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I tried to get one but I ordered mine in January and they didn't offer the SD until later in the year plus I was only 23 at the time and my insurance company wouldn't even talk to me about it.
I paid $4,450 for it and I had collector's insurance on it and luckily there was witnesses around or else they probably would have thought I set it on fire to get the $12,800 that the insurance company paid off.
Did Y'all get the orange Bandit jacket and Stetson ? ... 🤣
Burt's T/A was a 1977. Always liked those wheels, which were probably a royal pain to clean !
It's being willing. I found out early that most men, regardless of cause or need, aren't willing. They blink an eye or draw a breath before they pull the trigger. I won't. ~ J.B. Books
I purchased this 30th Anniversary a long time ago as a gift for my Wife .GM built 500 1999 30th Convertibles to replicate the original 1969 T/A convertibles in which 8 were built . Car has 13k mile on it. Original tires and wheels are in storage.
But....we did sell my wife's old Lemans, and bought a 1981 NASCAR Trans Am....301 V8 single turbo. White, T-top, with red and black Recaro seats. The wife called it my....pimpmobile.
In Burt's T/A you'd have to have binoculars to be able see the rear end of a '73 or '74 T/A 455SD at the end of a quarter mile run.
My '73 didn't have the SD but when I got finished with it it was more than an SD. I did just about everything to that motor and still kept it looking stock under the hood though the sound was a dead giveaway that it wasn't.
I had it bored out, put high compression TRW pistons in it, a big Crane Cam with roller rockers, had the heads ported and polished, engine balanced etc, a high stall converter, 3:73 gears, transmission shift kit, Edelbrock aluminum intake that just barely fit under the hood which mashed the rubber gasket on the shaker hood scoop flat against the inside of the hood. I was sweating that one hoping I wouldn't have to go with a lower rise intake. The shaker scoop didn't have the vacuum operated intake flap in the '73 model so I drilled out the rivets and installed a screen that made it functional all the time. I installed Hooker headers and turbo mufflers, a Holly 780 double pumper carb. which took some careful cutting of the metal stock air filter box to fit over the body of the double pumper and still look stock. I also put one of the first MSD (multi spark discharge) boxes on it which was around '76 or '77 I think maybe a little later. Anyway that MSD was one of the best things they came out with. With the regular ignition system if you cruised around town Idling all weekend with the big cam and carb. I'd have to change spark plugs very often. The MSD was hot enough it could fire a pine knot used as a spark plug I do believe. That eliminated fouled plugs. Then later on for a little added boost of about 150 hp I put a NOS nitrous oxide system on it when NOS started selling them in the late 70s.
I never got the chance to run it against an SD since there were only 252 of them manufactured in '73 so the chances of seeing one was not very likely but I did run upon a Brewster Green 455 T/A one time and smoked him.
If you read the ads on the internet today you'd think there were thousands of T/A SD's made. They're every where. Just read the VIN No. if it doesn't have an X in it then it's a fake but of course they can also fake the VIN numbers too.
They only offered 3 colors of T/A's in '73 which were Buccaneer Red, Brewster Green and Cameo White. Earlier year models only came in white with blue strips or blue with white strips. Mine was Buccaneer Red with the small bird decal on the nose of the bumper because I didn't like the looks of the big screaming chicken on the hood. I also ordered the deluxe black interior. They were the most comfortable seats I've ever had in a car or truck. The stock seats looked similar to the old roll and pleated seats.
I liked those days back then. You had to work at it to have a good performing car. Now a days any rich kid can go to the car dealer and buy a 10 second quarter mile car or better off the show room floor. They have electric cars now like the Tesla Model S Plaid that'll run 9.4 second quarter mile times with a 0 to 60 time in 2.1 seconds with the back seat full of kids and groceries in the trunk. My oldest son's wife has a Mercedes SUV all wheel drive that will blow the doors off of any of the old muscle cars including the 455SD. Sad but true.
The old ad for the Firebirds in '73. I wore my copy of the ad out looking at it while waiting on my '73 to be delivered. You could also get the 455SD in the Firebird Formula in '73 but there were only 43 of them made with the SD. Oddly they removed the formula double snorkel hood and replaced it with the shaker scoop hood on the SD equipped Formula's. So if you see a Formula with the snorkel hood with 455SD decals it's a fake.
When I replaced my burn up T/A with a '73 Corvette 454 4 speed convertible I did the same thing to that boat anchor engine that came in it. I made a screamer out of it. GM killed the 454's starting in '72. They were an embarrassment. A big block Corvette that could barely get out of it's own way. If you wanted it to run then you had to work at it.
I worked for a guy that bought a new Corvette every year.I picked up his new one in 1978 and stopped on a back road to light up the tires.The damn thing didnt have enough horsepower to do a burnout.
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64 Ford GT40
I tried to get one but I ordered mine in January and they didn't offer the SD until later in the year plus I was only 23 at the time and my insurance company wouldn't even talk to me about it.
I paid $4,450 for it and I had collector's insurance on it and luckily there was witnesses around or else they probably would have thought I set it on fire to get the $12,800 that the insurance company paid off.
I replaced it with a big block Corvette.
Did Y'all get the orange Bandit jacket and Stetson ? ... 🤣
Burt's T/A was a 1977. Always liked those wheels, which were probably a royal pain to clean !
I purchased this 30th Anniversary a long time ago as a gift for my Wife .GM built 500 1999 30th Convertibles to replicate the original 1969 T/A convertibles in which 8 were built . Car has 13k mile on it. Original tires and wheels are in storage.
Sadly.....yeah......455SD.....:(
But....we did sell my wife's old Lemans, and bought a 1981 NASCAR Trans Am....301 V8 single turbo. White, T-top, with red and black Recaro seats. The wife called it my....pimpmobile.
At 25000 miles, that turbo was NO fun to replace.
In Burt's T/A you'd have to have binoculars to be able see the rear end of a '73 or '74 T/A 455SD at the end of a quarter mile run.
My '73 didn't have the SD but when I got finished with it it was more than an SD. I did just about everything to that motor and still kept it looking stock under the hood though the sound was a dead giveaway that it wasn't.
I had it bored out, put high compression TRW pistons in it, a big Crane Cam with roller rockers, had the heads ported and polished, engine balanced etc, a high stall converter, 3:73 gears, transmission shift kit, Edelbrock aluminum intake that just barely fit under the hood which mashed the rubber gasket on the shaker hood scoop flat against the inside of the hood. I was sweating that one hoping I wouldn't have to go with a lower rise intake. The shaker scoop didn't have the vacuum operated intake flap in the '73 model so I drilled out the rivets and installed a screen that made it functional all the time. I installed Hooker headers and turbo mufflers, a Holly 780 double pumper carb. which took some careful cutting of the metal stock air filter box to fit over the body of the double pumper and still look stock. I also put one of the first MSD (multi spark discharge) boxes on it which was around '76 or '77 I think maybe a little later. Anyway that MSD was one of the best things they came out with. With the regular ignition system if you cruised around town Idling all weekend with the big cam and carb. I'd have to change spark plugs very often. The MSD was hot enough it could fire a pine knot used as a spark plug I do believe. That eliminated fouled plugs. Then later on for a little added boost of about 150 hp I put a NOS nitrous oxide system on it when NOS started selling them in the late 70s.
I never got the chance to run it against an SD since there were only 252 of them manufactured in '73 so the chances of seeing one was not very likely but I did run upon a Brewster Green 455 T/A one time and smoked him.
If you read the ads on the internet today you'd think there were thousands of T/A SD's made. They're every where. Just read the VIN No. if it doesn't have an X in it then it's a fake but of course they can also fake the VIN numbers too.
They only offered 3 colors of T/A's in '73 which were Buccaneer Red, Brewster Green and Cameo White. Earlier year models only came in white with blue strips or blue with white strips. Mine was Buccaneer Red with the small bird decal on the nose of the bumper because I didn't like the looks of the big screaming chicken on the hood. I also ordered the deluxe black interior. They were the most comfortable seats I've ever had in a car or truck. The stock seats looked similar to the old roll and pleated seats.
I liked those days back then. You had to work at it to have a good performing car. Now a days any rich kid can go to the car dealer and buy a 10 second quarter mile car or better off the show room floor. They have electric cars now like the Tesla Model S Plaid that'll run 9.4 second quarter mile times with a 0 to 60 time in 2.1 seconds with the back seat full of kids and groceries in the trunk. My oldest son's wife has a Mercedes SUV all wheel drive that will blow the doors off of any of the old muscle cars including the 455SD. Sad but true.
The old ad for the Firebirds in '73. I wore my copy of the ad out looking at it while waiting on my '73 to be delivered. You could also get the 455SD in the Firebird Formula in '73 but there were only 43 of them made with the SD. Oddly they removed the formula double snorkel hood and replaced it with the shaker scoop hood on the SD equipped Formula's. So if you see a Formula with the snorkel hood with 455SD decals it's a fake.
When I replaced my burn up T/A with a '73 Corvette 454 4 speed convertible I did the same thing to that boat anchor engine that came in it. I made a screamer out of it. GM killed the 454's starting in '72. They were an embarrassment. A big block Corvette that could barely get out of it's own way. If you wanted it to run then you had to work at it.
OH HELL YES!!!
I worked for a guy that bought a new Corvette every year.I picked up his new one in 1978 and stopped on a back road to light up the tires.The damn thing didnt have enough horsepower to do a burnout.
Think they had 185 HP then,,times have changed for the Vette now. My 93 will do pretty well and get moving down the road.