1970 Laurentian '454' in Hemmings Find of the Day

bjburnout · Uber Guru

1970 Laurentian '454' in Hemmings Find of the Day

jmont64 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

That would be one of Clint's beautiful cars. He is one of our experts with these on here.

73SC · A Poncho Legend!

Clint does not own that car anymore. Crazy how the price of that car has appreciated in such a short time. When Hillar owned it he had way less than $10,000 in it, in fact the appraised value here in Ontario was just around $10,000.

As reported to me by Hillar that car is really three cars, a white 2+2 a gold Parisienne and the original green Laurentian. It was severely damaged many years ago and rebuilt. Last time I saw it the gold paint of the Parisienne was poking through the driver's door.

When Hillar died we made a $50,000 offer to the estate for this car, 68 GTO, 70 2+2, 70 El Camino and 69 Cutlass, only the Laurentian and 2+2 were working at that time. Hillar had left the cars in my care and I had all of the owner ships and appraisal data. The 454 was appraised at 10,000, the 2+2 at 11,900, the GTO at $18,500, the El Camino at $6,500 and the Cutlass at $5,000. It was a fair offer given the sorry state of the collection and storage locations but prompted Hillar's sister to turn on me and never speak to me again.

-- Edited by 73SC on Friday 28th of April 2017 09:46:41 AM

jmont64 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I remember Clint having it for sale but hadn't realized it had been sold. Has the power steering and brakes been added after Clint had it?

68 Grande · Guru

Sweet car! Here is part of the info from Hemmings:

"factory correct power steering (fast ratio) and power disc brakes from an Impala have been added. Front and rear sway bars have been added that has vastly improved its highway manners. Otherwise, nothing has been modified. It even still has all the original smog equipment in working order. With the extremely low 2.56 rear ratio (12 bolt) it loafs along at 75 mph at about 2,100 rpm. I would drive this car on a long road trip anywhere .
If you look at the GM documentation attached, youll note that only 221 Pontiacs were built with the 454. The 1970 LS4 was a torque monster with 500ft-lb".

I crawled under my GP last night to try and read my rear axle castings to verify if it is a 273 ratio, but looks like I need to put it up on a hoist or jack it up a bit on the back side to get under it. Anyways, 2.56 axle must really move along!

Hemmings is a US based site isn't it?? So, is that Cdn or US funds??

Jake

68 Grande · Guru

OK, I answered my own question. When you click on the link, it does not indicate whether its Cdn or US funds but if you go the actual ad, there are a lot more pics and indicates that the currency is USD. obo.

Jake

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Yes that's the car previously owned by Hillar and myself. I sold it in early 2016, and the new owner has upgraded it to disc brakes and power steering. I sold him a lot of the parts for the swaps, and he got the spindles, rotors, etc from a 70 Impala I told him about. He indicates he's also done the bushings, and looks like he's detailed the engine compartment, including the addition of a dual snorkel air cleaner.

CDN2PLS2 · Uber Guru

It wasn't that Bad.

427carl · A Poncho Legend!

hit by a van.jpg

68 Grande · Guru

seventy2plus2 wrote:

"upgraded it to disc brakes and power steering."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It just amazes me that "power steering" in these 3900 and something lb cars were an option at the time and not standard equip. I believe power steering was a factory option on my car but I can't imagine driving the beast with out power steering!

Jake

CDN2PLS2 · Uber Guru

Missed the 454 Emblem!!

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Earl36 wrote:
seventy2plus2 wrote:

"upgraded it to disc brakes and power steering."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It just amazes me that "power steering" in these 3900 and something lb cars were an option at the time and not standard equip. I believe power steering was a factory option on my car but I can't imagine driving the beast with out power steering!
Jake

Driving the car around was ok without power steering, but parking it was always an adventure. It lacked the large diameter steering wheel of the 50's non power steering cars.

The manual drum brakes were actually more of an adventure. The brakes were terrible when I got the car, and even though I put on everything new, they were still lousy.

Bob F · Guru

seventy2plus2 wrote:
Yes that's the car previously owned by Hillar and myself. I sold it in early 2016, and the new owner has upgraded it to disc brakes and power steering. I sold him a lot of the parts for the swaps, and he got the spindles, rotors, etc from a 70 Impala I told him about. He indicates he's also done the bushings, and looks like he's detailed the engine compartment, including the addition of a dual snorkel air cleaner.

Recognized it immediately when I saw it online in Hemmings, didn't know you'd sold it. Sounds like it's gotten some additional TLC.

Figured there'd be a discussion about it here, wasn't disappointed...

-- Edited by Bob F on Monday 1st of May 2017 11:59:33 AM

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

We don't miss much on here.

Jonno · Poncho Master!

Still, going for chump change if you just sold a house in Toronto!

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

That Laurentian has gone through 3 sets of the rare 454V emblems. The original pair somehow got broken, and Hillar would only put them on for car shows. I then sold him the rechromed pair that were from my original 454 Parisienne. However, when Hillar's house was cleaned out, all of those ended up in the dumpster. The car is now on its 3rd set. I also see the seller has removed the 454 emblem I'd placed in the grille. It's actually from an early 70s Impala, but looked like it belonged.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I got a note from the seller today, the car's on it's way to Germany to be part of a collection. Too bad it's leaving Canada.

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Hmm, yes. But who knows, maybe we'll get a new international member here because of it.

427carl · A Poncho Legend!

seventy2plus2 wrote:
I got a note from the seller today, the car's on it's way to Germany to be part of a collection. Too bad it's leaving Canada.

Glad its getting a home wonder if it was sold as a original matching numbers car?

CdnGMfan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Going to Germany? High compression 454 combined with 2.56:1 rear gearing = Autobahn burner (berner?)

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

If he would run it down the middle of the highway there wouldn't be any room for anyone to pass!

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

It's a tough car to be sure, but it would kind of be getting in the way on the Autobahn don't you think.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

427carl wrote:
seventy2plus2 wrote:
I got a note from the seller today, the car's on it's way to Germany to be part of a collection. Too bad it's leaving Canada.
Glad its getting a home wonder if it was sold as a original matching numbers car?

Yes, it's a numbers matching car, and sold as such. It's being shipped to Holland (I suspect Rotterdam) then being trailer'd to Germany.

bjburnout · Uber Guru

seventy2plus2 wrote:
427carl wrote:
seventy2plus2 wrote:
I got a note from the seller today, the car's on it's way to Germany to be part of a collection. Too bad it's leaving Canada.
Glad its getting a home wonder if it was sold as a original matching numbers car?
Yes, it's a numbers matching car, and sold as such. It's being shipped to Holland (I suspect Rotterdam) then being trailer'd to Germany.

........ :pout .......... :cry

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Europeans and Scandinavians seem to have really embraced our old cars, which is nice to see.

However, I can't help but be a little sad that perhaps the only 454 '70 Laurentian 2 door left in Canada has been shipped overseas. A little piece of our history now gone from the country forever.