One or two year wonders that can be fun...

For whatever reason-poor sales, lousy promotion, rising gas prices, whatever- some cool stuff never lasted. But if you run across one now, they might be fun to play with. # 1. 1970-71 Pontiac Tempest T-37, 1972 LeMans GT. Often called  "The Poor Man's GTO".  These were a strippy Tempest coupe with a 350 V8 and a 3-speed stick. However a 4-speed or a TH400 and the 400 and 455 V8s were available. For some odd reason-in 1972 the name was changed to "LeMans GT", but the package was basically the same.  # 2. 1972-73 Mercury Montego GT. Based on the Ford Gran Torino chassis David Pearson won a bunch of NASCAR races for the Wood Brothers in the mid-70's in one of these sleek fastback coupes. Most will have 351C power which certainly isn't a bad thing; 429 models will be pricier. Dynamite if you can find one. # 3. 1973-75 Pontiac Grand Am. Touted to have the performance of a Trans-Am and the luxury of a Gran Prix-Pontiac's attempt at building a BMW didn't quite take off. Performance buyers bought T/A's and luxury buyers bought GPs. However-they were and still are a great performance and handling platform. Based on the LeMans chassis they had wrist-thick front and rear sway bars, ( "Radial Tuned Suspension " ) front disc brakes, and 400 or 455 cubes for power. You could even get a 4-speed with the 400. 34,000 were sold in 1973 alone so their not a moon rock, and any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Chevelle or LeMans will fit these. # 4. 1974 Pontiac GTO. Often called "The best Nova ever built". This was the year that Pontiac took the GTO name off the "A" body LeMans platform and put it on the "X" body-( read Nova ) platform. They had front and rear sway bars, a T/A style "Shaker" hood scoop and a 350 V8 backed by a 4-speed or a TH350. A 400 or 455 is a bolt-in swap. 7,058 were built. # 5. 1975 Plymouth Road Runner. For this one year only the Road Runner name was put on the Sport Fury platform. 318 models are slugs, but the 360 and 400 versions can be made to run. Over 6,000 were built. # 6. 1971-72 "Heavy Chevy". These were a Malibu coupe with a blacked-out grille, domed "SS" style hood, slotted 14" Rally wheels and special "Heavy Chevy" emblems. Most had 350 power, but the 396 / 402 was available. Rat versions will be pricier. 6,727 were built in '71 and another 3,000 or so in the strike-shortened '72 model year.  # 7. 1983 Camaro Z/28 / Pontiac Trans-Am. For this one year only you could get a "Cross-Fire Injected" 305 with a 4-speed TH700R4. With a 3.06:1 low gear and a 3.23:1 axle ratio these scoot surprisingly good. And the "Cross-Fire Injection" will feed a healthy 350 or 383 with a little tweaking. F-body collectors snub these in favor of the carburated L69 / 5-speed models or the '85-91 LB9 "Tuned Port Injection" models, so they can be bought cheap. # 8. 1980 Z/28 Camaro. For this one year only you could get a 350 V8 with "Cowl-Induction" a vacuum operated hood scoop,a T10 4-speed with a 3.44 1st gear and a 2.28 2nd, with a 3.08:1 posi rear. This combo had better acceleration and more top-speed than the '77-79 models 2.64 low tranny and 3.73 rear cog. Automatics got a TH350 and 3.42:1 gears. Dynamite if you can find one.  For some odd reason in '81 the 350 was only available with a slushbox. ( You could still get the 350 / 4-speed combo in Canada ) If you wanted a 4-speed you got a 305 that wheezed out 145 hp. You could have some fun with these without breaking the bank. Mastermind