1970 Pontiac 2+2 (454 V8): The Sportiest Pontiac You Never Heard Of!

Well if you're a fan of this channel then you know that I have well we'll just call it an affinity for 1970 Pontiacs. I actually like the cars quite a bit. I'm not necessarily a fan of the front ends but you know what kind of grown on me because they are highly distinctive. Now, in the U.S. for 1970, the full-size Pontiac lineup, you had the Bonneville at the uppermost end of the lineup. Then you had the Executive, which was the mid-level trim. It's interesting the Executive would be the mid-level trim. You'd think that'd be the upper end, and maybe the Manager would be the mid-level trim. But, oh well, it was called the Executive. That was the mid-level trim. And then there was a Catalina at the lowest end of the full-size Pontiac lineup. Now, of course, the Pontiac lineup included other vehicles, including Firebirds and Grand Prixs and Le Mans and the GTO, etc. But there is one vehicle that you probably don't know about. That's the sportiest Pontiac for 1970 that you don't know about. And that is the 1970 Pontiac 2 Plus 2. Now, the 1970 Pontiac 2 Plus 2, you say, what in the world is that? That wasn't produced. The 2 Plus 2 was a sporty Pontiac model that was introduced for the 1964 model year as a trim on the Catalina, and then it really became a special vehicle, kind of got its own designation in 1965 through 1967, even got its own bodywork with the fender louvers that you see here beginning in 1965. And you got the standard in 1965, like this one, 421 cubic inch V8 underhood topped by a four barrel carburetor. That was, of course, a Pontiac source V8, as was the case for all U.S. produced Pontiacs. Now, as I mentioned, in the U.S., the 2 plus 2 would only last for the 1964 to 1967 model years. But you probably didn't know that in Canada, the 2 plus 2 was actually a variant that would be produced through the 1970 model year. So the 1970 Pontiac 2 Plus 2 was a Canadian Pontiac or an export Pontiac beyond the Canadian market as well and it was a true model and we're going to talk a little bit about well the 1970 Pontiac 2 Plus 2 and how sporty it really was and why you might want one. Now, interestingly, I find that the Canadian collector cars just aren't something that is all that highly prized. And it's really a shame because they're part of automotive history. And there's so many different unique Canadian vehicles that I think at some point may take off. I would hope that somebody appreciates them more for their place in automotive history. But as of now, they're still relatively cheap, except in Canada. Less of a market for them because they're Canadian cars. But let's take a look at some photos of the 1970 2 Plus 2. And if you didn't believe me, here's a page from the 1970 Canadian Pontiac brochure. You see, Pontiac 2 Plus 2, this is the way big road cars are going to be. Maybe not necessarily because, as I said, the 2 Plus 2 would even be discontinued in Canada after this 1970 model year. But regardless, notice you did get the sporty fender louvers and you have the badging up front on the front of the fender. In this case, this is 350 V8 because there's a 350 cubic inch V8 that was standard in the 2 Plus 2. Now, as opposed to U.S.-based Pontiacs, that 350 was not the Pontiac 350. It was the Chevrolet 350 cubic inch V8. And all the engines that you could get in this, or the only engines that you could get in your Pontiac 2 Plus 2, were Chevrolet-sourced engines. You could get the 350 cubic inch V8, the 400 cubic inch V8, the 454, yes, the 454. In two variants, a 345 horsepower variant and a range-topping 390 horsepower variant. So you actually could get more power in your Canadian Pontiac than you could in the U.S. Pontiac with the Pontiac 455. More specifically, let's take a look at this page from the 1970 Canadian Pontiac brochure. You can see the engines here, the 250 cubic inch 6, which was standard in the Laurentian. Then there was the 350 cubic inch two-barrel V8, the standard engine in the 2 Plus 2, made 250 horsepower. The 350 cubic inch four-barrel V8, which was the high-compression engine with a four-barrel, made 300 horsepower. Then there was a low-compression 400 cubic inch two-barrel V8, again a Chevrolet-sourced V8, 265 horsepower. And then the 345 and 390 horsepower 454 big-block Chevrolet variants. So, The entire lineup was Chevrolet, was sourced with Chevrolet powertrains. And so you could get, like I said. The top engine option here, the 390-horse 454, was more powerful than the Pontiac V8 that you could get. The 455 that was standard, for example, in the Bonneville, and optional in the Executive, as well as the Catalina. That 455 in the U.S. cars would make 370 gross horsepower. So your most powerful Pontiac was the Canadian Pontiac. And if you're going to get the most powerful Pontiac, might as well get the sportiest variant, the 2 Plus 2. Now let's turn to look at a couple 1970 Pontiac 2 Plus 2s. It's really, really hard to find pictures of these because they're so rare, owing to the fact, like I said, they were Canadian-only cars. But the front end at least looks the same as the 1970 U.S. Pontiacs, and that's a face only a mother could love up front with the quad headlamps to an either side, and then you have these things that were supposed to emulate horns. From the classic car era, inboard of the headlamps on either side. Those aren't turn signals. The turn signals are down in the bumper. And then you have this very protruding proboscis, I guess, if you will. The very chromed, bedizened front end of the 1970 Pontiac. I am not quite sure. What General Motors designers were thinking. I think this was the era where GM styling vice president Bill Mitchell was becoming enamored with the classic cars. And you saw some of this with Pontiac, like the 1969 Grand Prix is an example. The 69 to 72 Grand Prix had the Model J, the Model SJ. That was kind of a copy of the Duesenbergs. Of course, the SJ for the Grand Prix was not a supercharged variant. But it was a higher output or nicer trim package, at least. In any case, I digress. But this 1972 Plus 2 has that U.S.-based Pontiac front end, the roofline, and has those louvers in the fender to kind of connote that this is a sporty vehicle. Now, another interesting tidbit of trivia is that while these 1970 Pontiacs Clearly used Chevrolet powertrains. They also rode atop the Chevrolet wheelbase, which was 119 inches. So if you got a Canadian Pontiac for 1970, you didn't get the 122-inch wheelbase like on the Catalina in the U.S. or the 125-inch wheelbase like on the Executive and the Bonneville. You got a shorter 119-inch wheelbase. So the wheels are not even centered within the wheel arches because the wheelbase is off relative to the body. It just looks kind of strange, but that was something that General Motors did in part to make these easier to produce down the Oshawa assembly line along with Chevrolets. They rode atop the same chassis, but as a consequence, if you look closely, you'll notice that the wheels are not centered in the wheel arches for the reason that I mentioned. And here is a 1970 2 plus 2 convertible. Talk about rare. And we're going to see that under hood this car has the LS4 345 horsepower big block V8, which makes it even rarer. It was very rare in Canada for individuals to option up to a larger V8. Gas was even expensive in Canada back during this time frame. So more often than not, the engines were the smaller displacement variants. Even though in the U.S. gas was cheap. But here you have a 1970 2 plus 2 convertible. And notice on the rear quarter the 2 plus 2 badging and the stripe package on the back. I think the stripe package was standard on the 2 plus 2, that dual stripe. Maybe I'm wrong. Again, it's so hard to know because there are just almost none of these cars around. Much less a 2 plus 2 convertible with a big block engine under hood. Let's turn first to the inside and then we'll go take a look at the engine. And here we go. Let's take a look at the interior now. This one's pretty loaded. It's got an 8-track tape player. You'll notice the dash is very similar to the U.S. Pontiacs of the era. It does say Pontiac 2 Plus 2 over there on the passenger side. And notice the stirrup-style transmission shifter in the center console. This actually came standard when you got the Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission in the 2 Plus 2. You got the console, the bucket seats, the stirrup-style shifter. And if you look closely at the accelerator and brake pedal, you'll notice that they're the Chevrolet accelerator and brake pedal from the Chevrolet cars in the U.S. So you didn't even get a Pontiac-style accelerator or brake pedal. You got those components from the Chevrolet. And as we look here you can see those bucket seats a little bit better in this photo and the center console with the stirrup style shifter. Kind of a cool sporty package overall. The standard kind of US PMD three-spoke wheel there to kind of row your car back and forth if you were trying to steer it. These cars actually handled pretty decently although I have never driven. A 1970 Canadian Pontiac. The U.S. Pontiacs actually drive and handle very, very well. I'm sure this one does the same. The GM cars of this era actually were pretty good handlers for what these cars were. But let's now turn under hood. Now here's where it starts to get fun. This is the Pontiac 454. Notice the decal. That's actually the factory style decal and what it looked like. It would say Pontiac 454 and would have that gold coloring. So that is not aftermarket. That is not somebody's created that. That is how this car would have come from the factory. This air cleaner with that particular decal. And you can tell it's a Chevrolet big block. I mean, it's clearly not. Pontiac big block doesn't have the, well, Pontiac didn't really have a big block during these years. The 326 to 455 were the same physical size, although the 265 and 301 did have shorter deck heights. So some people say, Pontiac didn't have a big block and a small block. Well, what do you call the 265 and 301 with the shorter deck height? There you go. In any case, the Pontiac 454 decal and everything under here is. stock there is no air conditioning on this car makes sense it's a convertible in Canada but this one is the 345 horsepower variant as I mentioned and here is the driver's side clearly the Chevrolet big block and you know it fits in there quite well But these vehicles, I know U.S. mechanics, sometimes when people would cross the border from Canada into the U.S., they'd have to get their car serviced or they'd have some issue with it. The mechanics couldn't believe that it said Pontiac on there, and they thought they'd tell the owner that somebody switched out the engine and duped them. No, they didn't. This was how it came equipped. This was the optional engine during this era, and I think it makes it. you know pretty cool i would love to have a 1972 plus two especially one with a big block v8 but they are just rare as hen's teeth i don't think i'll ever find one i have never seen one in the flesh if you've got any pictures of one or i have a viewer who owns one send me some pictures i'd love to show it off on the channel i think people would love to see it But what do you think of this, the sportiest of Pontiacs that you never knew of? Put a comment in the comment section and let me know. And let me know if there's other Pontiacs that other people may not know of that I should highlight. Thanks again for watching.