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New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find

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Old Mar 8, 2017 | 10:56 PM
  #1  
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Car: 1988 Formula 350
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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.



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Old Mar 8, 2017 | 11:12 PM
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StevenB L98/LS1's Avatar
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Car: 1989 Firebird Formula
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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.
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Old Mar 8, 2017 | 11:33 PM
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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.
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Old Mar 9, 2017 | 06:24 AM
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Car: 1989-92 FORMULA350 305 92 Hawkclone
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Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find

Welcome and wow what a nice looking car!! Pleas post up more pictures!

It's sad but I saw the 87 version of this in a JY back in the day. It was in decent shape too. Learned later that it had been crushed.

Last edited by TTOP350; Mar 9, 2017 at 08:08 AM.
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Old Mar 9, 2017 | 06:29 AM
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Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find

Welcome to TGO. Great looking Formula! Lots of love for the Formula 350's on here.
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Old Mar 9, 2017 | 06:51 AM
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Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find

Car looks good - welcome!
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Old Mar 9, 2017 | 07:16 AM
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Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find

That is a cool unique car for sure!
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Old Mar 9, 2017 | 03:03 PM
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Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find

Very cool. The yellow cars are awesome
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Old Mar 9, 2017 | 05:39 PM
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Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find

Welcome! More pics, please!
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Old Mar 9, 2017 | 07:16 PM
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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.

Louis
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Old Mar 9, 2017 | 09:03 PM
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Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find

Welcome aboard!

That's a beautiful Formula.
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Old Mar 9, 2017 | 09:54 PM
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Car: 1988 Formula 350
Transmission: Auto
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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.
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Old Mar 10, 2017 | 07:46 AM
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Car: 92 & 91 Z28 1LEs, 87 IROC-Z, 90 ZR1
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Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find

Beautiful car, what a great find! I have been looking for a yellow one for years. Can't wait to see more pics as you detail it up!
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Old Mar 10, 2017 | 08:12 AM
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Car: 1989-92 FORMULA350 305 92 Hawkclone
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Axle/Gears: 3.70 9"ford alum chunk,dana44,9bolt
Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find

The more I see, the more I like !!!
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Old Mar 10, 2017 | 10:12 AM
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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!
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Old Mar 10, 2017 | 10:21 AM
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Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find

congrats i just restored my 88 iroc ,enjoy yours in good health
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Old Apr 5, 2017 | 11:02 PM
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Car: 1988 Firebird Formula
Engine: 350 TPI
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Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find





I just got this one a month ago and am going through it. Love this car. Now I know what color I want to paint it! Beautiful car, Good job!
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Old Apr 6, 2017 | 04:58 PM
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Car: 1989-92 FORMULA350 305 92 Hawkclone
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Transmission: 700R4 4800 vig 18th700R4 t56 ZF6 T5
Axle/Gears: 3.70 9"ford alum chunk,dana44,9bolt
Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find

Originally Posted by Contractor




I just got this one a month ago and am going through it. Love this car. Now I know what color I want to paint it! Beautiful car, Good job!
Hope you paint it back original maui blue
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Old Apr 6, 2017 | 10:03 PM
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Re: New Member Intro and My 1988 Yellow Formula 350 Find

I have never seen a yellow formula 350 in person. Great find!! I would have bought that car in a heartbeat.
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