[mscicluna007]

First and Foremost Thankyou to a few People.

James Rotella & Rocky Rotella for their hard work behind the scenes in discovering my cars history.

Leigh Peddel in Australia as he started the PY Thread behind the scenes to help solve the questions I did not have answers to.

And the PY Thread and its members for all the information that has and is coming forward.

Big Thanks to High Performance Pontiac Magazine for agreeing to run the story and helping document the car.

I have been waiting patiently until the magazine went to the shelves to allow Rocky the credit he deserves. He has spoken to countless people and even flown out of state to try and solve this one. Countless Emails back and forth and alot of his own time to help document this correctly.

I hope more information comes forward but for now most avenues may have been Exhausted.

I bought this car as a 73 TA and I was proud to own it as just that. So anything else is a bonus.

I want this thread to be about the Restoration and Getting the car documented correctly to aid with the restoration as best I can. I am keeping the car original as far as I can and what I don't get to now I will get to one day as it will eat me alive not doing it right.

I will be uploading Pictures of the restoration and I think some things might help others with their Restorations with things like the Paint under the floorpans.

The last 3 months I have spent stripping the car down prepping it for summer to try and get in to a Panel Shop that is trusted. It is nearly ready to leave and I hope its out by Christmas.

I will try to answer what I can and I am sure you will help me with this restoration. I had a ten year plan with the car and hopeful to have it done in 5 years. I think I am well ahead of schedule LOL at the moment so I will just keep progressing. I have taken ridiculous amounts of photos prior to and after removal of parts so when they go back in due course they will look correct.

Feel free to comment.



1973 SD-455 Y CODE T/A MAGAZINE TEST CAR

Michael Scicluna

AUS

[bossbirdta]

BITCHIN'......

Best of luck!!!!!

[Pepi]

Awesome, can't wait to follow that thread.

[GRNMTGOAT]

A good story, just got the mag yesterday.It will be interesting to find out if the motor made it to Aussie ? Enjoy the resto you lucky guy, regards Bruce.

[165th]

Great story!

Yeah to all those who researched and put the pieces together to recognize this car and get the story out.

And kudo's to you for making the decision to bring her back to her days of Glory. I know it probably wasn't your first thought on what direction to go so I applaud you.

Only here on PY would this have turned out like this!

Good luck with the restoration.

[LeighP]

Waiting on the magazine....hope I can find it locally.

Honored to have just a small part in uncovering the nature of this car's history, and getting a chance to see it in person and talk to Michael.....great to know this car is found, and in pretty good restorable condition.

[The Boss]

Very cool car, can't wait to see the story come full circle!

[1qikta]

Just got my issue. Great story.

[se428bandit]

Received my magazine today,that is a great story on that car.Looking forward to seeing that T/A restored.

[Formulajones]

I don't subscribe to that mag anymore, but it sure is neat to hear that another cars cool history is documented.

[mscicluna007]

This is where Alot of the detective work started on discovering the cars history.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=704249

Leigh was a great help along with the Rotellas and the members of the thread also.

[Brewster]

Great read and look forward in watching the restoration.
Cheers!

[mscicluna007]

So the Eagle had a coat of Paint but luckily when I bought the car I was given a GM Replacement Decal that is still intact and very useable.

[mscicluna007]

So this is the block I have a 455 WT 485428 Casting Block.

Going by the numbers It belongs to one year model car only and thats a 1973 firebird T/A or Formula Manual Vehicle so if your car is missing its motor than I might have it.

It has a partial VIN and how this made its way here may answer some questions that I was seeking.

This is a complete motor with correct casting heads and Carburettor and manifold.

Only the distributor was replaced with a Mallaroy twin point dizzy.

[mscicluna007]

These are the 4x heads that fixed my back for a good two weeks after I tore a ligament carrying them one at a time of course.

[mscicluna007]

Shaker setup great to see it all their

[LeighP]

Nice thing about this car is that surprisingly, an huge amount of the original car is still present.....seems the only thing that was removed was the SD itself.
Given it's gone through many owners, a lot of whom were not Pontiac collectors, I am truly surprised it was not modified, chopped about or otherwise destroyed. Even the original Rally IIs are still on the car.
My 76 T/A had the same multi owner treatment, and a genuine 455 Starlight Black 4 speed T/A ended up, by the time I bought it, as a light blue, 350 SBC powered auto with almost none of the original options still fitted....sad, but not unusual.

[mscicluna007]

I think the 70's was too well known for racing and the cars probably saw the drag strip much more than they would today.

[mscicluna007]

This was probably the worst area. The original carpet was thrown out and a custom one fitted some time after conversion back in 1981. The Dash is a fibreglass dash in RHD which has now been pulled from the car as I am now prepping the car to return it to LHD.

The seats not much was left off as they had detiorated and had basic repairs over the vinyl. Their is obviously no build sheets tucked in any crevice and trust me I have looked everywhere.

The rear frames were in poor condition.

I have since sourced a good second hand set.

[mscicluna007]

I obtained these seats last weekend. Travelled 900kms from home to collect and 900 kms back to home and they were well worth the trip. Much better condition than mine.