[hiyabradHO]

Originally Posted by Shiny

Given the high quality of the photo and as you say, the unexpected number of TAs, perhaps this was a Pontiac promotional event or advertising photo?

It's a very high quality for being so old.

[keith k]

Wow - very cool picture.
I, too, am amazed that any dealer would have had that many on their lot at one time. Or even had that many in the entire model year. But I guess if it was going to happen anywhere, Detroit might have been the place.

[giles]

Originally Posted by Red80TA

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

I’ve seen a bulletin where spacers were installed in the front lower control arm between the arm and bump stop to lift the front end 2 or 3 inches. This was done to avoid shipping damage to the front air dam. I bet they had not been removed when the picture was taken.

[johnta1]

[Quad]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

I wonder how many of them still survive.

A car collector told me in the late 1990’s that he bought a nice ‘70 TA some time before I met him (he was my boss at the time);
He told me that he bought the car to sell, and had a real hard time selling it:
From my observation, these cars have only become high dollar cars in the last fifteen to twenty years.

When I got my Formula (1995), a same year, same drive train GTO would have garnered probably double the money.

classifieds from HHP October 1997

[Red80TA]

Originally Posted by 70TA-RAIII

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.

John

s-l1600 by Ben, on Flickr

[70TA-RAIII]

Yes, exactly! Followed by this one in September:




John

[dataway]

Jeez, where do you guys find this stuff?

[johnta1]

Just had a thought:


Possibly all these TA's were there for replacing or installing the decals?
There were at least 2 or 3 Pontiac dealers in Detroit. Maybe they were designated to replace them or their shop was able to do it better?

[unruhjonny]

/\ that's a pretty good thought.

Seems plausible to me... except wouldn't they have then been relinquished to the back of the lot - not facing the street?

[70TA-RAIII]

Certainly possible, and we'll probably never know for sure.
I got the impression that the "birdless" TA's were sold thru regular channels and then called back in when they figured out the solution to the problem. These seem like brand new cars since they don't have center caps.

John

[Transamric]

Hmmm, a problem at Norwood but not Van Nuys? IIRC, the bumpers were sourced from the same supplier, so the paint curing issue should have affected VN production too.

[Transamric]

Had we established anywhere in this thread that the dealer pictured here is Clohecy Pontiac in Detroit MI.?

[70TA-RAIII]

Yes! Some of the eagle eyes on here figured it out from the partial sign in the picture. Also pics posted of the building as it currently sits.

John