'70 Firebirds Lot#1

The 1970 Pontiac Firebird, Formula & Trans Am
Lot#1

This is fully restored Lucerne Blue '70 Trans Am is owned by some good friends of mine George & Sherry Siegel. This awesome TA went through a complete frame off nut and bolt restoration. Earlier this year I had the opportunity to see the car in person and it was simply spectacular. The car was entered in its first show this year during the POCI Nationals and won a Gold Award with an incredible 391 out of 400 points possible. Sherry tells me they took the biggest hit on the in dash clock when it stopped working shortly after their arrival. Here's the bio on the car:

Built 2^nd week of May 1970 in Norwood Ohio

3.55 : 1 rear gear

Factory Hot Rod = A/C delete

Only options are:

Soft Ray Glass

A.M. Pushbutton Radio

center console.

These cars were not supplied with trim rings. The trim
rings were an option.

Numbers Matching:

Block & Heads

Intake & Exhaust Manifolds

Carb

Distributor

Rear End

Wheels

Flywheel

Crank / Rods

Features:

Lucerne Blue

Brite Blue Standard Interior

.303 over 400 ci RA III Engine

#12 R.A. III Heads

3.55:1 Rear End

4 Speed Manual Transmission

R.A. III Hood Scoop Induction

Heavy Duty R-59 Tar Top Battery

Heavy Duty Radiator

15 x 7 Rally II J.W. Coded Wheels

Trans-Am Gauge Package

Full Size Spare Tire

Full Trans-Am Suspension

Power Brakes

Variable Ration Power Steering with T/A box

NOS Exhaust System with head pipes that have the
correct flats in them

Original Chrome Exhaust Tips

NOS:

Exhaust System

Battery

Radiator

Grills

Spoilers/Wheel Flares

Small parts too numerous to list

The first two pics in the series show the Trans Am with the other Trans Am owned by George & Sherry, the Yanque Tanque. George road races the white Trans Am in historic racing events around the U.S. To see the full story on it visit our Road Racing section Lot#1.

This amazing one of a kind Trans Am was most recently owned by Arthur Phillip and then sold to an unknown new owner. HPP subscribers will recognize it as the cover car from the April 2004 issue of High Performance Pontiac. The TA underwent a thorough and meticulous restoration during which Artie chose to make lots of changes to enhance the performance and handling of this TA. Artie writes:

"This is a very tastefully modified Trans Am. I have spent well over 1000 hours putting this car together. It has received several 1st place awards as well as HIGH PERFORMANCE PONTIAC MAGAZINE editors choice award in Aug 2003 at the Trans Am Nationals in Dayton, Ohio. From there it was published as the April 2004 cover car with a beautiful centerfold. It was also featured at the Carlisle Fairgrounds GM Nationals in 2004 where Jim Wangers autographed it as a sensational TA. This car has been out of the garage 3 times in the past 2 yrs.

Now for the engine, 500+HP 462ci stroker, Eagle crank, scat rods, Ross pistons, Edelbrock heads, and Comp Cams roller valve train. The machine work done is second to none. The block was checked and cryoed and bored and billet splayed caps where installed. The rotating assembly was balanced to 10,000 rpm's. Holley Commander 950 fuel injection and a custom built computer controlled distributor were also installed. This new engine has only 150 miles on it. One ride to break in the engine.

Trans is a Richmond 5-speed with a dual friction Centerforce clutch, 12 bolt posi rear with 2:73 gears. Top speed is 150mph.
Interior is done over stock with white faced gauges, blue dash bezel, and an Eclipse stereo system with a 12" sub woofer and 5 channel amp in the trunk. Paint is base coat/clear coat PPG.

Suspension is all Global West bushings and springs. Carrera shocks, sub frame connectors and American Racing rims; 17x8 in the front and 17x9.5 in the rear. Handles like a slot car.

The white car pictured is one I just built for a customer in Florida. Its won "Best of Show" in Florida's Stars Show and went on to win "Best of Show" at the 2006 Trans Am Nationals in Dayton, Ohio out of almost 500 cars.

Lee Daub owns this incredible Trans Am. Lee writes:

"Hi, name's Lee. Love the site and thought I would send you some photos of my ride. My previous car was a 1970 SS454 Chevelle, but I have loved the '70-'73 TAs since before I could drive. As my Chevelle was totaled in an accident, I searched around for a new car until I found this. Sorry that it isn't anything really special, just your everyday driver 1970 Trans Am. Although it looks good in the photos, it could use a new paint job. The paint on it is original I believe, and has small cracks in a few places...decals have some scratches as well.

As for what's been done to it:
Edelbrock intake manifold and 750 Carb.
Flowmaster exhaust: 2 1/4"
14" K&N filter and "x-treme" filter top

Previous owner put in a 427 cam I believe, but am not totally sure. Not quite as fast as my old '70 SS454, but it is still a damn fast car. Remember it is a daily driver, so it isn't all that fancy. I included a picture with the shaker removed (not shown) so as to show the air-cleaner set up. With the Edelbrock intake and carb., I needed more air, and it took me a while before I hit on the combination you see here. Maybe it will help someone else who is having similar problems. The rubber sealer has been removed from the shaker because with the Edelbrock stuff it wouldn't fit under the hood with it. I am the tall guy in the pictures...the other guys are a few of my old roommates."

Lee Daub

This RAIII Trans Am is owned by David May. David writes:

"Here is my 1970 Pontiac Trans Am. It has a Ram Air III and Turbo 400 with a/c. The short block is a service replacement because the original was blown. I had it decked, shot peaned and magna fluxed. It was bored 0.30 over and TRW forged pistons were installed, they were blue printed and balanced with the stock rods. The original heads were given a mild three angle valve job with stainless steel valves and hardened valve seats to run unleaded gas. The stock intake was port matched with the heads. The original carb was restored and the correct exhaust except for a Flowmaster cross flow muffler was installed. The Trans was restored with a B&M shit kit and the rear 3:08 was changed to a 3:90.1979 WS6 front and rear sway bars, heavy duty coils, 1970 Camaro Z-28 rear leafs and Konis take care of the suspension. I have 245/60R15 Kelly Chargers all around with Torque Thrust wheels keep it rollin. Its one of 1,339 made and has 70,000 miles."

David also owns a 2002 Ram Air Trans Am Convertible that can be seen at '02 Firebirds Lot#2.

This Trans Am is owned by Tom Dovel. Tom is the third owner. The car was originally delivered to Bill McDavid Pontiac in Fort Worth, TX on may 3, 1970. Apparently the car was caught in a sandstorm there sometime in the 70s and the car was sold to its second owner who slowly restored it until he sold it to Tom about a year ago. The car is mainly stock with the exception of headers. Options include: an AM/FM radio, S/R glass, custom trim, console, and A/C. The MSRP for this bird was $5,215.89.

Here's a nice before and after shot for you of Scott Schering's awesome Formula 455. The first two pictures are what the car looked like when Scott first bought it. The color is Castillian bronze and as you can see it was a rather plain Firebird. With some hard work and cash Scott transformed the car into the lethal blue Formula you see at the bottom. The new paint is Viper GTS blue with dual white racing stripes. In case you were wondering the meat hooks out back are 295s......

Even though this car looks like a plain Firebird, its actually a Formula. You can just see the edge of the hood scoops near the front of the nose. The paint color is probably either Coronado Gold or Granada Gold. There were 7,708 Formulas built in 1970 for all those of you out there aspiring to find and buy one.

This amazing looking Firebird is owned by C. Wiles. Love the racing stripes. C. writes:

"This rare '70 has been gone over top to bottom. It's a number's matching original with a terrific body, no rust, and a strong 350 fed by a new Quadra-jet that runs like new. It's got the TH350 tranny, 160 mph speedo, and deluxe interior. The paint and wheels, of course, aren't original, but it sure is a looker. I'm working on a cherry red '72 Trans-Am with a 455HO at the moment and will post pictures as its restoration progresses."

An absolutely awesome Lucerne Blue Trans Am. I had found this on the net for sale at one time. Maybe the new owner will contact me and give me some info on this car! The Trans Am was completely remodeled for the 1970 year model. It received a front air dam, a rear spoiler, front and rear wheel air deflectors, front fender air extractors, and a rear facing functional hood scoop. 15 inch rally II rims sporting F60X15 raised white letter tires put the power to the pavement.

A rare Ram Air IV Trans Am. Only 88 Trans Ams were made with the optional RAIV engine. It was rated at 370hp. The functional hood scoop was one of the coolest features of these cars. I attempted an explanation of the operation of the shaker scoop but it was somewhat incorrect. Phil Pollard provides us with the correct one:

"The scoop does indeed have a flap and two solenoids that are located inside the scoop as you stated, but they are *electrically* operated not vacuum operated. They use a WOT switch mounted on the carb, a relay mounted on the firewall, and the two solenoids that are mounted inside of the scoop itself. Your explanation stated "vacuum lines actuated the solenoids" which just isn't the case. The *1969* TA scoops were vacuum operated and many folks will try and convince you that the 70's were too. I've heard many times (from a very knowledgeable person) that "the first Trans Am's had vacuum operated "flappers". Apparently some people forget that the '69 was the *first* year for the TA! (and indeed did/does have vacuum operated scoops)."

Well at least I had part of it correct. Thanks for the information correction Phil!!