The reserve has not been met on this 1970 Pontiac Formula 400. It is equipped with a 4 speed transmission and 12 bolt rear end. This Formula 400 is located in Ogden, Utah and might make a good restoration candidate. The car is listed here on eBay with 4 days remaining. It is currently bid to $18,267 after 27 bids. Pontiac introduced the second generation Firebird in 1970 and it was unlike anything seen in the past. The body style was so popular that it lasted 12 years and ended production in 1981. Pontiac offered the Firebird, in several configurations including a base model, Esprit, Formula and Trans Am.
The black interior looks nice and is equipped with the correct seats. Pontiac did not introduce one piece bucket seats until 1971 and the 1970 seats with a headrest can be hard to find for restorations. The odometer reads 98,900 miles. This car has the standard Pontiac steering wheel which I have always found it interesting that the Formula didn’t come with the 3 spoke “Formula” wheel that was standard in the Trans Am. The car is not equipped with a console.
Under the hood appears to be unrestored. The 400 cubic inch V8 engine is said to be numbers matching and is backed by a 4 speed transmission. The air conditioning compressor is not hooked up and appears to have a customer bracket to mount it to the engine. The base engine 1970 Formula was a 255 horsepower 350 cubic inch V8 engine that was also the standard engine in the Esprit. The optional L78 400 cubic inch V8 equipped with a 4 barrel carburetor was rated at 330 hp. The top performance engine was the L74 Ram Air III 400. This was a high compression V8 rated at 345 hp and was also the base engine in the Trans Am.
The car is said to be painted in factory carousel red which is the same paint code as Chevrolet’s Hugger Orange. I have a 1976 Trans Am painted in Carousel Red and it looks great on the 2nd generation Firebird body style. The body has some rust bubbling in the lower body panels. Demand for 2nd generation Firebirds has increased dramatically over the past five years. This car will probably reach its reserve, if it is reasonable.
It’s remarkable that this car has survived, unmolested, for so long. Kudos to the original owner for resisting the temptation to resist “day two” mods like ditching the poverty caps and opening up the hood scoops. I would take steps to stop the progression of rust and leave the rest of it alone.
Didn’t the hood scoops come with black inserts or something? They don’t look right to me being red, but what do I know…
The scoop openings on non-ram air ’70-’75 Formulas were body color from the factory. (just like those on the ’65-’67 GTO) Agreed, they look MUCH better blacked out, which I’m guilty of doing on my ’65 GTO and ’71 Formula 400.
The 65-67 GTO hood scoop insert itself is painted body color, but the ribbed or finned area is painted black from the factory. The NOS parts from the dealer were delivered in red primer, but the ribbed area was already painted black. This also applied to the 68-70 GTO’s. One of my pet peeves is seeing a repainted GTO with the ribbed or finned area body color. I remember these cars very well, as I graduated from high school in 1970. I am pretty certain the background of the Formula scoops were also painted black. I have a real difficult time believing Pontiac would let this out of the factory with red painted inserts. I have had over a dozen GTO’s (Still have my 65) and 4 71-73 Firebirds, one TA but no Formula’s. I would say this hood was repainted at some time in its 52 year life. The cast aluminum compressor bracket may indeed be the correct piece, they were used on very early cars, later cars used the stamped steel brackets. This could be a really nice car for someone, I like it!
OMG… resisting the temptation to resist? I really shouldn’t post when I’m stoned.
Those hubcaps are the Bomb…
330hp/430tq, 3.55 gears ⚙️ std equip.
Unreal beauty, 4sp, 400, pie plates, no spoiler, too cool 😎. Won’t find a cooler Poncho than this.
Even more curious, a formula type steering wheel was not even available on the ’69 t/a until late in the model year – even tho a preproduction magazine ad showed the smaller & thicker formula type wheel on the car.
If any pontiac model deserved a rear spoiler & rally II wheels, this is it. Thank goodness it doesn’t have a vinyl roof, at least. Adding a console would be beneficial to brace the driver in place, especially with those flat seats.
Odd pontiac would call this paint red, when even the later buccaneer red is more orange than red.
Not sure if this car has original paint – if so, it was kept out of the sun & not driven much in bad weather. & with no dents in the very-susceptible-to- dents doors, i doubt it ran many errands where you parked & left the car in a public lot for even 10 minutes!
let me see…1970 52 years old. oem darn near everything. 400 4 speed and ac. can anyone say 1 of 1 in this condition. a quality driver . id POR 15 any rust and take it just as to car shows and completely enjoy this one as long as i could…
Unreal really.