This car, Lot 116, sold for $173,600, including buyer’s premium, at Broad Arrow Auctions’ The Amelia Auction on March 4, 2023.
When the second-generation Pontiac Firebird launched on February 26, 1970, magazine ads called it the “Beginning of Tomorrow.” But it really was the beginning of the end. A maturing demographic and skyrocketing insurance rates saw performance-car sales plummeting. The American Muscle era was basically over after 1971, and a year later there was even talk within GM of ending the slow-selling F-body Camaro and Firebird.
Like a Phoenix
Yet the new-for-1970 Firebird was here, and it was beautiful. Four models were offered over what would become a long lifespan (ending after the 1981 model year): base Firebird, plush Esprit, sporty Formula, and top-of-the-line Trans Am. A variety of 400-ci and 455-ci V8s were offered. Money could be saved by ordering a Formula with the engines and suspension of the Trans Am, but the Trans Am was a fully integrated package. It had the best engines, unique interior and graphics, plus a suspension and aero package designed by legendary GM engineer Herb Adams. Those aero bits were developed in the wind tunnel for Pontiac’s (unsuccessful) foray into the SCCA Trans Am Championship.
Then in 1973 Pontiac shocked everyone with the announcement of the Super Duty 455. With the muscle era dead and the malaise era mounting, this was the rebirth of the 1961–63 Super Duty racers that brought Pontiac fame in Super Stock and Stock Car competition, only this time for street use.
Retired Pontiac project manager Tom Goad explained: “Herb Adams and Tom Nell, working in the Pontiac Advance Engineering Department, developed an almost all-new 455-ci Pontiac V8 engine. It retained the same bore centers and dimensions so that it could still be machined on existing equipment in the Pontiac Engine Plant. It used a forged crankshaft in place of the production cast crankshaft, special forged connecting rods, and cylinder heads with separate round-shaped ports for the exhaust.”
Martin Caserio, Pontiac’s new General Manager, was shocked at the cost of these hand-built engines, but since the components were already manufactured, he allowed about 1,300 to be finished, requiring they be installed only in Firebird Formula and Trans Am models. “These were by far the strongest-running production Pontiac V8s of all time, even with the low compression ratio required for lower-octane, regular-grade gasoline,” said Goad.
Rarity and popularity
In the end, just 43 Firebird Formulas and 252 Trans Ams were produced with the SD-455 in 1973, with another 58 Formula and 943 Trans Ams in 1974. Performance rivaled the elite of the muscle-car era, but in a machine with superior handling and refinement, along with that second-gen Firebird grace and swagger.
Though the Super Duty would be the last true supercar of the decade, Pontiac continued to offer lesser 455s in Firebirds through 1976, and versions of its famous 400 powerplant through 1979 — though with horsepower rapidly diminishing each year due to increasingly stiffer regulations. By the late ’70s, after “Smokey and The Bandit” reached movie theaters, over 200,000 Firebirds were being sold annually. Pontiac offered the last vestige of performance in the ’70s, and it paid off.
The Kids Are Alright
It would seem young Art Lund, working at a Pontiac dealership, knew the significance of the Trans Am he ordered. Acting more as conservator than owner, he preserved his landmark Super Duty as-new, keeping the original tires, window sticker, owner’s manual, factory service manual, vehicle warranty book and emission-control warranty book. After 40 years, Lund sold his dream car at the Auctions America by RM 2012 Auburn Fall sale, earning $93,500 (SCM# 217823). Broad Arrow Auctions’ inaugural The Amelia sale offered our subject car from its second caretaker, showing just 15,985 original miles.
The market has valued 1973 Super Duties higher due to their smaller production numbers; top sale for a ’73 SD-455 came at Mecum Indy in 2013 at $197,950 (SCM# 224161). A year later, Barrett-Jackson sold a ’74 in Scottsdale, AZ, for $132,000 (SCM# 241223), which was the most we’ve seen paid for a ’74 until now.
Even at this price, these cars are bargains compared to earlier limited-production muscle cars such as Hemi ’Cudas, Boss 429 Mustangs and COPO Camaros that routinely sell for three to five times as much — this despite the Super Duty’s equal or superior performance. It seems the Super Duties just can’t shed the stigma of the malaise-era 1970s.
Bidders must have at least appreciated this Firebird’s immaculate originality if not its place in American performance history. This was a striking result for a ’74 Super Duty, and deservedly so. Both the buyer and seller should be happy here. ♦
(Introductory description courtesy of Broad Arrow Auctions.)
