Judges

[StealthBird]

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The 13-sec 455 test you have was probably in the 1970 Hi Performance Cars Yearbook. I wouldn't put much credence in this. What about the real world? I think the RAIII has a slight edge. It also was available with digger gears, while the 455 was not, I believe.

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True, no steep gears for the 455, but as we know, the Pontiac 455 liked the mid 3-series gears the best.

The 13 second 455 GTO time listed above was actually from a 4 way shootout from the short lived magazine called Hot Cars. This 1970 test ran a Chevelle LS6, Stage 1 GS, 442 W-30, and a 455 GTO. The magazine ripped the GTO for being fat and overated, and they were disappointed that there wasn't a 455 RAIV from Pontiac when the other makes had stepped up their powerplants for 1970. Still, the tame 455 GTO, with a/c, was only a tenth behind the W-30 442, which had manual steering, manual brakes, and a 3.91 gear.

In the real world, I still feel the 70 455 had the edge over the RAIII, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. It would be close enough that it would come down to drivers and tuning, even lane conditions. But I feel the extra 55 cubes, and extra torque, would put a fender or two on the RAIII.