1974 Pontiac Trans Am 455 Super Duty

Hello fellow F-chaters
Up for sale is my 1974 Trans Am SD-455
Real X code car, Numbers matching engine and Trans.
Car was painted in mid nineties; paint shows really well but not perfect, absolutely no rust, still has the original primer on the floorboards.
This is a heavily loaded model with every imaginable option.
A/C, PW, PL, tilt wheel, rear defrost, also the RARE rear console.
Build sheet / PHS documentation, as well as service records will go with the car.
Engine’s been rebuilt with performance in mind; Even with TH400 and 3.08 r/e this SD will annihilate the rear tires on a roll.
Interior is in excellent shape, Dash is perfect, comes with the HURST dual gate shifter.
This car’s equipped with what’s believed to be a dealer-installed sunroof.
Original exhaust manifolds, SD cam, and original shifter go with the car.
I’ve been around Pontiacs and had many T/As and GTOs over the years; this is a solid, unmolested honest SD, extremely fun, very fast.
Asking $75000.00 , I will entertain all reasonable offers.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Nice GLWS
Something hot about having SD-455 on the hood of a car.

 

Awesome!

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

 

Nice car I am looking to buy a trans am.
But this one is not in the budget.

 

what was the rated HP for this car in 1974 model year?

 

Did the Hurst shifter come with this car originally?

 

This is an automatic transmission...

Very nice example!
GLWS

The SD 455, was the last engine used, in the early ( I call '71 thru '74) TransAms.

Not to be confused with the 1971 power plants.
The Top Dog from the factory, then was the 400 CI Ram Air III

But, with connections, the dealer could install the even more powerful (390HP?) Ram Air IV.
Crate motor option only.....

The SD-455 is a very nice power plant, the last of the true Pontiac blocks, with a piece of rope, for the rear main crank seal.

After that, we got 403CI Oldsmobile blocks......

 

Thank you for the kind words guys. Hope that I can find a good home for it.

I installed the Hurst shifter, not that I tracked this car, gated shifters work well , there is no chance of shifting into neutral or reverse. I've saved the original shifter, it's a early swap.

Depending on which publication you read, sd455s are rated @ 290/310 hp, but those figures are underrated. I've had two of these , both made 285to 298RWH on a chassis dyno.

 

The Hurst actually WAS installed in a lot of the top line Pontiacs...a lot of 60s GTOs and such..

It's just that by 1974, the Feds were shutting us down, as fast as they could!!

 

'70 was the raIII and raIV, both available from the factory. The raV was a dealer only unit - it was a monster, tunnel port motor built for trans am racing (in 303ci size, but the dealer units were usually 400's). '71 and '72 had the 455HO, which was the precursor to the super duty in '73 and '74. '73 was rated 310hp but Pontiac got busted for cheating on emissions and they had to put a slightly cooler cam in the '74, so was rated at 290hp. They started putting 403's in '77 but made the Pontiac 400's through '79 in manual trans cars, after that it was pontiac 301 (both turbo and non-turbo) with some chevy 305's in manual trans and california cars.

The raIV, 455HO and SD 455's were the baddest they ever made, all had the high flowing round port heads with decently hefty cams, and all were very rare. The SD was arguably the most highly built with forged crank and rods and provisions on the block for dry sump lubrication, though a bit strangled by lower compression and, in '74, the smaller cam. The '73 had the same high overlap/lift cam as the '70 RAIV and made almost the same power despite having 8.4:1 compression vs 10.5:1 for the raIV.

Beautiful and rare car op, GLWS.

 

Real Pontiac engines were used in Trans Ams through '76.
The subject car's SD engine is still a true performer, not like the tamer 455s used in the pedestrian models, in that regard it is the last.
Beautiful car in great colors GLWS

 

Fun to see this car.
Owned a '73 SD for 23 years and loved it. Relinquished only towards pursuit of life long dream of a Ferrari and then only to a best friends garage where it currently resides. Relative to other muscle of the period, IMO the best complete package with handling, ride, interior trim/instruments/comfort, reliability and terrific power.
I don't believe the crank was produced forged. It was cast with rolled fillets in the interest of production cost. The pistons were TRW forged pieces, placed in the unique SD reinforced blocks with huge piston to wall clearances. The SD owners manual supplement said to expect to lose a quart of oil in the 600-700 mile interval. An original car sounds like a diesel upon cold start up due to piston slap going away as the pistons heat up and expand.
The 310 hp cam (a facsimile to the RA IV cam) never was known to make it into production. EPA stopped it in May of 1973. First cars were thought to be built in June 1973. Engines were supposed to be identical for both years. Very limited 2 year production.
Actual horsepower was significantly higher than published numbers which were for the insurance companies. Pontiac built these as everyone else was leaving the game. Because of this these cars were very hard to get back in the day.
Bill
FL

 

That is a Hurst "His n' Hurst" shifter, and is original. Was used on GTO automatics, and a few others.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

What does this shifter do when it is in the other slot?

 

In the right side slot you could slam it from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd gear without over running each gear. In other words the 1st to 2nd shift would lock at gear 2 and then you could proceed to gear 3 when you determined it was time to shift. Had one in a 69 Hurst Olds, definitely not as much fun as a 4 speed but that's all they came with.

 

The '73 Bird and probably other years with the stock automatic shift on the console was very similar to the Hurst dualgate when going up through the gears. If you pushed away (towards the passenger seat) as you go forward there was a stop for second and third. It was not well publicized but was there and worked fine. I'm very familiar with the dualgate as have one in my '70 Olds W-30 owned since forever. Olds did a great job setting up the transmission valve body for it where some others were not quite as sharp.
Bill
FL

 

Awesome car! I had a 75 T/A drove it into the dirt literally, 1/4 mile dirt track!

Wish I kept it, knowing the prices now, I think I gave it away 30 years ago.

 

So true...by 1975 compression ratio was down to 7.5:1 , heads were flowing less, with a much smaller cam so it was able to build some cylinder pressure, If my memory serves me right 455 was only good for 200hp

I think they were offered on mid sixties GTO initially and on Olds.

mainly it prevents one from shifting into reverse while going down the track, original shifter potentially can be dropped into reverse unintentionally.

Yes, 4 speed cars are lots of fun. Had a 73 4speed SD, totally different experience. 4 speed cars by default have 3:42 gears and no A/C. Also 73s are lighter due to the bumpers.

 

Bill (Konadog06) is right on the mark. I still have my '73 and '74 SD's (both Turbo 400 auto's) that I've had since new. The '73 SD started production in June '73. The radiator support panel and other items are stamped with this date. No '73 SD made it to the showroom floor with the RA IV 308/320 cam. Also, all cars with A/C came with the 3.08 rear end, otherwise a 3.42 was standard. My '74 actually has a column shift instead of the console shifter. The console shifter was standard in '73 but was made an option in '74 and if you didn't catch it, you got the column shifter, even with the custom interior. One interesting fact.....confirmed by talking to some of the engineers years ago, was the SD parts pilferage at the plant. They actually came up short on parts and had to resort to using some of their test parts (usually heads and exhaust) on the first few cars. This is why my '73 has no factory casting part numbers on the heads or exhaust. Very cool (and quick) cars which I proudly show next to my 348 Challenge and Murcielago Roadster. Steve's (Oneofew) car looks awesome and it is difficult to find one in this shape. GLWS!

 

Konadog, you mentioned one of the unique things about the SD motors which I haven't heard on HO, RAIV engines, it's the pistons slap while the engine is cold.
Occasionally I'll see a SD at a car meet or one for sale, particularly the ones with rebuild engines don't exhibit piston slap any longer, hard to say how much of the rotating assembly is still original in these cars.
in the past I drove my Sd as a DD, problbly every 1200mi or so had to drop quart in there.

Thank you Foresterguy, hoping to find a enthusiast that will appreciate and enjoy this SD for many more years to come.
Also thank you for shedding light on what I tought it was a myth. My 73 had casting numbers on the heads, but I use to know of another 73 that missing #16 markings. Must have been a early production Super Duty.

 

Wow beautiful car. I love Trans Ams, this year, and this is my favorite model. This tempts me to sell my 360 and get this, or trade you something for it

 

I owned a 74 SD455 4 speed Trans Am. I ran it everywhere as no one cared a whit about preserving originality back then. With headers, hotter cam and a big Holley I would take it to Ferrari meets at Riverside Raceway and entertain myself blowing by the F-cars on the big straight. Most Europhiles didn't realize that the TA would also handle well, so I could do very well on the roadcourse. At that point I discovered the Pontiac oiling weakness as the mains ran dry on the the Turn 9 banking.
A quick pro rebuild later with a few more goodies and a 2.74(?) gear in the rear and I now had a mostly stock Pontiac that would run over 175mph. Ran the Silver State Classic with it the year that poor Ferrari left the road. Entered it in the LaCarrera, was running in second and reeling in the leader when a rocker arm let go.
I sold it to a gent in New York that restored it to stock last I heard.
God, what a car that Trans Am was!

 

Very nice!

 

I've seen the car in person, it is in very good condition. I know the seller and he only does things correctly, meaning any modifications, adjustments and repairs are done right, with no expense spared. He has every receipt for the car, so rest assured there is a well documented history for the car.

 

Actual Pontiac 400ci engines where available through the 79 model year. They came only with a manual in 78 & 79. Not sure about 77 though. The Olds engine was used with the automatic during these years. The Pontiac engine had the TA 6.6 on the shaker and the Olds had 6.6Liter on the shaker. For 80 and 81 the Pontiac 301 with and without a turbo was available and a Chevy 305 was used for CA cars. With the new model in 82 everything had swapped to the corporate 305/350 engines from there on and no more Pontiac power.

Great looking car BTW.