Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Serio
I have 3 old paper photographs of a very low miles original blue 70 Trans Am. It has a tan standard interior and no console. That car has the large black plastic ball on the shifter. The guy who sent me the photos (pre-internet) days. Said the car was very original, so much so that I recall during a phone conversation he was lamenting about the hood locks that the first owner had installed into the hood. They were those nicer chrome flush mounted ones (one lock per side) that took a key that was the same kind of a key that was used on a an older soda machine.
The current owner did not like the hood locks but he did not want to remove the hood and fill those holes as then the hood would have to be repainted and perhaps the center stripe sticker replaced..
He told me that the car was like 95 to 97% original paint. Blue, white stripe tan non-deluxe interior.
Thinking back I probably received these photos in the mail sometime in the mid to late 1990s. I kept them because even back then the white with the blue stripe Trans am was the one you always saw at the car shows. Uncommon, at least for me, to see a blue one for 70 or 71. More so the blue with the tan interior. Most of the ones I remember had a black or a blue interior. Although a friend of mine has a White/ blue stripe '72 Trans Am that has the blue or black dash and carpet with the white deluxe seats.
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Funny Pete. That was my 1970 Trans Am with 36,000 miles and all original paint with the saddle interior. GOOD MEMORY PETE! I likely had that converstation with you but it could have been the 2nd owner. I bought that car in 1996 from him. I'd still have the car today but the original owner's son who came home from the hospital in it when he was born called me on a monthly basis for a LONG time. I guess it belonged back in the family. I owned it for about 12 years.
My theory on the LARGE black ball VS. the simulated leather knob is that it is dictated by the interior. Plain and simple. The LARGE Black ball came with the standard interior and simulated leather knob came with the Deluxe interior.
This has played out to be true on several low mile original 1970-71 Trans Am's that I have personally owned.
I also feel that the red insert on the simulated knob is pre-production thing and MAYBE an EXTREMELY EARLY production item. They just ended up using the red insert from the custom wood knob in 1969 on the 1970 pre-production simulated leather deluxe Firebird knob.
I suspect this was just like the 1970 red Pontiac crest on the Formula wheel center cap in a GTO or Judge. It is shown in the Performance brochure but rarely seen in production vehicles.