[gto4door]

Intro of the 1972 Pontiacs from the October 1971 issue of Motor Trend. New bumpers for the intermediates, unitized ignition.....Pontiac still building exciting cars.

[gto4door]

Also in the October 1971 issue, Motor Trend did a comparison test "Where There's Smoke There's Hope". The 1972 GTO with 455HO auto did the 1/4 mile in 14.6 secs. The 455HO 4-speed Formula did not do as well.

[Lloyd-TX]

Superb "back in the day" road tests, John.

Mucho thanks for posting!

[BAN]

Cool!

Whats up with the trundel wheel on the back of the T/A , some kind of distance counter?

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by BAN

Cool!

Whats up with the trundel wheel on the back of the T/A , some kind of distance counter?

Yep - back in the day, before laptops and accelerometers, etc., the so-called "fifth wheel" was the defacto method of taking distance-to-speed measurements.

[Lloyd-TX]

Oh yeah, I forgot - you just gotta love the so-called "454 HO" in that Formula, LOL.

[johnta1]

That was funny Lloyd.



I'd say the Formula had a front to rear weight bias problem.
If they had better tires (like now) it probably would have been closer, if not faster.

Not sure of the weight they claimed, though.

I weighted my 1970 Formula the same time a friend of mine did with his 1970 Chevelle BBC engine.
He always told me I weighed a lot less than him.

Mine weighed 3650 without me and his weighed 3600!



Anyway I'd take either one right now.

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by johnta1

That was funny Lloyd.



I'd say the Formula had a front to rear weight bias problem.
If they had better tires (like now) it probably would have been closer, if not faster

In addition, magazine writers/testers of that day were ANIMALS! I'll guarantee you that poor Formy had been beaten like a red-headed stepchild - MANY times - driven like they stole it .

No doubt that the engine AND clutch were TIRED ! That and those early Radial TA tires most likely weren't the best for banzai acceleration runs either.

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by johnta1

Not sure of the weight they claimed, though.

I weighted my 1970 Formula the same time a friend of mine did with his 1970 Chevelle BBC engine.
He always told me I weighed a lot less than him.

Mine weighed 3650 without me and his weighed 3600!

Forgot to add that I weighed my Formy at the Ennis track for it's Pavement Pounders article - 3700# without my fat butt in it. Auto and air car with LOADS of options. Really surprised me as I thought it would weigh at least 3850 or so . . .

[A.W.Dille]

Good article. While not having any of the Pontiac's tested I do know that the 351CJ was faster than what they tested. My 72 Mach1 was a four speed with 3.50 gears, smokey launches in first and breaking the tires lose in second would still result in quarter mile times in the 15.30's and never dropped off above 60mph, in fact it started pulling better in the higher rpm ranges. And I can't believe a 350 in a Z/28 would be quicker than a 455HO GTO. I think they were trying to make the Chevy look good.

[2002Z4CSS]

Good reading!