# Advice



## JohnJ (Dec 29, 2012)

Hi everyone, Hope you all had a great holiday season. I am looking for advice on the cars I have collected and am starting to restore. I have a couple I cannot find any current market value for and would enjoy everyone's opinion. 

First car is a 1970 Ram Air III GTO. It is Starlight Black with a black bench seat interior, Column shift automatic. Has Power disc brakes, power steering, 8-track, indash tach, special order HD posi 3:90 with hd suspension. It will be a full restore with a period correct drivetrain (though still looking for a 70 HD saf-t-track rear for it). 

Second car is a 1970 4-speed gto convertible. All numbers Matching standard 400 with air, power steer, power disc, hood tach, 3:23 posi and is gold with gold top. 

Any advice is welcome. 
PS: Also looking for a 68 RAI block and heads. 

Thanks, John


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## ppurfield001 (Jan 21, 2008)

JohnJ said:


> Hi everyone, Hope you all had a great holiday season. I am looking for advice on the cars I have collected and am starting to restore. I have a couple I cannot find any current market value for and would enjoy everyone's opinion.
> 
> First car is a 1970 Ram Air III GTO. It is Starlight Black with a black bench seat interior, Column shift automatic. Has Power disc brakes, power steering, 8-track, indash tach, special order HD posi 3:90 with hd suspension. It will be a full restore with a period correct drivetrain (though still looking for a 70 HD saf-t-track rear for it).
> 
> ...



The mechanical experts on this site should also weigh in on the following -- I don't think that the Judge came with a column shift. I think the only options were floor-mounted four- or three-speed manual transmissions and floor-mounted Hurst his-and-her automatic transmission. If I am right, the Judge you are referring to is a "clone," that is, not a real Judge. You may want to consider getting the PHS papers on this car based on the VIN, which PHS papers will tell you the exact options the car was born with. Clones are OK as long as you don't pay a "real Judge" price for it. Good luck.


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## JohnJ (Dec 29, 2012)

It's not a judge, it's a non-judge Ram Air III. I do have the PHS on it. I think somebody was trying to order a sleeper. The bench seat interior was 30 lbs lighter than a judge. That's the only thing I can think of.


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## jmt455 (Mar 26, 2012)

That is a very tough choice.

Though the D port Ram Air III is not as valuable as the round-port versions, I would think that RA III car has the potential for excellent market value. It has great "sleeper" options and colors.

On the other hand, I personally would prefer the gold/gold 4-speed convertible. I think the gold looks great!

If I were lucky enough to be faced with your decision and money/time/space are all available, I would restore the RA III car and sell it, then restore and keep the gold convertible.

If money, time and space were VERY available, I'd build and keep them BOTH!


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## JohnJ (Dec 29, 2012)

I agree, I had started to collect project cars to build when I had time and keep them but life dictates what we keep and what we sell. I also was lucky enough to find a pair of 68's a few years ago. One was a standard GTO with the 3 sp on the floor but has some great options: rally stripes, air, power steering, am/fm, power antennae, head rests, hidden headlights and a 742 option code that I can't find any info on. It also has a 223S int. code on the cowl plate. I also picked up a 68 gto for parts that turned out to be a ram air I car with hd posi, 4:33, hidden headlights, M21 and that was it. 
the raI car is springmist green, which I really like. Thank you for your advice. 

Have a great new year

John


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## kilkm68 (May 5, 2011)

JohnJ said:


> It's not a judge, it's a non-judge Ram Air III. I do have the PHS on it. I think somebody was trying to order a sleeper. The bench seat interior was 30 lbs lighter than a judge. That's the only thing I can think of.


Some odd-opitioned original cars are out there. I saw a '66 hardtop at a show last tear that the owner claimed was an original survivor. It was a 389 tri-power car with A/C , bench seat and column shift. I was looking at the cowl tag and VIN when the owner came over and ask if I had any questions. I said I had never seen a tri-power car with a bench seat and column shift. He said his neighbor lady had special ordered it that way and he bought it from her years later and had it ever since.


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

The '68 ram air car is by far the most rare and valuable of the bunch. Look at the production numbers.....they're _miniscule_. It should be a RA II car, however. It will have round port heads, etc. Bottom line, restore the one you want to keep. Very hard to make money on a restoration these days. That said, it costs just about as much money to restore a garden variety GTO or LeMans as it does to restore a rarer car. The rare car will bring much more $$$ for the time and money you invest.


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## 69ra3 (Dec 29, 2012)

Couple of rare Pontiac's you have there Jim. Good luck with the restoration(s) and enjoy. As already stated, there were some interesting options to choose from back in the day.


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

So many cars, and so few 100's of thousands of dollars. Like GeeTee said i would pic your poison and do the rare one up right. You will easily put 30K in to it and thats doing most of the stuff yourself if you can, if not add another 20k.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

First question to answer / decision to make, is what are your goals? Are you building something for you to enjoy, or are you more concerned with resale value?

Answering that question tends to make the other choices easier.

Bear


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## JohnJ (Dec 29, 2012)

Thanks for the responses. I had planned on keeping all the cars but business got rough and I have to part with 3 of them. I want to keep the Ram Air I car (Still looking for an early block and heads) and the strange optioned 68 but will most likely sell the 2 70's and a 72 buick I have. I still wonder what a 742 option code is for a 68 as well as the interior code 223S.


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