Larry's (x33rs ) 1970 1/2 Formula 400 Ram Air Firebird
 

The Formula is a car we weren't looking for and just stumbled on while visiting family in Sacramento. It was in the Sunday paper described at a 1970 Gold Formula and that was pretty much it. My wife likes that color so we decided to take a look. Ended up taking it home.

The car was built at Van Nuys and sold new at Bill Lang Pontiac in Vallejo, California and spent it's life in the Sacramento area until I found it just like you see it around 1995 with 60k miles on it.



We've enjoyed the car since taking it on vacations, road trips etc...and have accumulated another 70k miles with it over the years. I rebuilt the engine around 2000 as it was a little tired. We like racing and enjoy the pure stock drags so I kept the car true to the factory stock rules with the exception the engine had to be pump gas friendly.



I refreshed the engine in 2017. Today we still drive the car everywhere and enjoy some drag strip fun with it although not as much as we used to. Some time in the future we may do a full blown restoration but for the time being we just enjoy the car with a few bumps and bruises and have a ball with it.


I Want to thank Bruce and his family for driving up here and taking the time to take pictures of a car that has really never been the main attraction or gotten this much attention.

Bruce it was really nice to meet you and your family. Glad to see you made it back down the mountain in one piece. Hope to meet more mutual friends and like minded people in the future. :biggthumpup:

Larry

Here's a video from Larry at the drags...Looks like a lot of fun! :3gears:

nice formula I like the addition of the aluminum intake.

I love those cars. Thanks for posting Bruce.

Sharp Poncho Larry. Great color combo and one of my favorite hoods! Love the way you are enjoying it! :cool2: Thanks for sharing!:smile:

Not a bad angle on that rascal - thanks for posting!

Larry thanks for sharing your ride and showing us how much fun you and your family has had with your ride!


Bruce spectacular pics and write up which made the story come alive. Your efforts and contributions are very much appreciated!!!!

Wow thanks everyone, especially Bruce. He and his camera have a way of making that car look way better than it does in person. :grin:

Congrats a great car... love that hood and color.

Dan

Larry, it was great to meet your family (and the other Larry whose GTO is no slouch! :) )


Your Formula is just too cool. I love that you drive it everywhere. When you are down here...I have dibs on going for a ride :beers:


Thanks again for sharing your way cool car!:youguysrock:

Great car Larry. Love that is still being raced and impressed that it can still produce a 13.10 in street trim.

Enjoyed the write up as well Bruce. Another great contribution. :youguysrock:

Very nice car, and it goes good as well.

Sorry, I should check in more often.

Thanks guys. It should be good for some high 12's if I can get the air to cooperate. Seems every time I go to the track the DA is 2500+ feet. I believe that 13.10 pass corrected to a 12.78 at 106 but I'd like to see something close to that number actually on paper.

NorCam, we race everything we own when we can find time to do it. Even though they are just street cars that we drive everywhere, I enjoy making them run as good as they look. That's what they were meant for :biggthumpup:

Beautiful. Only thing it's missing is a 4 speed. ;)

Agree, I'm a 4 speed guy at heart. I have a couple of stick cars in the stable, much more fun to drive, a little rough on parts though, lol.

Larry-Are you coming down for Goodguys?

Yes, we'll be down there Saturday.

Gonna hit Pavilions after? Hope to see you!!

Are you going to be at the Pontiac Heaven this year?

Yes, going to roll out of Goodguys around 3 and head to the Pavilions for a bit.

Yes my father and I will both be racing at Pontiac Heaven.

Back again at the track a few weeks ago with the Formula. Was hoping the weather would cooperate but the DA just wasn't what I hoped being in the 2500+ range throughout the day. Can't complain, the bird ran flawless and consistent, went rounds and won the event in the Trophy class.

Here is some in car video I have

https://youtu.be/XqEydRRRwqE

Love it!

Great job Larry!:biggthumpup:

Love the car...

Thanks guys, forgot to come back to this and add some footage. Here's some outside footage my son shot during first round of eliminations.
I don't show up till the 3 minute mark. I treed my opponent so I let off before the finish line to take the win. He took the first round buy back, went a couple more rounds, and ironically we faced off for the final. He tried to beat me on the tree in the final and red lit.



https://youtu.be/i1UWE9oNJXw

Cool, congrats Larry!!:headbang:

I bet he’s never lost a race solely due to a blown shift.

LOL :beers:
I have a few stick cars I like to race, just not in a Pontiac. Was part of the UMTR team many years back when I lived in Cinci. Just not much out here that really makes me want to drag those cars out to the track.

I will however take the Z at some point this year for a little test and tune fun.

Actually heading down next week to help my son test his stick car.

Here ya go, since some guys are craving some stick action, I'll post a quick video. We took my sons mustang to the strip last Saturday for a little test and tune fun. Since it's slower than 14 flat, we can run together and exchange driving duties, which makes for a fun night.

It has 251,000 original miles on it, (252k after this weekend) and it's never been apart. It's bone stock, stock tires, stock everything. I actually never expected it to break out of the 15's. Drove it to and from the track 250 miles round trip and hot lapped it all night.

First pass with me driving here, right off the street, through tech, and right to the staging lanes, it went 14.77 at 94 mph. 2200 DA corrects to a 14.39 at 97 mph. Pretty happy for what it is.

https://youtu.be/ma-l1hEsVbk My son has actually been racing it like this for a few years now in bone stock condition. I think he now has the bug for some mods. So it'll get some changes this summer.

Now if the track, or any track nearby for that matter, would just entertain a stick race like we had back East, I'd be more inclined to get some other cars down there and row some gears. Unfortunately we have nothing of the sort out here on the West Coast.

14.39 is pretty much what those cars ran back in the day stock - with that many miles on the clock makes it even more impressive.

Agreed:headbang:

Thanks,
I'm actually pretty impressed with it considering. I didn't think it had that in it. Especially with a tired trac loc that grabs one wheel 50% of the time. But whataya expect with that mileage.

Next is a set of gears, rebuild the trac loc, then throw a set of stickies on it so I can actually launch it. It might go 13's without even touching the engine. That should satisfy him for a while.