1973 Pontiac Trans Am Superduty 455 Body-Off Resto

Hbigblock_427 · #1 02-28-2015, 05:33 PM

1973 Trans Am SUPERDUTY 455
Hemmings Muscle Machines
Restoration Feature Cover 2014

**stritestoration** · #2 03-01-2015, 03:47 PM

Impressive

Postsedan · #3 03-01-2015, 04:18 PM

I remember her well [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img] Beautiful [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

Best of luck.

Dan

**Charley Lillard** · #4 03-01-2015, 04:24 PM

Can we assume this was a automatic car converted to a 4 speed ? Just mentioning because it has AC.

68 Vert · #5 03-01-2015, 04:24 PM

Very nice car, one of 72 stick cars. I can dream....

**njsteve** · #6 03-01-2015, 07:42 PM

It is an automatic car converted to a 4-speed. It was parked in the Class of 1973 display, with my SD455 Formula at the MCACN in 2013. Very nice car. One of 180 autos produced out of 252 total SD455 Trans Ams. There were also 43 SD455 Formulas built.

(You could not get A/C with a 4-speed on an SD455. Many people tried to order them that way and the orders were kicked back with the instructions to the dealers to either drop the A/C or change the order to an automatic. Many potential buyers had their orders cancelled due to the ordering snafu when the dealers neglected to recontact the buyers about the problem. Since all the SD455s were built in the last month or two of production, there was a very small window to fix your order before it got cancelled outright and you had to try to reorder the car as a 1974.)

Here it is at MCACN:

**Dave Rifkin** · #7 03-01-2015, 11:52 PM

Wow Steve that explanation about the AC and 4 speed really clears things up about the '73 TA my parents ordered new. They placed an order at Haines Pontiac for a Buccaneer Red with white interior '73 SD 455 4 speed. They ordered it with air conditioning; when the car arrived it had AC but was not equipped with the SD engine.

Your post above explains why they might have gotten the standard 455 in place of the SD.

BTW: very nice car for sale.

**njsteve** · #8 03-02-2015, 12:21 AM

Yeah, I forgot to mention option three which was to substitute the standard D-port 455 instead of the SD455. That was the only way you could get a four speed and AC. Many dealers did that without ever asking the customer, which was exactly what happened to your parent's order.

Material_Boy · #9 03-02-2015, 01:41 AM

Steve,
At first glance I thought this was the car you did several years ago, but after looking at the responses I think your car was a 72. Correct? I still refer back to your thread from time to time. Lotta helpful stuff.

Dave

**njsteve** · #10 03-02-2015, 02:16 AM

Yes mine was a 72