[70TA-RAIII]

Found this picture recently, maybe it's been posted before. Six PW and one LB 1970 TA's brand new at the dealership! Plus the one parked on the street. I noticed he's missing the nose bird which got me thinking back to when my brother bought his 70 TA from a used car lot in 1972 (I own this car today).

His car was missing the nose bird too. We wondered what was up with that and then soon found out there was an issue with the decal not sticking properly to the front bumper. Now it's know from TSB's at the time that a big chunk of these new TA's fell into two categories; one where the nose bird crinkled up and fell off, or the other where the factory decided to leave them off of new cars until the paint had a chance to cure.

The VIN of mine shows it was in the early category where it was delivered with the bird decal, only to have it peel off later.
I just love old pictures like this!

John

[JSuchma]

Fast forward to 2024, in the condition they are sitting in and milage, that has to be at least a 1.5 million dollars worth of 1970 T/As !!!!

[Red80TA]

Also check how high they sat from new, one has nearly found the higher than normal curb edging.

[kingbuzzo]

Wow great photo

[242177P]

I suspect the one by the bay door is yet another TA. You can spot
what looks like a rear spoiler. But... Study the leading edge of the
roof. It takes a unusual dip - right where a stripe might be found.



Those PMD center caps look just like naked grease caps.

[mgarblik]

That's a great picture! Any idea what dealership that is and where it was located. With a total production run of 3196 cars, that's a bunch of TA's at one time at one dealer.

[Green Hornet]

Just the wheels alone are worth some silly $$$ now..

[johnta1]

WOW!!!!

Heaven.



I believe the dealer is Clohecy Pontiac, Detroit MI.
(from used car sign)

The caps were probably taken off so they wouldn't get stolen?
Maybe they were all just delivered off the truck and not serviced yet?

Thanks for the pic.

[tdavidl]

and check out the person in the green car parked on the street talking on their cell phone!

lol....

[WQ59B]

Originally Posted by johnta1

WOW!!!!
I believe the dealer is Clohecy Pontiac, Detroit MI.
(from used car sign)

Can confirm: it is Clohecy.

[70TA-RAIII]

Good detective work on IDing the dealer!

John

[72projectbird]

Oh lawdy lawd!

I wish I could go back in time

[jamesq]

When I worked for a small Pontiac dealer in the mid-70s, cars w/Rallye II's were delivered with the center caps and trim rings in the trunk. That install was part of my job!

James Q

[unruhjonny]

That right there might be the best (highest resolution / largest) 1970 Firebird dealer picture I have ever seen.

Thank you for sharing this!!

I believe that the caps cannot be installed on the front wheels with the wheel mounted, so maybe they were delivered without caps installed - and in the trunk(?);
The 70-74 caps have larger retainers - where as the 75(?)+ caps can be R&R'd over the front grease caps without issue.

[jhein]

Great photo. Thanks for posting.

[SD455DJ]

That is such a great picture of the past! Thanks for posting it. My '70 RAIII Formula 400 (also LB) came through Clohecy and was a Detroit radio station give-away contest car.

The old dealership building still exists and you can see the windows and garage door are the same locations, plus the old stone is painted. The showroom windows were filled in with concrete blocks and you can just make out the stone base at the floor.

Dennis

[Shiny]

That is an amazing photo, both the number of cars and the image quality.

Curiosity - were the noses shipped to dealers without paint for some reason?

I see this misalignment:



and this apparent color mismatch:

[JSuchma]

Originally Posted by Shiny

That is an amazing photo, both the number of cars and the image quality.

Curiosity - were the noses shipped to dealers without paint for some reason?

I see this misalignment:



and this apparent color mismatch:

That color mismatch is the photographer's shadow.

[4dblnkldude]

WOW! What a great effin' picture!!!

[dataway]

Definitely have the dealer correct.