1972 Pontiac Formula - Sundance Sensation

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Just for the new Pontiac members.....

Driving This '72 Formula 455 H.O. Five-Speed Requires Modern Maturity
From the January, 2011 issue of High Performance Pontiac
By Thomas A. DeMauro
Photography by B.K. Nakadashi, Dave Bertram, Ray Baumgardner

Retirement. It's supposed to begin with a farewell party and a gold watch, and then ease into weekday fishing trips, hovering over the shoulder of every repairman that comes to your house, spoiling the grandkids, driving 10 mph under the speed limit, and bragging about how fast the Pontiacs were that you used to own. Not so for Dave Bertram. He decided upon his retirement in 2006 that the streets of Scottsdale, Arizona, just wouldn't be exciting enough unless he was behind the wheel of a '72 Formula in Sundance Orange, replete with a 455 H.O., a manual trans, and a 3.42 rear.

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Here Ray Baumgardner is shown piloting the Formula 455
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Why would the then-63-year-old pharmacist want a hot Bird with a stick trans when most of the "Geritol Generation" would have sold off a Pontiac like that 20 or more years before? The seed for speed was planted in 1960 when Dave's brother Jerry purchased a black '58 Chieftain with a fuel-injected 370 that ran 14.3s at the local dragstrip. By 1962, Dave was 19 and driving his first Pontiac, a '58 Bonneville two-door hardtop.

Over the years his passion for Pontiacs bloomed. In 1979 Dave bought a '76 455/four-speed Trans Am and proceeded to beat up on the local Camaros. His current crop of street-stompers includes a '58 Tri-Power Bonneville convertible, a '58 Tri-Power Bonneville hardtop factory three-speed stick, and a '66 Tri-Power four-speed Goat. See a trend developing here?

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The original WM-code 300hp 455 H.O. engine has been returned to the engine bay after meticulous detailing. Rebuilt by a previous owner, the stock components and power output are just fine with owner Dave Bertram.
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The Find
While most of our feature stories tell of the exhaustive search the owner endured to find just the right Pontiac, Dave's was right under his nose. His good friend Mike Baumgardner had owned it since 1994. Though the 1-of-276 455 H.O. Formula was rough, Dave realized its potential-and it was for sale. "At first glance, I admit I had to look past the Formula's condition-faded black paint, parts in boxes, missing parts, and the engine being out of the car," he recalls. "What I saw was the finished product-a superfast, rare Formula just waiting for a complete overhaul."

Not only did he buy it, but he enlisted Mike and his son, Ray, to restore it at their then-new shop, R&M Classic Auto Werks in Phoenix.


The Restoration
Originally purchased from Everett Frizzell Pontiac in Austin, Texas, the Formula remained a Southwest car but was certainly still in need of TLC. Beginning in 2006, a body-off restoration ensued, and in the process, the rare Bird was returned to its factory color, Sundance Orange. Ray explains: "The Formula was rust-free to begin with so we media-blasted it, and repaired the door dings and smoothed the sheetmetal. We really concentrated on fitting the panels for better-than-factory gaps and alignment; considerable effort was put into getting the fiberglass Ram-Air hood to fit the way it should."

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Code 601 Ram Air circa '72. It was mandatory with the 455 H.O
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Once the shell was ready, Sherwin Williams P30 primer was applied three times and block-sanded. A coat of P30 sealer was then followed by three coats of Ultra 7000 Sherwin Williams urethane basecoat. Next came three coats of clear. Wetsanding with 1,000-, 1,500-, and 2,500-grit paper smoothed the surface, and 3M products were employed to bring out the shine.

Satisfied with the factory-designed code-332 Handling Package and code-501 Variable-Ratio Power Steering, the suspension and the code-502 Power Disc Brake system were rebuilt with stock-type replacement parts. The only deviations are modern Napa gas shocks and urethane bushings in the rear spring eyes to augment the stock springs and factory-issued 1.25-inch front and 0.875-inch rear swaybars. Optional 15x7 Rally wheels now sport wide 255/60R15 BFGs.

Since the code-WM 455 H.O. four-bolt main, cast bottom end engine had been rebuilt to stock just before Mike bought it in the '90s, he and Ray simply detailed and reinstalled it. Currently, the engine retains its rare code-634 Unitized Ignition system (casting No. 1112133) to fire the plugs in the 111cc chambers of the Round-Port 7F6 heads. A stock No. 068 spec, 288/302-degree-duration cam with 0.410/0.413 lift determines the events of the 2.11/1.77 valves via 1.50:1 rockers; fuel is delivered by the No. 7042273 Q-jet to the No. 488945 H.O. aluminum intake manifold. The original H.O. exhaust manifolds and a full 2.50-inch-diameter exhaust system from Ram Air Restoration Enterprises ferry the fumes to the atmosphere.

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When Dave Bertram retired, he decided not to go quietly. This code-65 Sundance Orange '72 Formula 455 is his retirement present to himself. Loaded with options, the code-481 roof moldings, wheel-opening moldings, and 484 belt-line moldings were factory ordered, but the rear spoiler was added during its resto.
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Since Dave was planning on some serious highway work, Ray and Mike installed a Tremec TKO 600 five-speed trans with a 0.64:1 overdrive gear and a Centerforce 11-inch Dual-Friction clutch to replace the factory four-speed, which is now tucked away. The factory code-CJG 3.42-geared Safe-T-Track rear was retained.

Conclusion
While his contemporaries cruise to the local golf course in Queen Mary-sized Cadillacs and Lincolns, Dave, now 67, is out on the scenic Arizona highways, with the shifter in Fifth gear and the A/C on low, listening to the dulcet tones of the 455 H.O. The lumbering long-stroke torque monster is turning just 2,200 rpm at 75 mph and knocking down 18-20 mpg.

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As is usually true for Southwest cars, the sheetmetal is great but the interior is toast. In this case, the dashpad was replaced with another that was still soft and crack-free. The console was swapped and the seats were recovered. A modified factory shifter handle hides the fact that the trans is now a TKO 600 five-speed. Power windows are owner-added, but the optional Rally gauges and Formula wheel came with the Pontiac in '72. A Kenwood stereo with CD and XM radio provides the tunes during highway jaunts.
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"The car handles great, runs unbelievably well, and is very quick off the line," says Dave.

So keep the gold watch and the lazy afternoons sipping lemonade on the porch. Dave has shows to attend and Pontiac people to see in his Sundance sensation.

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The Ivory interior offers a striking contrast to the Sundance Orange body and black carpeting. These seats are original, but the carpet and headliner were replaced with reproductions. This Formula also had a factory-installed rear console-only 966 Birds got them in '72-but it's currently out awaiting restoration.



Check the fit on that fiberglass Ram Air hood. No, they never fit that well from Pontiac.



Ray and Mike Baumgardner of R&M Classic Auto Werks in Phoenix corrected the factory flaws in the hood and body panels during the restoration.



Here's Dave's current tribe-our feature Formula; a '58 Tri-Power bucket-seat Bonneville convertible he bought in 1985; a '58 Tri-Power Bonneville hardtop with a three-speed manual trans and bucket seats he purchased in 1988; and a '66 Tri-Power four-speed GTO that arrived in 1999.



Ray and Mike restored the Bird, with Dave (shown) getting heavily involved in teardown, block-sanding, sound deadener and interior installation, wiring, and assembly. When he's not wrenching on or driving his Pontiacs, Dave is very active in the hobby, having served as president of the Desert Renegade Pontiac club of Arizona five times. He joined POCI in 1973, left for a few years, and has been a steady member since 1979.



Here's the shell in the spray booth during the restoration.


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[joe74ta]

A very sweet ride did you know the 455HO engine is very rare. We have one in our club Terry's red 73 TA has a 455 HO how cool and it's a 4 speed.

[LeighP]

Thats a beautiful car.....lovely job bringing it up to spec like that.
Gm really loved to screw around with people....Code 65 paint in 72 is Sundance Orange.....in 70/71, Code 65 paint is Carousel Red....in 69, Carousel Red was Code 72......which leads to so many arguments and mis-info on forums....
Throw in the fact thatin 69, Code 72 was also Hugger Orange on a 69 Camaro and Monaco Orange on a Corvette and SS Chevelle, then they changed those to Code 65 in 1970, and you have people getting totally the wrong impression of which code is what.....
lol.