If You May Solely Construct A Automotive Assortment Round One Mannequin, What Would It Be?
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What would your fantasy storage appear like? Whereas some folks may fill theirs with an eclectic bunch of automobiles from totally different eras and international locations, every providing a very totally different driving expertise to go well with a special temper, others are utterly fixated on one particular mannequin.
Chuck Cocoma undoubtedly falls into the latter class. The man is obsessive about the Pontiac GTO, and has been for many years. He purchased his first model new in 1964, however actually fell down the rabbit gap within the early Nineteen Eighties when he began amassing the gathering of GTOs that’s attributable to go below the hammer at Mecum’s 2023 Kissimmee sale.
Cocoma has different fashions, and different GTOs, in his 40-strong automotive assortment, however what’s particular concerning the 9 GTOs heading for Mecum is that they’re all powered by one very particular sort of Pontiac V8 that was solely accessible in 1969 and 1970.
Referred to as the Ram Air IV, it displaced the identical 400 cu-in (6.6-liters) as the bottom GTO engine in 1969-70, however featured a scorching cam, aluminum consumption manifold, free-breathing exhaust and snorted air by a useful hood scoop you might open and shut by way of a knob on the sprint. You could possibly solely order it with a steep set of drag-strip-friendly rear-end gears that may have made freeway driving torture, and air con was a no-no. This was for severe drivers solely.
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Most informal patrons would have been delay by the restrictions listed above and that incontrovertible fact that on paper the RA IV price much more, however solely formally put out 4 hp (4 PS) above the mid-spec 366 hp (371 PS) Ram Air 400, which was a white lie on Pontiac’s half.
And the RA IV seemed even much less engaging in 1970 when a pair of 455 (7.2-liter) V8s joined the choices record. GTOs outfitted with the recent 400 have been quicker down the quarter mile, however the 455’s large 500 lb-ft (678 Nm) of torque made it simpler to drive and really feel quicker in point-and-shoot conditions. After which there’s the value: the 455 price $58 and the RA IV was priced at $558 over the bottom 400 cu-in (6.6-liter) engine, plus one other couple of hundred for tools that Pontiac made you order with it.
Which is why fewer than 1,600 Ram Air IV automobiles have been constructed over that two-year interval, together with Cocoma’s 1970 Orbit Orange GTO Choose convertible, certainly one of seven automobiles in-built that spec. That exact Choose would be the headline attraction when the gathering goes to public sale due to its rarity and its punchy shade scheme, although a heavy, fully-optioned convertible with an computerized transmission was a bizarre dwelling for the race-ready RA IV motor.
However there’s one other automotive in Cocoma’s assortment that completely sums up what Pontiac’s engineers had in thoughts once they created the engine. A 1969 non-Choose automotive outfitted with a four-speed guide transmission, it was very frivolously optioned when new to maintain the load down, that means it doesn’t have the hideaway headlamps and rolls on steelies sporting easy dog-dish hubcaps. This unassuming blue coupe was clearly specced to go as quick as potential.
One you begin diving into the spec of every automotive like this you understand that what seems to be a set of similar outdated muscle machines at first look is definitely a surprisingly numerous assortment of automobiles that every have a special story to inform, whether or not it’s how they drive, or what they’ve been by within the 5 a long time since they have been constructed (most are restored, however one is a real survivor). Properly, we wager that’s how he tries to justify it to his spouse, anyway.
So if you happen to may solely construct a set out of 1 very particular type of automotive, what would that automotive be, and what number of examples would it is advisable to have to point out each aspect of that mannequin? Go away a remark and tell us.
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