The New, Newer Project: Part Tres...

[njsteve]

The other interesting thing about the (formerly) flame painted car (VIN 142XXX) is that it was built a few days away from mine (141XXX) and the VINs are within several hundred units of each other having been shipped in mid July 1973.

When my Formula was being examined at MCACN the judges indicated that the exhaust was very odd as there were no resonators and no embossed markings/ribbing/part numbers on the mufflers, like the 1,700 mile car (VIN 144XXX) which shipped two weeks after the flamed car and my car left the factory. There was a lot of head-scratching with that since the exhaust did not appear to have ever seen a bolt turned on it, but also did not resemble the traditional exhaust and resonator/muffler system that was supposed to be on the car.

Well, it turns out that the flame car has the exact same no-resonator exhaust and generic looking muffler on its 11,000 mile factory installed system as my car. So it appears that there were different suppliers and batches of exhaust systems for these cars installed whenever they arrived at the assembly line.

Flame car's exhaust:

[9999]

Those judges really don't seem to know as much as they should, starters, exhaust. You owners are the ones in the know! Great attention to detail and wonderful cars!

[njsteve]

It's an amazingly difficult job they have to do. I don't envy them their task. So an "appeals" process is a quite logical method of addressing anomalistic parts/conditions.

These cars were so haphazardly built as Pontiac tried to get them out the door with the both the EPA and Pontiac brass trying to kill the project the entire time due to the political correctness of the new fuel economy era. As for the starters - even the guys in the Super Duty section over at the Performance Years site who have these cars had no idea about this bizarre dated starter anomaly until we all started crawling under our cars and comparing notes. They were just as amazed as I was.

[Tracker1]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It's an amazingly difficult job they have to do. I don't envy them their task. So an &quot;appeals&quot; process is a quite logical method of addressing anomalistic parts/conditions.

These cars were so haphazardly built as Pontiac tried to get them out the door with the both the EPA and Pontiac brass trying to kill the project the entire time due to the political correctness of the new fuel economy era. As for the starters - even the guys in the Super Duty section over at the Performance Years site who have these cars had no idea about this bizarre dated starter anomaly until we all started crawling under our cars and comparing notes. They were just as amazed as I was. </div></div>

Pretty important bit of info - hope Rocky Rotella has time to incorporate it into his 1970-81 book, giving you a credit. I love that red car from Maine, so much lust

[cook_dw]

Not sure how I missed this thread but love the original owners got to see the car and enjoy the MCACN. Cant beat that type of reunion.. Very cool...

[njsteve]

Glad you stopped by!

Yes, the reunion of Enrico and Lenora with their baby was the real reason I brought it out to MCACN. You can't put a price on something like that. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

This was a photo of the moment when Lenora first saw the car: she stopped in her tracks and started getting all teary eyed. Rick was looking at me wondering why his wife stopped and then he turned his head and his jaw dropped. He then told Lenora to get moving so they could see the car up close.

[427TJ]

She was suddenly in her 20s again.

[njsteve]

They were the real Class of '66 - They were married in 1966. This was their 50th anniversary trip. Very cool!

[njsteve]

Found another survivor car with that crazy 1971 dated starter. Were are up to five now. This one is from the white/red T/A that a member here recently purchased.

[njsteve]

Today's 1108436 1B11 Starter Update:

White/red T/A: 137XXX (mid June ship)
FrankG's auto: 139XXX (late June ship)
Flamed 4-speed: 141XXX vin (unknown ship date - I don't have the PHS)
My SD auto: 142XXX vin (mid July ship)
1,700 mile auto: 144XXX vin (late July ship)

So far, this time span/VIN span covers the majority of the shipping time frames of the 1973 SD455. Quite interesting indeed.