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Originally Posted by 2manyT/A'S
In February of 1970,when our FAVORITE car/platform came to life,the automotive press went WILD over it. I'll bet the 70 1/2 F-cars were revued in over 20 different magazines.
6 months later when the 71's came out,NOBODY from the automotive press even gave them the time of day. the cars basically looked the same as last years,but compression was way down,as were HP ratings & everybody assumed that performance would have gone the same way. NOT SO!
72 was a strike year (longest strike in GM history) & the press couldn't have gotten a car to test even if they had wanted one.
By 73 (fall of 72) the SD was the BUZZ WORD & it became a legend in EVERY Pontiac Enthusiasts mind. (although they had NEVER seen or driven one)
Car Driver roadtested an early 73 & was into the 13's as I recall,but the engine had a pre-production cam. (which the EPA caught & Pontiac had to revise)
When the 74's finally came out & there were a few tests published,but performance (out of the box) was not that impressive. The tuners (Nunzi & co. got ahold of one) & with headers,gears,Holly & slicks,were starting to crank some #'s,but it wasn't STOCK anymore.
The SD motor STILL seems to be the LEGENDARY one,but as discussions in past threads regarding actual testing confirm,the 455 HO IS the faster/quicker of the two round port 455's (in stock form)
The SD motor is stronger,from an engineering perspective,but all of the HD parts DON'T make HP!
Out of the BOX the HO makes MORE power & the 71/72 T/A's & Formula's were likely a couple hundred pounds LIGHTER than the 73/74's which makes for quicker trip down the quarter.
The purpose of the 455 HO thread/forum HERE is to give the FASTER round port motor the recognition it DESERVES!
I like Sd's as well as the next guy,but the HO will get the groceries home SOONER.
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My inner voice tells me you're jerking everyone's chain with this request in the first place, but all in good fun either way, IMO.
I think you nailed it with regard to why the '71s got no respect. In general the world doesn't really care how hard automotive engineers have to work to overcome the obstacles (fuel quality, emissions, safety, etc.) that are thrown at them. And anyway, increasing displacement wasn't rocket science. Fact is the car was (within driver capability and car-to-car tuning variability) no quicker than a '70. And the 455HO was the "standard" engine (at least in a T/A). The fact that the air flowed through round shaped passages instead of D-shaped passages probably didn't excite too many people back then. Low compression, milder cam, calmer idle, lower RPM.... zzzzzzzzz.
By '73 everyone knew the musclecar was a dying breed, and the SD was clearly the "last gasp". That's why there are so many more low mileage SDs around than HOs. People knew when they bought them that they were the last of an era, even if they weren't necessarily quicker than the '70-'72s.
As for the separate forum thing... I actually migrated from CP over to PY because I liked the segmentation by model. But lets face it.... there aren't many '70-'73 birds or owners/enthusiasts around, period. Don't really need to try to cut it any finer, IMO. There's only a couple of new/different posts that pop up on most days anyway... is that too much to have to sort through?
cheers-