1970 Pontiac Gto Convertible Original Ram Air Iii Car on 2040-cars
San Diego, California, United States
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Every now and again, a car becomes available to the collector car community, whose caliber, condition, originality, and story is sure to create a stir. This is one of those cars. For those of you who have followed my auctions in the past, purchased cars from me, and/or are familiar with the quality and the significance of the cars that I have had the privilege of owning, this has been a favorite and my personal driver for the last nine years. I truly did pull this car out of a barn in 2005. Up for auction is a very original 1970 Pontiac GTO Ram Air III convertible. No, it is not a Judge per the build sheet, but has displayed Judge Livery since the mid 70’s and after thoroughlyexamining the car; one might draw the conclusion that this particular car might have been “cloned” at the dealer when new. To understand just how rare this car is, please review 1970 GTO production numbers at www.gtoheaven.com. Of the 40,000+GTOs that were manufactured in 1970, only a scant 114 were convertibles built with the RAIII 366hp motor and an automatic transmission. Only 31 of these RAIII automatic equipped convertibles were built with air conditioning. Marry this production information to the list of factory documented RPOs that went into building this car, you start to realize that this car could be one of the fabled “one of one” cars that we car collectors salivate for… and to top it all off, an original Red/Red car. As documented by the factory build sheet, this GTO came equipped with the following: 4BBL R/A (RAIII motor) Yes, the original, born with motor, with all original components Safe-T-Track Radio P/B Mirror-Remote Cruise-Control Clock-Elect Power Steering Tilt Steering Wheel Power Driver’s Seat SPG SHKS-R/H Power Door Locks Turbo Hydromatic Auto Transmission G78X14 WW FG Tape-Stereo Wheels-Rally 2 Tach-Hood Mount Console Power Disk Brakes Glass-S/R-AL Deck Lid Remote Air Conditioning Battery HD
This is one of the most heavily optioned GTOs that I have ever seen. And to be clear, other than a repaint years ago, this car is all original sans the following: Driver’s seat has had a panel replaced Red center caps instead of black (I have the black ones but not on the car) Lock buttons Hood pins Wing Stripes Front Spoiler 15” wheels (They just look better) Aftermarket Stereo Top Water pump and timing chain. I saved original pump I have a tape deck and mounting hardware; not original to car
IP was replaced with rally cluster, I have documentation of mileage when it was done. Ironically, both clusters had similar mileage showing so 93K is close to original mileage. I have put on close to 15K miles since I have owned the car. I have the original cluster.
If you examine the mounting of the wing and the installation of the hood pins, it is clear that it was professionally done and most likely done at the dealer when the car was new. The car also has door edge guards installed that appear to have been on the car since new.
The car photographs extremely well but it is a driver. There are nicks in the paint. The endura bumper has imperfections and stress cracks. The red interior has dark shading in spots and a small tear in the weave on the driver’s seat. All that being said, the car is an awesome driver, great cruise night show car and is very reliable. The car can be enjoyed as is for years to come. Conversely, if this car was restored, it would be a solid six figure car at any auction. Period. The quandary of the car guy… restore or preserve… I have decided to let the next owner make that decision.
The car has little to no rust as it has been stored most of its life. There has been some slight work done behind the rear wheels as shown in the pictures and there is some bubbling on the hood. This car retains ALL original sheet metal and all sheet metal is good. There is some filler in the trunk lid. If one decides to restore the car, no sheet metal needs to be replaced other than perhaps the deck lid. That decision would have to be made once the car is stripped.
This car is seriously for sale but will only be sold if the reserve is met. I am a car guy, it’s not my first rodeo, so please do not email me with your opinions on price. It is my car and I know what it is worth to me. That being said, the reserve is fair and there will be “meat left on the bone”, should you decide to restore it and auction the car.
I am also more than happy to answer emails or speak to you on the phone or show the car, but please, don’t waste my time and I won’t waste yours. If you are a true car guy, love Pontiacs, and have some money, this is an awesome car.
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Junkyard Gem: 1980 Pontiac Grand Prix LJ
Sat, Mar 4 2023A couple of years before John DeLorean and his team at the Pontiac Division created the GTO by pasting a big engine and some gingerbread on the LeMans, they created a rakish, powerful coupe based on the staid full-size Catalina. This was the 1962 Pontiac Grand Prix, which sold like crazy and escalated the personal luxury coupe war already brewing in Detroit. Starting with the 1969 model year, the Grand Prix switched to a smaller chassis (shared the following year with the new Chevrolet Monte Carlo), and all subsequent rear-wheel-drive Grand Prix (that is, through 1987) remained siblings of the Monte. Today's Junkyard Gem is a rare 1980 Grand Prix LJ, found in a self-service yard near Reno, Nevada. Sure, a fresh round of Middle East conflict had put a kink in America's fuel hose in 1979, leading to gas lines and a general sense of malaise, but at least the new Grand Prix looked extra sharp for 1980. The LJ package came with all sorts of appearance and comfort goodies, including these "luxury seats with loose-pillow design in New Florentine Cloth." A Pontiac Phoenix LJ was available as well. These seats must have been very comfortable when new. Who needed a Cadillac when Pontiac would sell you this car at a base MSRP of just $7,000 (about $26,704 in 2023 dollars)? That price was what you paid if you were willing to get the base 3.8-liter Buick V6, though. To get a V8 engine with four-barrel carburetor, you had to pay extra. If you did pay the extra for a V8, which one you got depended on which state you lived in; in California, you got this 305-cubic-inch (5.0-liter Chevrolet small-block), and in the other 49 states you got a 301-cubic-inch (4.9-liter) Pontiac. The 305 was rated at 150 horsepower with 230 pound-feet; the 301 made 140hp and 240 lb-ft. This car was originally bought in California (the state line is about ten miles away from its final parking spot), so it has the Chevy engine. The V8 added $195 (plus $250 for the California-only emissions system) to the out-the-door price of the car, or about $1,316 in 2023 dollars. Outside of California, a 4.3-liter Chevy V6 was available for just 80 additional bucks ($305 now). All 1980 Grand Prix got a three-speed automatic transmission as standard equipment, with no manual available from the factory. This car has the optional air conditioning, which cost $601 ($2,293 after inflation). This is the "Custom Sport" steering wheel, which was standard on the LJ. The tilt option cost $81 ($309 today).
AMC Trans Am Javelin SST, an ultra-rare underdog, is up for auction
Sat, Sep 9 2023Among the rarest of the American muscle cars that went racing in the early Seventies — cars including the Camaro Z/28 and the Boss 302 Mustang — the 1970 AMC Trans Am Javelin SST may be the most hard to find, and among the most valuable. Only 100 units of this unique Javelin were produced, and one of them is up for auction at the Mecum event in Dallas on September 20. The Trans Am Javelin was fashioned in a patriotic livery of tricolor paint — red, white and blue — and arrived after the American Motors Corporation had decided in 1968 to compete in the Trans Am racing series against Ford and General Motors. The company's chief driver, Mark Donohue, would dominate the 1971 season, taking seven wins in his Javelin AMX and that yearÂ’s SCCA Trans-Am Championship. AMC took the trophy with 82 points, well ahead of Ford's 61, Chevrolet's 17 and Pontiac's paltry 7. The example listed for auction came equipped with a 390-cubic-inch V-8 engine with 325 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 420 pound-feet of torque, power steering and brakes, dual exhaust, BorgWarner four-speed manual transmission and Hurst competition shifter. Its “ram induction system” sealed a chamber around the air filter so that cool air from the functional hood scoop would be funneled into the intake. This JavÂ’s factory price was $3,995 — a mere $32,000 or so in today's money, though it was expensive by the standards of the time. The 100 Trans Ams were among 19,714 Javelin units built in 1970, so they started out rare, and today the surviving examples are highly collectible, if and when they come up for sale. No bid estimate is available yet. Related Video: Motorsports Chevrolet Ford Pontiac Auctions Automotive History Racing Vehicles Classics
Junkyard Gem: 1989 Pontiac 6000 STE AWD
Sun, Aug 1 2021During the middle to late 1980s, General Motors made a big push to grab back some of the sales swiped by makers of European luxury machinery during the previous decade. Around the top of the prestige pyramid, there was the Turin/Hamtramck-built Cadillac Allante taking aim at the Mercedes-Benz 560SEC and the super high-tech Buick Reatta trying to seduce away BMW and Jaguar shoppers; even the Riviera offered a futuristic touchscreen computer sorely lacking in anything out of Stuttgart or Bavaria. The General had a plan to take on the smaller German sporty sedans, too, and Pontiac of the "We Build Excitement" era offered a midsize sedan packed with modern hardware at a great price: the 6000 STE. Here's one of the rarest 6000 STEs of them all, an all-wheel-drive-equipped '89 found in a Denver-area yard last week. Any 6000 STE is extremely hard to find today; when I wrote about a front-wheel-drive 1987 6000 STE back in 2018, desperate owners of these cars filled my inbox with requests — sometimes demands — for parts that continue to this day. Many of them pleaded with me to help them find an all-wheel-drive version, and now I have managed to find one at Colorado Auto & Parts in Englewood, just south of Denver (in fact, the same yard at which I shot the '87). You may recall CAP as the old-school yard whose owners built the amazing airplane-engined 1939 Plymouth pickup a few years back. The all-wheel-drive system on the 6000 STE was introduced for the 1988 model year, and it became standard equipment on the 1989 STE. At this time, the automotive industry had taken note of the success of the idiot-proof all-wheel-drive systems offered by AMC and Audi/Volkswagen; Toyota began selling Americans all-wheel-drive Camrys, Celicas, and Corollas, while Ford offered the Tempo and Topaz with optional AWD and Subaru was just beginning to make the switch from manually-selected four-wheel-drive to genuine all-wheel-drive around that time (it took a few more years for everyone to standardize on the 4WD/AWD terminology we use today, though). The 6000 STE AWD was intended to compete with such all-wheel-drive-equipped sedans as the Audi 80 ($23,610), Audi 90 ($28,840), and BMW 325iX ($30,750); its $22,599 price tag (about $50,700 in 2021 dollars) certainly made it seem like a bargain compared to those cars. In addition to the all-wheel-drive system, 1989 6000 STE owners got a digital instrument panel and more switches and buttons than the Space Shuttle.