[Jack Peters]

What a fantastically gorgeous car. Is it a regular or HO car? I do like the sword stripe. There was a Gold '72 LeMans GT in Kodiak, AK. It was bought new in '72. Just a 350/350, buckets, console, PS,PB but it had a black stripe. The GT, if I remember right, was further back on the fender like the '71 stripe, but it also was not a T-41 optioned car either.

PS. To all. I will try to get the '70-72 stripe photos to you this week. Been out of town and will be out of town for about 2 weeks beginning a week from tomorrow. Promise to try to do it this week. My scanner is still down.

JLP

['ol Pinion head]

Looks sweet Forrest!

One question... Have never seen an endura nosed '71 or 72 A-body with factory installed reflective D98 stripes & I correctly reproduced & marketed all styles of the "sword" style stripes for close to 5 years, speaking to hundreds of '72 owners. Did your car not originally have the "9 stripe" decalls in black & red, just wondering?

[PMDRACER]

Forrest -

Gorgeous car! ---<u>Insert jealousy here.</u>---

TIGER EFI - Electronic Fuel Injection for the Traditional Pontiac Engine. [email protected]

[Forrest]

Hey Guys, this is an original 455 H/O car and has an H/O in it now, also, OPH, the car originally had the same "sword type" stripes but in black, I opted for this color instead,I restored it as exactly as original except for the color of the exterior and a few other options, originally "brittany beige" I may have some pictures of the car before I restored it( it still had the original paint, and sword stripes on it !), I`ll check. thanx for the compliments!!, alot of hard work!!

[supcarbob]

Hey OPH, I remember a 1972 Lemans Sport(not a GT) with Endura Styling Option(GTO front) that we sold new that was white with black vinyl top and interior with the as you call'sword' stripe in blue. I am not sure, but might have build sheet for that car.

[SpartanMSU]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Forrest:
Hey Guys, this is an original 455 H/O car and has an H/O in it now,<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It was my understanding that the 455 badges you have on your car were for 455-4 engines and not the HO. I believe the 455 HO decals should go on the scoops, if not on the front fender? Or this is not true?

[Forrest]

the 455 emblems that are on the fenders were removed from the car before resto( the original emblems were used!) and put back on the exact same spot after painting it, so I know they are correct,and like I said, it was still in it`s original paint, the car only had 74,000 miles on it, it was hit on both sides, and left for dead for many years! are these the emblems you talking about?

['ol Pinion head]

Forrest,
Had the car showed any evidence of ever being repainted when you stripped it? BTW, did you add the wheel opening moldings, just wondering?

Bob,
Appreciate the info, just chiming in, as all the '72 rubber nose cars I've ever run across or parted that had optional D98 stripes, had the 9 stripe version. It may be possible that the reflective style D98 stripe was substituted due to asm plant being out of "9 stripe" version. Just specualation...def need to run across someone who worked in the plants applying body stripes during '72.

[Forrest]

hey OPH, it definitly was the original paint, it did`nt have the wheel well moldings, nor did it have the rear of the hood and fender stainless moldings, I added the moldings on the wheel openings and left the rear moldings on the hood and fenders off as it originally did`nt have them.nc

[CDN2PLS2]

Hey Roger,isn't the solid stripe part of the GT package in '72? I've seen original paint cars like this.I'll try to find pics.

['ol Pinion head]

Mark,
Agreed, the reflective D98 stripe was part of pkg on non endura '72 LeMans GT's. From plant practice, some had the GT cutout in the front fender stripe, some had the regular D98 reflective stripe with no cutout.

The stacked pinstripe design "9 stripe" design decal was used on many endura nosed '72 LeMans GT's & GTO's & was avail on regular T41 LeMans 2 doors when ordered with D98 stripes. Can remember when I was advertising the reflective stripes for sale, had quite a few inquiries from endura nose '72 LeMans GT owners wanting the "9 stripe" style... this was before Stencils & Stripes repro'ed the "9 stripe" style.

My understanding on the avail of the 9 stripe version, is due to the fender vents interfering with the lower portion of the reflective stripe, the reflective stripes were not to be used on endura nosed 2 doors. On such 9 stripe decalled Lemans GT's, the only GT identification would be on the rh side of the decklid.

From actual assembly plant practice, it appears some endura nose '72 leMans GT's were built with the reflective stripes, maybe the asm plant was out of 9 stripe version, or that is how that plant built the car, hard to say. Def be nice to speak with some fellows who worked in make-ready at the end of the lines or some of the folks who actually applied the stripes. Knowing what their directions were, would help clear this up.

[4SLASH6]

dug this up the other day, sorry bout the poor pic quality, this is a 72 lemans sport(non enduro)if you look close you can see sword stripe(reflective at night)neat thing is this was a 350 2bbl 4-spd car!

thought I was wrong once.......but I was mistakin

[4SLASH6]

try again?

thought I was wrong once.......but I was mistakin

[4SLASH6]

sorry bout the suspense ,last try new format

thought I was wrong once.......but I was mistakin

[Lloyd-TX]

Forrest, that's one BEAUTIFUL car!!! And, rare hardly begins to describe it. 1 of 5? How many left??? Only one other I'm aware of . . .

Poncho-Mike needs to get in on this thread. He's got one! He describes it as rough, but RARE indeed.

Also, way back in the early 80's, I saw another '72 T41 LeMans GT with those same "455" emblems in exactly the same position. It was a darn nice looking Lucerne Blue hardtop car. I saw it racing at the old Houston International Dragway on 45 south near Galveston. I was there racing my chrome-nosed Lucerne Blue '72 LeMans GT (455HO transplant) and I never got a chance to look at it up close, so I don't know if it was a d-port or a 455HO car.

Roger: I know my memory ain't the best, but I'll swear that the T41 455 LeMans GT I mention above had the white, reflective "sword" stripes on it. It APPEARED to be an original paint car as well.

Maybe some day my '72 GTO will look half as nice as Forrest's car!

Later,
Lloyd

'72 Formula 455 - TH400, 3.08 posi, A/C, Y99 suspension, tach & gauges, AM-FM stereo, 8-track, Formula steering wheel, etc.; Lucerne Blue with Medium Blue deluxe Interior; 12.96 @ 104 MPH @ the '03 PSN's

Soon I'll starting a body-off restoration on a 72 GTO 455HO, TH400, A/C, etc.; Sundance Orange with Ivory buckets

[This message was edited by Lloyd-TX on August 19, 2003 at 06:34 PM.]

[Lloyd-TX]

Possible correction - I'm unsure if poncho-mike's '72 455HO LeMans convert is a GT or not.

Mike, where are you?

Lloyd

'72 Formula 455 - TH400, 3.08 posi, A/C, Y99 suspension, tach & gauges, AM-FM stereo, 8-track, Formula steering wheel, etc.; Lucerne Blue with Medium Blue deluxe Interior; 12.96 @ 104 MPH @ the '03 PSN's

Soon I'll starting a body-off restoration on a 72 GTO 455HO, TH400, A/C, etc.; Sundance Orange with Ivory buckets

[Sport71]

wow. WOW!! Forrest, that's an absolute beauty! I'm partial to the '71s and '72s myself. Have never seen one like that before. Care to share any more pics?

[Forrest]

thanx again for all the great comments! Ive been waiting for some time till the car was done to post it, I will try to put up some more picts tomorrow( hopefully I can get them smaller!! my wife`s the expert on this here computer!)

[Lloyd-TX]

OK, it's been bugging me all last night, so this morning I got out ALL of my old pics from years past and went through them until I found what i was looking for - two pics of the Lucerne Blue '72 T41 LeMans I mentioned in my post above. One real good side shot showing the white reflective "spear" side stripes and one fair (not very close) rear shot.

Now I'm unsure if this car was a LeMans GT or not. Clearly no GT identification or anything else in the side view except for the above mentioned "455" badge - just aft of the front side marker lamp. The rear shot once again isn't too clear, but I can't make out a "GT" decal on the RH side of the deck lid like my chrome-nosed '72 GT had. I can see the "PONTIAC" emblem below the lock cylinder.

I also found the negatives for the pics, so I'm gonna have reprints and a CD made from the negatives and I'll post them ASAP. If there's any way I can determine the license plate number from the reprints, I'm gonna make an attempt to find out what happened to this car. Small chance of that since these pics were taken in the very early 80's. I'd sure like to find out if this was a HO car!

Later,
Lloyd

'72 Formula 455 - TH400, 3.08 posi, A/C, Y99 suspension, tach & gauges, AM-FM stereo, 8-track, Formula steering wheel, etc.; Lucerne Blue with Medium Blue deluxe Interior; 12.96 @ 104 MPH @ the '03 PSN's

Soon I'll starting a body-off restoration on a 72 GTO 455HO, TH400, A/C, etc.; Sundance Orange with Ivory buckets

[CDN2PLS2]

The sword stripe was not a big deal with the endura,only the bottom strip needed to be trimmed for the vent.Can anybody post pics for me if I e-mail them?