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Description

One of the last true American muscle cars.

The '73 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SD-455 came out at a time when, due to rising gas prices and other factors, many iconic high-performance cars either being discontinued or becoming shadows of their former selves, and is regarded by some as the last true American muscle car.

Boasting a 7.5L (455 ci) "Super Duty" V8 making 290 hp and 529 Nm (390 ft-lb) of torque, which could be coupled with either a 4-speed manual transmission or a 3-speed Turbo Hydra-Matic, the 1,701 kg (3,750 lbs) Firebird T/A could launch from 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) in 5,4 s and reach a top speed of 132 mph (212 km/h), impressive figures for the time. Handling, unsurprisingly, was not the Firebird's strong suit, as was generally the case with muscle cars of the era, but the SD-455 made up for it by being a monster on the drag strip, with Car & Driver managing a time of 13,751 s on the quarter mile with a terminal speed of 103,56 mph (166,63 km/h), all while using a car equipped with the automatic transmission.

The reign of the Super Duty 455, however, was short lived, with production of the engine ceasing at the end of 1974. After that, the Malaise era finally set in for good, consigning high-performance muscle cars to the history books. Cars like the Pontiac Firebird, Chevy Camaro and Ford Mustang remained on sale, but all had to sacrifice performance in the name of fuel efficiency, and it would take many years before a true American muscle car with lots of power would finally be back on the menu.

In total, Pontiac only sold a total of 1,296 Super Duty Firebirds between 1973 and 1974; 101 of them were Formulas, the rest were Trans Ams. The vast majority of them was equipped with the Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission. Nowadays, SD-455 Firebirds have become sought-after classics, with the nicest examples often demanding prices in the 6-figure range.

Description

One of the last true American muscle cars.

The '73 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SD-455 came out at a time when, due to rising gas prices and other factors, many iconic high-performance cars either being discontinued or becoming shadows of their former selves, and is regarded by some as the last true American muscle car.

Boasting a 7.5L (455 ci) "Super Duty" V8 making 290 hp and 529 Nm (390 ft-lb) of torque, which could be coupled with either a 4-speed manual transmission or a 3-speed Turbo Hydra-Matic, the 1,701 kg (3,750 lbs) Firebird T/A could launch from 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) in 5,4 s and reach a top speed of 132 mph (212 km/h), impressive figures for the time. Handling, unsurprisingly, was not the Firebird's strong suit, as was generally the case with muscle cars of the era, but the SD-455 made up for it by being a monster on the drag strip, with Car & Driver managing a time of 13,751 s on the quarter mile with a terminal speed of 103,56 mph (166,63 km/h), all while using a car equipped with the automatic transmission.

The reign of the Super Duty 455, however, was short lived, with production of the engine ceasing at the end of 1974. After that, the Malaise era finally set in for good, consigning high-performance muscle cars to the history books. Cars like the Pontiac Firebird, Chevy Camaro and Ford Mustang remained on sale, but all had to sacrifice performance in the name of fuel efficiency, and it would take many years before a true American muscle car with lots of power would finally be back on the menu.

In total, Pontiac only sold a total of 1,296 Super Duty Firebirds between 1973 and 1974; 101 of them were Formulas, the rest were Trans Ams. The vast majority of them was equipped with the Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission. Nowadays, SD-455 Firebirds have become sought-after classics, with the nicest examples often demanding prices in the 6-figure range.