[455dan]

Originally Posted by TRADERMIKE 2012

Let's see a photo of the car you're talking about and write the history for all to see. This page will become the HO go to page; we need your input. Mike.

It is now in my signature. I repainted the T/A myself back in around 1985 and back then the Original hood bird decals were pricey- if you could find them so it got a later red bird instead of the factory black center style one.

I wrote a bunch of what I can remember down and the hard drive crashed on my lap top so i lost what I did have written,

will try and start over.

First let me say how sorry i was to hear Kern Osterstock had passed away.
I just lost my mom a month ago and know how bad it hurts, my heart goes out to Kern's family. although very belatedly. The same condolences for Graig's family I only found this site in 2020 and Both had passed by then.

OK the story of how I ended up with Kern's Red 73 SD powered 455 T/A

When I was about to graduate High school, I was already a Pontiac lover had owned a 67 4 speed GTO a 68 455 powered 4 speed 400 Firebird. and I absolutely loved them but wanted a Trans Am, not just a Trans Am a Super duty Trans Am.
My dad asked me one day If there was any car in the world I could own "within reason" what would it be?
Without hesitation I told him a 73 SD-455 Trans Am 4 speed in Red. He said well start looking and if you can find one and it isn't out of reach price wise AND you are willing to give up either your GTO or your 69 400 custom S to pay for part of it i will consider funding the other portion For your graduation.
I scanned car mags the local nickels worth auto trader anything I could find.
for a month plus, nothing...
then one day while looking through the local Nickels Worth Classic antique section I saw it.

RARE 1973 Firebird Trans Am 455 Super Duty 4 speed
Very Fast, Serious Inquiries Only.

I of course immediately showed the ad to my dad and the next day being a school day he said I will make an appointment, check it out and if all goes well we will see.
I get home from school and ask dad what he thought f the T/A and he said "It about took my breath away"
I knew that was Very high praise from my dad because he he had been a sheriff depute, Ambulance driver had taken defensive driving courses and had owned and modded his 392 hemi powered pick up and some warmed over Olds rockets over the years
The owner of the T/A who had bought it from Kern Osterstock "we will call him "Dave O" had bought the car from Kern had it placed in a covered transport and delivered to Idaho. Dave asked me if I knew about Pontiacs and H-O Racing, I had not living in the sticks.
All the Pontiac Hop Up stuff I had read about was Nunzi on the east coast. Dave explained that H-O was a racing and parts for Pontiac Company that did not build cars or engines for customers. They researched, designed, and manufactured performance parts for Pontiac enthusiasts... and this was O's car
He showed me some of the many subtle things that Kern - H-O did that made this particular T/A different, like the rear of the car all of the body seams were missing and around the rear window rear valance and rear spoiler were all formed in . The rear chrome bumper had all of the carriage bolts removed the
The front bumper was Fiberglass to reduce weight and the battery was in the Trunk. On the interior was a drivers racing belt. The Hurst shifter had been re worked by Kern to have a Much reduced throw between 1-2 and 3-4 It had a Button mounted in the T handle for a Line Lock.
1st one of those I had seen. The stock Tach was gone and an Autometer Rev Limiter tach was behind the stock gauge face.
The tach redline " set" Pointer was set to 7000 RPM, the control unit was mounted in the glove box. there were racing harness eyelets on the rear package shelf.

Dave explained the transmission is a Rock Crusher M-22 and it whines because the gears are straight cut to take more power, so don't be alarmed when you here it, that's normal.

The engine It is a Super duty that has been completely balanced first statically then dynamically centered around 5000 RPM. The engine was fully blueprinted. has an experimental Isky solid roller cam with high lift and a tight LSA. The exhaust manifolds have been Aluminized so they won't rust. The exhaust is slightly oversized and has cut outs Lake pipes so you can uncap the exhaust.
The heads are Ported "Heavily ported". The piston tops and chambers are thermal barrier coated. The intake is an Aluminum H-O Intake that has been ported to match the SD heads, because SD intakes are Iron and have an EGR so Kern went with the HO intake. The ignition is switched to a HEI that has been recurved and a standard size drive gear and bushing have been installed
That way if you want to change cams in the future it will be easier than buying an SD specific cam.
The suspension mods are listed in the Flat & Fast article. with what Kern did to achieve the handling.
Dave was willing to take my 69 2 door hardtop 400 Custom S in trade for the T/A and a significant amount of cash to seal the deal from my dad.
Part of the reason Dave was selling the T/A was he was storing the car in his brothers Aluminum foundry building and the Chrome was beginning to pit from gasses given off in the process.
Anyway thru thick and thin I have held on to the Bird.
Early on I drove it down to Phoenix Arizona and had it there while attending college from 1980-1982 It was always fun beating someone and then them commenting on my Idaho plates, I got beat by the car with "Famous Potato's" plates.
I raced a lot of cars on the street around Phoenix and the T/A always did very Very well. The T/A managed 17MPG on the 1400 mile trips between home and school.
Lots of other history with me and the TA but it needs a bit of work now the rear spoiler trapped water and caused a lot of rust which needs repaired the engine still has the Isky solid roller in it and i need new lifters or the pins bearings rebuilt. These are the ancient slider alignment solid rollers that Isky hasn't made in decades.
The foam backed headliner fell in i tried to repair it and ruined the tetra surface so i took the cardboard headliner out and it ended up getting damaged so I need a new headliner. Paint is about trashed after 35 years since I repainted it. the auburn cone posi wore out and i lost the right rear axle bearing that was in the car which was a 68 GTO rear axle that Kern set up for the T/A I replaced it with a 3.23 posi out of a 78 T/A i would like to rebuild it since it was a 3.55 and I always liked how the auburn cone unit posi's worked
The Interior is worn out and it also needs new carpet. The Interior was not a 73 interior Kern had a 72 Custom perforated interior from a 72 Bird in the car. I like it better as well so will try and return those things to the way they were when i got the car.

Will post pics as the car sits now and more info .

I would like to thank Kern, H-O for making a dream come true and my dad,

I never could have afforded my dream car without your help when it really mattered, Thanks dad
. I will do my best to put the car back to the shape it was in when I became the new owner.
Pics of car now to follow

Phoenix Firebird club Pontiac show circa 1982 buddie
Joe's car in front Mine left distant



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