[muscle_collector]

Originally Posted by 68RamII

Muscle-Collector,

I first learned about my car back in 1984. A guy that I worked with owned the car and said it was a RA IV. I told him that they didn't make a IV in 68 therefore it had to be a II. After years of asking him to let me see the car he finally did. And on March 3, 1992, I sent in the vin number to have the car verified. Certianly it came back as a RA II car. I didn't purchase the car until 1995. At the time I thought it was cool but certainly didn't think it would be such a sought after car.

When I purchased the car I immediately started taking it apart to begin the restoration. Long story, but I didn't take any pictures of the dissasembly. Then soon realized that raising young children took more time than I thought so the car and parts sat in storage for many years. About a 1 1/2 years ago I got the frame out of storage and restarted the restoration. The frame is done and ready to go back into storage and bring the body home for its repairs.

It is a 4 speed convertible with Flambeau Burgundy with Parchment Interior and a White Top. The engine and trans were numbers matching. Parts that were missing are, carb, rearend and exhaust manifolds. I now have all of the correct parts for the restoration.

The ebay car that I was referring to is the one with no engine or trans and not the other.

Take Care,

that will be one beautiful car. those color combos are nice. as for the ebay car, what color was it? the one i was talking about, was a red car and it didnt have the engine. it was several years ago when ebay was just getting popular and i had full intentions on buying it and had to go out of town and thought i would be back in time, but missed it by a few hours. i emailed the seller and said if the deal fell thru to let me know and i would take it. never heard back. it needed totally redone and back then it bid up to around 15k. at the time i figured i would have easily gone to 17.5k. i always wandered where it ended up. anyone remember it or know of a red one?

[1969 Ram Air]

I know of a ram air one 68 convertible in the same colors. Burgundy with parchment interior and white top. That's a great color combination.

[68pongto]

The one on ebay a couple of years ago was a Vedero green Ivy gold, 4 speed car. A guy named Vernon in West Virginia was selling it. He kinda jerked me and Chris around for a couple of months. Sold for 35k on ebay. I think I'm going to just build my own RAII car (since none ever come up for sale, and the ones that do are out of my price range!) I have a set 96 heads, PQ trans, nodular rear. I can build to be just as fast and don't need to worry about it being a trailer queen or museum piece! Race it and have fun! Just my 2 cents! Scott

[Judge273]

Not sure what color this one is in Chicago recently.



The TA vert was very nice too....

[JLHarper]

Whats the latest SALES DATA on one of these cars?

Insurance appraised value, offers, ebay or auction, private sales numbers?

For a #s unrestored original like the few being talked about.

Any idea?

Jeff

[The Boss]

The one that went through e-bay a year or two ago was around 35k, needed a full resto, didn't have the engine, the trans, ram air pans, and the rear wasn't verified as correct either.

[1969 Ram Air]

Do you guys think a '68 ram air II is worth about the same as a '69 ram air IV, with condition and other factors being equal?

[brians]

Originally Posted by 1969 Ram Air

Do you guys think a '68 ram air II is worth about the same as a '69 ram air IV, with condition and other factors being equal?

My personal opinion is that they are worth a premium 10/20% over a comparable IV. (maybe mid way between a RAIV GTO and RAIV Judge)

At the time the green one sold on Ebay, it fetched a fair amount over what a comparable IV car would have gone for.
I have seen a number of “wanted” ads for 68 RA2 cars on different sites so the demand is out there.
Again, just never see them for sale. I think there are even more 63 SD Catalina's out there then 68 RA2 cars.

[The Boss]

More!

There were 199 4spds and 47 automatic RA II GTO's made in 1968.

There were 594 4spds and 165 automatic RA IV GTO's made in 1969 & 651 4spds and 153 automatic RA IV GTO's made in 1970.

Production totals for the three years were 246, 759, and 804. For those of us who have chased these for 20 years to only be able to come up with a handful (together) should tell you there isn't a high survival rate!

[The Boss]

Originally Posted by brians

At the time the green one sold on Ebay, it fetched a fair amount over what a comparable IV car would have gone for.

About double!

[68bird400HO]

Originally Posted by Judge273

Not sure what color this one is in Chicago recently.

April Gold

[marc1]

Originally Posted by The Boss

More!

There were 199 4spds and 47 automatic RA II GTO's made in 1968.

There were 594 4spds and 165 automatic RA IV GTO's made in 1969 & 651 4spds and 153 automatic RA IV GTO's made in 1970.

Production totals for the three years were 246, 759, and 804. For those of us who have chased these for 20 years to only be able to come up with a handful (together) should tell you there isn't a high survival rate!

Agree... I have a real Ram Air IV Judge... it took me 5 years to track it down and close the deal (this was many many years ago before the BJ / Mecum insanity set in... when it was still just a car) sure I love it... but my heart has always been a 1968 RAII ever since I was old enough to understand this stuff (about 14). I have never even seen one live. I am currently working on driving restoration on a real 1968 RAI car that my friend bought a while back (it's all my 68 posts, that car), it is a real gem that was sold new in Detroit (imagine the stories in that car's history!!) and a great find... and until we bought that car and brought it home (I will never forget that day... I couldn't stop looking in the rearview at it as we towed it home... it was a tad rough to attempt the drive) I had never been in the presence of even this a higher production number RAI car in 25+ years of being into GTO's. I would buy a RAII car in a second if the right opportunity came along and drive it like they were meant to be. A RAII car is my so-called time machine car... if I could go back that's the one I would buy... not an LS6 Chevelle, not an L88 'vette, not a Yenko, not even a 455 70 Judge... it would be a simple RAII with nary an option. Those cars were the real deal (RAI/II)... pure and simple crudely appointed muscle taking home win after win on the streets and on the track in 68.

[muscle_collector]

Originally Posted by brians

My personal opinion is that they are worth a premium 10/20% over a comparable IV. (maybe mid way between a RAIV GTO and RAIV Judge)

At the time the green one sold on Ebay, it fetched a fair amount over what a comparable IV car would have gone for.
I have seen a number of “wanted” ads for 68 RA2 cars on different sites so the demand is out there.
Again, just never see them for sale. I think there are even more 63 SD Catalina's out there then 68 RA2 cars.

now days with the internet, any day that i want i could find and purchase a ra 4 car of some type. this is not to discredit the ra4, (anyone who knows me knows that i love them). however, you just cant buy a ra2 car. i have said it before, and even with the internet involved, they are the absolute hardest pontiac there is to lay your hands on. and the fastest pontiac with the exception of the 63 super duty or ra 5.

[Ram Air I]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

the scoops were black on this one. however, the original owner of this one said that the ram air package with the black cut out scoops were in the trunk when he picked it up at the dealer. the other one, which is the blue car, the owner said the ra package was already installed when he picked it up. (both were special ordered according to the owners).

I will have to look at the scoops on my r/a I car with original paint. The car is black and so are the scoops. I will look to see if they are black primer or gloss.

My father sold this car new at his Pontiac dealership. The r/a package was installed by our shop as part of the pre-delivery service all new cars received. See the attached repair order documenting the new car service.

This was a barn find in '89 or '90. My car is an unmolested 56k original. It had the original hoses, plug wires, and even one of the belts. It has ps, pb, auto, console, hideaways, am, tinted glass, power windows, and floor mats. One of the original redline tires is in the trunk. It has black exterior with blue interior. The guy I bought it from (second owner) told me it would lift the front tires off the ground. I am not sure I believe this! It is incredibly fast though and would easily beat my ra3 69 ta. I was told there was a twin to mine (black ext, blue int ra I) that was a 4 speed no option car that ran low 13's.

[JLHarper]

Whats the color scheme of your car, RAM AIR 1?

Cool history linked to your Dads Pontiac dealership as well....!

We had another member whose family owned a dealership in OK and he shared some history ... before defecting to the Vette crowd.

Still....interesting stuff.

Jeff

[68pongto]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

now days with the internet, any day that i want i could find and purchase a ra 4 car of some type. this is not to discredit the ra4, (anyone who knows me knows that i love them). however, you just cant buy a ra2 car. i have said it before, and even with the internet involved, they are the absolute hardest pontiac there is to lay your hands on. and the fastest pontiac with the exception of the 63 super duty or ra 5.

Gary do you still have the one RA II sitting outside or have you moved it in? Scott

[muscle_collector]

it is still sitting there. it was one of the batch of cars that were in the body shop that went belly up that got me so angry i just shoved them out in the field. however, i am moving some stuff around to get it out to take it and have a little bit of body work done and have it put back together so it wont just be a rolling shell with fenders laying off of it. it is a green auto car that came from knafel in akron.

[Judge273]

If we are strictly talking 68 speed wasn't a bobcatted 68 with a 428 fastest GTO?

I know as far a "cool factor" the bobcat with the paint scheme was cooler..

[Ram Air I]

Originally Posted by JLHarper

Whats the color scheme of your car, RAM AIR 1?

Cool history linked to your Dads Pontiac dealership as well....!

We had another member whose family owned a dealership in OK and he shared some history ... before defecting to the Vette crowd.

Still....interesting stuff.

Jeff

Defectors will be shot on site!

My car is black exterior with blue interior.

[muscle_collector]

Originally Posted by Judge273

If we are strictly talking 68 speed wasn't a bobcatted 68 with a 428 fastest GTO?

I know as far a "cool factor" the bobcat with the paint scheme was cooler..

i would seriously doubt that the 428 would outrun the ra 2. i know it wouldnt in stock form. and i would think that if you bobcatted or whatever the ra 2 to the same degree you did the 428, the ra 2 would beat it.

now what should have been offered from pontiac was a ra 2 headed and cammed 428. just like in 70, they should have offered a ra 4 top end on a 455. but as usual, they forgot to ask my opinion when they were engineering things.