1970 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

Due to a crippling strike at General Motors' assembly plant in Norwood, Ohio, the second-generation Camaro and Pontiac Firebird were introduced midway through the 1970 model year. They were offered only as sleek fastback coupes with styling cues reminiscent of Italy's design house. The Pontiac Firebird line continued to include the Trans Am as the high-performance model, which would rein in production in second-generation form through 1981. The Esprit leaned towards grand touring and the Formula 400 towards sport. For 1970, the exclusive Trans Am model found 3,198 willing buyers. 1,339 cars came with the L47 Ram Air III 400 CID V8 backed by the M40 Turbo-Hydramatic 400 automatic transmission (the four-speed transmission with Hurst shifter was standard). Both transmission options came with 3.55:1 gears, and a 3.73:1 was available with the four-speed. Fewer than 50,000 Firebirds were built in total that year.

The 400 cubic-inch Ram Air III engine offered 345 horsepower and received cold air from the functional reverse-facing, solenoid-actuated Shaker hood scoop. A unique front air dam and decklid lip used air pressure at speed to help push the car down onto a specially-tuned suspension with heavy-duty front and rear sway bars, stiffer springs, 10.9-inch front disc brakes, and 9.5-inch rear drums. The padded Formula steering wheel directed quick 12.1:1 variable-ratio power steering. The Kelsey Hayes Rally II wheels were wrapped with F60-15 Goodyear Polyglas tires and kept the Pontiac snugly planted to the road. The 1970 Pontiac Trans Am wore the same impact-absorbing nose as other Firebirds, but Pontiac claimed its unique front air dam and fender air extractors created 50 pounds of downforce on the nose at highway speeds. It claimed equal downforce to the tail from a big decklid lip and small spoilers in front of the rear wheels.

Many of the Firebird's aerodynamic add-ons had been developed by former Chaparral engineer Paul Lamar, who worked with Pontiac engineer Herb Adams and racer Jerry Titus during testing sessions held on a dry lake bed. The Trans Am's suspension was further improved through Adams' and Titus' racing experience. The conventional front coil/rear leaf-spring system was tuned with a larger-diameter 1.25-inch front sway bar and staggered shocks with a .875-inch bar at the rear. Two engineers responsible for the 1964 GTO named Russ Gee and Bill Collins further tested the Trans Am, helping to fulfill the mission of creating the best-handling American car in the land. With the Ram Air III, it was also among the fastest. Even with 57 percent of the weight on the front wheels, the car handling exceptionally well.

The 345-horsepower Ram Air III was capable of low-14-second lap times at the dragstrip. This was suitable for most buyers, but just 88 of the 3,198 Trans Am buyers selected the optional Ram Air IV. It came with bigger ports, better heads, swirl-polished valves, and an aluminum intake manifold for 370 horsepower, 25 more than in 1969. Even more rare and exclusive was the Ram Air V, an over-the-counter, special-order piece that included solid lifters and tunnel-port heads for as much as 500 horsepower.

The interior had bucket seats with headrests, a central floor console, Formula steering wheel, engine-turned dash insert, and comprehensive instrumentation including a tachometer. The tachometer was turned on its side to redline at 12 o'clock, in a similar fashion to a real race car.

by Daniel Vaughan | Feb 2020