That one is Beautiful!!! Black is a difficult color because it shows imperfections in the reflections. That car looks really straight!! :TU: I've always loved black cars with red interiors and this one is a perfect candidate for the transition. Red Carpet, red leather seats, leave the dash and doors black. Add red line tires just to polish it off. It is gorgeous, could be a dream. Ah well, back home to look at my colonial gold. ick. John.
A great find in fact! The 5th digit is a "W" in the VIN which stands for the Stage 1 dual exh engine option for "E" Series cars (Riviera, Centurion). Very rare for Centurions! If the VIN is a "T" then it's a standard 455. Just missing fender badges (Centurion and 455 emblems) and the trunk key emblem is not the correct one for a 73. But hell those can be had. Seems like a great catch here. Had to laugh though when I saw the seller had posted as an option a moonroof.
Stage One !!! Wow Rick !! I liked the looks of it before you even said the W stood for stg1 !! I like it even better now !! Gotta be pretty rare option in 73 ?? o No: big gas crunch started back then. sure is nice lookin !! :TU: Moz
Not a true stage1, but close. It is the A3 option code which is the "hi performance 445/4bbl" motor which was available on the Centurions and standard in the Riv GS/Stage1. The only thing a true Stage1 car and this car have in common are the large valve heads. This is a very nice car, indeed.
Adam I am pretty sure they also had a different camshaft than the standard 455. But I may be wrong on this. I know that for the Riviera Stage 1 the cam is special grind for the big heavy cars, different from the standard 455 cam and also different from the Skylark/GS Stage 1 cam. It would make sense that the Centurion would be the same as the Riviera both being huge heavy cars. The only true way to tell if the hi-performance "W" engine also carries a hi-po cam is to check the machined grooves behind the front cam bearing journal. If the cam has 3 grooves then it is a Stage 1 cam for the E series cars (Riveria, Centurion etc.) If not it's the standard 455 big car (E series)cam. The part number for the standard cam is (1972-74) E-Series 1246739 The part number for the Stage 1 Riviera is 1384664 Now the question is; Did the Centurion 455 hi-performance engine come with a special camshaft, that being the same as the Riviera Stage 1. We already know they both come with the large valve heads. Being they both carry the same option code. Adam we need some option breakdowns to locate :Smarty:
Yeah, I was misleading in the last post. Yes, the A3 option included a different camshaft, but NOT the same as the Stage1 cam in the A bodies. It was an "in-between" cam. The engine that was in the Riv GS is the same on as the A3 (1973 option code) or A9 (1971-72 option code) Hi performnance 455 in the Centurion.
The transmission was also calibrated differently. I "think" the carb was jetted differently, also. I will have to break out the manual for that though.
The 1973 Riviera with Stage 1 option is a 455 cid with special camshaft, larger valves, chrome-plated air cleaner cover, specially calibrated automatic transmission, and a performance axle ratio with positive traction differential. The engine for the Centurion Stage 1 and Rivera Stage 1 are the same and are exclusive only to Centurion and Riviera, both putting out 260hp @4400 rpm and 380 lb/ft at 4400 rpms of torque at a compression ratio of 8.5
Even with it's few imperfecions and incorrect/missing emblems, I'd like to have it! It seems that it had a fender-mounted power antenna which was replaced by an universal one. I don't know how the 73 antenna base looks like, but if it's similar to the one I have on my 75, it's not the correct model. Was the non-remote passenger mirror like this one still available in 1973? Even if it seems to lack a few options (power locks and power seatback locks, auto a/c, tilt, light monitors, speed alert/trip meter) it's loaded with nice ones: convenience center (with the correct air deflector), gearshift wiper control, 4 note horns, cornering lights, AM6 40/60 front seat, large rocker mouldings, rear defroster AM FM-8 track stereo radio and there seems to be something beside the headlight switch like the "delay" sticker for Twilight Sentinel? It might be something else, it's hard to see on the picture...
