Usually, new models were introduced by the big three at least 4 to 5 months before January of the new year. For the 1970 Pontiac Firebird, the new model was not introduced until February of 1970. This resulted in many dealers referring to the 1970 Pontiac Firebird as the 1970 1/2 model. Tony Primo found this car listed here on Craigslist. Pontiac offered the Firebird in a base model, Esprit, Formula, or Trans Am model. The Formula model was offered in three variations – Formula 350, Formula 400, and Formula 455. This is a 1970 Pontiac Formula 400 and it is located in Los Angeles, California. The owner is asking $48,000 as the sales price and reports that the car has 56k original miles.
Pontiac offered the standard L78 400 cubic inch V8 engine as the base engine but the L74 Ram Air III 400 engine rated at 335 hp was optional. This car was ordered with the Ram Air III 400, which was one of the last high-compression round port head engines available in the Firebird. The Formula 400 delivered muscle car capabilities at an attractive price point and came with a dual-snorkel hood. This car is painted Bermuda blue and is equipped with a black vinyl interior.
The interior of this Formula 400 looks fresh and in great condition. The 400 cubic inch V8 engine is backed by a GM Turbo 400 automatic transmission. The low-back bucket seats were equipped with individual headrests, a characteristic that was consistent whether customers opted for the standard interior or chose the upgraded custom interior. In subsequent Firebird models, the seating transitioned to high-back bucket seats lacking headrests, a design adopted from the Chevrolet Vega line. Generally regarded as superior in construction, the seats in the 1970 Firebird were considered by many to be superior in comfort and styling to later examples.
This Formula 400 looks clean without the rear spoiler which was exclusive to the Trans Am model in 1970. When Chevrolet engineers found that Pontiac had utilized the Camaro wind tunnel to test their spoiler, Chevrolet demanded that the center section of the Trans Am spoiler be given to Chevrolet, which then incorporated its own side caps. Out of 48,739 Firebirds produced in 1970, 7,708 Formulas were produced.
Beautiful. Wish I had the scratch!
Nice find Primo..
Why does the back end looked so jacked up on this beauty ?
No LS needed
Ram air 3 was not round port heads. They were d port. 70 was only offered with the 400 engine. No 350 or 455 available.
Back in the day, new GM models were introduced to the public on a particular date in the fall. Prior to the official unveiling, they were kept under wraps. GM was very strict on this, and dealers that broke the rules were punished. The night before, dealers were allowed to show their VIP customers the cars. It was a big deal to get the invite. As my late father was a corporate lawyer, and silent partner in several GM stores, he was invited. People dressed up, and it was catered. Unfortunately, kids were not allowed, but my parents always brought me the brochures, which then, were fabulous artwork by todays standards.
I still remember the night when the 1970 Pontiacs and Buicks were revealed. I stayed up past my bedtime until my parents got home and gave me the brochures. I was mesmerized by the Firebird Ram Air 400. I thought it was the most beautiful car I had ever seen, and begged my dad to take me to the dealership, to see it. It did not disappoint , which was unusual, as many models back then looked way better in the brochure.
Every time I see a Ram Air 400, it takes me back to the fall of 1969. If the one for sale here was local, I would consider it.
These days i wish dealers would cover their windows permanently so i didn’t have to see more & more ugly colorless lookalike 4 doors as i drive by in my very old stylish car.
Who back then could predict it would come to what we see now 60 years later!! – back then, i would have predicted wildly looking futuristic vehicles, instead of for ex., the loss of things like hidden wipers & headlites. & 4 door only for the most part. & no affordable 2 doors for single people.
In ’69 it was all about catering to the single generation. Now it’s just to those who have the most money to buy only loaded way overprice plastic junk in as few “colors” as possible inside & out.
Joe, you nailed it…….Being a car nut all my life , styling unfortunately has long gone.
For me personally, styling ruled the auto industry from the big three back in the 70’s.
Nothing but ugly junk today.
It’s that magical market place Joe. People were convinced they needed more doors to accommodate rear passengers, which made sense when you had small kids, but how often do you see more than two people riding in a sedan? And then there’s crossovers and SUVs. People in this country are too fat to climb in and out of a regular car and they have to haul their junk around with them too. Now old people can use a high riding vehicle because old hips don’t want to bend anymore. But personally, the day I can’t get in and out of my Mustang is the day I stop driving.
Had a friend in 1980 had a stick shift version of this car,what a rocket ship!! I still have a 70 GTO RA III auto, the Firebird always had me by a fender! This is a great car!!
Just noticed the tachometer is from a much later ’70s bird with different font for the #s, & lower starting rpm for yellow & red scales.
https://images.craigslist.org/00m0m_cL1cNRA3KT9_0CI0t2_1200x900.jpg
The correct tach should show max of 8000 rpm instead of 6000, with the yellow line starting at about 5250 rpm & redline starting at about 5750 rpm.
The Ram Air III was a D-port engine for 69-70. Only the 1968 RA II, 69-70 RA IV, 71-72 455 HO, and 73-74 SD-455’s had round port heads
Right on Fred, thank you
Had a friend that had a stick shift version of this car in 1980,it was a rocket ship! I still have a 70 GTO RA III automatic,that Firebird always had me by a fender.
A lil high.
Why so much? Is Rockford in the trunk?
Love the color…
Unless I am mistaken, Pontiac never referred to that particular engine as a ram air lll in any of their literature or the decals on the hood. My father in law has a ’69 GTO Judge with the correct decals and it just says ram air, the same as this beautiful firebird. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
The hood on these was really a engineering first for PONTIAC. Beautiful job they did.
The 70-73 formula is by far my favorite of all firebird’s. I have loved the dual snorkel ram air scoops since the first time I saw it. This is a beautiful example although waaay out of my budget.
Wowsa was my first impression but then I looked closely at the pics in the ad… there seems to be an inordinate amount of rust coming out all over this car… pretty good ding on the right rear corner by the tail light too. At 48k it should be pristine, it is not.
The RA III was a D port engine in 1970, RAIV was the round port version, both engines were 400CI & high compression until 1971 when the 455HO was introduced as a round port engine using RAIV heads with different casting numbers
The 455 H.O. heads had larger combustion chambers to lower the compression ratio to 8.4:1 for emissions reasons. Not just a different part number than the RA IV. Still excellent breathing heads though!
Looks like he may have air shocks in the back.
I think the corp wiz kids sould have used chevys LT1 m22 and the 12 bolt. Just a thought.
It’s a Pontiac, glad they didn’t use a Chevy engine! 🙄
The owner has got to be dreaming. $48k for an automatic in this this car, now that is crazy. Nuff said.
I looked at the pictures a couple of times. I don’t see $48,000.00 either?
Not so sure, but $20,000.00 would cause me some agony!
I’m not believing everything that I’m reading about this one? Milage, no rust etc.
It originally was nice, but not now!
Just my oponion!
I owned a 1972, Formula special order, radio and heater delete. 455, 4 spd. The car was nose heavy But once 2nd gear kicked the engine to life , hold on. I had summer before college. Miss that car a lot ! 48K is steep. This is not that clean. 32K is max to spend, will need 6K of cosmetics to finish, call me when its ready.
Give me almost anything from 1970 and I’ll be happy. Have four Chevys from that year, all built in February and March because of the strike. Always loved these Formulas with that double scoop hood. Hardly ever see one.
It would look a whole lot better with some bigger rubber to fill the wheel wells.
Love the 70 Birds.
Just lower it in the back -probably air shocks there. Heavier “modern” larger wheels & lower profile tires will slow acceleration, braking & worsen the ride.
Some of these 2nd gens even came 14 inchers & so did some full size cars – even some dodge chargers!
I knew a guy back in HS who had a Dark Green Formula 400 about this vintage back then in 77 it was maybe a $1500 car. And it was in pretty nice shape.
I agree with the “earlier seats being the most comfortable”. Having driven many of these ’68 through’75 Pontiacs. (used to work at a Pontiac store back then) One interesting fact about the rear Trans Am / Z28 spoilers. They are the same spoiler! Only the on the Chevy the deck lid spoiler is turned around backwards and the end pieces are flipped around left to right and right to left. I prefer the look of the Pontiac way, but think that the Camaro may actually be better aerodynamically. (yes, I tried it!)
I sat on std seats of an orig ’68 camaro & std seats of a ’74 firebird & the latter were lot more comfortable – have more foam inside – from the factory.
I do notice that some seats that have been “restored” in 1st gens seem to be thicker – more stuffed with foam?
The 2nd gen Camaro’s and Firebirds used the same center section spoiler, and both were mounted the same “direction”, not flipped. Both cars also used the same trunk lid from 1970-1981, and spoiler equipped cars had different end caps between the Camaro and Firebird. The 1970 Camaro used a smaller smaller, one piece lip type spoiler, but the taller 3 piece spoiler was available later in production.
Since they were both built on the same assembly line, i wonder if there was at least 1 car fitted with the other division’s end caps – by accident.
The tach is not original – it’s from an end of ’70s model, since it has lower yellow & redlines – to encourage a reduction in emissions & increase in mpg?