The 455 Super Duty engine option for the Pontiac Trans Am was a lot like General Motors’ modern-day LT4 or LT5 supercharged engines are today – it was only really ordered by those who are serious about performance.
This 1973 Pontiac Trans Am Super Duty is one of the earliest known examples of the rather rare breed. It’s certainly the first real production car, laying claim to the first Trans Am Super Duty VIN; however, GM likely developed and built a number of pre-production cars before this one that may still be out there somewhere today, so we’re sticking with “earliest known.”
Not only is this car the first production Pontiac Trans Am Super Duty, but it is also wearing Brewster Green exterior paint and features a saddle leather interior – a color combination that was offered for just one model year. It is also fairly well-optioned, featuring factory air conditioning, an automatic transmission, the ‘Formula’ steering wheel, a tachometer, power windows, AM/FM radio with 8-track, rear spoiler and the desirable ‘Honeycomb’ wheels.
The centerpiece of this car is, of course, the 455SD engine, which featured a heavy-duty block, forged pistons and rods, a special performance crankshaft, high-flow round port cylinder heads, and high flow intake and exhaust manifolds, among other go-fast parts. As the listing says, the Rochester Quadrajet carburetor topped the package off and helped deliver a factory output of 290 horsepower and 395 lb-ft of torque, making the Trans Am Super Duty one of the fastest American production cars at the time.
According to the listing, this Pontiac Trans Am Super Duty is also sold with extensive receipts, the original owner’s manual and the maintenance schedule. Mecum is expecting it to fetch anywhere between $100,000 to $150,00 when it crosses the auction block at its Harrisburg, Pennsylvania auction later this month.
Check out the listing here for additional information and photos.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more Pontiac news and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
What a car! Looks every bit as cool as new Camaro IMHO.
Waaaayy cooler than a new Camaro! Maybe not faster, but far more cooler. IMHO
This reason why updating is not always a good thing as one can imagine car tuners ripping out the 455 engine and sticking a crate LT4 for better performance; but this ’73 Pontiac Trans Am wouldn’t get $150K with a LT4 no matter how much faster it would be.
Way cool but is the 455 actually an Oldsmobile motor? It is that olds blue. I had a 79 Trans am that had a 6.6 in it that turned out to be a 403 Olds motor that was that same color of blue. Fun car traded it off for a pickup and been in a pickup ever scents but do regret letting it go.
No, the Pontiac 455 SD was different than the Olds and Buick 455s. There were a couple of different colors on 455s for Pontiac in 1973, due to changes in emissions requirements. with the car being 46 years old, it’s highly likely the block was repainted at some point.
It’s a Pontiac engine. On 1970-and-up Pontiac blocks, the size is cast into the front of the block,
automatic no thankyou
I think it will.very nice car.
Imagine a new Camaro that looked like a gen 2 with a 1LE and a V8!? OMG!
This car’s design could take sales from Mustang. I always liked this Camaro style over the muscle design.