"But, to be fair, I assume that some of those deals were the result of cost cutting decisions made by corp execs.
If it weren't for hundreds of those cost-cutting ideas, there probably would not have been any Firebirds on the road because nobody could have afforded them. Unfortunately, some may not have worked out as well as others.
Yeah, that may be true for some things. But how much extra would it have cost to use a iron cam sprocket. In fact, the plastic tooth sprocket may have cost more.
And, how about the 12-bolt rear. I think every big block Chevelle thru '1970, came with a 12-bolt. And lots of those cars sold for less than $3000. So, how much extra could that option have cost ?
How about forged rods ? They could have easily made some decent forged rods, for the high performance engines. I've read that the '58-'62 forged rods would have been decent, with the proper hardening process. They proved that making forged rods was not a problem, when they came up with the SD455 rods. If they'd already been using forged rods in the high performance engines, they would not have needed to make special rods for the SD455.
And I wonder exactly how much was saved by removing the material from the "557" blocks ? They still had the molds for the good 481988 blocks. They proved that, with the XX 481988 blocks used in the '78-'79 W72 engines. How much would it have added to the cost of a Firebird, to have continued using the 481988 blocks ? Instead, they paid the engineers to design a weaker block, then had to build the molds & whatever else was necessary, to cast the 557's. And, they did the same thing to the 500810 350 blocks.
They could have built a stronger 301 block. They proved that when they came out with the 301T blocks. Also, made the 301T cranks a bit stronger. Would not have cost a whole lot more to have designed the 301 cranks even stronger than the 301T cranks, to begin with. Nothing wrong with a 301 size engine. I think the 302 SBC proved that, along with 302 Fords. There were also millions of 305 SBC engines produced. But, none of those used such weak parts as the 301 Pontiacs. If the blocks & cranks had been strong enuff, there would have been lots of performance parts made for 'em. But, since most could not keep 'em together, VERY few performance parts were made. No aftermarket intakes at all.
Plans were made to continue the 301 in the '82 Birds. But. probably because of the weak parts, there was little to no interest in continuing the 301. The 301 had lots of potential, but needed a stronger bottom end, and decent heads. It just didn't happen.
