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Originally Posted by Shift'n Gears
With respect to the shifter, I agree with Larry's statement
Technically....there were two(2) different type "leather" knobs in the '70's.
The early ones had a raised shifter bezel.
The later ones had a flush mounted bezel.
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You do understand that that was posted to distinguish an early from a late psudo-leather shifter handle right?
I have seen the handles with the "raised shift indicator insert" handles in cars as late as 1975... and all the later (eg: 1978+) cars had the "flush shift indicator insert" handles.
IF I notice anything out of place on a car I cannot suggest it as being oringinal especially since this is an easilty changed piece...
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Originally Posted by Shift'n Gears
...I did find it interesting that some 70 original owners said that their cars came with the round balls instead of the knobs, as none of my research has evidence of this as a option. I researched several Original Dealer brochures and looked in several reference books. All the pictures I have found show the "70 only" shifter knob which has different printing on the raised surface. Since all the pictures are in black & white I cannot tell colors.
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Some original owners?? - I thought
every original owner here has stated this...
It wasn't untill a couple years back that I knew the '70 Firebirds had specific shifter handles - as this isn't common knowledge; and since the pre-production cars pictured for the 1970 Firebird advertisement campaign clearly did not use production pieces, it should be feasable to understand that some of the finer details had not been cleared out at the time of printing those advertisements...
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Originally Posted by Shift'n Gears
...To add to the mystery is the fact that dealers would "customize" cars on the showroom floor. Evidence of this is dealer installed options such as in 1971 the Brochure has listed dealer installed Hood Pins. Even though a dealer could have installed them as an option, I would not consider them stock.
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There is no mystery here - the hood pins & hood tach were never installed from the factory (just like 1967/1968 Firebird Ram Air systems) - they were only installed at the dealership.
For you to suggest that a 1970/1971 Firebird with hood pins should not be considered stock, would lend me to believe that you should think that 1970/1971 Formulas with the hood tach - or a 1967/1968 Firebirds with fuctional ram air are all incorrect...
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Originally Posted by Shift'n Gears
...If anyone has any date correct photos or other tangible evidence that the round balls were available in 1970 as stock, or a dealer installed option, I would be very interested.
TIA
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What kind of evidence do you require... how many original 1970 Formula or Trans Am owners have to state that the black ball was their original piece before you believe it was the factory piece...
I believe that the same oversized round (black) ball was used for some years of GTO's and Grand Am's - so this shifter handle was definatly used for more than one year & model application...
I submit for the viewing pleasure of this audience two more pictures of an original 1970 Firebird with a black shifter ball - this one was the most recent one I Photographed, a legit 1970 L74/4spd Formula - the only things changed on it, were paint, and some small service items... this was the first Formula I've seen with the 70 only "ram air"-air cleaner base brakets still in place...