Pontiac Holy Grail for sale

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Bonnewagon

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I think I remember the strike was in 1970. That delayed the introduction of the second gen "F" bodies. They carried the '69 models over until the strike ended. At the time the feeling was that they had "ruined" the beautiful looking '67-'69 Camaro and Firebird.
 
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Longroof79

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Jack, my original 1968 Firebird hardtop was the OHC6. It was not your average straight six. Loads of torque, yet high revving, and the light weight made the front end very responsive. In fact when I swapped in a 350 it was not faster. It took a 400 to outperform the OHC6. Their downfall was the "hydraulic valve lash adjusters" which were a blind-hole type of lifter. With no oil exit hole they gunked up and caused valve train tick. That was very annoying. The top of the line was the SPRINT option version with a Q-jet, split exhaust, and a 4-speed. They have a cult following and are pretty rare. I am leaning towards using the 400 HO as it is an actual '68 engine. i would need some big valve low compression heads for it. I have a couple of sets but they are missing the end exhaust bolt holes. That is a peculiarity on the '71-'72 heads. I also have a couple of sets of the '67-'69 RA/HO cast iron exhaust header manifolds and I would need the end bolt holes to make those work.
Mark,
A friend of mine back in the day, had a Sprint 6 powered Lemans. It had a 4-spd and 4-bbl Q-jet on it. I thought it had quite peppy performance for what it was. I thought it was a pretty cool car at the time.
A woman that I knew here in G'ville had a '66 Lemans 2-dr with the OHC 6 in it. It was her mom's car that she bought new. It makes you wonder how many of these engines were scrapped in place of V-8 power. I know they're quite rare today, but like you said, they had their pitfalls.
I haven't seen many early Firebirds with the OHC 6 in them. They were an oddball for sure.

I do recall driving a '67 Camaro convertible with an inline (Chevy) 6 and 4-spd. Talk about an oddball combination.
 
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Bonnewagon

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Jack, the base model always came with a six cylinder and 3 speed manual transmission. It was the old "three on the tree". So everything from the F, A and even B bodies had a six standard. If you wanted better- you paid for it! The Chevy got the stovebolt six while Pontiacs got the "revolutionary new" OHC 6. Lots of Tempests I saw with it. My Firebird too but you are right- most Firebird buyers stepped up to the 326 and 350 engines. I was driving somewhere and a couple of guys had just yanked an OHC6 out of a Firebird and asked if I wanted it. I did, shoved it in my trunk, and took it home. But as I progressed through 400's I never used it. I should have kept it as my '68 convertible was an OHC6 when new and it would have belonged there.
 
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Longroof79

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Mark,
Back in the day, you had the option to order any combination your heart desired. Of course, it required waiting for the order to be fulfilled. so patience was a virtue. Actually, the OHC 6 would've been a cool power plant in an early '67-'68 Firebird, as you already knew.
 

pagrunt

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Sep 14, 2014
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I think I remember the strike was in 1970. That delayed the introduction of the second gen "F" bodies. They carried the '69 models over until the strike ended. At the time the feeling was that they had "ruined" the beautiful looking '67-'69 Camaro and Firebird.
I'm more familiar with the '70 strike than the '72 (which I didn't know of, 3 years before I was hatched). Besides the new F-bodies being delayed, it caused the later production Monte Carlo's not to have the "halo" vinyl top trim.
 

pontiac guy

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Oct 28, 2016
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Mark,
A friend of mine back in the day, had a Sprint 6 powered Lemans. It had a 4-spd and 4-bbl Q-jet on it. I thought it had quite peppy performance for what it was. I thought it was a pretty cool car at the time.
A woman that I knew here in G'ville had a '66 Lemans 2-dr with the OHC 6 in it. It was her mom's car that she bought new. It makes you wonder how many of these engines were scrapped in place of V-8 power. I know they're quite rare today, but like you said, they had their pitfalls.
I haven't seen many early Firebirds with the OHC 6 in them. They were an oddball for sure.

I do recall driving a '67 Camaro convertible with an inline (Chevy) 6 and 4-spd. Talk about an oddball combination.
A lot of them were. Mechanics didn't know how to deal with it when it had a problem. The timing belt was a problem. It was the first time they tried that. If you had it running right it was a running mother.
 
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Cousin Lenny 123

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Jul 18, 2022
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A lot of them were. Mechanics didn't know how to deal with it when it had a problem. The timing belt was a problem. It was the first time they tried that. If you had it running right it was a running mother.
the second strike nearly crippled gm, it was longer then the 69/70. 1800 or so trans ams were made/400 stick rest autos. I have forgotten the exact number. How many super dutys were built?18? Or were they 73? I grew up in brooklyn! Moved to sc in 99/Columbia 19
 
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Bonnewagon

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Another ex-Brooklyn guy eh? Longroof79 is from Brooklyn, and I am in Queens but was stationed in Ft. Hamilton back in '73-'74. Good times back then and I especially miss inhaling Stegmiaer Porter on tap at The Iron Horse tavern on 5th avenue in Park Slope. When I worked in Jackson Heights in the late '70's I was delivering the mail at an auto parts store and I remember two young guys trying to get an exhaust pipe for a Verdoro Green Firebird convertible with the OHC Sprint engine. They took a piece of cardboard and rubbed it against the exhaust manifold to get a carbon print of the double flanged Y-pipe needed. The old guy behind the counter had no idea what they were talking about. I wised them up and educated them about the OHC engine and what a rare option the Sprint was. I told them to bite the bullet and go to the Pontiac dealer on Northern Blvd and order the pipe. I passed through Columbia several times when I was in Ft. Jackson but what I remember the most was how darn HOT it was down there!
 

78Delta88

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The owner of the body shop in Columbus, Indiana has a mint 1st Gen Firebird with inline 6.
There's a guy a couple hours away that used to have a couple of the OHC inlines from the first gen birds. Being an old inline kinda guy I've always been partial to those, oddball that they are.

Wonder if he still has em for sale..
 
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