1970 gto judge ram air IV

[Jeff H]

There's no reason this should ever turn into personal attacks. Someone was looking for help in trying to document a possible RA V GTO. He was looking for possible connections on who to talk to. Opinions are always welcome, but they are just opinions. We now have several people with documentation on GTO's with "memo" and "spec equip" on them and it would be great for the hobby if these people could get together to compare information to help shed some light on what these special notations mean. Let's get back to the research and stop attacking everyone involved. And since football starts soon, get your wings and [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img] and relax. Go Giants!

[Chevy454]

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe we can convince the administrators to add a forum for NON Chevy GM supercars.

[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't that a contradiction in terms? Maybe you should send something down here to try and persuade me next spring when the tracks open up again! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif[/img] I'm not easily swayed, so it might take a couple weeks worth of test 'n' tunes to make a ruling...
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[sixtiesmuscle]

O.K. Rob, if slicks are allowed, I'll find something for SCR7.

[Pantera]

Did you tell the guy that you were buying his car and then when he emailed you wanting to know where the check was, you could tell him that you sent it to the address of the house in the picture.....
[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/haha.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/haha.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/haha.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/haha.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif[/img]

[retiredfinally]

Hi everyone. I received a call about this debate and thought I could give some information.

In 1961, I graduated from GMI and went to work for the R&D dept. of PMD. In 1963, I was a single 25 year old car nut with a great job and bought the best car I could. It was a 421 SD Catalina HT and yes I did drive it on the street once in a while. I still have the car, but in 64 I had to replace the aluminum ex. manifolds with steel and I also replaced the fenders with steel. I also own a 68 RAII GTO and a 70 RaIV T/A. No I did not buy these new.

Enough about my cars, throughout the 60s I worked in both the design and testing in numerous engine programs. I did work with the Ram Air V program. So a few points, at the time we did not call it the RAV. It was an exercise to build the best Pontiac engine period. To the upper management, It was a complete failure. The 303 design had a HP and Torque curve that was completely wrong for the Trans Am circuit. Remember this was for the racing circuit not the car. The 366 engine was a mess and the 400 did not perform anywhere near what we thought it could do. We looked at everything from Cubic inch to multiple fuel induction systems. I never heard until reading it years later the RAVI RAVII RAVIII ect. At the time, I pushed to remove the downward exhaust ports but the design parameters called for it to remain somewhat Pontiac in outward appearance.

As far as engineering having this secret back room, It was an R&D dept with the concept being anything goes. Yes we do some crazy stuff but remember this was a job with the idea being future marketable merchandise. To the best of my recollection we never brought a car from the assembly line into R&D to install a motor to be sold to the general public. We had better things to do and we might have had to listen to the UAW.

Bill Knafel I always knew of his cars and his dealership. This was only because I was and still is a huge Pontiac person. I do not remember his dealership involved in any official component testing. I cannot think of a reason we would. We had everything at our disposal and numerous close dealers if need be. I do not know if he ever received R&D components.

If memory serves me right, the only dealer I visited in that area over the RAV program was a dealership named Ray Faros. I could be off on the spelling? I remember they were having a problem with a crate motor they installed.

Well I could go on but thanks for letting me ramble.

[Steve_Hoog]

For the record... Jim M took time out of his Sunday to call me and address my concerns. My apologies to Jim M or anyone that thought I was over line with him. Jim M does appear to be concerned with this subject, and I believe he will do what he can to help Mike and Gary indentify the oddities surrounding the two cars.

As I stated before, I DO appreciate what GM has done by allowing Jim M to have access these records. And I DO appreciate Jim M taking on the responsibilty.

We as Pontiac enthusiast are blessed to have PHS.

[Jeff H]

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[gtoguru]

Obviously there is a lot of interest in this topic. I dont know why this isnt being discussed on one of the Pontiac boards but I thank the Chevrolet guys for bearing with us on this. This is about as good as it gets 33 years after the fact.

[442w30]

Amen. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

Now I've just popped some Ritalin, so why don't we organize and tally up the info, shall we?

1) There are no documented RAV GTOs
2) As BobcatBob said, if there were, the burdon of proof would be on the believers.
3) Would you believe a '68 Z/28 ragtop without paperwork? So why are some of you so staunch in your belief that there were RAV GTOs?
4) Wangers and Knafel both are legends in their own minds.
5) The memory some people have is not as good as it used to be.
6) JM and PHS right now are the definitive source for PMD history (and NOT someone's memory.)

Did I miss anything? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif[/img]

[Belair62]

Sometime us Chevy guys have to take a break from all the high horsepower Chevrolet engines and talk about Pontiac stuff with you guys for a little while just to catch our breath [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img] !!! (just kidding all you passionate Poncho guys ! I like them too !)