I was curious as to why it seems 91-92 Formulas with the 350, don't say "350" on the side like they do fron 87-90. It doesn't say anthing about this in my Firebird redbook,and I am looking at one tomorrow, and although the vin says it's a 350, it only says Formula on the side in the pic. Other pics I've seen of other cars don't have the decal as well. Are they all like that?

 

Welcome to TGO...Those models have the info on the hood bulge. It should say "5.7 liter EFI".

 

hey thanx for the reply Going to take a look at and most likely pick up this car tomorrow. I had a black5.7GTA(that was my username as well when I used to come here) that I sold over 4 years ago. I really miss that car,(see sig) and have always loved and wanted a 92 Firehawk. This is as "close" as I can get for now, am planning to make this 91 Formula look and perform exactly like it. Anyone know the reason why Pontiac decided to drop the 350 decal in 91?

 

I can speculate- simplicity and cost control. With a single Formula decal, GM kept their costs down a little on a car that was scheduled to be replaced soon anyway. Besires, with the 5.7L call out on the hood bulge, the engine's size is already advertised. Interesting how GM kept going back and forth on the standard/metric system back then- 305 H.O., 5.0L H.O., 5.OL TPI, 5.7L TPI, Formula 350....

 

not to mention having more of that "sleeper" appearance, which is really what the Formula was all about. I'm sure many owners caught(and still catch) Mustang owners by surprise thinkin "It's just a 305, I can take em" at a stoplight, while the next thing they saw was the driver and they were left

 

Yeah, if I had one, the first thing I'd do is get rid of the "350" part of the decal. Heck, I 'd probably get rid of the whole thing, and run a single exhaust. Other than the wide wheels, it'd look like a V6 car.

 

What was Correct:
DOORS:
LG4, LO3 & LB9 - 87 ~ 92 "FORMULA"
L98 - 87 ~ 90 "FORMULA 350"
L98 - 91 ~ 92 "FORMULA"

HOOD:
LG4 - 87 - "5.0 Liter"
LO3 - 88~90 "5.0 Liter F.I."
LO3 - 91~92 "5.0 Liter"
LB9 - 87~92 "5.0 Liter F.I."
L98 - 87~90 Nothing, Nada, Null on the Hood
L98 - 91~92 "5.7 Liter F.I."

THe reason had probably nothing to do with money, the 350 added on the Large Decal was pennies. I think it had to do with style, If you notice on the 91-92 cars the Formula has the pixelated fade away Solid Letters. The 87-90 style is the outline style letters, also in 91-92 the door decals are slightly smaller.

WHen the Formula came out in 1987 a gripe from the mags was the car appeared dated, the large decal was critisized and considered "70's" and it looked "Kiddish"

I think Pontiac decided to simply revise it for 1991... Of course it may have been an attempt to just make it different, like the rest of the F-body line up they went through a "Facelift" on an aging design, if they would have kept the large decals it may have resembled the older ones too much.

Just a thought.


John

 

or if you have a big enough motor you can just take off the 5. off the 5.7 hood decal