1974 Pontaic Trans Am - Bar None Trans Am

"What made this particular car interesting was the fact that it was extremely original." These words started 46-year-old Richard Cappellano on a restoration quest of huge proportions. Should the name sound familiar? Well, last month we did a feature on his family and their history of racing Pontiacs.

According to Richard, "Due to a good dose of seller's remorse, I was trying to locate the Buccaneer Red '74 SD T/A I had built and subsequently sold in 1997. Unable to locate it, the hunt for a new SD project began. After looking at a number of them that were either too modified or missing too many exclusive parts, I came across this beauty in Virginia. Previous potential buyers were probably scared off by its need for TLC, but I immediately recognized just how special this Bird was."

Before this Trans Am led its current pampered life around Southern Pennsylvania, it started out as a daily driver for a woman in the Raleigh, North Carolina, region. Richard expounds, "The SD was ordered [through Amburn Pontiac] fairly optioned with #338 red appointments; AM/FM; a front and rear console; a mirrored visor; moldings for the roof, sill, and hood; a tilt steering wheel; Soft Ray tinted glass; front and rear floor mats; GR70x15 white letter tires; an 8-track stereo; door edge guards; a hood decal; air conditioning; and the renowned SD-455 powerplant. The invoice price was $5,074."

Around 1980, the T/A migrated northward to the home of a Maryland Pontiac collector. There it remained for about two decades, living a peaceful, occasionally driven life, having only critical maintenance parts such as the alternator, water pump, and upper heater hoses replaced.

While Southern living is very laid back and easy on people and automotive sheetmetal, it is literally hell on plastic trim. "Due to it being a Southern car, it had quite a lot of exposure to the sun, and, as such, it had sun damage on a majority of its plastic interior components and front and rear bumpers," explains Richard. Regardless, he purchased the Bird in January of 2002.

As we all know, what makes a SD T/A special is its glorious engine and the low production numbers. Flying in face of insurance-rate hikes, ever-tightening emissions standards, and an oil embargo, the SD-455 engine was an anomaly of its time. Its block was a heavy-duty casting with reinforced main bearing webs and valley ribs and provisions for a dry sump oiling system. The nodular iron crank was held in by four-bolt mains, and SD-specific 5140 forged-steel connecting rods were pinned to TRW forged-aluminum pistons. The cam featured 301*/313* duration and .410/.410 lift with 1.50:1 stamped steel rockers and an undersized gear at the rear to work with an oversized distributor gear. Its distributor was a Delco points-type with an oversized shaft that required a larger hole in the block to fit it. The heads featured redesigned intake ports, large round exhaust ports, and 2.11/1.77 tulipped and swirl-polished valves. Chamber size was 111 ccs, resulting in an 8.4:1 compression ratio. Induction was handled by an 800-cfm Quadrajet atop a cast-iron intake with EGR, while the exhaust was channeled through streamlined cast-iron manifolds and a larger-than-other engines exhaust system. The result was 290 net hp and 395 lb-ft of torque. Despite seemingly low-horsepower numbers, its low production and power potential on the road and track made it a legend and a great restoration candidate.

Richard's '74 is 1 of 731 automatic trans-equipped SD T/As for that year. There were 212 four-speed models for a total of 943 units. Due to the SD's originality and rarity, this restoration would retain as many stock parts as possible.

Cappellano contacted Jack and Dan Zikoski of Z&Z Restoration in Moosic, Pennsylvania, who had just completed a mild restoration on his 55K-mile '67 H.O. GTO. Richard was so impressed with their skills that he dictated an all-out restoration on his Cameo White SD.

Here, he describes just how detailed the 1,000-man-hour process was:

The Super Duty was completely disassembled in a forensic style with each part being inspected, washed, and digitally documented to preserve colors, markings, date codes, and the like for replication and re-coloring during the restoration cycle. Over 300 digital pictures document this Bird's reincarnation. It underwent a complete nut-and-bolt by-hand rotisserie restoration, and as much as possible was built to GM assembly-line standards, including reapplying overspray (which many consider to be an imperfection). The intent was not to create the perfect SD but the most factory-correct SD we could.

All the body metal was intact and original but had several door dings along the creases and passenger side and rust spots behind the front and rear tire areas along the lower portion of the body.

Once the disassembly was complete, the body was media-blasted, including the undercarriage, and subsequently primed with an epoxy-based primer. All parts were assembled to manufacturers' specifications, rebuilt, and re-colored as necessary. This includes the rebuilding of the power steering pump, steering box, A/C compressor, distributor, master cylinder, brake booster, transmission, rearend, and front end.

A reproduction gas tank was installed as the original one was showing signs of rust and age. Ball joints were riveted in place, as was the GM practice from the factory. The rear end was media-blasted and painted with POR-15 Chassis Coat Black with all seals and bearings changed. An NOS rear bumper was added as the original piece had been damaged by the sun and weather. All factory fluid and vacuum lines were replaced with lines from Inline Tube in the correct factory metal.

Because originality was the key, no custom machine work or enhancements were made to the engine unless necessary. Once the Y8-code powerplant was disassembled and found to be within all factory tolerances, Z+Z Restoration had the block boiled before installing new cam bearings and freeze-out plugs, and the stock nodular iron crank was polished prior to installation with fresh bearings. The original Y-stamped cam, forged steel rods, and forged pistons were reused. All 16 original valves were reused, and the special #16 round-port heads were cleaned up with a three-angle valve job because two valves were found to be leaking when a leak-down test was performed prior to disassembly.

NOS engine parts included the oil temp sending unit and the specific distributor advance unit. Since the factory exhaust manifolds developed cracks, Ram Air Restoration Enterprizes' reproductions were employed. Everything else, from the Q-Jet and LS2X intake to the points distributor and date-coded ignition wires, is stock or NOS. For the sake of preservation, where applicable, the NOS exhaust system was treated to a HPC 1,800-degree gray coating.

The factory PQ coded M40 GM Turbo 400 transmission was rebuilt, and the factory torque converter and shifter were retained. The freshened 3.08-geared Safe-T-Track doesn't do too many burnouts these days with the BFG Radial T/A 225/70R15-equipped Rally IIs. The tires are one of very few concessions to using modern non-stock parts.

When the restoration began, the odometer showed just 64,210 miles, which is believed to be accurate. Since then, it has only accumulated 10 miles more. Though a book could possibly be written about this restoration process given the amount of photos Rich took, he certainly isn't complaining. In his opinion, "Due to the correctness of the T/A, the outcome of the extensive one-year project, and considering the once-in-a-lifetime NOS parts applied, this has to be considered one high-flying Bird!" Check out the photos and see if you concur.

About the Restoration

You have little doubt that Richard Cappellano was on a quest to document the restoration of his SD T/A as completely as possible when you see the close to 200 photos that he sent us on it. Of course, we don't have the space to run all of them, so we culled the group and came up with what follows to illustrate the interesting markings, castings, and stampings that were discovered in the process. It's also pretty cool to see the original SD parts and know that the engine was simply disassembled, cleaned, mic'ed, and reassembled with the original parts--save for the rings, bearings and a much-needed valve job.

According to the restorer, Jack Zikoski of Z&Z Restoration, the T/A itself served as a guide to replicate the markings, finishes, and textures. The information gained from teardown was also compared to notes and photos Rich had taken of the Buccaneer Red '74 SD that he had owned and restored years prior.