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History / OriginalityGot a question about 1982-1992 Camaro or Firebird history? Have a question about original parts, options, RPO codes, when something was available, or how to document your car? Those questions, answers, and much more!
Is this something that comes with the subscription to Compnine? I bought the $5 Compnine report and none of the vehicle rarity was included. I bought it under the assumption that would be included as it used to be back when Compnine was free. My whole intent was to find out how many Artic White 1991 Formula 350 were made.
Purely PMD, you wouldn't have access to see how many '90 Formula 350s were produced with Medium Maui Blue paint by chance do you? RPO (23U).
Really appreciate the breakdown on the 350 cars. Just had a conversation about this last week. I was wondering if this info was even obtainable as I never have even seen a breakdown of the 350 cars. I always personaly see either red, white, or black 350 cars mostly and wondered if the Maui cars were rarer.
Last edited by Anti-Venom; 02-23-2017 at 07:51 PM.
Purely PMD, you wouldn't have access to see how many '90 Formula 350s were produced with Medium Maui Blue paint by chance do you? RPO (23U).
Really appreciate the breakdown on the 350 cars. Just had a conversation about this last week. I was wondering if this info was even obtainable as I never have even seen a breakdown of the 350 cars. I always personaly see either red, white, or black 350 cars mostly and wondered if the Maui cars were rarer.
60 in the solid color 23U, 9 with the two tone bottom color.
Where are you pulling the info from PurelyPMD? Compnine? Not that it really matters aside from engine/trans option, everything else "x of x" is to make us feel good. Wouldn't mind looking up my two formys.
Where are you pulling the info from PurelyPMD? Compnine? Not that it really matters aside from engine/trans option, everything else "x of x" is to make us feel good. Wouldn't mind looking up my two formys.
Yes, compnine. The numbers thing is easy to play with and lets face it everybody wants a 1 of X or XX car.
I started this thread just over 1 year ago - at that time I was hot after a red 1990 Formula 350. I could not work a deal with the seller and ended up passing on that one - Fast forward to today....I just purchased an 1989 Formula 350 with 27,000 miles, N10 exhaust - solid roof car, just like I wanted - looking forward to getting it back to my place maybe this weekend. Hope its as nice as I expect. Rear spoiler is not original but they all cracked anyway. Here are a few pics -
Last edited by BizJetTech; 08-12-2018 at 03:15 PM.
Holy poopy pants that's nice, be glad you waited!!
With only a quick look all I see "wrong" are the replacement alt fan/pulley and nut aren't black and obviously tires but man that's a nice one.
Enjoy it!
Holy poopy pants that's nice, be glad you waited!!
With only a quick look all I see "wrong" are the replacement alt fan/pulley and nut aren't black and obviously tires but man that's a nice one.
Enjoy it!
Thanks! I got lucky - I feel like I hit the lottery - The alternator has been replaced, but I am getting the original removed alternator with the car so I will be taking care your your very accurate observation -
Will post up some more pics - maybe this weekend
Hey Thanks!! - Just curious, how are you Purely PMD while owning an IROC ??
Sometimes I play with Chevys.
Purely PMD was a company in Albuquerque New Mexico owned by John Hutchinson & Rick Write that dealt in rare cars & parts back in the 80's. They built a RA V 69 Judge that won at the nationals and was in a ton of magazines that year and were planning on building a 71 GT-37 that Rick owned next. Unfortunately John's son died suddenly and his will to go on went with him. The business struggled, John passed away and Rick has since too.
I now own that GT-37 and race it in F.A.S.T. and Pure Stock classes and I also own the PurelyPMD.com URL. I've also owned/own some of the rarest cars Pontiac ever built from RA I, II, III & IV GTO's to multiple Judges & Judge convertibles, TA's & Formulas from almost every year from 69 to 97 and a pair of 455HO/4spd Convertibles (71 & 72).
On other boards my user ID is The Boss (a Springsteen reference) but that was taken here so I went with option 2.
Purely PMD was a company in Albuquerque New Mexico owned by John Hutchinson & Rick Write that dealt in rare cars & parts back in the 80's. They built a RA V 69 Judge that won at the nationals and was in a ton of magazines that year and were planning on building a 71 GT-37 that Rick owned next. Unfortunately John's son died suddenly and his will to go on went with him. The business struggled, John passed away and Rick has since too.
I now own that GT-37 and race it in F.A.S.T. and Pure Stock classes and I also own the PurelyPMD.com URL. I've also owned/own some of the rarest cars Pontiac ever built from RA I, II, III & IV GTO's to multiple Judges & Judge convertibles, TA's & Formulas from almost every year from 69 to 97 and a pair of 455HO/4spd Convertibles (71 & 72).
On other boards my user ID is The Boss (a Springsteen reference) but that was taken here so I went with option 2.
That is VERY cool !! The RA cars are awesome - always wanted one but cant get myself to spend the big $$$ required to get one.
Sounds like you have some truly incredible cars!
Any SD-455's ? Any 3rd gen Formula's?
I currently have a 90 Formula 350 with an SLP T-Ram on it and a 91 1LE Formula with t-tops (1 of 8 built) and pretty much every other option other than A/C. I just sold the 1990 1LE Sunoco SCCA TA that was 1 of 4 built that year to Bill Warner of Amelia Island who plans to race it again.
Oh that is a beauty. Are those wheels polished? They don't look like they have the factory grooves in them. That's what I'm doing to mine.
We will have to get salt and pepper together. I have a black 89 Formula 350 and my daughter lives about an hour north of me in PSL. I'm keeping stock on the outside but the engine is a bit different.
Oh that is a beauty. Are those wheels polished? They don't look like they have the factory grooves in them. That's what I'm doing to mine.
We will have to get salt and pepper together. I have a black 89 Formula 350 and my daughter lives about an hour north of me in PSL. I'm keeping stock on the outside but the engine is a bit different.
Cheers!
Thanks!
No - wheels are not polished - funny, I am about 20 mins south of PSL
I also have a 1990 formula 350. Mine is black. I didn't realize how low production they were in 1990. Even less then my 1989 20th anniversary TTA. They made 1555 of those although mine is a hardtop and they only made 24 hardtops with leather like mine.
Available 1990 Formula Colors:
Single Tone:
23 - Silver Blue Met
41 - Black
81 - Bright Red
40 - White
75- Brilliant Red Met
87 - Medium Gray Met
2 Tone:
13L, 23U - Silver Met Lower, Silver Blue Met Upper
13L, 41U- Silver Met Lower, Black Upper
13L, 81U - Silver Met Lower, Bright Red Upper
87L, 40U - Med Gray Met Lower, White Upper
I have a 1990 formula 350. Mine is about 90% restored. I too have been looking for production numbers. I also have been searching for other owners. So far I've only found two.
I have a 1990 formula 350. Mine is about 90% restored. I too have been looking for production numbers. I also have been searching for other owners. So far I've only found two.
We have a Facebook group of such owners. Pretty sure we have a few '90 350 owners in there.
As mentioned above, in 1990, there were 234 units of Formulas with L98 and 81U Bright Red exterior paint.
However, 40 units of those 234 units were two tone 81U + 13L Silver lower.
So, from the SPID label, we can verify that this 1990 W66 Formula L98 is one of 194 units in 81U Bright Red single-color.
The SPID label indicates RPO WX1 = two-tone delete.
Nice ride!
thats got my head spinning, since I found I've been trying to get in my mind what to do with the car, part it or get it back on the road
Originally Posted by Drew
SLP dual cold air... Nice! Hope the duct is there somewhere.
yes its there
ok heres a weird observation its coded GU5 which is 3.23 with posi and I looked under it and its got a 9 bolt didnt see tag a3.27? or? shouldn't this be a 10 bolt?
Correction! its not a 9 bolt its a Dana 44
Last edited by zman1969; 09-17-2018 at 12:56 PM.
Reason: added rear end info
A few very early 90s got some leftover 9bolts but since this one is coded for a 10bolt I'd bet its been swapped in.
Are you sure its a 9bolt? (rubber plug in the cover) With that intake it could have a Dana 44 if the owner was feeling frisky (metal fill plug in cover)
A few very early 90s got some leftover 9bolts but since this one is coded for a 10bolt I'd bet its been swapped in.
Are you sure its a 9bolt? (rubber plug in the cover) With that intake it could have a Dana 44 if the owner was feeling frisky (metal fill plug in cover)
well to be honest I didnt look at the diff all that hard but enough to know it wasn't a 10 bolt I'll take a better look at it when I get it
my 87 had a 9 bolt in it for a while now has a 91-92 10 bolt 3.42 torsen/ PBR in it
one thing I did notice is that the lug studs were noticeably longer but not the 3" aftermarket type either
I know stock closed end lugs wont fit on it
well I didn't mean to hijack this thread so I started one on this car 90 Formula found
The OP asked how many Formula 350's per year
87 is kind of goofy, there was a total of 11,380 350's made for Firebirds, and 7818 of those were Trans Ams or GTA's (GTAsourcepage.com) and I think the GTA source page only has US sales totals, so the number will be lower than what is listed below for 1987... therefore 87 <3,562 Formula 350's
88 2,613
89 4,875
90 838
91 1,249 92 367
There was 4875 Total Formula 350's in 89, and 5440 Formulas in Red, how many were 350's? No idea.
Out of the 16670 Formulas in 89, 11344 had T-tops, (68%)
If we were to assume that the production was evenly split among the LO3, LB9 & L98, that would make in the neighborhood of 3315 Formula 350's with T-tops... 43 of those were made into Convertibles
The Red was the most popular color in 89 BTW... Followed by Black then White, then Silver Blue then Flame Red... There was ONE Yellow Formula however... Probably a test car.
There was 4875 Total Formula 350's in 89, and 5440 Formulas in Red, how many were 350's? No idea.
Out of the 16670 Formulas in 89, 11344 had T-tops, (68%)
If we were to assume that the production was evenly split among the LO3, LB9 & L98, that would make in the neighborhood of 3315 Formula 350's with T-tops... 43 of those were made into Convertibles
The Red was the most popular color in 89 BTW... Followed by Black then White, then Silver Blue then Flame Red... There was ONE Yellow Formula however... Probably a test car.
John
John - I wanted to revive this topic as I just purchased an 89 Flame Red Formula 350 (hope to have it delivered soon) - as you can see, it has a super clean set of original Ronal R15's -
any idea how many Flame Red Formula 350's were built in 89 ?? I dont recall ever seeing another one, but I know they must be out there. BTW - I reference your web site all the time - it's awesome!
John - I wanted to revive this topic as I just purchased an 89 Flame Red Formula 350 (hope to have it delivered soon) - as you can see, it has a super clean set of original Ronal R15's -
any idea how many Flame Red Formula 350's were built in 89 ?? I dont recall ever seeing another one, but I know they must be out there. BTW - I reference your web site all the time - it's awesome!
Hey Ray - yes, for the time being anyway - I will decide if I'm going to remove it or leave it after it gets here - you know the car?? - I do, it was sold at Mecum in 2011 in Indy
Hey Ray - yes, for the time being anyway - I will decide if I'm going to remove it or leave it after it gets here - you know the car?? - I do, it was sold at Mecum in 2011 in Indy
cant remember where i seen it but i seen it for sale before
cant remember where i seen it but i seen it for sale before
You must have a good memory !! - the seller had owned it for almost 8 years and just recently listed it for sale
when I found it - he had the entire history on the car - got a ton of documents with it
You must have a good memory !! - the seller had owned it for almost 8 years and just recently listed it for sale
when I found it - he had the entire history on the car - got a ton of documents with it
ive seen another one that color for sale recently but cant remember where i saw it
In 1989, there were only 1161 units of Flame Red Metallic Formulas. For 1989, the color was not available on TAs. On the GTA that year, there were 1955 units.
Those 1161 Formula units make it the rarest color Formula for 1989 (other than the one Yellow Formula). The next lowest Formula color total was Silver Blue with 2554 units.
In 1989, there were 4875 Formulas with the L98 350. In 1989, the L98 was mated to the RPO GW6, 3.27 ratio rear axle. This was a 9-bolt. The 1990-92 L98 came with GU5 3.23, a 10-bolt.
In 1989, there were only 1161 units of Flame Red Metallic Formulas. For 1989, the color was not available on TAs. On the GTA that year, there were 1955 units.
Those 1161 Formula units make it the rarest color Formula for 1989 (other than the one Yellow Formula). The next lowest Formula color total was Silver Blue with 2554 units.
In 1989, there were 4875 Formulas with the L98 350. In 1989, the L98 was mated to the RPO GW6, 3.27 ratio rear axle. This was a 9-bolt. The 1990-92 L98 came with GU5 3.23, a 10-bolt.
Great find!
Shiftman - Thanks for the numbers breakdown ! - just curious, where did you find this info?
Pontiac's 1989 Option Analysis by Selected UPC Usage production report.
I am publishing a 200-page, 3rd Gen Firebird reference/fact book. It is similar to the Camaro White book, but I focus on the 3rd Gen Firebird. However, I go much deeper into numbers than the White Book does.
My book is currently being proofed. I hope to have it available on Amazon by the end of the month. My Amazon author page:
You must have a good memory !! - the seller had owned it for almost 8 years and just recently listed it for sale
when I found it - he had the entire history on the car - got a ton of documents with it
01-30-2017, 06:23 AM
Thanks! I got lucky - I feel like I hit the lottery - The alternator has been replaced, but I am getting the original removed alternator with the car so I will be taking care your your very accurate observation - 
