[eaglesan13]

I found this car in Medford Oregon last June. It wasn't advertised, but I received an email from a guy I knew who told me the car belonged to a "friend of a friend" who was thinking of selling it. Needless to say, as soon as I found out about it I jumped in my car and took a road trip to Oregon.

The car was originally from Ontario Canada, and from some of the work orders I received with the car, it appears the car was in the Trenton Ontario area until at least 1994. Sometime after that the car went to Long Beach, Washington. In 2015, the owner sold the car to his cousin in Medford, and I bought the car from him.

The car was built in the Norwood plant during the second week of February 1971 (02B). The GM of Canada Vintage Vehicle paperwork (PHS) shows that the car was shipped to Hogan Pontiac Buick Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada on February 12, 1971. The invoice shows the car was equipped as follows:

A01: GLASS TINTED - ALL WINDOWS
B42: MAT, LUGGAGE COMPARTMENT FLOOR COVER
B80: MOLDING, ROOF DRIP
B85: MOLDING, BELT REVEAL
B96: WHEEL OPENING MOLDING
C24: WIPERS - RECESSED PARK
C49: DEFROSTER: REAR WINDOW ELECTRIC
D35: MIRRORS: LT REMOTE AND RT MANUAL CONTROL - CUSTOM SPORT
D55: FRONT COMPARTMENT FLOOR CONSOLE
G80: REAR AXLE: SAFE-T-TRACK
H05: REAR AXLE - 3.73 RATIO
J50: BRAKES - VACUUM POWER
LS5: ENGINE: 455 CID - 4BBL - HO V8
M22: TRANSMISSION - 4 SPEED MANUAL HEAVY DUTY - CLOSE RATIO
N30: STEERING WHEEL - CUSTOM CUSION
N41: STEERING: POWER (VARIABLE RATIO)
PM7: TIRE: F60-15-B (2+2) BB B/WALL WHITE LETTERS
P05: WHEEL HONEYCOMB
U05: DUAL HORN
U30: RALLY GAUGE CLUSTER, CLOCK & TACHOMETER
U58: RADIO: AM/FM STEREO PUSHBUTTON
V01: RADIATOR: HEAVY DUTY
WU3: HOOD - RAM AIR INDUCTION
W54: DELUXE TRIM GROUP (BUCKET SEATS)
W66: MODEL OPTION: FIREBIRD FORMULA
W84: ADDITIONAL FUEL FOR DELIVERY
Z49: MANDATORY CANADIAN BASE EQUIPMENT MODIFICATIONS

The formula steering wheel and rear spoiler are not on the invoice, so they've been added at some point. The VIN stamps on the engine block and transmission case match the car, so they're original. The heads, intake manifold, exhaust manifolds and crossover, carburetor, distributor, air cleaner, cooling fan, radiator shroud, and alternator are all correct and probably original to the car. The rear axle gears have been changed to 3.08’s, (which I don’t care for). I doubt I’d put the 3.73 gears back in it, but I like the 3.42’s in my trans am, so I’ll probably put a set of those in this car.

The master cylinder is an aftermarket, but the original (EB code) master was in a box in the trunk. The radiator is incorrect, but I have a correct four core manual trans (FP code) radiator in the attic, so I’ll be installing that. There is an aftermarket am/fm cassette deck in the dash, but the original am/fm stereo radio and faceplate came with the car and they're in nice condition. The car has a mini starter in it, so unfortunately the 1108436 starter is missing. Other stuff that’s missing are the bumper jack, trunk mat, wheel opening moldings, and the rocker moldings.

The rear leaf springs are incorrect, and the car sits too high in the back for my liking, so I'll need to address that. The tires on the car are 225/60/15’s, which are too small, so I need to get some bigger tires to fill out the wheel wells. Sheet metal wise, it looks like it’s all the original stuff, and the body is really solid.

The odometer reading is 65,682, and considering the condition of the car, it would not surprise me if that was the original mileage. The car has had an inexpensive repaint, and the color is just a bit too dark. The original color is Lucern blue, but it now looks more like Atoll blue to me. The interior is black deluxe.

By coincidence, my 1971 Trans Am is also an 02B Norwood car. The body sequence numbers are only 684 units apart, so these two cars were built pretty close to each other (time wise). The date codes on the two cars are within days of each other on many of the parts. Both cars were shipped to Ontario Canada, with the Trans Am going to GM of Canada in Oshawa, and the Formula going to Hogan Pontiac in Toronto, a distance of about forty miles from each other.