The factory 455 Pontiac Ventura

"Jim Spanfeller" (awesomeaustinv) 02/07/2020 at 10:50 • Filed to: obscure cars

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This is a production-ready prototype Pontiac Ventura with the 455 V8. Along with the big engine, it also had some handling upgrades in the form of suspension components borrowed from the Trans Am and Sprint. One journalist got to drive it and loved it, but it was not to be. Although they had initially planned to put it into production, it was cancelled at the last minute. On the bright side, most if not all of the parts made it to production on other cars, so if you wanted to, you could build your own 455 Ventura.

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shop-teacher > Jim Spanfeller 02/07/2020 at 10:57

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Oh man, that would have been epic.

Jim Spanfeller > shop-teacher 02/07/2020 at 11:04

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Supposedly, it was capable of running a 14 second quarter mile stock, though they claimed it could do 13 seconds with straight pipes and slightly different gearing. It is indeed quite a cool car.

sony1492 > Jim Spanfeller 02/07/2020 at 11:16

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Strong want

ClassicDatsunDebate > Jim Spanfeller 02/07/2020 at 11:22

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I guess the closest thing available was the Cutlass with the W-29 package.  Funny how Olds did the sleeper but GM’s sportier brand, Pontiac, did not.

CobraJoe > Jim Spanfeller 02/07/2020 at 11:26

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Amazing how the tech advanced so quickly once the “smog era” was fully understood and embraced .

The 1985 Mustang was also capable of a 14.9 1/4 mile time, and it was 153 cubic inches smaller displacement.

Jim Spanfeller > sony1492 02/07/2020 at 15:02

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I’ve often thought it would be fun to try to collect all the necessary parts to build one, since I think the only parts on it that never made it to production were the 455 badges and maybe the hood (because I don’t know if any other Venturas got hood-mounted tachs) . I know the suspension used parts from the Trans Am and Sprint, those wheels were used on other cars, the engine obviously was available in other things... And the best part is that Pontiac Venturas are significantly cheaper than their Chevy cousins, so this could be a relatively inexpensive muscle car project. The engine would probably be the most expensive part...

Jim Spanfeller > ClassicDatsunDebate 02/07/2020 at 15:14

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Well, there are a few different theories as to why they didn’t make it. One possibility is that since the Ventura was based on the Nova, Chevy didn’t want it to be faster than the Nova, so they threatened to revoke their ability to use the Nova platform. Another theory is that Pontiac was afraid the 455 Ventura would steal sales from the Firebird/Trans Am and GTO. They were also working on the ultimately unsuc ce ss fu l GT-37 around the same time, so perhaps they simply decided they had enough muscle cars already and didn’t need a small budget sleeper supercar.

ClassicDatsunDebate > Jim Spanfeller 02/07/2020 at 18:19

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All plausible reasons.  The writing was on the wall for the musclecar era and the pony cars were probably the most logical survivor for performance cars as the marketers looked a few years out.