[ramair2]

Hi All,

Over the years there have been many threads on rare *and* desireable -not just rare ;-) Pontiacs discussed on these pages. On occassion these 'top shelf' Pontiac supercars occassionally come up for sale either here, in Hemmings, on Ebay or at one of the big auction houses. In my book, 'top shelf' is any round port high comression Pontiac (plus early and late Super Duty cars). Over the past 10+ years I've seen 1970 RA IV TA's, 1969-70 RA IV GTOs and Judges, 1973 Super Duty cars and 62-3 factory Super Duty cars all sell in one public venue or another. Sometiems several examples of each would sell in a single year.

The one exception is Ram Air II cars. Both in GTO and Firebird form.

What gives? Yes I own one (RA II Bird) so maybe I'm biased but I also have owned most of the above and without question the RA II is the most brutal of the bunch (including IV cars).

My quesion is simple. Why do RA II GTOs and Firebirds almost NEVER change hands (even private transactions are exceedingly rare). My only guess is they (esp Birds) were ripped in half due to their 1/4 mile prowess back in the day. (See Jim Mino for more recent proof of that.) Or perhaps, with zero point zero badging (unlike Judge/TA stripes, spoilers, stickers, other psychadelic fanfare, etc) they werent 'saved' during the following decades becasue they were *too* stealth-like?

Anyhow, I'd like to get a better handle on how many of these cars are still around today (restored, or unrestored, with or without their original drivetrain).

Documented RA II cars that I am aware of with owners names withheld for their privacy total 12 in all...(Again, not including he said she said, rumored/undocumented cars)....

10 Birds
8 hard top
2 convertibles
--3 RA II Birds fully restored (1 of which is a convert)--

2 GTOs
both Convertibles
--one RA II GTO fully restored--

My RA II Bird (3 owners, 62k, matching, verdoro, 4speed, bench seat, fully restored)
RA II convert Bird (triple black, 4speed, concours, matching)
RA II Bird (verdoro, 5k miles yet fully restored, matching? 4spd)
RA II convert Bird (matching, complete, 4spd orig red now green (?!) needs full resto)
RA II Bird (4speed, nightshade, matching, in need of full resto)
RA II Bird (4speed, matching two owners, needs full resto)
RA II Bird (lo mi, matching, unrestored, 4spd, green needs cosmetic,sitting 20+yr)
RA II Bird (4speed, autumn bronze, non matching?)
RA II Bird ( "" "" "")
RA II Bird (4speed/auto, black(orig)?, matching?- used at PS drags
RA II convert GTO (triple black, matching, unrestored, 4speed, recent mags)
RA II convert GTO (automatic, lo miles, matching, restored in last 10-15 yrs)
--a few more 'rumored' cars...(but none flat out documened)--

All in all, 110 RA II Birds and 246 RA II GTOs were built in 1968. Very low prodcution to be sure but nevertheless one would think we would see a FEW pop up every now and again. Over the past 15 years Ive seen zero Ram Air IIs correctly advertised for sale in a public forum of any kind.

Comments on any of this?

Also if you can add to this list by all means feel free to do so!