | ||
#24
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"The Fabulous Firebird" (Michael Lamm) Has this car on P123. It has the Spyders front and rear in that shot.
Captioned: "Herb Adams, as the head of Pontiac's special Projects adjunct, put together a raceable Trans Am in 1973, complete with SD-455, special wheels, and quick-fill fuel tank.
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72 Bird |
#25
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It is too bad that it could not have been saved. That is the kind of car that belongs in the GM Heritage Museum. Early in the 90's, when Cadillac was scrapping old development and race support vehicles at their Clark Street Engineering Bldg., employees were hiding them in all kinds of places. Later, Cadillac had a museum at Mound road and 12 mile road in Warren Michigan, where they had a lot of these old cars on display. They are now with the other Heritage Center vehicles. GM has several hundred vehicles that are stored in several warehouses around the area.
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#26
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There was a lot of foolishness going on in this time frame-destroying such a car. I know, back then it was just another car. Even without the mule pedigree, this was a RAIV car!
Also, I think this was a very bittersweet time to work at Pontiac. Caserio was a fool who really could give a rats ass about performance. The government was out of control with the inane regulations. Pontiac was the best in this dark time, but with better leadership, it could have excelled.
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
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#27
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"...You’ll see in one photo what appears to be other 1972 Pontiacs (possibly 1971?) near the starting line in the background..."
The car beside the track has to be either a '71 or '72 GP. The grill has the unmistakable appearance of a "cross" in it. The pic of the car on the track is distorted. But, it MAY be a '73 GP. Or, might be same year as the other car. Might be a big car, with 4 headlights. I can't tell. Can any of ya'll ? Last edited by ponyakr; 12-20-2021 at 10:03 PM. |
#28
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Quote:
It's on the track at Waterford Hills Raceway just north of Pontiac, MI. Neat to see what the track looked like "back in the old days", too.
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keith k 70 Trans Am RA III / T400 / Lucerne Blue / Bright Blue 70 Trans Am RA III / M20 / Lucerne Blue / Sandalwood 70 Formula RA III / M21 / Lucerne Blue / Bright Blue |
#29
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Unfortunately, I don't have that answer, but I'm pretty certain that it wasn't a production vehicle. I'd guess that it was an engineering mule or pilot vehicle used for press events.
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The Following User Says Thank You to Rocky Rotella For This Useful Post: | ||
#30
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More Info & Pics
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#31
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Quote:
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#32
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Rocky I agree that it is a 71-72 GP on the starting Line, (probably a 72) and the wagon is a 72 as it does not have the grill extensions under the headlights that the 71's have.
Great thread, Thanks to everyone that added to it.
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Jeff R 60 Jaguar Mark 2, 3.8L Automatic 67 Sprint Firebird 230 OHC-6 4-Speed A/C 78 Catlina Safari, Pontiac 400 powered 77 Astre Formula, 215 Buick V-8 T-5 73 Lemans Safari, 400 4bbl 4-speed 71 Catalina Enforcer, 455 4bbl 06 Mallet Solstice #024 LS2, Now with a Tremec 6060 6-speed! 2012 F-150 Echo Boost (My local Ford Dealer SUX!!!) 2020 Dodge Charger Scat pack (recovered) |
#33
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#34
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SD 366 heads?
What cylinder heads were used on the SD 366?
If they used the SD 455 heads with the 11 cc chambers, they would have required domed pistons for any sort of decent compression ratio. Did the SD 366 thus use the same SD 455 heads, or a smaller chamber version perhaps with a different casting number? Quote:
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1970 Lucerne Blue Firebird Trans Am, deluxe blue interior. Original Ram Air III, M-21, 3.73. Being built as a 4" stroke "434" with SR 614 Ram Air IV heads 1972+ Lucerne Blue 4-door hardtop "what if" T-41 Le Mans Sport GT/Grand Am concepts. Equipped with future 3" journal "455 HO"/"what if" prototype "SD 455". What if GM had continued production of the 1970-72 GM A body somewhere in the southern hemisphere? |
#35
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Quote:
What I do know is that when Herb Adams entered his ’73 Grand Am into NASCAR competition (and was booted at Daytona), he ran 1970 Ram Air IV number-614 heads on its 366. I don’t know if they as-cast or were ported, however. |
#36
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Concerning the black ’72 Trans Am at the 1972 Long Lead Press Preview, the documents I have from even shows it was equipped with a “production SD-455” and automatic transmission. I can confirm from other details in the listing that it indeed the car below (taken from Marty Schorr’s book).
I also believe that it was this car that Skip McCully drove as an engineering vehicle and then took it cross-country to the Desert Proving Grounds for durability and economy testing of the SD-455. Unfortunately, I have no additional info as it its lineage. |
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