[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Dr. Eric M. Schiffer

Here is a perfect example of the guys behind the scenes at PMD. I just recived this e-mail from a past PMD engineer. It will also give you insight as to how these "GUNG HO" engineers tried to keep PMD out front. By the way Greg wants around $170,000.00 for his T/A.

"Hi Eric,

I got your name from David Emerling; Dave and I go way back. We were both engineers at Pontiac Product Engineering starting in the 1970’s and worked on the Fiero program together.

I mentioned to Dave that I will be selling my 455 SD T/A and he suggested that I contact you. I want the car to go to a good home.

I ordered the car in late 1973 and still have the original order form. I took the car apart in 1980 to make it lighter, handle better, accelerate faster and increase the top speed. I basically duplicated the reworks detailed in a letter I sent to Tom Goad (in Product Planning) in 1973 asking Pontiac to build a TransAm that could run with the fastest Ferrari of the day, the Daytona (365 GTB) at one third the cost and have Car & Driver do another Pontiac vs. Ferrari comparison test. I still have this letter. Pontiac didn’t do it so I did. The car has under 13,000 miles; I had company cars at Pontiac and was single so I only drove the SD on nice days in the spring/summer/early fall. I put 5,000 miles on it on a trip to western Montana.

The car has sat for many years and has deteriorated. It needs paint, exterior, exhaust and interior work. Until the last two years it has been stored in my heated garage. I had a local shop work on it to get it running and they left it outside much of the time.

At any rate, the car contains numerous parts built for me in the Engineering machine shop, one of a kind vendor supplied parts, including a rear stabilizer bar I used for tuning the 73-74 TransAm for radial tires (it was never released as my management felt it was too neutral - I was the Chassis Development engineer for the 73-74 TransAm and did the tuning for radial tires: RTS; I kept Herb Adams in the loop as the T/A was Herb’s baby but Herb was running Special Projects by then (code for racing support/development) – Herb was a mentor for me) and a variety of second gen F car upgrades.

I have a three page document describing the enhancements. To achieve a 170 MPH top speed (car has 3.08’s & THM 400 as it is air conditioned) I put in a shorter stroke forged steel Pontiac SD 421 crank (came in a box with “Smokey” written on it), a wilder hydraulic cam, increased compression pistons as well as some unique engine cooling enhancements used on our 455 SD equipped tire test car at the GM Desert Proving Ground (I spent my summers there doing cooling/HVAC work for many years). I also have a complete set of 455 Super Duty blueprints including drawings for the dry sump system; depending on the purchase price, I may/may not include them with the car. I also have original 455 SD graphs from the GM20 dyno runs performed in our engineering test cells."

I love it.

As you say, a perfect example of what went on in Pontiac Engineering, even after the "glory days" had come and gone.

As an aside, the engine that is currently in my GTO has also been on the Pontiac Engineering dyno. Engineering was so pleased with the dyno results that they determined they were going to keep it. As you might guess, Dad was not in agreement. They almost came to blows (he picked up a nearby hammer to emphasize his point) before Dad could get the engine back - and - as a result he was almost late for work that day.

K