And the Firebird 400's may be the only Musclecar ever made where the manufacturer purposely slowed their car down, via a device to limit full throttle, in order to make their manufacturer happy.
The other reason for the limiter, and for the Firebird's lower hp rating, was purely a marketing move. It didn't make sense to impact sales of the hot selling 67 GTO by placing a Firebird 400 on the same showroom floor, and have the Firebird listed with the exact same hp rating. It was already obvious the Firebird was sportier, lighter, and was more performance oriented. So giving the Firebird a hp rating of 350, 360, 366, or 370 hp would have further tarnished the image of Pontiac's flagship GTO.
