Bird of Paradise
1973 Formula Firebird Super Duty
by Paul Herd
With an option price of $521.00 for the Trans Am and $675.00 for the Formula the Super Duty package was pricey one, which accounts for the low production totals. The Super Duty was only available for two years: 1973 and 1974. Of the two, the 1973 is rarer and more powerful. The 1974 is rated at 290 horsepower. A total of 252 Trans Ams and only 43 Formulas were built with the 455 Super Duty in 1973. It is estimated that about six of the 43 still survive. And the Ascot Silver example you see here may be the only one of its kind. The example you see here is not restored but is an original Super Duty.
Owned by Don Bennett of Vienna MO, the Super Duty is one of seven in his
collection which includes a 1973 Cameo White Trans Am with a 455 Super Duty that has
31,000 actual miles. A 10th Anniversary Trans Am with 400-ci V-8 4-speed transmission
with 4,000 miles; 1969 Firebird with 33,000 miles; 1989 Turbo Trans Am with 4,000
miles that has the unique benefit that it has never been washed; 2002 Firehawk with
13,000 miles, and a 1979 Special Edition Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am, which too
has the 400-ci V-8 and 4-speed transmission. Not one car in Don’s collection has more
than 100,000 miles and all are original, including the Formula you see here, which has
just over 80,000 miles.
Don had worked for 33 years for Pontiac dealers as a mechanic and a salesman in both California and Illinois before retiring in Missouri. Don saw the Formula listed in a free ad paper and it was located near St. Louis. He took it on a short drive and bought it on the spot. And on the way back it drew admirers, as it still does today at any show he attends. He has taken first place at the POCI nationals every year he has attended except one, where he took second.
A lot of non-Pontiac fans may pass this car by thinking it is just a Trans Am wanna be with that scoop sticking up out of the hood. But that shaker scoop was part of the Super Duty package. Take a look down into the engine bay: that installation was done at the factory, not in someone’s garage. Take a look in the trunk: that mat you see is the real thing, not one of the incorrect reproduction type, which Don will quickly point out if you should ask why the mat is that weird color. The meaty Firestone Wide Oval tires are not original, but are the correct type for this model and are mounted on the Rally II wheels.
Sit down behind the wheel of this Pontiac: feel the crush of the vinyl underneath you. You turn the key and the sound of a free flowing exhaust fills your ears. A tap of the accelerator and your eyes watch the needle of the tach jump up and then settle back down again. You grab the shifter and put it in drive, the scoop shivers. Its 1973 again. What’s that up ahead? A gas station. You pull in. A dollar a gallon. You look at the attendant “Fill er up” You say. “I’m cruising tonight.”
« Prev Page 2 of 2
