Pontiac's SD 455

[ssl78396]

Hmmmm..
Wow..
Pontiac's Trans Am SD 455 all over ebay 100g's+
What's up with that
Well I guess will see what reality is..

[njsteve]

The 74's don't go for nearly as much as the 73s do, even when they're really nice with 16,000 miles.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Pontiac-T...s#ht_632wt_1167

And the 73's that have appeared on ebay lately have been in need of some major work. Like this one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=160412003411

They keep dropping their buy-it-now price every few days. Started at $125K in last auction, then went to $95K, this morning is was reset to $89K. If the quarters look that bad in the photos I can't imagine how bad they are in person. And do you really think a Jeep dealer correctly rebuilt the SD455 engine in that car? That's like having your local Autozone rebuild your ZL1 engine.

[69 Post Sedan]

My cousin has a white 74 SD. That was the first car I ever drove with an automatic that was bone stock and would tear up 2nd gear!

[L78steve]

I had a 74 SD back in the 80s. In stock form it was a turd. With a true dual exhaust system, 041 spec cam, carb rods,open up the shaker and a distributor re-curve, Hold on.

[1970Bluel78]

[ QUOTE ]
I had a 74 SD back in the 80s. In stock form it was a turd. With a true dual exhaust system, 041 spec cam, carb rods,open up the shaker and a distributor re-curve, Hold on.

[/ QUOTE ]
You must have had a lemon. My buddy bought one new ( still has it ) That car lights em up at will. The dist is recurved and the scoop opened also, but otherwise all stock

[RichSchmidt]

They are very rare cars,more rare then Yenko/Copo cars.70 thru 73 Firebirds have a rabid following that rivals or exceeds that of their first gen counterparts.The SD cars were the last of the Muscle era Muscle cars,and were legitimatly fast in the road tests of the day,because of the fact that the engines were powerful,combined with the fact that the much wider radial tires gave them much better showroom stock traction then bogblock cars of just a few years earlier that ran on 6 inch tread with bias plys.Mid 13's in off the showroom floor trim with road and track type drivers is faster then the majority of off the floor 454 Chevelles and Hemi Cuda's of that era.In today's market any muscle car going over 100K has to be the cream of the crop,but in all fairness the 73 SD cars are among the best,and are much more sought after then the much more garden variety 454 4 barrel T/A's and Formulas of that year,so I could see them commanding top dollar.Remeber that we are talking about some of the best performing muscle cars with what could be only double digit numbers of remaining examples.

[Steve Shauger]

SD are unique, but for roughly half the price and just as fast I rather buy a couple of 71-72 TA, 455HO's.

[southernfriedcj]

[ QUOTE ]
...and are much more sought after then the much more garden variety 454 4 barrel T/A's and Formulas of that year

[/ QUOTE ]

A factory 454 Trans Am is indeed a rare Bird!

[Keith Tedford]

I think I read somewhere that the very early road test SD cars were ringers with a different cam. They were running mid 13s when anything else in '73-'74 couldn't get out of its own way. It seems that even the production ones ran pretty well. In the sixties, Pontiac wasn't above a little creative advertising as in the Ferrari-GTO road test comparison so nothing surprises me there. In '68, I had a warmed over RA 400 Firebird, later a '69 GTO, and more recently a '72 Lemans Sport with a warmed over '70 455. These can be mild mannered, smooth as glass to drive and still run 12s with very little work done to them. Not bad for a basic design from the '50s. Those 454 Firebirds were built here in Canada where they built the 302 Firebirds that Titus raced in the TransAm series in the late '60s.

[GTO_DON]

[ QUOTE ]
SD are unique, but for roughly half the price and just as fast I rather buy a couple of 71-72 TA, 455HO's.

[/ QUOTE ]Steve I hear ya but you and everyone else here is forgetting the fact this is a true survivor car with 16 thousand miles! Any 71-72 T/A with 16k on it would be in the 80-90 range also and this car id well optioned with the very rare cloth inserts on the seats which I believe only a handful were built. I think if it was a 73 T/A with these miles the owner would be asking 130-140 for it. Personally I think its a great car and I like the 74's as much as the 73's.My whole issue with the car is the fact it has to stay in a garage and you cant drive the [censored] out of it like it was built to do. Great car with nice pedigree and colors is JMHO BTW My old 77 Bandit car which is a nothing car but way cool with 10,000 miles on it just sold at auction for over 62,000 so maybe this T/a isnt that high.