[keith k]

My May Smoke Signals arrived yesterday, with a cover story on the ultra-low mile 1970 Formula that turned up in PA a few months ago, and was donated to the Pontiac-Oakland museum.

I'd like to congratulate and thank (because there's some great reference information included) Tim Dye and Mike Noun for an outstanding story on a very special car.

I tried posting up images of the pages of the article, but the uploader shrunk them to the point of illegibility, and photobucket isn't cooperating right now. I'll try again later.

[keith k]

Links to pages now-

[72projectbird]

Was this the one posted here a few months back?

It's a very interesting car, and looks amazing in black!

[bird72]

Can one buy single issues (?) That is one I would like to have.... Probably should join, I know....

[Judge273]

Great article! Nice car. But, timecapulse in some ares.

That, 90s restoration is a curious thing to make that not possible.

[njsteve]

Yeah, I don't think it would be eligible for Vintage Certification judging due to all the restoration work. If you read the article it tells you how the second shop had to repaint it after the first shop put it on a rotisserie and used chemical stripper to remove the Ziebart...the chemicals then dripped down the side of the body and destroyed the paint. I can't imagine how mad the owner must have been when that happened.

[MikeNoun]

Thank you guys. Yes, Lots of NEW information on 1970 Formula 400's in this article.

We had a ton of great feedback on the article about a previously unknown Pontiac proposal for a run of fifty 1969 Hurst Firebird RAV Super Stocks. Even the hard core Hurst fans were unaware of that one! Last month's feature on 1970 Judges also brought forward a ton of new information that's never been published before. We also had a lot of feedback on the 1969 Judge production breakdowns article, as well as another lengthy article on how the 1969 Judge was developed. We used never-before-seen internal Pontiac documents and memos that were recently found, and it debunked a few myths.

As for this 1970 Formula 400, it's not a time capsule, which is stated quite clearly in the article. It's a low mileage car that was meticulously cared for. The most amazing aspect of this car is the fact it was special ordered in Starlight Black, without p/s, p/b, Rally II wheels, or a radio. Even if the car had 200,000 miles it would still be one of the most interesting '70 Formula we've seen, but the low mileage is a bonus.

Mike

[giles]

Originally Posted by njsteve

..... it tells you how the second shop had to repaint it after the first shop put it on a rotisserie and used chemical stripper to remove the Ziebart...the chemicals then dripped down the side of the body and destroyed the paint. I can't imagine how mad the owner must have been when that happened.

The saddest part is chemical stripper is not required to remove Ziebart. My car was ziebarted when new and I removed it all with mineral spirits about 20 years ago. It's tedious and messy but mineral spirits won't strip cured paint, as long as you remove it relatively quickly. And underneath the ziebart I found nearly pristine red elpo primer!

The subject car is super cool. I've owned two 70 4 speed formulas over the years and they were great. Fast and relative sleepers. Wish I still had them!

[77 Canamman]

[MikeNoun]

Yes sir, that's one of the cars I was referring to with "PONITAC" on the tail panel.

Mike

[napster]

Originally Posted by MikeNoun

Thank you guys. Yes, Lots of NEW information on 1970 Formula 400's in this article.

We had a ton of great feedback on the article about a previously unknown Pontiac proposal for a run of fifty 1969 Hurst Firebird RAV Super Stocks. Even the hard core Hurst fans were unaware of that one! Last month's feature on 1970 Judges also brought forward a ton of new information that's never been published before. We also had a lot of feedback on the 1969 Judge production breakdowns article, as well as another lengthy article on how the 1969 Judge was developed. We used never-before-seen internal Pontiac documents and memos that were recently found, and it debunked a few myths.

As for this 1970 Formula 400, it's not a time capsule, which is stated quite clearly in the article. It's a low mileage car that was meticulously cared for. The most amazing aspect of this car is the fact it was special ordered in Starlight Black, without p/s, p/b, Rally II wheels, or a radio. Even if the car had 200,000 miles it would still be one of the most interesting '70 Formula we've seen, but the low mileage is a bonus.

Mike

Mike,

Just got my copy and what a great article!

Is there anymore details on the LS1 that was proposed for 1970? The RA V forged parts were for more reliability, but was there any enhancement in performance over the L67 RA IV that was offered?

Will future articles reveal more on the LS1 Super Duty or is the information in a future book?

Thanks,

Jim