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https://www.mecum.com/lot-detail/SC0510-93130/10024/1973-Pontiac-Trans-Am-455-SD/4-Speed-Manual/
Pontiac 455 SD…I’d trade anything for it personally.
[quote=”andrewbutton442″ post=135087]
I prefer this quezal gold Judge. It also had a 455, but in an A vs F body.[/quote]
Ya the Judge is sweet too. Firebird vs GTO. The GTO did have the tripower carb setup.[quote=”andrewbutton442″ post=135090]That is a really cool truck.. I bet it rumbles.[/quote] Ahaha ya I’m tring to get the formatting right. I figured out how to get a better pic of my truck in my signature.
[quote=”andrewbutton442″ post=135083]Barney, would you trade whatever your driving now for either of those Pontiacs to drive daily now ?[/quote]
No I wouldn’t. I drive an Evo and it is a pretty special car in my eyes. The Evo though, with 100K is starting to want parts. Until now it has been trouble free.
The Trans Ams were special cars too. Even when the big engines in the two I had were mostly ballast they still possessed the handling that Herb Adams had designed into them. They were neutral steer and once you have driven a neutral steer vehicle nothing else makes sense. Come to a corner, the front would go one way, the back the other and the driver’s seat was positioned right at the pivot point. You felt little G force while negotiating a sharp fast corner. So sweet.
Wide tires back then were 70 series. On those either TA would say with my Evo easy. Now lets talk winter. I don’t know why but make a great handling car and it hates winter. A TA could get stuck in an inch of snow on a perfectly flat road. We always carried shovels, ran snow chains on the rear, sometime also the front with snow tires on all four. Sharon and I both knew to not try to start from a stop sign on a slick surface without the emergency brake partway engaged to get the posi to lock up. One time coming down out of Wyoming in January on black ice I was white knuckle afraid.
The Evo drives on snow like it is pavement. That’s why I wouldn’t want to go back.
taint it funny.. demand and prices on trans am in the 70s is going up and up.. people realize how much better they were than the plastic crap we have see now. A Bandit edition 77 TA brings big money, and the regular TAs are moving up fast too…We could use more herb adams now and less euro designers in the domestic car field.
My wife’s sister’s daughter as a child referred to Sharon’s TA as the ‘race car’ and she wanted it. Sharon died and her niece was of driving age so it became her’s. Through college she worked an extra job to keep that car in storage. Years later I was visiting her father and she was there and said come to the garage. There sat the TA. I accepted an invitation to drive and it was really amazing, there was no getting reacquainted with the car. It was like it was my daily driver.
Arctic Blue, not the best color for a TA but it looks good with a young lady behind the wheel.
I’m a stickler for keeping an original engine in a car; especially if it’s a desireable or even mildy desireable car. Unless it’s a gutted rolling project car of course.
Some may remember back in the 80s the news about GM cars having various engines in them that were not brand specific. There was a stink over this at the time. My parents had a ’78 Chevy Caprice and the 350 in it was an Olds 350 actually.
I seem to vaguely remember other makes having various engines in them supplied by other GM subsidiaries although it’s been so long I do not remember any of the details.One of my sons has a fourth generation Camaro and the 3.8 in it is actually a Buick engine.
As to which is best I can’t say. Lots of cubic inches so they’re all good….. 🙂
Back in the mid 70s my cousin bought a new TA SD 455; red on red with the chicken on the hood. A beautiful car that would flat move.
I wonder if they regret getting rid of it knowing what they’re worth now……[quote=”Bluesnut” post=135805]I’m a stickler for keeping an original engine in a car; especially if it’s a desireable or even mildy desireable car. Unless it’s a gutted rolling project car of course.
Some may remember back in the 80s the news about GM cars having various engines in them that were not brand specific. There was a stink over this at the time. My parents had a ’78 Chevy Caprice and the 350 in it was an Olds 350 actually.
I seem to vaguely remember other makes having various engines in them supplied by other GM subsidiaries although it’s been so long I do not remember any of the details.One of my sons has a fourth generation Camaro and the 3.8 in it is actually a Buick engine.
As to which is best I can’t say. Lots of cubic inches so they’re all good….. 🙂
Back in the mid 70s my cousin bought a new TA SD 455; red on red with the chicken on the hood. A beautiful car that would flat move.
I wonder if they regret getting rid of it knowing what they’re worth now……[/quote] GM did alot of interesting things back in the day for sure. Ya, I’d say your cousin shoulda kept that screaming chicken as it is extremely hard to come by and worth quite a bit now.age old question, old thread, I am compelled to reply ! all 3 motors have their good and bad traits. The Buick has the best bore/stroke ratio, and has a reduced stroke compared to the Pontiac and Olds. and the Buick has factory SHAFT ROCKERS, a big plus for Buick. Olds on the other hand, had the best cylinder heads- the standard Olds A-B-C-D castings, flowed as much/more than a Pontiac Super Duty, Ram Air IV, or Buick Stage I/Stage II. the Olds also had a smaller main bearing, 3″ compared to 3.25″ for Buick or Pontiac. a small main bearing is easier to oil, less friction, and makes more high rpm horsepower and reliability. score 2 for Olds. another thing, all Olds connecting rods are forged, and most of their cranks are forged steel. Olds bottom ends are indestructible. Pontiac had factory air gap intake manifolds, while Buick and Olds had no air gap under the intake, and Pontiac had true HIGH RISE intake manifolds. Pontiac was also the only one who had 4-BOLT MAIN CAPS from the factory, and much better racing camshafts, including a line of solid lifter cams right from the factory- the McKellar grinds. Pontiac won the Daytona 500 in 1960-62 period. something Olds and Buick never could do. (given, the Buick 400-430-455 was not available until 1967, hence it’s a 2nd generation motor) Pontiac had a racier image, better styling, sold much higher unit volumes (they were #3 right after Chevy and Ford). Pontiac also had the best rod/stroke ratio, meaning they ran the longest connecting rods compared to stroke length, in general. (except for maybe the Olds 425) the “best” engine would be one that combined the traits of all 3. But it was Pontiac that ran the best at the track of the 3. the Buick and Olds oiling systems were not as good as the Pontiac. the Buick and Olds had solid lifter valleys, whereas the Pontiac had a windowed lifter valley, making it somewhat weaker around the cam bearing area. The Olds had thicker bores and could be bored out .125″ over no problem. the Pontiac could only go .060″- barely. the ultimate of the 3 would probably be the Olds 455 with an aftermarket intake, and aftermarket long connecting rods, and aluminum heads. it would have the small main bearing, long rods, best heads, and high rise intake, and big bore size. but would lack the 4 bolt mains. bone stock Pontiac edges out the other 2.
The guy who said Pontiac’s are cheaper because there is an over abundance of engines available. If he has a couple of SD’s he’s tripping over, I’ll take one… or a Ram AirIV. Buick Stage II 455 was a runner. W30 Olds. The good old days. A guy I used to know restored a ’73 SD TA and his brother re did a ’74 in the late ’80’s. Don,t know what happened to those guys or the cars.
he’s not talking the ultra-rare Pontiac engines vs. ultra rare Olds vs. ultra rare Buick. your statement is a red herring, straw man type of post. his question was and is a good one, what engine has the best general performance traits and parameters. Pontiac had the most colorful racing heritage, but Olds was top of the heap throughout the 1950’s in NASCAR. Having built and owned all 3, I’d have to say the Olds had the edge in reliability. I found a lot of Pontiacs in junkyards and lately too. it depends on where you are. Midwestern yards are largely picked clean and scrapped out by what my sources tell me. having said all this I’d have to give the nod to Pontiac #1, Olds #2, and Buick #3- in stock form. the latter 2 having those flat intakes with no air gap beneath the intake is a big factor. Pontiac factory cams simply blew away what Olds and Buick had. what would have the best potential in modified form ? again it would be an Olds vs. Pontiac shootout, both had engines on a 3″ main journal, the Olds had the advantage of the taller 10.625″ deck height for a longer rod, and aftermarket intakes for Olds are the true high rise type. the Buick was limited by its big 3.25″ main. the old pre-’67 nailhead Buick V8 had a smaller main journal, but its heads were junk in the flow dept. currently Pontiac has the best aftermarket support, with various aftermarket heads, cranks, rods, blocks w/4 bolt mains, that Olds and Buick can’t match. if you dig hard you will find maybe 1 or 2 vendors selling 4 bolt main Olds or Buick aftermarket blocks. the old Pontiac V8 gets with the program, with twin turbos it makes over 1500HP using the stock block and heads, and Big Chief on the Street Outlaws show makes around 2800 HP with twin turbos, aftermarket block, Edelbrock heads, injection. The Buick and Olds gang just can’t compete with that yet, more R&D goes into Pontiac, because it has and always did have a bigger following.
Just a little levity. I wouldn’t mind having any one of those 455’s along with the cars they belong in. A Butler Performance engine would be nice but I sure don’t have the $15-20K or more depending on what you get. I’ve owned Pontiacs & it makes me ill when some puts a BBC in a TA or whatever. There was a younger with a super clean ’72 455HO TA that would show up to the cruises. Didn’t see him for a while then shows up with a velocity stack in place of the shaker. He had removed the HO & installed a BBC. Asked him why he removed the HO. He said it’s cool, this engine is “heavy-duty”. He traded the HO for an oval port BBC. Kids.
Sincerely,
Red Herring. Aka The Straw man.
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