When discussions arise concerning muscle cars usually the most ballsy performance oriented examples dominate the conversation. For instance when the golden era Dodge Charger is mentioned, the 426 Hemi and 440 Chargers dominate the conversation. Forgotten are the 383 and 340 powered Chargers which still had enough muscle to burn the tires and keep the competition in check. In Pontiac circles the same is true with the Pontiac 389, 421, 428, 455, and 400 V8s get the limelight while there were other smaller displacement Pontiac performance motors that performed very well but are rarely mentioned

It is safe to say that Pontiac weathered the storm of performance malaise in the 1970s better than any other automaker. When all the others had given up, Pontiac continued to put its largest displacement and most powerful V8 motors into its performance flagship, the Trans Am. When Chevrolet dropped the big-block (454 CID) V8 option at the end of the 1974 model year on the Corvette, the Corvette would soldier on with a 350 CID V8. The Camaro lost its large displacement big-block (402 CID) V8 even sooner (at the end of the 1972 model year). Over at Ford, the Mustang lost its large displacement