[Sprintfrk73]

Hey guys, I just thought some of my fellow X-body fans might like this, note the 455 HO sticker on the fender,

[cwolf]

That's Cool too bad it's not in color

[screamingchief]

I've seen that picture before,the book it's in is out of print now I believe.

I had the name written down somewhere,my friend has a copy of it.

It was a one off design study/test vehicle for a possible release that never made the cut from what I understand.

Most likely destroyed or turned back into a generic ventura and sold.

[cwolf]

I like the honeycomb wheels I hope I can find a good set o9ne day at a price I can afford for mine I think it set it apart a little

[screamingchief]

The 14" honeycomb wheels are pretty easy to find if your not picky about that,I've passed on at least two sets of those just recently,and they were in pretty decent shape and only need minor detail work and a trim ring or two.

The 15" ones are much more popular,thus harder to find,and more expensive when you do come across them.

This car pictured would have surely had the 14" ones on it as that is the size wheel the venturas used.

[cwolf]

SC they are neat but around here they are hard to find cheap or reasonablely priced. I would like to have 15 inch but would be happy with 14 inch.Maybe one day when I can afford it.

[Sprintfrk73]

screaming chief, was this the book ?

[screamingchief]

No,it was another book,same picture though,the pic is a factory photo at the GM proving grounds.

The book I saw it in was a muscle car book with a section on pontiacs as I remember,I believe there were 1 or 2 other pictures of the car as well,along with some short text discussing the car.

It was a fore-runner to what eventually became the GTO for '74,If you notice in the picture it is a ventura II ('71-'72),which used the chevy V-8's those years,I believe this was one of the cars built to study the use of the pontiac V-8 in this platform,just so happened they used a 455 H-O motor.

I doubt that combination would have ever have made it to the general public due to GM's HP/weight doctrine and the expected insurance penalty such a car would have surely carried,just would have been too damn hot!

I'd bet money that car propely tuned with traction,could have easily given ANY COPO chevy,buick GS,hemi chrysler,cobra jet ford,whatever,a run for its money EASILY...

And this was a low compression,relatively mild engine for the most part.

Too bad it never made it past the planning stage...

I'll see if I can borrow the book and post the info sometime,I'll include the title and other info as well.

[cwolf]

SC it sounds real interesting I would like to learn more

[BILTIT]

Originally Posted by cwolf

SC they are neat but around here they are hard to find cheap or reasonablely priced. I would like to have 15 inch but would be happy with 14 inch.Maybe one day when I can afford it.

I have two sitting in my back yard you can have for the price of shipping! Not sure if they are 14'' or 15''.

[cwolf]

Thanks BILTIT But wouldn't it be expensive to ship from Canada to North Carolina?

[BILTIT]

I assume it would be alittle pricey but might be cheaper than buying some!.

[cwolf]

Cool I would be interested.Do you have any idea how much it might cost?

What info do you need? you can pm me or email me at cliffordhufham@yahoo.com

[screamingchief]

Ok guys,borrowed the book from my friend,got the info on it so here you go,In the engine underhood pic you can see the engine is a YE code 455 H-O for '71,this also indicates it was likely an automatic trans equipped car.

And the wheels on it were indeed 15" wheels,with F-60 series tires much like a T/A would have been equipped with.

Booster master cylinder combo indicates the car was disc brake equipped,also power steering equipped as well.

Car was a non AC equipped car as evidenced by the odd location of the washer fluid bottle on the cowl.

Here are the pics:

[screamingchief]

The biggest question I can think of is which manifolds were they going to use,because in this chassis with the round port H-O heads the only H-O style manifolds that would have fit right would have been the early firebird RAII/IV "long branch" style.

And those are amongst the rarest of the H-O style manifolds!

It would have just been a shame to put log manifolds in there with that H-O engine...

Nonetheless it would be an awesome "phantom" to make a clone of if you ask me!

[cwolf]

I wonder if they have reprints of that book with that ventura in it?

[Colin]

2 of them for sale (used) at amazon.com. No new ones anywhere....no reprints.

[cwolf]

Thanks,Colin

[Todd Kozak]

I keep thinking about the Ventura sprint with 455HO. Would this car have had long-branch exhaust manifolds?