Matching, 400ci V8, TH400 Auto, PS, PB, A/C,

1970 Pontiac Grand Prix Coupe Description

After the 1968 Grand Prix bombed with only 32,000 units sold, GM General Manager, John DeLorean was commandeered to make the next year model more appealing to the public eye. With John's input the next year Grand prix was born and sold over 110,000 units in 1969. A more than successful effort I'd say. The 1969 Grand Prix was so successful that the 1970 was a duplication of the 1969 body with only slight variances in outside and inside appointments. Unless you are looking for a trailer queen, this crowd pleasing, head turning, Pontiac enthusiast heart stopped will most definitely float your boat.
This calendar girl has been with me for eight years. She has been in two different car calendars, once as a cover photo and once as Miss May. During that time, I have personalized her in many ways, including a complete rebuild of the engine in December of 2014. Since then, I have put less than three thousand miles on the engine.
I have spent countless hours repairing and enhancing small things as well. For example, the shoulder harnesses that came with the car from the Fremont, California factory were missing. It took a while to find them but I eventually located some and reinstalled them. The same thing occurred with the courtesy and center glove box lights. The "body by fisher" emblems on the door sill plates were a bit worn and one was not recognizable so I ordered those from Ames and put the new ones in place. One of the rocker moldings was scratched so I ordered both from Ames and replaced the scratched one. I still have the brand new driver side rocker molding, which will go with the car. A brand new unopened box of PONTIAC front floor mats also goes with the car for car shows, as well as the set you see in the photos for when you are simply driving the car around town. The set in the photos are in such good shape, I used them when I brought the car to shows and never opened the other set. The unopened set have the words GRAND PRIX sown in white thread into the floor mats. Speaking of shows, in order to deter anyone from opening the doors or leaning into the car at shows, I installed a red flashing light in the center console that of course appears as an activated alarm system. This is activated by a small battery powered box that is concealed behind the center console. I didn't feel it was necessary to actually install an alarm system in the car because I was never far enough away from the car at any one point in time and frankly, I just didn't want anybody messing around with the wiring under the hood or dashboard.
Although I was always tempted to, I was always resistant to and never did just drive the car to the grocery store or any other public place (other than car shows) and leave it unattended in a parking lot. I was always concerned about the possibility of door dings. That's probably a little paranoid and admittedly anal of me, I know, but I can say this: you will not find a door ding on this car so perhaps it was worth my analness (is that really a word). When I purchased the car, it did not have any insulation, sound proofing or liners in the trunk. I added the quarter panel inserts, trunk liner and back seat sound insulator, after the fact. I have found that these help tremendously with road noise.
The emblem at the front of the hood was cracked and part of the emblem insert was missing when I purchased the car so I ordered a new one from Ames years ago. Because the car is mainly kept covered in my garage, it looks as good as it did when I first installed it. Finding a right rear tail light lens for the car was a real challenge but I eventually did and replaced the cracked one that came with the car with the one that is on it today. The spare tire has never been on the ground and the wheel matches the rally wheels that you see on the car in the photos. I purchased and installed a cover for that spare and it has remained covered in the trunk of the car, ever since it was purchased. The spare tire wheel was freshly painted to match the other wheels you see in the photos so if you ever have to replace a flat tire, nobody will know the spare is on the car. The car jack and tire iron was missing so the search began for the appropriate parts and eventually discovered on eBay. The base of the newly purchased jack was painted with 1970 Pontiac blue and the factory jack base decal was put in place. I wanted everything to be as original on the car as possible.
The trim rings on the rally wheels were scratched and although not extremely unattractive, they bothered me enough that I eventually purchased new trim rings and put them in place. Although some people might not have noticed the scratches on the old rings, I knew they were there and I felt much better that the new rings are in place and there is not a scratch on them.
The carburetor now on the car was rebuilt by Cliff Ruggles at Cliff''s Performance. I sent him the California carburetor that came with the car but unfortunately, the float needle valve seat on the carburetor base was not repairable and Cliff had to use a carburetor body from a Buick to mate with the base and top of the carburetor that came with the car to affect the rebuild. This change altered the numbers matching aspect of the car and did not set well with me. Consequently, I set out on a mission to locate a numbers matching California carburetor that would have come with this Fremont, California built car. It was not easy and took quite a bit of constant searching but I eventually located what I think was and still is the only numbers matching California carburetor on the market, purchased it at a cost of over $500.00. It has never been on the car because the carburetor that Cliff Ruggles rebuilt makes the car run so smoothly, I just couldn't bring myself to mess with that. The numbers matching carburetor remains on the shelf in my bedroom closet and will remain there in the box until the day the carburetor now in place might need to be replaced. The freshly rebuilt, numbers matching carburetor will obviously go with the car.
Because of the 2 1/2 inch exhaust, the sound of the car is quite pleasing to my ear. New factory mufflers were put in place and a crossover pipe was installed as well to aid with engine breathing and performance. The turbo 400 transmission has always shifted without a hitch and I have never had an issue with the way the transmission performs. Although the console shifter lever could use an adjustment, it still goes into drive, reverse and park nicely.
There are numerous other positives about the car but let me tell you about some of the things to which a new owner might want to give some attention. During the time I owned the car, the left turn blinker light on the dash in the speedometer area stopped working. Somebody more flexible than I is going to have to lay on their back under that dash and replace the bulb. I would have done it myself but I am frankly not eighteen years old anymore and trying to contort my body into a position necessary to do that repair is not something I look forward to. The speedometer appears to work up to about 40MPH and then it sort of hops up and down without accuracy as to the speed of the car above 40. I use the hood tachometer to determine my speed, using 2000 RPM in high gear as an indication that I'm doing about 45 and 3000 to 3200 RPM as an indication that the car is doing 65 to 70. Again, not getting under the dash was what kept me from looking into this issue. It never really bothered me so I never addressed the issue. The clock actually worked for a short time after I purchased the car but stopped working shortly after that. Again, the under dash issue and the lack of a need for a car clock kept me from doing anything about it.
Immediately after purchasing the car, I took care of a small rust issue (which I knew about prior to purchase). Although the rust was not extensive, it was something that I could not let go because it could conceivably have turned into something major. It was one of the first things I addressed after purchase. Even though I never actually washed the car in the usual way or drove the car in the rain, rust was not something I wanted to mess with. All the rust was eliminated and a small strip of treated metal was put in place during the repair. The repair stayed well below the center body line of the extreme bottom of the extreme rear of the quarter panel and the painting did not blend into the rest of the car and does not affect the look of the paint.
There was a small chip in the paint at the very back of the car top, at the base of the vinyl top. I did not want to get into paint blending and matching issues by having it repaired professionally so I fixed it myself. I'm not a body man. The repair is noticeable if you are looking for it but it is not noticeable enough to make the overall paint unattractive. I always thought that I would have it addressed professionally if I ever repainted the car but the paint is in such great shape and kept that way by garaging the car at all times that I may never have it repainted.
Well, that's about it. As I said, the car is not a trailer queen but it is a real looker and for somebody that knows and appreciates the historical value of this year and make Pontiac, it is a real buy at the price I am asking. Come and take a look at the car and you will be amazed at the its presentation. I am biased of course but I think most anybody would be proud to own a fifty year old classic in this condition. I know I am.

If you would like additional photos of any area of the car, please let me know.

Freshly rebuilt (balanced) 400 engine, very mild cam & roller rockers (December 2014)
It has a Turbo 400 transmission.
Slightly lower compression pistons to accommodate today's gas (I still use premium fuel)
Freshly rebuilt carburetor
Positive breaking at low RPM
No engine leaks
No overrun at shut off in park
Runs 15 to 20 degrees cooler
Smooth idle
Engine Chrome package
Numbers matching (including newly rebuilt carb in box)
New A/C compressor, dryer, expansion valve, A/C lines (blows ice cold)
New OEM A/C decal installed
New voltage regulator
New A/C blower motor resistor
New main A/C in dash switch
New water pump
New fuel pump
New oil pump
New OEM core support emissions decal
New transmission front seal
New V belts
New upper and lower radiator hoses
Newer tires
Newer front brakes
New dual snorkel air cleaner
New crankcase ventilation valve
New OEM heat riser
New Iridium spark plugs (100,000 mile plugs)
New HEI distributor
New mufflers and muffler pipe cross over 2 ½ inch exhaust
New trunk padding, lining
New trunk separator pad sound insulator
New trunk quarter inner panels
New OEM trunk jack instructions decal
New chrome power brake booster
New master cylinder
New OEM trunk light
New glove box light
New courtesy lights
Newly painted and installed used OEM tire jack with decal
Replaced front shoulder belts
Installed brand new spare tire with matching rally wheel
Ring magnets on oil filter
Serviced transmission and added pan magnet (Shifts flawlessly)
Less than 3000 miles on the rebuilt engine
The miles on the car are original