The color list for the 1973-74 Pontiac Trans Am SD455 cars was exceptionally small: Cameo White, Buccaneer Red, Brewster Green for 1973 only, and Admiralty Blue for 1974 only. The only color rarer was the one known car that was shipped body-in-primer on a special order ticket, with the molded parts attached, painted red. Color made or broke a musclecar…too bright and you’d attract undue attention from cops and insurance agents. Too bland and it didn’t matter how big of a hammer was underhood, you just didn’t have that X-factor that caught eyes and earned you kudos. You had to be careful.
For 1974, the Firebird lineup, like the Camaro, got a re-tweaking in order to meet Federal bumper regulations. The Camaro moved to the “shovelnose” look that ran through 1977, a look that many still don’t care for. The Pontiac, on the other hand, might have worn it’s new 5-MPH bumpers better than just about any other car on the market at the time. It certainly didn’t hurt that everything else about the car was pretty much the same…same screaming chicken on the hood, same shaker scoop, same 455ci engine underhood, ready to rock as if the Feds hadn’t noticed a thing. The big hitter was the 290-horse Super Duty, but the next step down was the 250-horse 455 four-barrel, and it wasn’t anything to sneeze at either. The new SAE numbers didn’t look as good as the gross figures, but bury your right foot and that quickly became nothing more than semantics. The interior was a driver-focused knockout and the driving experience was still on point. 
Pontiac’s identity issues would crop up the next year and would follow the company through to the end of the line. But never let it be said that there was never a faction within Pontiac who didn’t want to keep the party going. Cars like this ensured that the legacy would remain.
A guy in high school had a blue 74 Super Duty he bought new. Had 455 emblems on one side, 350 on the other. It was in the As Found display at 2019 MCACN.
I bought a new 1975 Trans Am and it was the best car I’ve ever owned. Seats were like sinking into a bean bag. Extremely comfortable.
Love that body style ,I also had 74. Regret getting rid of it.
I had a 74 Z/28…wish I had gone to the Pontiac dealer next door and bought a Super Duty..Regular 455 and 455SD were like apples and oranges, no comparison..SD was basically a race motor for the street..block, crank, rods, heads, manifolds, cam, distributor, QJet were all specific to SD. I def wouldn’t turn down the one in the above article, but the SD was the way to go in 73 and 74.