Now for '74 Birds. There have been lots of '74 Birds in Stock & SS. That '74 400 engine seems to be very popular with quite a few class racers.
The Class Racer Info site shows it to have a 275 NHRA hp factor, for all Stockers. And, it can be run in Formys, T/A's, and all A-bodies, including wagons.
http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...1&MAKE=Pontiac
The D-port 455 & SD455 can also be run in the Formy & T/A.
In recent years, the only three '74 bird Stockers I remember being in competition, was the Lindy Lindholm Formy, that was stolen, a Texas T/A, driven by Hunter Pierdolla, and the Bob Mulry Formy. Bob's car was probably the quickest Pontiac Stocker ever, against it's index, going more than 1.5 sec under, going more than a sec under MANY times, & qualifying #1 at lots or races. I'll use the nest post for more on Bob's car.
Lindy's car ran lots of West coast races. Usually qualified well.
Hunter Pierdolla ran his Bird in nat events in Houston & Dallas a few times. Also ran some other div 4 races. A pic of the car was posted on the John Clegg Mission Garage site. It also has Mission Garage on the side of it. I read that Hunter's Dad, Forest, built the car.
It runs in H/SA. So, from my calculations, it has the D-port 455 engine, with an NHRA 306hp factor. A quick search found a best ET of 11.159, which was .991 under the index. That reminds me of just how quick Stockers are now. H-O set the nat rec, with a '74 SD455 car, in SS/KA, at 11.31. This car went quicker than that, in Stock !
https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCStory.asp?ID=309188
The older pic of the engine, shows it with SD 455 on the shaker scoop. So, I suppose it had the SD455, at that time. But, using an online calculator, the lowest class I can see that it could run, with the SD455, would be G/SA. The hp factor for stock auto is 335hp. The NHRA weight for the T/A is 3668lbs. So, that comes out to just under 11lbs/hp.
3668 lbs divided by 335hp = 10.949..........
That means the car is a natural F/SA. But since you can add weight to make the next lower class, with just a small amount added, the car could run G/SA, @ 11lbs/hp. If ya'll see something I'm missing that would allow a '74 SD455 T/A to run H/SA, please post that info.
http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...3&MAKE=Pontiac
http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...px?ENGINE=2093
http://www.classracerinfo.com/NHRA_Classes.aspx