By 1973, the muscle car revolution of the 1960s was all but dead, having reached its zenith with the 1970 model year. After that, emissions, pressure from insurance companies, falling compression ratios, and governmental regulation pablum killed off the monster power of LS6 Chevelles, Hemi ‘Cudas, and Boss 9 Mustangs. But there was one last stand, one final 455-cubic inch finger to the Man, and it came in the guise of the Pontiac Trans Am Super Duty.
Introduced to the press during Pontiac’s annual model line preview in the summer of 1972, the Super Duty 455 was enthusiastically received. It had a block, heads, rotating assembly, intake manifold, and carb that were all unique to the SD. When previewed, the SD was claimed to have a 310-horsepower output. That fell to 290 horses and postponed the engine’s public debut once the Environmental Protection Agency emissions testing found that Pontiac had been playing fast and loose with their interpretation of certification standards.
Pontiac was forced to make adjustments to the Super Duty in order to fall within EPA regs. Carburetor adjustments were made, and the camshaft had to be changed. The SD didn’t make it into production Firebirds until the spring of 1973. Only 252 Pontiac Trans Ams and 43 Formulas received the beefy SD-455 for 1973. An additional 1,001 SD equipped Firebirds were built in 1974, and the coming federal regulations meant party was over.
Our featured 1974 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Super Duty has been the subject of a fastidious nut-and-bolt rotisserie restoration. It has been refinished in Cameo White with correct blue Trans Am decals. All trim has been highly polished to a brilliant shine. Black bumper pads appear showroom fresh. Correct honeycomb wheels are wrapped in modern raised-white-letter BFGoodrich Radial T/As.
The interior of the Pontiac Trans Am is awash in tasteful tan. The high-back bucket seats are as new, beautifully recovered in tan vinyl. Tan carpets show no signs of wear or use. The iconic machine-turned aluminum dash is brilliant, with restored factory gauges throughout. There is a radio delete panel just above the center console that houses the shifter for the automatic transmission.
Under the hood of the Pontiac Trans Am, all correct components are present, and the engine bay is stunningly detailed. This legendary Super Duty 455 is a matching-numbers example. As previously mentioned, it is backed by the Turbo-Hydramatic three-speed automatic transmission that feeds power to a ten-bolt rear end with 3.08 Posi-Traction gears.
This gorgeous 1974 Pontiac Trans Am Super Duty 455 is being offered by Vanguard Motor Sales for $92,900.
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Comments
Great car. One of GM’s biggest mistakes was to get rid of Pontiac.
Have to agree with Tony. Big, big mistake getting rid of a high selling car line, least ways I sure seen a lot of Pontiacs here on the street. Still do see them occasionally. If they wanted a low volume line, should have picked on Cadillac. Still a low number line, no matter what they say, And in the car business, the money is in the volume. It’s a numbers game. All for what, prestige? Cadillac lost that years ago to me. Now they almost look clownish. Just my opinion.
Let me correct this as a life long Pontiac owner.
The greatest mistake was not getting rid of Pontiac……The greatest mistake was to go decades with not knowing what to do with Pontiac and rendering them to the point they too far gone to save.
Pontiac was an engineers division. They tried under Delorean an engineer and later under products developed under the engineers left behind by John.
For example this car here was a project of Real Pontiac Engineers and not GM management. In fact this car dies early with this engine as GM management stopped the car and forced out Herb Adams the man responsible for it.
Here is the trouble the true heart of Pontiac was the Engine. The sound power and torque of a Pontiac engine set their cars apart from the other GM cars. The styling and handling then help back it up.
Then GM went on to force Pontiac to not have their own engine. This killed the division. In fact a Olds powered TA is worth less than a real Pontiac engine.
Next they took away their own chassis tuning. One only has to look at the original Firebird and see that it used its own tuning and even sat 1” lower from the factory.
So by the end we had a division that was building the Aztek and did not even offer a RWD performance car. By the time Lutz arrived it was too late.
While cars like the SSEI and GTP were nice they were better Chevys but they still were not Pontiac’s.
The last true Pontiac was the Fiero. Bob Stemple a Pontiac engineer approved the Fiero but GM fought it and never funded it properly. Pontiac had to hide the project outside GM at Entech to finish the car and lied to call it an economy car when their expectation all along was a V6 performance car.
The Fiero Was a Pontiac only car, designed by the last of Delorean rebel engineers. It was built in Pontiac Mi and used the last Pontiac engine ever made the iron duke.
While some of you Morn the loss of Pontiac in the bail out many of us Pontiac fans feel it was a mercy killing.
Many never have drivel much less own a Tri Power Pontiac even ridden in a real Super Duty.
The car shown here is a great example. Even with the low compression and emissions rules this car with only a change of a cam can run 12 seconds in the quarter mile.
The real mistake is just because we had a few fast Chevy powered Pontiac’s many mistake that Pontiac was still alive. Don’t be fooled as it was just a corporate car with different styling.
I have owned driven and ridden some of the best of Pontiac and my 04 GTP Comp G was no where near the top car Pontiac ever did. In fact it showed me how much GM left on the table not understanding the true value of Pontiac.
FYI in the later years Pontiac became more sales to Enterprise as crap rental cars and not true valuable performance cars with real performance. These cars in fact killed the resale of my GTP.
You should have bought a new Pontiac G8 like I did, before Pontiac folded. One of the best cars I’ve ever owned, with loads of power, and great styling that still
holds up today. Widely recognized as one of the best Pontiacs ever produced, and silly GM killed it off after only 2 years. Glad I still have mine in top condition.
Badass, Pontiac Rules. Nothing like a stout Pontiac 400/455. I own a 1972 455HO, it has been bored and has TRW L2394 pistons and a healthy camshaft along with a Holley 850 Hp series carb. The SD was a beast, with a few mods it could scream. IMHO Pontiac died when they stopped installing Pontiac engines. This is a beautiful and significant machine.
I agree with C8.R, as my nickname is the #1 Transaman and I’ve been a Pontiac man since the late 60’s. By the time they got the Fiero right in 1988, it got AXED!!! My brother had a Willy’s panel wagon with a Pontiac 389 tri-power motor with a Muncie Rock-Crusher behind it in high school, I had a 1973 Firebird Formula SD-455 with a 4-speed in high school (my only real competition was a 69 Z/28 and a 70 Boss 302), and I now own an 87 GNX (ex-DEA Miami field office car), and 2 89 Indy 500 Turbo Trans Am pace cars. 1 is a 23,k mile driver and the other is the lowest mileage TTA known to exist, it was given to Bobby Unser by the PMD, it has just 78 miles on it today, because he drove 1 of 3 actual pace cars in the 89 Indy 500, it is also a parade & festival car documented by PHS.
There’s no way this 3800 lb. Car runs in the 12’s with just a camshaft change. Try mid 13’s at best.
1974 SD455 produced 253 rear wheel horsepower, a 1/4 mile time of 14.25 seconds at 101 mph with a test curb weight of 4,010 pounds- Wikipedia
I owned a 74 SD auto fully loaded. I put 373s in it and on street tires on a prepared track I consistently ran 13.23 at 124mph with slicks on a cool low humidity nigh I ran 12.86 at 126MPH on slicks. the cars were fairly fast. My hot rod to day is a 2013 GTR. would love to own this car but not at this price
I am interested in buying this car is it for sale