[Ken K]

The 89 TTA had a Buick engine. No arguement the Ram Air IV was faster than the 74 SD.

[bonneville Joe]

I'm well aware of that. It had a Buick block with PONTIAC redesigned heads. I owned one.

[b-man]

The '89 TTA was made after '79.

There were no Pontiacs made after '79.

Right?

[455Grandville]

Originally Posted by bonneville Joe

fwiw a '89 TTA would smoke just about any other production gm car period.

hp wise, a '78 W72 in stock trim was rated the same as the vette (and that's gm rating and we all know they fudged those) the pontiac made WAY more torque.

let's get technical.

If you want to use the "my car is faster" mentality, a '70 RA IV car would destroy a '74 SD any day of the week.

Most road tests of the era had 78-79 400/4 speed cars running around 15.3 which what many std GTOs, SS396 Chevelles, 390 Stangs, and 383 Roadrunners ran in the late 60s.

[Ken K]

I drove a Roadrunner with a 383 and a 4 speed, it was not impressive at all. A early GTO with a 4 speed is much better.

[mikeb]

Originally Posted by Ken K

The W72 was as fast as the same year Corvette which is not saying much. The Dodge Little Red Express was faster (as in truck). Trucks did not have to have a cat converter.

I whipped the crap out of a lil red express back in the day with my 403 powered bird..... several times, in fact, at the local unsanctioned drag strip

[Ken K]

The fastest street car around here back in the day was a 67 Dodge Coronet RT with a 440. I never saw that car get beat.

[David Holmberg]

My bone stock 78 Y88 W72 loaded TA went 15.14 stock.
With 74 bird head pipes into the stock resonators it went 14.71, with the factory tires.
With L-60 radials a flex fan and the shaker opened up and no filter it went 14.34

After that I installed a Jimmy Wright built 455 and went into the 12's in full street trim.

[bird72]

I had two 1978 W72 4 speed cars at different times. The first felt a tiny bit faster for some reason. Both had true dual exhaust, and opened scoops, otherwise stock unrebuilt. I would charecterize these engines as in the power neighborhood and personality of a 325 HP 396 for reference, that is what they reminded me off at the time.... I believe they were definitely underrated by the factory HP-wise, 220HP, who were they kidding? They were nice engines needing a little tuning and decent exhaust was all.... they were wayyyy out of character with anything else 1978 Detroit was putting out, one last Poncho throwback to the old, before the 301 dog days took hold....

[Cobrabill]

Originally Posted by SRR

The last Pontiac was made in '79.

.................X2

[SRR]

Originally Posted by bird72

I had two 1978 W72 4 speed cars at different times. The first felt a tiny bit faster for some reason. Both had true dual exhaust, and opened scoops, otherwise stock unrebuilt. I would charecterize these engines as in the power neighborhood and personality of a 325 HP 396 for reference, that is what they reminded me off at the time.... I believe they were definitely underrated by the factory HP-wise, 220HP, who were they kidding? They were nice engines needing a little tuning and decent exhaust was all.... they were wayyyy out of character with anything else 1978 Detroit was putting out, one last Poncho throwback to the old, before the 301 dog days took hold....

I drove these things fresh off the truck when I worked at a Pontiac dealer in the 70's. I was impressed even then.

[SRR]

I have to admit that I'm want an 05 GTO real bad even if it looks like a jelly bean. I'm torn between an auto or a stick though.

[Ken K]

Now you made me pull out the Muscle Car Chronical. It says the 10th anniverary T/A cost $10,619 and turned 16 second ETs.

[PONTIAC LARRY]

A buddy rebuilt a W72 79 TA with only mods being flat top pistons , Summit 2801 cam and HO manifolds with true duals. It had the T10 and 3.23's. The guy he sold it to whipped his buddy's 455 HO automatic 3.08 geared 71-72 TA
Our 78 W72 Formula project is starting off with a 455 but I have a low mileage 78 4 spd shortblock with the W72 cam.. Thinking of eventually rebuilding it all stock...

[PONTIAC LARRY]

Originally Posted by Ken K

Now you made me pull out the Muscle Car Chronical. It says the 10th anniverary T/A cost $10,619 and turned 16 second ETs.

They must off been bad drivers, The roadtest of the 79 10th anniversary W72 TA I saw showed 15.1-15.3 range up at 95 mph..

[Ken K]

The times really dropped off after 1974. The book lumps 1975-1993 together. It says a 1974 245hp Z28 turned mid 15s. It says a 1974 AMX with a 401 was also mid 15s and 1974 Duster 360 was 15.8. You don't see the cars getting any faster until they started using fuel injection.

[mike nixon]

You know instead of arguing over when the last Pontiac was built We should be be concerned about where the ones we own now will be going in the future. Be it a racer, trailer queen or a street warrior /driver where it goes after us will either be into the crusher or on the othe next owner who cares about it.

Mike

[David Holmberg]

Originally Posted by SRR

I drove these things fresh off the truck when I worked at a Pontiac dealer in the 70's. I was impressed even then.

Me too! I worked at Charlie Sturgil Pontiac in 79/80 and drove every car that was delivered to the lot. (One way streets caused anything leaving the service dept to go around the block to get to the sales lot.)

The 73-77 TA's weren't that impressive either, mostly because of gearing and factory tune ups. The 78/79 W72 cars were quicker.

From 78 to 84 I owned and raced
71 TA HO 4-speed white/blue int
73 Brewster Green TA 455/auto
78 Y88-W72-WS6 TA, Auto
80 Turbo TA, stock, then a low 14 sec 400, then a 455.

If the 6x based 400 of 77-79 wasn't so good, why has it always been so popular in the NHRA stock classes? It hasn't been a secret for 20 years.

And Car and Driver tested the 79 TA at 15.10

[Scarebird]

Originally Posted by SRR

I have to admit that I'm want an 05 GTO real bad even if it looks like a jelly bean. I'm torn between an auto or a stick though.

6 speed - only way to roll with those.

[David Holmberg]

6 speed = more fun to drive.
Auto + Converter = MUCH quicker when playing.