Hey Folks.



I recently purchased a 1992 Firebird “Formula”. Over the years the car has had many owners and the last owner purchased it without a hood or spoiler. He put the Aero spoiler on and a standard flat hood. I am unsure of the other “possible” body modification, but badging and stickers are gone. The car shows to never been wrecked by Carfax, but that is only as good as the information reported. So, who knows. I have been in the Fbody world for years and have a fourth gen WS6 from almost new (purchased it at 9 months from the first owner). Thus when I see posts on the 4th gen topics there is so much mis information or lost information from what I know to be true from my day. So I know it may be similar to my current situation with this 1992.

In researching what hood it should have I saw several older posts that Formulas never came with ground effects (This one I have, has those ground effects). So then I looked into the car further. Maybe my new purchase is “just a Firebird”, which is not a bad thing, I just don’t want to refer to it as a Formula if it is not. However, the motor in the car is the 305 TPI (LB9), not the TBI motor. I looked at the RPO codes and the certain ones tell me it is a Formula with ground effects. W66- Formula Included, WS6- Special Performance Package, PE0- Wheel 16x8 Aluminum, D81- Aero Spoiler, B84- Body Moldings. Now of course, I may have incorrectly decoded my RPOs, but let me know.

So to the experts is this car officially able to be called a Formula, or no?

 

With TPI, WS6, and the aero spoiler, I think it is a Formula.

 

W66 and WS6 means formula.
formula wasnt available with ground fx from factory.

Formula, came with turbo hood, aero spoiler, 16x8 wheels and WS6 suspension.

Make sure the vin on the rpo decal matches the dash vin

 

Would " B84- Body Moldings." not be consider ground effects then from factory? Or is B84 RPO not mean ground effects?

 

It is a formula. W66 is the option code for Formula and is called out in your RPOs. Why it would have the aero package is a mystery...
I have a 92 Formula that also has code B84 but no GFX, but I believe that code is the door bump strips.

 

Those are the bump strips down the middle of the doors fdoorss, and quarters

 

Okay then that makes sense.

 

Yep VIN matches, maybe someone added the ground effects?

 

Bumper covers have been changed too. Formula/base Firebird bumper covers don't have gfx, and gfx can't be added. Gfx is molded into the GTA/Trans Am bumper covers, not add-on pieces.

Does the car have fog lights? It shouldn't have. But if it does, and the car wasn't in an accident that required a new hood and bumper cover, then one of its owners must've wanted fog lights real bad, or he wanted gfx badly enough to change the bumper covers and add gfx down the sides to match.

91-92 Formula hoods and bumper covers aren't as easy to find as flat hoods and gfx bumper covers, so if the car was in an accident, then it could be the owner installed parts he could find, then added the rest of the gfx.

 

Alright, that makes since, and no there are not any fog lights.

 

Whats your tail lights look like. Sounds like someone went mod crazy! There is a set of Formula wheels for sale on here.

 

Yea, I am not a fan of the current wheels.
Here are my tail lights.
,

 

The SPID is from a Formula, W66 = Formula

 

Option W68 is for ground effects, it could be added to any Firebird, including base model V6 cars, if that was your preference. My daughter's SPID has W68 on a base model V8 car, and it is factory original. Your SPID does not have W68, so the GFX were most likely added on later.

 

Definitely a Formula. Sometimes these cars go through lots of changes over the years. My car is a Formula but nothings stands out as Formula except my hood at this point. Your car looks great, i love the 91-92s.

 

This right here. The SPID is the only way to verify anything, these cars are so old, lot of people have modified them to their taste over the years.

 

Body side moldings (B84?) were standard on all Firebirds that year so I wonder why they removed them? It looks sort of bare without them.