A Y Code Curiousity-- Dealership created 1972 GTO convertible

                                By: Mike Noun & Pat Smith

    

The special order LeMans Sport convertible shortly after pick up. Notice the door edge guards aren't installed yet. The raised white letter tires are Uniroyal spec which was what Pontiac used along with General Tire for 70 x14 tires with rwl. Goodyear Polyglas was offered in G60 X15 size as tires extra large but was restricted to GTO model. pic credit Mike Noun archives.

    Every so often one hears about an alleged 1972 GTO convertible. The long and short of it is, Pontiac never produced one. The GTO convertible model was dropped for good in winter of 1971 along with the high profile thief and cop bait GTO Judge model. Both were poor sellers and when new general Pontiac manager MacDonald came into power he decided it was time to tone down Pontiac's overt emphasis on high performance. Of course, not everyone agreed with MacDonalds's premise. A certain dealer in Peru, Indiana was having none of it.

 

As you can see, interior was well equipped. This late in the year the custom door panels had pull straps and no 1971 GTO emblems. That set up was early 1972 orders only. To see this setup check the white GTO hardtop in this registry.  pic credit: Mike Noun archives.

   As a sponsor for the Indianapolis Sprint Cars race series at Indianapolis Speedway, Beloff Pontiac ordered a 1972 LeMans Sport convertible to be shipped to their dealership for pace car duties. It was ordered nicely loaded with a bunch of cool stuff. Check out the order invoice Mike Noun supplied us; Top of the list was the L75 455 4 barrel V8 with TH400 automatic transmission. This was a D port engine and therefore a Y Code car in the serial number. It gets better with Safe T Track differential packed in a 12 bolt carrier. (All 455 ordered LeMans got 12 bolt axles as mandatory optional equipment. You had to pay extra for limited slip though.)

  

   The tires were G70 x 14 inch white letter fiberglass backed on optional 14 inch honeycomb wheels with trim rings. Inside we got AM FM stereo, rear speaker hidden under the folding roof in a well. front console, body color sports mirrors with driver side remote, visor vanity mirror, custom seat belts (also known as exploding buckle belts for their tendency for the spring to crack the black plastic retainer cover and propel the button, spring, cover all over the place) custom sport steering wheel, tilt steering, power steering, power disc brakes, soft ray tinted glass,  air conditioning, t 41 Endura front end, D98 white vinyl stripes (buyer had a choice here as a LeMans Sport, he could opt for sword stripes or  the lazer stripe in either black or white depending on body color. As the car is Cardinal Red, the lazer stripes were white and GTOS were offered with lazer stripes.)

  

    The car also got heavy duty battery which meant side posts, rally gauges cluster with tachometer, and last but not least, a decor group which supplied custom sport steering wheel, pedal dress up, wheel well moldings, deluxe wheel covers, rear hood molding and rear bumper guards. The honeycombs superceded the wheel covers and custom sport steering wheel superceded the wood grain cushions wheel. The total for all this was $5,254.60. According to Mike Noun's original article on this car back in the April 2018 edition of Smoke Signals magazine, the order was placed twice. 

   The first time head office kicked it back since the salesman checked off GTO option which was unavailable on a convertible. It was re ordered again with RUSH placed on it and the GTO option still checked. The staff had to talk with Zone Office and stress the sponsorship angle to get it built. The Pontiac plant handled the build and Beloff Pontiac sent their own truck to the plant to pick it up. 

  

Proof this car was not a 455 HO as evidenced by no ram air pans, cleaner etc and a dual snorkel air cleaner.  Definitely a Y Code however. Notice the dealer even added a chrome 1970 air cleaner lid?

  A couple of things were added at the dealer prior to use as a pace car. A set of checkered flag stanchions were added to the rear bumper and trunk. A King Transmission shop decal was added, likely after a shift kit installation and a 455 HO decal was added to the trunk as well as GTO grille emblem. An interesting detail to note is the fender panels with die cast  455 call outs.

  

Just visible above the bumper lip where the wheel well molding meets is a die cast 455 call out. Pontiac used these on LeMans Sports cars when T 41 endura nose was ordered. A GTO would have received quarter panel 455 CID call outs for a Y Code and 455 HO call outs for an X Code. Strangely, the dealer only put the trunk lid decal on. Also note, no ram air hood decal indicating D port dual snorkel set up was delivered from factory. pic credit: Mike Noun archives.

   This makes sense for a LeMans Sport which used die cast call outs for the 350 and 400 engine on the rocker panels, but when its a 455 powered car, the die cast emblems switched to front fender units, mounted behind the side marker lenses and were a completely different part number and shape. 

  This car was last seen at a restoration shop at the time the article was produced and is most likely done now. Mike Noun wrote the original story for Smoke Signals back in  April 2018.Mike has kindly loaned me use of photos from his archive which is greatly appreciated. I hope Alex reaches out to us in future to help record details on Y Code Le Mans and GTOs.

   *Article 2023 patrick smith with use of materials from Mike Noun. All pictures from Mike Noun & Alex Beloff.

Addition: 1972 Y Code Hardtop GTO in Quezal Gold

                                                                    By: Patrick Smith

  This particular car has been around awhile but attempts to contact the dealer at the time went nowhere. After it sold, some data finally shook loose and I was able to confirm it was indeed a true d port 455 car. This one is nicely optioned from the factory and is a really attractive example of what Pontiac Motor Division had in mind for the base 455 engine. 

   

Note 455 die cast call outs on rocker panels. We are still researching this detail. Talks with Dan Jensen
confirmed that only LeMans Sport models had front fender piercing for 455 call outs which were unique emblems not at all like the rocker panel pieces which are slanted thin at top and thick at bottom. We know of 3 cars that have rocker panel 455 call outs.

  Unlike Oldsmobile and Chevrolet, the jump to 455 cubic inches was done primarily to allow adding power accessories to the list without loss of required "passing power" torque. The 1970 455 wasn't really engineered as an all out performance block. It retained d port cylinder heads and there was no ram air induction package until mid year and it was an extra cost option. By 1971 the round port 455 HO appeared and it became the high performance block while the d port was paired to a TH400 as sole transmission.

  

Note incorrect decals here in red with 455 HO notation, this car is actually a d port 455, not an X code round port 455 HO. A few d port cars have been cloned into X codes over the years. Duck tail spoiler is an aftermarket piece and not factory.

  It still has formidable torque and a low enough compression ratio to make driving on pump gas possible. You can even bump up the static ratio a thanks to the combustion chamber size. When new, this car came out with a dizzy load of options; starting with GTO option, th400 transmission, tape stereo 8 track, body color sport mirrors, custom seat belts, honeycomb wheels, door edge guards, power disc brakes, trim package pdl, frt floor mats, rear defogger, power locks, air conditioning, firm ride springs and shocks, custom trim, luggage lamp, underhood lamp, glovebox lamp, heavy duty battery makes up column 1. Whew, column 2 continues with L75 455 4 barrel engine, safe t track differential, stereo radio, console, visor vanity mirror, formula strg wheel, wheel well moldings, power steering, tilt steering, rear floor mats, soft ray tinted glass, power windows, power seat L, California emissions package, rear hood molding, dome interior lamp, courtesy instrument panel lamp, ashtray lamp, dual horns and rally gauges.

  

The sales invoice for this particular car shows it was loaded new. Note no spoiler option listed and L75 engine was specified engine. It would have the dual snorkel air cleaner and no ram air underhood equipment at all.

   The total for this was $4,463.00 and some change. It was shipped to John Hine Pontiac in San Diego California by  Dec 16th 1971 so it's an early build car with chrome rear view mirror and 140 mph speedometer. It was built at the Fremont plant in California as well so it had the California spec carburetor and distributor, two low production Y Code items. Note that this car as restored got rocker panel trim which was GTO spec but also 455 metal call outs which as far as we can tell, wasn't available. My car has them and so does one other hardtop. The owner of the hardtop swears it came that way new. Normally a Y Code GTO would get quarter panel callouts of "455 CID" only. This is something we are still researching so I can't say with 100 percent certainty this wasn't factory. We will return soon with another cool entry of interest.

*Article 2023 patrick smith, images from phs media archives.