Muscle car prices are strong, but you never know what a car will sell for at auction. Such was the case of the 1970 GTO Judge convertible you see here. With a supposed 656 original miles and Ram Air III power, it went across the block at the Mecum Auction in Indianapolis recently.

Any 1970 GTO Judge convertible with three-figure mileage is going to be in the upper stratosphere, and as we said in our previous story, it was predicted to fetch over $300,000.

Is this the lowest-mileage Ram Air III 400 GTO Judge in the world? (Photo: Mecum Auctions)

Despite a ton of pre-auction publicity and hype, the actual price was $256,000 with fees. Not exactly chump change, but it did not cross the $300k barrier.

There were stories all over the Internet about the car’s history, which being on the Internet, could not be verified. The most outlandish was that it was ordered new by a serviceman in Vietnam (hence the green color) who never came home, and his family couldn’t bear to drive or part with it.

This car is loaded with factory options, including the Ram Air III 400, hood tach, four-speed gearbox, factory air, power steering, and 8-track player. For the purists, it has a bench seat, documentation from Pontiac Historical Services, a copy of the window sticker, and a factory build sheet. It is a grand muscle car, and it sold for a ton.

Did the fact that it was Pepper Green and not red hold it back? We don’t think so. Earlier this year at Mecum’s Kissimmee, Florida auction, another Pepper Green Judge ragtop with 52,553 miles bid up to $480,000 and was a no-sale, but that one had a Ram Air IV 400.

Is the market changing? At the end of the day, $256,000 is a king’s ransom for a GTO, even with such low mileage. It strikes us as odd that the Ram Air III car has BFGoodrich radial T/As on it. For such an original car, you’d think it’d at least have correct reproduction bias plies, but we could be picking nits here.

What do you think? Did it sell for too little? Too much? Getting 300 grand for anything from the original muscle car era takes a really special vehicle. Perhaps the price for this 1970 GTO Judge convertible is the new normal.

Tell us what you think.