Question about the price of 340s

The other reason they did away with the 340/426 was for insurance reasons. The 71 340 was rated at 275 HP. 72 and 73 at 240 HP. Also HP rating on all cars went to rear wheel.
Sorry, wrong. They did not rate HP at the tires. No American automaker did this then or now. They started rating HP with a full exhaust system, a closed air cleaner assembly, a water pump and fan. This was done to get a more realistic "guess" to the actual HP the engine made. Again, NO rear wheel dyno ratings were used.