Truck @ 6 months old, and current picture. Think it needs a paint job?
My beater is a '90 Ford F-250 HD 4X4, 351, 5 spd. It has over 185,000 miles and is still going strong! It's daily driver role has changed to part time status, because in Nov. 2000 I got a 2001 Firebird Formula, LS-1 (346 c.i.d. Corvette engine), 6 speed, Arctic White w/ Ebony CLOTH (more about that later....) interior for that purpose. The truck has been relegated to "truck stuff" like Pontiac parts chasing, Home Depot, pulling the boat, yard work etc. It has served me exceptionally well, but is ill suited for the 185 mile drive to work @ 80 mph that I am currently doing (something that the Firebird excels at!).
My 2001 Formula!
Where's the engine?
The only problem with the new 'Birds is that Pontiac WILL NOT build them with leather interiors, if you don't also get T-Tops!!!!! Seems kind of backwards to me...... Pay $511 for nice leather seats and have them ruined WHEN the T-Tops start to leak. Couple this with the lack of frame rigidity, theft problem and chance of breakage and T-Tops are not very desirable!!!! I am speaking from personal experience here.......I have owned 2 GM cars with T-Tops, and they both leaked like a sieve. I replaced the weather-stripping on my '77 GP with new GM stuff, and that stopped the leaks for about 6 months! I then lent the car to a "friend" in college, and even after expressly forbidding him to remove the T-Tops, his girlfriend decided to do it anyway, while they were going around a left turn at 20 mph. The car went left, while the hatch went right, into the ground, instantaneously turning it into fish tank gravel! He NEVER paid me for the damage either! This was in Western Pa, in November '84. I made a patch out of a heavy duty garbage bag and duct tape, using cardboard as a stiffener to cover the huge hole in the roof (interestingly enough, it didn't leak at all with the plastic on it!). I could not find a T-Top anywhere in the greater Pittsburgh area, so I tried when I was home for Thanksgiving. Miraculously, I was able to find a N.O.S. passenger side Hurst Hatch at a Pontiac dealer several towns over for $211!!!!!! My other T-Top experience is with an '81 Monte Carlo that I bought for an airport car. Those things leaked from the day I bought it till the day I junked it, even after using several tubes of RTV to permanently seal them shut! Enough ranting about T-Tops.......I am kind of pissed because I really wanted leather seats in my new 'Bird, but I REALLY didn't want T-Tops!
My Formula is one of 311 Formulas built in 2001 with the 6 speed. 70 of those were made into Firehawks. There were also only 188 Formulas (total) built without the dreaded T-Tops, so this is a pretty rare car!
So far, the only mods I've done to the Formula is a Pro 5.0 shifter, a Direct Flo airbox lid, K&N filter and the free ram air mod. and a real water temp gauge. Anytime actual water temperature is between 180-225, the factory gauge will read 210! The reason cited is that GM received lots of complaints from customers about fluctuating temperatures (duh!) so they inserted some code in the PCM that makes the gauge read 210 unless the engine really overheats. It seems to me it would have been cheaper to either put a paragraph in the owners manual stating that it is normal for the water temp to move around in various driving conditions, OR just put in an idiot light! I put an Autometer "Z" series electrical gage on the a pillar in an Autometer single gauge pod. There was no other place to put it.
The factory Monsoon head unit broke about 3 months out of warranty, so I had a good excuse to replace it. I got an Alpine 7894 which reads MP-3's as well as has XM radio capability built in. The small circle over the head unit is the infrared emitter for the PAC SWI-X steering wheel control interface that allows the use of the factory steering wheel controls with an aftermarket head unit. I have installed the Alpine XM satellite radio receiver in the spare tire well, and the Terk TRK SR-2 antenna in the spoiler. I mounted it on top of the trim panel. The reception is perfect through the plastic spoiler material.
Overall, I am very happy with the 2001 Formula! Plenty of power, great gas mileage (23-24 around town, 26-29 on the highway!)
Well, I traded the Formula for a 2004 GTO. I really loved the Formula, but the new GTO is everything that the Formula was and a lot more. Much more refined in every way, and just as fast. Pictures to come!
Donna has a 2000 Mazda MPV minivan (Hey stop giggling! I've got a pickup truck, a Firebird Formula and a GTO too!). She and the kids LOVE it, but I think it needs a Pontiac 400 (or at least a small block c***y!)
My boat, an '86 20' Aquasport, with an '86 100HP Johnson Commercial. I got this boat and engine from a defunct boat rental place for $2500 and "restified" it! It is currently "resting" in the backyard, awaiting a "freshen up" (new wiring, trailer etc.)