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New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find
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!
New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find
I have lurked around here for awhile as a non-member, but finally decided I needed to sign up once I discovered the 3rd Gen I have always wanted.
I am primarily a Corvette guy by heart, but when the Formula 350's began to hit the streets during my last few years of HS, I always wanted one, especially one of the yellow brochure cars.
I figured out pretty quickly the yellows were pretty rare out in the wild, so I resigned myself to just keeping the old Firebird brochure around to console myself with.
Almost 30 years go by without ever seeing a yellow 350 in person, and then to my utter amazement a friend of one of my customers tells me of one for sale less than 200 miles away from me here in Texas. I grabbed the car as quick as I could, and just brought it home last week.
The car stayed with the original owner until 2013, and has never been out of South Texas. It has been enjoyed quite extensively, with over 165,000 miles on the odometer, but was obviously well loved and cared for by the previous owners as can be seen by the general condition. I have the original window sticker, dealer sales order copy, original county tax receipt, all the manuals, and even the under hood lamp fuse in the original GM blisterpack.
For now I plan on doing nothing more than enjoy it and drive it while repairing the few minor issue that need correcting like a loose steering column, bad headlight motors gears, recovering the original seat covers, and reinstalling an original UX1 Delco radio.
I know it has been discussed often, but does anyone have a WAG of how many of the yellows Pontiac made during 1988? One thing I noticed about my car is the date stamp on the hood and fenders which are December 87 and January 88. It makes me wonder if this could have been one of the last yellows made.
Regardless, I am looking to forward to seeing some of the insights from other members and learning a bit more about my "brochure" car.
Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find
Welcome to the forum and very nice formula. It could be possibly one of the last ones built in a yellow exterior. I only know that yellow was only available for first half the 88 production run and replaced the yellow with a medium orange metallic for the rest of the 88 model year. None the less yellow 88s are pretty tuff to find. Enjoy it.
Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find
Great looking Formula! Great backstory on yours, always nice to get some documentation with the vehicle. I really don't give vettes a second look…they're everywhere. But I'll always strain my neck around to look at a third gen! Glad you found yours.
As 1989formulakid said, welcome to the forum!
Post up some more pics when you get a chance. Would love to see more of this yellow 350.
Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find
Great looking car. I almost bought one like this that was advertised in Springfield, Mass for quite some time.I would like to see more photos when you have a chance.
Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find
Thanks for the warm welcome. I don't know why exactly, but I am more excited about this car than most of the others that I have gone through over the years. I guess it's true what they say about the longer the wait, the sweeter the reward.
Here are a few pics on the trailer as I was taking it home.
A few shots after removing the original seats to clean up the carpet and take an inventory of the interior and condition
A few shots of the current condition of the engine compartment.
I will keep posting pics as I go through the car detailing and documenting some of the cool original things I see. I think this car is proof that not every 3rd Gen with higher miles hasn't been driven into the ground, and will actually hold up if taken care of properly.
Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find
Nice car! 3rd Gen Formula possibly one of the sexiest cars GM ever built. Nice clean curves, no fuss. Gives the Vette and the GTO a run for their money!
I'm hoping to rebuild my fathers Vette one day, like hanging out over there too!
03-08-2017, 10:56 PM
