1970 gto judge ram air IV

[gtoguru]

I have been reading all your posts with interest. Just have a few comments. I do hope the RAV Judge turns out to be a factory/engineering installed piece. Back in 69 Pontiac had all it could do to keep the RAIV engines running in the cars. Many,many were blown up. John Sawruk said that they had storage buildings full of blown up RAIV's. That is why there are so few original cars left and that is why there are soo many SR blocks floating around. With all that warranty work going on I doubt that engineering would have been seriously testing any RAV combinations. They were busy trying to keep the RAIV's together. But that could also be how Knafel got a factory built GTO with a RAV. Knafel could continue testing the RAV while engineering worked on RAIV warranty issues as well as the 455HO and SD stuff. Also contrary to popular belief all pontiac engine blocks did not get the VIN stamped on them. Most did but I have seen many that did not. Just my 2 cents worth.

[sixtiesmuscle]

GTOguy & gtoguru, who are you??? Please fill out your profiles, or, at least let us know your names.

[Mr70]

It's Ironic that both sides of this Topic seem to agree on one thing,that they want to see paperwork backing the claims,one way or the other.Yet some of these people are not filling out their Member profiles.
C'mon guys,take a few minutes to show us your personal info.
Thanks.
Rick

[Chevy454]

I had the pleasure of hearing John Sawruk speak in Stanton a couple months ago. I race Pure Stock with his son, Jeff Sawruk (350HO Tempest in the low 13s!), and he gave a VERY interesting speech on all things Poncho. He devoted a lot of effort to the SD455 part of the speech, as he was the primary engineer on that project. VERY COOL stuff, and one heck of a nice guy (his son is the same as well). I think he said he was at Pontiac for like 30 years or something?

Oh yeah, and READ THIS THREAD!

[gtoguru]

John Sawruk is retired from GM but still the Pontiac historian and also a consultant. I always go to see his presentations. I would think if there is any engineering documentation on these RAV cars John would be the guy to ask about it.

[Chevy454]

Sounds right...I forgot about the consultant part, as I *believe* he was involved in the '04 GTO project.

In his presentation he want over HP ratings (Net vs Gross), product testing, product development, really cool stuff, coming from someone that was there back in the day. I sent his son Jeff a note, so maybe he can stop by and help shed some light on some of this!

[gtoguru]

Bill S.,
Shelby is about midway between Cleveland and Columbus near Mansfield. Could be neat living in Shelby and owning a Shelby but Fords have always been BRAND X to me. Im pretty much a GM guy. Lots of Mopars and Chevrolets around here. Pontiacs were always in the minority but may be finally getting their due. The RAIV cars are going for big money on EBAY. Documentation on these cars is usually scarce other than PHS. I have the original window sticker but that is all. A Knafel RAV factory car would be huge if it could be documented. Hope it can be. I will read with interest everyones posts here as this is a great site. Jim

[sixtiesmuscle]

Just so you guys don't think I'm totally nuts saying thatArlen Vanke said my car was the one in a promo pic, I asked Jim M. to see what he had in his files. This looks white to me, and, pretty early. I don't care one way or another, but, at least I satisfied myself that a white was used too.

[olredalert]

Jim,

-----Wow,a Pontiac guy from a town named Shelby.What are the odds?Cant remember what part of the state Shelby is located in.Im originally from Medina/Wadsworth area and bought cars from Knafel.Matter of fact I bought a 455 72 TA that was Mrs.Knafels driver for part of that year.
-----There were probably 7 or 8 drive-ins within a 20 mile radius of Knafels.Back in the 65/68 era when we were doing a bunch of street racing it wasnt uncommon to hit em all looking for a particular car or cars we had heard were bad.The thing that has always struck me about Knafels is that they had no packages available for the street,like Bobcats.Yeah,the track history was there,but believe me,we almost never ran across troublesome Pontiacs on the street.And on the odd occasion that we did,we didnt particularly quake in our boots when we saw a Knafel dealer sticker.Believe it or not one of the main guys we would stay away from when there was money involved was a certain 65 442 from Wadsworth or maybe Barberton.Dont ask me why as he would never open the hood.But mostly big horsepower Corvettes and Mopars were the easiest to go fast on the street with.There were a bunch of both in the Knafel area.
-----Cant really say what happened from 69 on up in that area of the world as I went away to school.All this seems sort of odd nowadays as Ive become a big Pontiac fan.Of course,all this drivel has nothing to do with RAVs,but thought I might lighten things up a bit.........Bill S

[Belair62]

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we almost never ran across troublesome Pontiacs on the street.

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Many,many were blown up. John Sawruk said that they had storage buildings full of blown up RAIV's. That is why there are so few original cars left

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The history of Pontiac street cars !!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif[/img][img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/Charley.gif[/img]