1973 will be remembered for three things; The Oil Embargo, The Super Duty 455 and something called a Screaming Chicken.
Super Duty naturally refers to one of the most potent and racing inspired powerplants ever installed in a production American automobile. The Super Duty was an engine that for all intents and purposes, should never had seen the light of day, but on March 12, 1973, permission was given to release the engine into production cars. The purpose built cylinder heads, engine block, wildly aggressive camshaft profile, and power figures of 310 net horsepower at 4000 rpm and 390 lbs/ft of torque at 3600 rpm certainly did not fit the signs of the times.
On the outside, the shaker hood scoop was merely a reminder of what was; it still shook but no longer scooped. Changes in external noise regulations took away the solenoid actuated flapper and replaced it with a permanently sealed block off plate. Although, easily the three rivets could be drilled out and the plate could be removed. The air cleaner now had to rely on cold air being picked up by a hose whose opening was tucked away behind the left front fender. Fear not as on a hot day, this colder air could be worth 15 to 20 horsepower. There were many changes to the exterior many of which you really could not see. For 1973, the government imposed new standards requiring 5-mph bumpers in the front, and 2.5-mph bumpers in the back. At the time, these were just devices that paid lip service to the insurance industry, and quite frankly turned many a good looking car into hideous beast in one fell swoop. The idea was to do away with the cosmetic bumper that many cars were featuring and adding a bumper that could sustain a mild "bump" and not show any damage. GM was not about to invest potentially millions of dollars redesigning for a car that had a poor sales history, so the engineers had to come up with a was to modify the current car to meet the new standards without any major tooling. Pontiac engineers found a way to brace the energy absorbing endura front bumper into the engine compartment and lower subframe, eliminating load from the easily bendable front fender to pass the tests. Helping the endura bumper to live up to it's namesake, the center area had a steel reinforcement which was covered by four inches of deformable urethane foam. In the rear, stronger rear bumper braces completed the task. 1973 was the last year for chrome rear bumper and the "small" tail lamps. New for the exterior was the addition of two new colors, Buccaneer Red and Brewster Green. Of the colors, the red seemed to be the most photogenic. Second in popularity seems to be the white, while Brewster Green was the elusive one, and perhaps the most desired today. Color was only a small part of the exterior story, as the big news sprouted from the hood edge and spread its flaming wings about the shaker. Talk about awesome. It is doubtful if designer John Schinella could have imagined the visual statement that his $55 option announced. The big bird (or the screaming chicken ) took on a different hue depending on exterior color. On Cameo white cars, it was a black bird with blue highlights. If Brewster Green was chosen, again a black bird, but this time with green "flames". The black bird got a red-orange flaming wings when ordered on a Buccaneer red car. The Trans Am decals were a bit larger than the '70-'72 versions, and were given the same accent color schemes as the wing's flames per color of choice. The shaker engine callout decals leave a bit in question. Many of the magazines from the period illustrate super duty 455 cars, but without the SD preceding the 455 on the shaker. It is generally accepted that all engine callouts were black.
Inside the Trans Am used the same Morokide high back bucket seats as standard equipment. The optional custom trim was all new as it featured new seat coverings and door trim panels. The custom interior took on less of the sporty appeal as the base seats, instead trading for a more luxurious look. The door panels with custom trim introduced to the Trans Am a softer image and the seats were much more flat and had a smoother finish. The door panels did away with the vertical pleats and took on the overstuffed character. The T/A was catering to a changing audience.
Chassis wise, Pontiac introduced "Radial Tuned Suspension" to the world. When ordered, it included the GR70-15 radial tires replacing the F60-15 bias ply tires. RTS delivered a much more comfortable ride, while delivering cornering grip nearly on par with the bias tires. Radial tires were still very much in their infancy in 1973, and the available radials could not match the cornering power of a very developed non-radial. As the radials has a more compliant sidewall, reducing the rear roll stiffness was allowed and RTS cars did come through with a smaller rear stabilizer bar.
How Pontiac divided up T/A production follows; 250 hp 455 with an automatic - 3130, same motor but with a 4-speed - 1420. Super Duty cars were much more rare, with only 252 examples being assembled. One-hundred-eighty were coupled to the smooth shifting Turbohydramatic 400 and the remaining seventy-two SD-455's were matched up with the rock crushers.
All told, 1973 was a very good Trans Am year. You had the best production engine, the best styled, and the best sales to date. In total, 4,802 Trans Am's were built, almost a four fold increase over 1972's performance.

Copyright © 2005 Pontiac Power
This Home Page was created Tuesday, April 22, 1997
Most recent revision Friday, January, 31th, 2003