Super Duty's

[GTOYANKEE1970]

Did Pontiac ever put the big power plant (SD 455) in big cars? Just curious, a friend of mine's uncle says he has one.
John

[GTOYANKEE1970]

Did Pontiac ever put the big power plant (SD 455) in big cars? Just curious, a friend of mine's uncle says he has one.
John

[johnta1]

Not from the factory.

Only Trans Ams and Formulas got the SD 455.

[poncho-mike]

And one possible Grand Am, which is highly debated.

Mike

[GTOYANKEE1970]

What if the person worked at GM at the time, and watched it being built?

John

[Stuart]

Well, anything's possible, but I'd think it would have to be someone pretty high up in the Pontiac system to have the pull to get an SD engine put in a full size car.

By the 1970s Pontiac (and pretty much every other manufacturer) wasn't doing anything about performance with their full size cars. In the early and mid 1960s it was a different story.

[gtoric]

Eyewitness accounts amount to hearsay without documentation to backup the claims. Is the car in question still in existance? Unless it was built on a COPO, I can't imagine a car like that leaving the factory. A long line of co-conspirators, starting with the scheduling office and ending with the sign-off inspector, including inventory control, assembly line workers and assembly line inspectors, would all have to put their jobs on the line to allow this sort of creative build to take place. By late '73 the EPA was mandating power team emissions certification, and PMD/GM would have faced possible fines by pushing an uncertified car out the door. If this car was indeed built, chances are real good that all of the paperwork states that it was built with a regular 4bbl 455.

Did it happen? I can't say for sure that it didn't, just that it's highly unlikely. Several cars, other than the TA and Formula, were built by PMD to test the SD455 engine application. The aforementioned Grand Am (some sources say two) plus a GTO were built, but not sold to the public. Cars Magazine named the SD455 GTO as its Car of the Year in 1973. They tested the mule and published their story before PMD dropped the option from the order sheet. Unless they were spirited off by someone connected with PMD, these pilot cars were supposed to have been crushed in '73.

See if you can get more of the story from your friend's uncle. How about some pics? Curious about what the engine V.I.N. stamping would read on that block.

[poncho-mike]

One of the problems in building a 1973-74 big car with the SD455 is the lack of a set of exhaust manifolds to fit it.

As far as I know, the only round port exhaust manifolds that would have fit a 70+ big car would have been the 68 Ram II and 69 Ram IV long branch manifolds.

The big cars and 69 GP with 421/428HO engines all ran the long branch exhaust manifolds. The GTO/70+ Firebird style won't fit.

Mike

[GTOYANKEE1970]

All this makes sense and was what I thought was true from the beginning of this story, but I had to check to be sure. Here's the skinny, it turns out the 73 Granville 2 dr Sport in question was built with the 73 455 HO (?) Police Intercepter motor, TH400, factory dual exhaust and 3:23 posi, not the SD. Bummer. Although a really nice car in it's own right.
Thanks for everyone's input, there sure is a whole lot of knowledge in here isn't there?!

John

[63 Pontiac]

Is this the car on ebay now?


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6386&item=2488651568&rd=1

[BVR421]

Doesnt everybody have a friend or neighbor who claims to have once owned one of those? or a 66GTO with a special order out the back door only sd455 or a grAndprix with a supercharged police interceptor with a -certified- 160 mph speedometer?
If it makes them feel better to remember their 326 4 door lemans that way then thats ok by me.

[loren]

10 4

[cat tracker]

Physical evidence does not lie but people do.
I was in Law Enforcement in the 1973. I recall you could only get a Police Package in a Ford, Plymouth, (Maybe Dodge also) or Chevrolet. They came with a certified speedometer. heavy duty handling package, big brakes, heavy duty radiator, and a special wiring harness so you could put the radio equipment in the trunk and the lights on the roof. I have never seen a Buick, Oldsmobile, or Cadillac police car. Pontiac did build some Police cars in the 1960's and Amarillo Tx PD possibly used them in 1965 or 1966.

I have a fool proof observation where you can always tell if it is or was a Police Car. THE STEERING WHEEL WILL HAVE CHUNKS TAKEN OUT OF IT. When you get out of the driver's seat on a hot call the exposed hammer on your duty weapon will knock a chunk out of it.