I've been on the hunt for some time for a 3rd gen to buy that's in my price range and is not to far away. I really would like to get an IROC-Z, but I like the Firebird Formula 350 also. A 1988 Formula 350 has come up for sale near by and I'm seriously considering making an offer. It's in pretty good shape overall, original paint is good but the rear spoiler has the usual problem of cracks and deterioration. I'm just wondering if anyone has recently repaired a rear spoiler and can tell me what is involved and the approximate cost. Do you have to replace the whole thing or is there a reasonable way to repair them?

 

I had an 87 Formula 350 and replacement was the only real solution I could find.
Cost alot but the replacements are fiberglass so they won't have the same problem again.
Group purchases pop up every so often so you could save a good $50 or more sometimes.
I think they are $400 plus shipping cost.

 

Thanks,

Can it be replaced without having to repaint the hatch? If I have to repaint the whole thing, I need to factor that in on my offer.

 

Yeah. They easily bolt on. Just take the old one off, paint the new wing & put it on.

 

I put one on my 86 last Summer, and sold my extra one when I sold my 88 TA back in April. They are $400 + shipping was about $110 for mine (interestingly, Hawks shipped me two for the same shipping quote as one).

I would be all over a nice Formula 350 if the condition and the price is right. Formulas are a dying breed...the older I get, the more I appreciate them. After having my 86 and 88 TAs, and owning an 89 Maui Blue Formula back 10 years ago for a short time, I have to say I prefer the Formula's style with its no-nonsense mission. I would take a Formula over a TA in a heartbeat.

 

I agree, next the the IROC, the Formula is my favorite. I have nothing against the TA/GTA's, just a bit too "blingy" for me.

Here's the car I'm looking at, wish it had T-tops:

 

From what I've been told none of the Formula 350 cars came with T-tops.
Much like the L98 350 cars never came with T5 transmissions.
Some were converted like C&C T-tops. (88 gta I have has the conversion)
I guess some were built in Canada though with factory T-tops and 350s. GTAs that is not sure if they did it with Formulas as well.
305 Formula cars came with T-tops and T5 transmissions.

 

Whats the details? Mileage?

You mean to tell me you have access to an orange 350 Formula and you haven't bought it yet? Damn good thing you're in TX...if the miles are decent, I would've already bought it while you shrugged your shoulders

 

Seller claims it has 118,XXX miles, engine and tranny working fine, just passed TX state inspection/emissions test, interior very clean and in good condition except for tear on drivers seat bolster. Drives ok but could use some front end work. This is based on what I can get from the seller, haven't seen it yet, it's about 75 miles away and I'm tring to set up a time when I can go check it out this weekend.

 

With that mileage, the damaged rear spoiler, ripped seat and possible suspension work, I hope you can get the car for a decent price. Be sure to add all that up and take it into consideration. You could be easily looking at $2000 just in repairs that may be needed (obviously, some not mentioned but based on mileage alone). Be sure to check out the paint and see if it's all original or if it has different shades due to repaints or touchups. That could cost even more. The fact that the color is not seen often and looks good in the pics, bringing this home would definitely be a winner in my mind.

 

I finally talked to the seller. She is selling it for her boss who is currently in the process of moving to VA, he's out of state. She' s sending me more photos of it tonight. She doesn't know a whole lot more about it except that her boss is the original owner, it's an original Texas car, no rust, garaged most of it's life, no cracks in the dash, headliner good, has original sticker, service documentation, etc., asking $4000. Unfortunately, she's going to Houston this weekend on business so it would be next week before I can have a chance to look at it.

 

wow! yeah, that's wrong.

 

That's kind of what I thought. I'm sure I saw a black 1988 Formula 350 with T-tops at the South Central 3rd gen gathering last year and I'm pretty sure it was factory T-tops.

 

No, it was not...if it was an 88.

For anyone who still does not know this...THIS IS THE RULE FOR 350 FIREBIRDS WITH T-TOPS...

1989 allowed for 350s and t-tops together. 1987 did not. 1988 did not. 1990 did not. 1991 and 1992 allowed them ONLY ON FORMULAS WITH PW7 CROSSLACE WHEELS. This was due to curb weight issues and fuel economy. Firebirds, being heavier than Camaros, only got the 350 if the car was light enough. PW7 wheels were lighter than turbo wheels (like the ones on this subject 88)...hence the exception for lighter Formulas in 91-92.

That is all. Class dismissed.

 

that sounds right. my experience has been that an '89 with a hardtop is actually hard to find.

anyway, its hard to imagine that a Firebird Formula is much heavier at all than a Camaro.

 

I might be wrong, but there is no way I would pay $4k for the car knowing what you know already. As we all know there will be more issues than what is stated right off the bat. No rust is always an awesome start, but this is not a low mileage car. I guess all you can do at this point is go look at the car, drive it and make an offer if you still like it.

 

Then the one I saw must have been a 1989 even though the owner told me it was an '88, as best as I can recall. Thanks for the clarification, that's good stuff to know when shopping for a car.

 

yeah, i think you might be. because based on the description, a 4 grand asking price isnt out of line at all. and 118K isnt exactly high mileage on a 23 year old car.

 

I agree, I don't consider 118K high mileage for the car although it is getting into the territory where the infamous leaky valve guide seals start to show up and engine accessorys (water pumps, alternators, etc.) start to wear out. Without seeing it, I think $4K is on the high end of what the car is worth. I would not be comfortable paying that much for it, somewhere closer to $3 is what I'm thinking.

 

agree. 4 is the asking price.

 

Even at full-blown $4k, if its a solid car, what do you have to lose??? I mean, cheaper is greater, but how much cheaper do you want it for?

$3k is complete beater territory in the Northeast. I watched an 87 Formula 350 with 170k, rust, no spoiler and a trashed interior sell for $2,500 on CL earlier this year in 2 days!! Even if he didn't knock a dime off, I would pay $4k for this example so long as the paint is good, everything works and the interior overall isn't bad. Being a TX car, interior fading concerns me.

If you don't want it, send me his info This is a car worth spending the long dollar on. A rare-colored, rare-model Firebird with the right motor. Its hard to get more "right" than this example, IMO.

 

I was hoping to have some more photos of it today, but the seller just emailed me that she forgot to send them before she left for her Houston business trip, it will be Monday before she gets back. I'll have to take at least 1/2 day off from work if I want to look at it, it's in parking lot at her Boss's business location and she's only there during business hours. I have 1 small photo of the interior, looks clean and above the average that I've seen around here for a 3rd gen. She said the dash has no cracks, so it's probably true that's it's been garaged a most of it's life.

 

dude...

buy it.

 

buy it.

period

I think I know somebody in Dallas has drivers seat if you need one

 

Did you know that 3 of the 5 cars that got "top 5" at the last third gen roundup were formulas? And out of all the cars there, there were only 4 total?

buy it, and bring it to the next roundup.

 

Buy that car. I'm sure that with that mileage and the interior looking like that, the paint is probably in decent shape. It might have some scratches or minor dings, but the car looks great from where I'm sitting. I think it's a steal at $4k in what I can see.

 

It looks flame red metallic to me, same as my GTA. Although I admit, flame red Formulas aren't all that common.

 

but is a GTA really blingy though? i mean, i'm a Formula guy through and through. Formulas are sleeker looking, i think. but what is different on a GTA or Trans Am other than ground effects, and the front end is different...?

oh, and of course the Formula hood RULES, but i think the TA hood is almost more plain looking. JMO.

 

That doesn't look like flame red to me, it looks orange. I've never actually seen an orange Formula, not even sure if it's a stock colour.

And you guys are all pretty quick to spend someone else's money. Yes, it looks good from the 2 pics, but lots of cars look a lot better in pictures than they do in person. And who knows, this thing might knock, leak, pull, vibrate, and smoke like a freight train. But if it all checks out - ya, pull the trigger for $4k.

 

Orange is a stock color on the 1988 Formula and is called Medium Orange Metallic and is RPO code 63U.

 

one could say that the GTA wheels are blingy, (especially for it's time), same goes for the gold themed badges and certain interior features.

but I digress, Formulas are cool and that looks like a decent one... if you don't mind the orange

 

Yeah, I like the Formula wheels better than the GTA's. Also, some of the interior trim on some of the TA/GTA's don't appeal to me much. Especially this:



Not sure which model that is, but all the buttons on the steering wheel hub and the digital dash would drive me nuts if I had to look at it every time I drove it. I guess that's why I like the straight forward clean look of the 1987-89 Camaro IROC-Z cockpit. As for the Formulas color, it's very close to to the University Of Texas "burnt orange". Not my first choice of colors but it would have the added advantage of pissing off some of my Texas A&M Aggie friends!
But it's matter of individual taste, and since it's my money, I'm going to have to make sure it's something I can live with.

 

That is the Optional Digital Dash & Optional Steering Wheel with the radio controls. Not all GTAs had those 2 items. Most others had the standard Firebird gauge layout & steering wheel.

 

The steering wheel with radio controls was standard on the GTA from 1988-1989, except in 1989 when the optional CD player was ordered. The digital cluster was optional on both GTA and Trans Am.

To me, the picture looks like no leather wrapping on the steering wheel, which I believe leather was standard.

 

I just got a phone call, the owner is back in town for a few days. I'm driving down to take a close look at it Sunday. He's the original owner and should be able to answer all my question about the car.

 

I love the two tone colored Formulas. Wish I could go see this one myself.

 

JT,

FYI, I have never seen a leather wheel/shift **** on a third gen Formula. My 89 I had years ago was loaded, and still had a plastic wheel. Most 4th gens didn't come with one, either.

 

Jason, I was responding to the picture posted by lonestar7 that is from (or atleast to appears to be from) a GTA as shown in post #32 above and direct link here:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...03-post32.html

The steering wheel shown in that picture was only available on the GTA, so I believe it should be leather wrapped.

There was probably confusion because I was not regarding the Formula itself, but the GTA picture he posted above when speaking about the dislike of that interior style.

 

I just got back from a long trip to look at the car. There is good and bad news. Here's what I found out. The guy bough it new in Ohio and was there for 2 years, keep in a garage and not driven in the snow while it was there. He moved to Texas in 1990 and the car has been garage here most of it's life. has been driven very little since the late '90s. The car now has just over 118K on it now.
The good:

He says the transmission was replaced with a rebuilt unit that now has about 55k on it. He says he's been a lot easier on this one that on the first one.

I looked all over and under the car, no rust anywhere, even the underbody is relatively clean.

I don't think it needs any major suspension work at the moment. When I drove it, the steering was very tight and responsive, corners good, tracks straight at freeway speeds, brakes straight even with hard braking. The owner just says he's not had any major suspension done recently and will probably need to be done at some point.

I floored it going onto the freeway, engine felt strong, no misses, hesitation. Tranny shifts flawlessly under load, goes to overdrive at highway speeds and downshifts as it should when you get on the pedal again.

No smoke at cold start up or under load. Owner says it's not using much oil, never has to add any between changes. He says it does leak a few drop on the garage floor where he parks it.

A/C has been converted to R134a and it works. Has recently replaced alternator, exhaust, has new tires.

The paint, overall, is in fairly good condition considering it's original and 23~24 years old. The guy is moving and the garage is full of stuff so the car has been outside for 2 or 3 weeks and is bit dirty. The car is indeed a deep metallic orange, and I like the color a lot better in real life than I thought I would from the photos. Cleaned up and polished, it would make a good "10 footer" with the exception of a few points I will point out in the "bad" section.

The dash cover looks like new, door panels in good shape, headliner has been recently replaced, rear sail/hatch trim and carpet ok but slightly faded. Rear seats ok be need to be cleaned. Floor carpet ok, shows some age. Weather stripping ok, doors don't sag and close tight. Power windows work, all gauges and switches seem to be ok.

The bad:

Both of the front seats are heavily worn. The owner is a big guy and I suspect his wife moust be a big girl too. The side bolsters on both seat are worn through with about a 1-2 in. opening . The fabric on both seats looks worn and threadbare, a small hole is worn through the fabric of the passengers seat.

The glove box cover on the console is broken, falling apart, will need to be replaced.

The drives side trim on console running from the seat up to the front of the transmission tunnel is loose. Couldn't determine if fasteners were broken or if it can be glued back

Besides the usual cracking, the paint finish on the rear spoiler looks really bad, would need to be fixed pronto!

The front bumper cover has a irregular place on it roughly 1 by 2 in. where that paint has pop off. Owner says its where his daughter bumped another car in the driveway. Cover is not damaged but it looks ugly up close.

The lower corner of drivers door is ever so slightly bent in. The paint is not damaged, must have hit something soft but is bent in about 1/8 in. Not really very noticeable, but I saw it when I was looking at the bottom of the door for rust.

Hood and hatch gas struts need replacing.

Cassette player in the doesn't work, no big deal for me.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. I'm toying with the Idea of offering him $3000 for it. I'd then have to bribe (pay) somebody to help me get it back to Austin, so, with TTL that would put me around $3500-$3600 all done. That would pretty much exhaust my little stash I've been squirreling away to get a 3rd gen, so I wouldn't have any money to do much to it for a while. I just wounder if I could be happy with it in it's current state or would have big time buyer remorse. But then, if I let it go, I'll probably be kicking myself too, no telling when I'll see one again.

 

@JT
Maybe someone swapped the center part onto a Grand Am wheel?

The '86-'88 6000 STE also used the steering wheel with radio controls (along w/ same radio and HVAC controls), but they were usually leather wrapped too.

 

You can get reproduction gray pallex cloth from Larry Dennis Co, that's where I found mine. Look for posts on here by 'CoverGirl', she can make them look new again.

I sure wouldn't let those ripped seats stop me from buying it.

 

If it runs & drives good, nobody to drive you there & you just drive it back? Where is it?

 

80schild's solution looks like the way to go. It's a lot cheaper to replace fabric than it is leather. Considering the size of the PO's, you might want to get the seats repadded also.

Easily fixed with some Gorilla Glue and clamps. Check out this thread:
Repairing warped Center Console
The guy at the end even brought a console lid back from the brink; very impressive!

Don't bother fixing a bad paint finish on a rubber spoiler. Save up a few hundred dollars and buy a fiberglass one. It's much lighter and easier on the hatch struts, and you'll never have paint issues again. You'll just have to deal with the eyesore until you get more cash together. At least half of my F-Body friends here in Houston's cars are "works in progress"

No 23 year old car is going to have a completely flawless exterior. If you have to get up that close to look at it, it probably isn't that bad.

Pound it back if you're brave and skilled enough.

I don't know a single ThirdGen owner who hasn't gone through at least one set of those struts. The originals were crap, and not even the new ones are strong enough to last more than a few years. They're not terribly expensive to replace, but if you need to wait, cut a wooden broomstick in two pieces and now you have temporary supports. Crude, but effective.

Many options for that. Replacement head units are not horribly expensive, or if you have an iPod and a Bluetooth with an FM transmitter, problem solved.

My advice: Buy it, especially at that price. All of the positives you listed are the critical ones: mechanical. Your negatives are all cosmetic, except for the tape deck. If it just needs a little TLC to make it look better, the only buyer's remorse you'll have is letting someone buy it out from under you.

But I'd like to echo BlackenedBird's question: if it runs as well as you say it does, why do you need help getting it back to Austin?

 

I'm a single guy, no family in town. I would need someone to drive down with me and drive my car (truck) or the Formula back to Austin. I have a couple of friends I could probably get to do it, but they're always busy and it would be a hassle to juggle schedules and get one of them to commit. I think I would have better luck with a couple of the young guys at work that I talk about cars with and who always seem to need extra money. I could offer them maybe $15-$20 an hour to drive down there after work, about 5 hours round trip.

 

$3000 sounds like a good deal for that car. $4000 may be a bit high.

Don't let the seats scare you. I'm pretty sure I can hook you up with somebody that has a set.

I also be you can get somebody from the austin group to help you get it. I would shock me if nobody offered. Post up on ATGO and just ask...

 

For 3000 or 3500 the car is good deal. its a Formula 350 thats in good shape and most them are sadly beat to s**t. when you find a good one its a no brainer

 

I just made him a $3000 offer on it, will see what happens.

 

Good luck!

 

Well, I just bought it, $3100. Just hope I didn't make a mistake, but I think it's worth that much.

 

Congrats! Good price. Let me know when if you want to talk to my friend about the seat set. I think they are in really good shape, they might just need cleaning