1972 Pontiac 455 Grand Prix - Second Helping SSJ

Years later he wanted it back-badly-and somehow the universe obliged. In 1989, Glenn, driving home from Mt. Vernon, Illinois, passed his old Pontiac on the highway. "I could not believe my eyes. It was the same SSJ I sold some 12 years before," he confides. He turned around, chased it down, and got the license plate number. Glenn was so pumped up by the time he got home that he repeated to his wife the exact words he said when he saw the SSJ for the first time in 1975, "I've got to have that car."

After some quick research, he found out where his GP was. "We spent the next weekend tracking down the Pontiac and speaking with the owners. They told me it belonged to their daughter, and they didn't know if she wanted to sell it. I gave them my name and phone number, and they told me they'd ask her when she got home. I guess it was my lucky day-she was willing to sell it and I once again owned the SSJ," he says.

Condition
Twelve years of abuse and neglect had taken a toll on the stunning SSJ. Its 455 had thrown three rods and expired-in its stead was a tired 428. The interior was trashed, most of the original options were broken or missing, and the beautiful gold paint was faded. "I don't know how many owners she had been through, but I knew I would be her last," Glenn recalls.

Restoration
He took on the majority of the restoration work himself, including rust repair, bodywork, engine assembly, and interior installation. His focus was to build the Pontiac as he remembered it in 1975. Although the restoration isn't concours-correct, it truly reflects Glenn's impressions of his SSJ. "I tried to use all GM parts in the restoration," he explains, "and a Grand Prix parts car to bring my SSJ back to life."

Glenn began by taking the Grand Prix down to its frame, putting the body on a dolly and the frame on castors. He stripped the front and rear suspension, sandblasted the frame, welded minor repairs, and sprayed the steel with chassis black paint. Glenn also upgraded the crusty fuel and brake lines with OE-style replacements.

Next, he treated the front suspension to a complete rebuild and upgrade with PST Ground Zero front springs, rubber bushings, and KYB Gas-A-Just shocks. The rear suspension was similarly outfitted with PST Ground Zero coil springs, rubber bushings, and Monroe Air shocks. Braking power was restored to factory specs with GM single-piston calipers decked out with Raybestos pads and stock replacement rotors up front and drums in the rear.

A '70 455 (code YH), sourced from a Bonneville, was the next part of the project. Glenn rebuilt it with a 4.17 bore (0.020-over) and stuffed it with the machined stock 4.210-stroke Pontiac nodular cast iron crank, factory 6.625-inch cast connecting rods, and TRW cast pistons. He bolted on '76 6X heads with 101 cc combustion chambers, and Comp 7/16-inch pushrods that activate 1.5-ratio Comp roller tip rockers, compressing OE replacement double springs to open and close 2.11/1.66-stainless steel valves. This valvetrain action is directed by a Comp Cams Xtreme Energy cam with 212/218-degrees duration, 0.447/0.455-inch lift, and a 110-degree LSA. The compression ratio is 9.2:1.

A GM HEI distributor replaced the original Unitized Ignition system and sends spark down Delco 8mm wires to AC Delco R45TS plugs. Spent gases are evacuated through Ram Air D-port cast-iron exhaust manifolds sourced from Ram Air Restoration Enterprises, and travel through 2.5-inch pipes, dual Flowmaster mufflers, and 2.5-inch tails.

To push the power rearward from the crank, a stock torque converter mates to a Turbo 400 rebuilt by Larry's Transmissions of Benton, Illinois. Manual gear changes, when desired, are handled by a Sport shifter and torque is delivered through a stock driveshaft to a '68 8.2-inch GM 10-bolt housing, a factory Safe-T-Track unit, and 3.55 gears.