[1965gp]

Edit- I apologize in advance for this being so long. For some reason ‘I wanted one of these for a long time’ didn’t seem to cut it.


This is one I have waited on for a loooong time!

In college (‘95-‘00) I worked the summer of 95 at a Nissan dealer to be able to afford a nice enough car to go to school in TX while my parents were stationed at the Pentagon. Only a Firebird would do- I ended up with a Flame Red Metallic 87 GTA, 350 tuned port with a digital dash. It was beautiful! When I got to Sam Houston State to meet up with my best friend from high school (Rob) he showed up in a black ‘88 Formula 350 tuned port car. We couldn’t have felt cooler! In a sea of 5.0’s we were known as the two dudes with the TA’s. Damn did we have fun with those cars.

As you would expect we pretty much ruined them. Everything super chips or TPIS sold was on those cars. We hung out at a stereo/speed shop so they eventually got big stereos, neon, lowered and so on and so on.

Rob and I were like twins- looked the same, both loved Trans Ams and GTO’s, Smokey and the Bandit and Dazed and Confused. We LOVED our third gens, the only thing better than our cars was the elusive yellow Formula 350 with the throwback stripes. It was even better than the Jamaica yellow 92 GTA. We both loved yellow cars - I had my yellow ‘65 Grand Prix and he had his yellow ‘76 TA. We always thought it would be cool to get a Formula in yellow- but there just weren’t that many available. We didn’t want the yellow ‘86 TA, we didn’t want the 305 Formula and definitely did not want T tops.

I honestly don’t think we ever saw one out in the wild.

I think the best guess is less than 100 made in ‘87 and like 60 something cars built in ‘88. ‘88 has actual production numbers- but I think its safe to say there are less than 100 around today. Probably less than 50.

I’ve looked at several on eBay over the years and almost gave in on a 305 T top car. It had the look, just wasn’t perfect. Well, earlier this year my dad sent me a post of a yellow Formula 350 for sale in Indiana with 48,000 miles. I was in AZ for work and immediately changed my flight to meet him in Dayton and go look at the car.

The car was nice, but the terrible 80’s paint had faded at all different rates, there had been some paint work done….. it was not the low mile car I flew across the country for. However- the car had absolutely no rust, none at all. No significant accidents we could find and had a new set of 88+ Formula wheels (my preference) and tires. The owner wanted it to go to a good home so we talked about our collection and how it fits in. A deal was struck while we were at the TA Nationals and the car was on its way to Houston the next week.

After receiving the car it needed a tune up and new injectors. Ultimately I would like to add headers and a looser converter. I picked up a mint pair of black FlowFit seats for my Saleen, but they may find their way into this car. I took it to my friends shop and he painted it immediately- I think the car was done in 10 days? He knew how long I had been looking for this one and really took care of me.

I installed the decals and just couldn’t get over how amazing it looked. Everything about it is right! I will do a few things to it- add Trans Am tail lights (already have them), LED parking lights and of course two 12’s in the back to jam Biggie, Puff Daddy, Dre and Slim Shady!

Thanks for riding down memory lane with me. Rob passed several years ago but I know he would love it just as much as I do!

Here are a few pics my friend took last week