Interesting History 1974 Super Duty Trans Am Being Auctioned

There is a six page article in the current issue of High Performance Pontiac (June ) written by Rocky Rotella on my 1974 Super Duty 455 Trans Am.  As an FYI, this car is being auctioned March 23, 2013 at the Auctions America. There is also an Automobile magazine write up on the car in their June 2012 issue (link: http://www.automobilemag.com/features/collectible_classic/1206_1973_1974_pontiac_firebird_trans_am_sd_455/ ). Automobile magazine described this car, which incorporates many improvements to the engine, chassis, body and interior, as  “a modern performance car as Pontiac engineers intended”.

I ordered this car new when I was in the Chassis Development group. I was the Pontiac engineer assigned to tune the 1973-74 Trans Am for radial tires – I kept Herb Adams informed of what I was doing and got feedback from Herb during this development. I eventually modified the car based on a letter I sent to Pontiac Product Planning recommending that Pontiac build a Trans Am with a Super Duty engine similar to the near 600 HP development engine with additional handling and braking improvements. The proposal was to supply this car to Car and Driver for a comparison test with the fastest Ferrari of the time, the 365 GTB/4, i.e., the Daytona. This would have been a continuation of the previous C&D Ferrari vs. Pontiac comparisons (GTO and 2+2). Pontiac had many other priorities at that time and didn’t build the car.

Just wanted to let the community know that the car is now available for the first time. The paperwork includes the Product Engineering order approval document, the order form, Super Duty dyno curves, the MBT spark curve and other Super Duty information.

If anyone is interested, I have a detailed write-up of the vehicle and the performance improvements (7 pages).

Thanks for your interest.