The Trans-Am Championship (1970) | Full Documentary Archive Footage

[@choppertown]

Wasn't this an epic season!? Are you a Trans-Am fan?

[@robertgraybeard3750]

Choppertown - loved it. I got to the 1970 Trans Am Race at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. read about the rest. I owned a '69 Camaro and a '70 Mustang. SCCA was my second choice, actually, I was into NHRA - my daily driver was a '64 Dodge Polara - 4 speed, of course and I even put a 440 Magnum in that I bought out of a wrecked GTX.

[@baltymora2]

Awesome 👌

[@beyond_the_infinite2098]

Trans Am fan since 1970 at Laguna Seca. I was 15. 1970 was a great season and so was 71 with AMC winning the champoinship. I was an AMC fan driving my dad's 63 Rambler 880. lol

[@joestephan1111]

The first year, 1966, was kind of interesting but at times odd. The factory teams were still coming together but not yet what they were by '67. Many different small cars ran independently. In the inaugural four hour enduro at Sebring future F1 World Champion Jackie Stewart drove a Lotus Cortina. The race was won by a newly introduced Plymouth Barracuda.

[@barrycuda3769]

Can Am in those days was very cool , but Trans Am to me was the ultimate racing because the cars looked like the beautiful muscle cars that you could go and buy new ( not me personally, I was 6 years old and living in New Zealand in 1970) they just looked so great with the wide rubber, chin spoilers, side pipes, miniltes etc , and of course the raucous sound . My favorites were the Penske 67 and 68 Camaro's and the '70 AAR Cudas. It's a shame that the Gurney and Savage Cuda' kept blowing the engines , I wonder why that was ? , I think they were using special Keith Black blocks , not sure if the rest of the motor was by him ?

[@Dnoltner]

This was really cool video. I am 35 years old and just recently bought my first American muscle car, I am very proud of my 69 AMC javelin. These old videos make me even more excited that I have a piece of racing history. Great era for racing.

[@beyond_the_infinite2098]

Very cool you bought a Javelin. Hang on to it. I wish I had kept my 70 AMX.

[@brianwarner308]

that's awesome man, AMC are cool as hell

[@lancelot1953]

Thank you for this great video "montage". I lived that era (yes, I am that old). What I enjoyed the most is that Trans-Am racer parts were (almost) available through Ford dealerships. I built up my 1970 Mustangs (which I still have to this day) directly from Ford. Ford provided the "Muscle Parts Books" which showed you how to build ones' engine "scientifically". It was great - cars had a soul back then and we would recognize each other's cars instantly. Thank you for the memories and for bringing me back to a time of innocence and "omnipotence" - before the war, that is. Ciao, L (Veteran)

[@ooohhenrybmblm]

I am so glad I discovered this era of American racing, especially the early years of Trans Am.

[@MrChristopherHaas]

So many makes and models at their peak in 70’. The talent here….the rides….wow

[@garneauweld1100]

If PJ was going to take position, you had better give him a bit of room because he's going to take it. I have noticed these cars come in, after the end of the race, with quite a bit of body damage. Real fighters on the racetrack in American muscle. I love it!

[@2098elk]

Still this was the best racing serries ever. Owned 59 and 70 Boss 303 during my life. Great cars,

[@jamiebowles4588]

Re: the comment @4:35 'John' apparently was unaware of the real Ford 'edge'- that free-breathing, high-revving Cleveland cylinder head.

[@ORflycaster]

Thank you interwebs! I was only month away from hatching when this was filmed, and it's a delight to watch 53yrs later.

[@tWIST1up]

the days when you could go down to the dealers shop floor and purchase your favorite drivers car, and straight out of the box you had more machine than you knew what to do with. Innovations were at their finest with year to year changes that add HP and good handling that often had them race ready from the day you bought it ... :)

[@choppertown]

The good ol' days

[@michaelmcgilligan]

they weren't t exactly race ready. TranaAm cars had a lot of engineering, acid dipped bodies, and factory"special parts"

[@gregorymartinez4422]

Cool era of racing, I bought a 67 mustang because of these days, I had the suspension rebuilt four times and keep asking for Shelby's geometry and never got it, I had read up all I could, and used Branda's blueprint and alignment spec's, it became a parade every where I went, I sold this car for $6500 more than what I paid for it, the guy who bought it got the better deal, it was a deluxe coupe springtime yellow with a black top and black int., I paid $1700 and had $400 in parts, I still have the same dream of me driving that car in San Francisco... I'm currently looking for a pony but just the Shell's are 5 Gs, made in America !!!!

[@masonth252]

Just found this - great stuff. I was at the 70 race at Bryar in NH. The pit fire was right in front of us. I later raced there myself in FF. Donohue and Penske were a force - think 917-30!!

[@geoffmcnew5863]

Several of these historic Trans Am cars are stabled at McGee Motorsports @ Sonoma...to see them in the flesh is truly awesome! Bud Moore's "skinny leaf" Boss 302s!!!

[@jeffreyrumbold9363]

Love the typically-cheesy 70s American racing series documentary sound effects!

[@rg500delta]

I think that same squealing tires soundtrack was on our disney "101 dalmations" LP!

[@scrambler69-xk3kv]

@@rg500delta These are bias ply tires, yes, they do indeed squeal like that. Shame young people are so unaware.

[@xmotex]

Man I love this stuff, especially seeing Donohue win at Bridgehampton, a track that I spent a lot of time at ad a kid.

[@jmmmmj1]

Awesome stuff I remember as a twelve year old!

[@FasterNLouder]

I believe the Mustang won by only 1 point in '70. The Javelin came back with the redesigned body style winning back to back in '71 and '72. And again in '76 (the last year the Trans Am series allowed the car to run).

[@donnarolando3961]

Note: Ford, Chrysler, Chevrolet did not compete in '71-'72.

[@FasterNLouder]

@@donnarolando3961 I’m assuming you mean they didn’t have factory backing. Because they very much still competed in ‘71 onwards. I’m sure AMC who held like 8% market share had an unfairly high budget to compete with. 🙄 Not only that, but AMC was using a brand new, largely unproven car, where the other teams used cars that were factory funded for 2+ years and had all the big boy car company money to get them to that point.

[@JamesWilliams-dj2bp]

Actually, there was one more race after Kent which was in Riverside CA. Mustang finished one/two there and finished 19 points ahead of Javelin. Mustang beat-out Cougar in 1967 by one point.

[@jrex3575]

Javelin= Ugly fast Car of the Trans Am Series! 😂

[@FasterNLouder]

@@jrex3575 Ugly? That's subjective. But fast car of the Trans Am series, that's objectively correct, yes. lol

[@DeGraefAutoSpecialty]

...many Thanks for sharing...Love it.......

[@PenskePC17]

Love seeing videos of Bryar Motorsports Park in Loudon NH, it was demolished to build New Hampshire Motor Speedway

[@jimmyjackass1805]

I live 20 miles from Watkins Glen I always liked the T/A cars over Nasqueer. I have been going to the Glen since 1974.

[@8000RPM.]

I get transfixed watching this and it takes my breath away.

[@alexbilo3579]

I love the smell of racing exhaust in the morning

[@kenxiong6830]

Thank you

[@getfasterE36]

This is so cool. Almost makes me want a 1970s muscle car, almost.

[@joestephan1111]

Until 1972 there was no driving champion. The Trans-Am until then was a manufacturers championship only. The Under 2.5 Class initially ran together with the faster 5.0 liter class. I don't remember what year they were separated but it was most likely when the class grew in entrants, spectators and top name drivers from John Morton to NASCAR star Bobby Allison who drove a factory Datsun 510s on a team headed by ex-Shelby engineer Pete Brock. Brock, who as a GM designer, did several parts of what became the first Corvette Sting Ray concept car and later designed the Cobra Daytona, actually drove for his own first Trans-Am team. It was a single car 2.5 class Japanese Hino during their short-lived effort to sell cars in the US. That came in the series first year 1966

[@baltymora2]

They sound wonderful

[@ITProjectManagerMan]

Awesome

[@bradsmith6972]

Jerry Titus number eight Pontiac Trans Am gave his life at Elkhart Lake 1970

[@mustangracer5124]

I saw the battle at Riverside, the Mustangs looked like they were made of newspaper, Body panels flopping around from being acid dipped 100 times.. lol

[@PeterKKraus]

14 minutes isn't a full documentary 😁

[@Giitzerland]

The Javelin/AMX was just too good to let it survive.

[@robostyle9773]

Cool video, some sound effects were fake but cool nonetheless

[@choppertown]

Thanks for watching!

[@scrambler69-xk3kv]

Dammit bias ply tires squeal like that. Research is king try it.

[@robostyle9773]

@@scrambler69-xk3kv those sound clips have been dubbed into lots of videos and TV shows. Every tire squeal sounds exactly the same. I've been to race tracks and that doesn't happen bias ply or not.

[@James-kx2yn]

The commentator was incorrect in saying this race in Kent would decide the championship. Mustang had an 11 point lead there with one more race to go in Riverside CA. Even if Javelin wins those two races Mustang would have won the championship with second and third place finishes.

[@jamesleyda365]

On the dragstrip it would be MOPAR kicking ass..... And in Stockcar

[@Swampfox612]

Wow, back when Pacific Raceway was relevant.

[@irocitZ]

Anyone know what motor Chevrolet used in 70?

[@somewhere6]

302 cubic inch V8 with a 4 barrel carburetor.

[@Giitzerland]

de-stroked 350's(302ci)

[@irocitZ]

@@Giitzerland I wasn't sure how that worked because the 1970 Camaro Z28 had the LT1 350, in 69 Trans Am cars had to be under 305 ci. So in 70 Camaro could run with the 350? It's a little confusing, I think I'm asking the question right..

[@Jbennyho]

@@irocitZThe Trans Am had a 302 or 305 (I don’t recall which) cubic inch limit. Not everyone had a 302. They modified existing engines. Chrysler products manipulated cylinder bore and de-stroked a 318 for example, probably taking a crank from a 273.

[@uhfnutbar1]

has Carfilms try to claim copyright on you? i have a copy of this film no water mark and he had youtube remove it and when i question him , He said his father was one of the camera men making the movie? So fkin what ,, according to him he own copyright and was selling CD I call bull shit

[@williamford9564]

Great film. And I bet if anyone would have told you Vic Elford once won a Trans Am race, you'd be bucking to send him or her to an insane asylum.

[@richardcicchino5597]

Javelin was strong,

[@pn665]

um...they forgot a few races..

[@rolfdejonge3915]

✌️🤠💥🌟🌀🎉

[@sasquachbigfoot9070]

898

[@jimmymccormick142]

Mustang Ford power forever baby keep on pulling the knot out of them boties and the horns off them mopars l love it