I picked this up during the week, more or less to replace my 88 Formula which has a dead engine, and is in need of paint.

It's got 87K miles, was repainted in 2007, and no frame rust or rot at all (no rust in trunk corners either). The prior owner also put new wheel bearing hubs in the front end, new front brakes, calipers, and brake hoses, had the headliner replaced, and replaced a couple coolant lines in the engine compartment. There really are no options on this car either other than air conditioning (which doesn't work). No cruise, power anything, or even a rear window defroster.

The biggest negative is in the interior, where it needs new seat upholstery and a new center console/armrest due to a tear (if you have one you might want to sell, let me know!). Also, the t-tops leak, and there may not be too much I can do with that. The car will be garaged regularly, and is not really a daily driver for me anyway so I will be able to avoid soaking the interior regularly.

I am a GT guy, but your Formula is easily my favorite body style. Nice acquisition. Now, what are your intentions with her?

When I originally intended to buy a Fiero I had planned on getting a GT myself. However, while looking at another Fiero, I stumbled across a Formula and couldn't pass it up. That was 13 years ago.

Plans for this one? I am just going to keep doing some restoration work to it, and maintain it as a very good condition stock Fiero. It's a good way there already with the work already done to it. I may change a couple things out. I need to get a GT wheel for it. I like the smaller GT steering wheels, and have one in my other Formula. I also may swap over my gold lace rims to it, since they are practically brand new. (Got them new, out of the original boxes about 2-3 years ago).

If I do decide to undertake a project, I will use my old Formula as a basis. It has a very good condition chassis too (little bit of trunk rust, no holes, frame is solid). It could use paint, and it's got a bad bearing or something in the engine so that is shot. It also has 160K miles on it, but I have replaced a lot on it too in the suspension and steering, so I cannot see just throwing it out. If anything, it would make a good parts car to have on hand, but in time I may get the itch to try and engine conversion or something on it too.

Here is a pic of my old one with the gold rims I am thinking of switching over. The paint looks a lot better in this pic than it does in person on the old car (trunk and wing I painted by rattle can, which actually turned out amazingly well).

quote Originally posted by Fformula88: IAlso, the t-tops leak, and there may not be too much I can do with that. The car will be garaged regularly, and is not really a daily driver for me anyway so I will be able to avoid soaking the interior regularly.

If there are no tears or chunks missing in the t-top seals, use murphy's oil soap to condition the weatherstrip seals. It will soften the rubber and let them expand a little back to their original size to take up the gaps that are causing the leaks.

Nice looking Formula, if you dont mind me asking, what did you have to give for her? Just curiosity based on the 88 GT T-top car I bought last year.

Man is the new Formula clean! Congrats on the acquisition. I HATE those new NY plates, they stick out like a sore thumb on every car.

Very Nice!! I was waiting for you to put some pics up, and they don't disappoint. And hey it was nice seeing the old neighborhood... just a little extra added bonus


Rich

Beautiful formula! I noticed that your ds seat bottom is torn, I have two perfect beachwood seat bottoms from my t-top formula if you need them, I replaced them with mr. mikes ;-)

Correct me if I'm wrong but your car does have a nice option. The rally gauges above the radio. In my Haynes it says that Fieros did come without those on some models.

if you dont mind me asking, what'd you pay for it? just wana know if i will be getting a better deal than you .

hope i buy the one i found. if i do, i will be ECSTATIC lol, and have a thread all about it with pics out the wazzoo.


anyways, nice car. the interior looks find to me, and cant that tear just be patched?

Thanks for the compliments!

quote Originally posted by fieroX: If there are no tears or chunks missing in the t-top seals, use murphy's oil soap to condition the weatherstrip seals. It will soften the rubber and let them expand a little back to their original size to take up the gaps that are causing the leaks. Nice looking Formula, if you dont mind me asking, what did you have to give for her? Just curiosity based on the 88 GT T-top car I bought last year.

Thanks for the tip on the seals! I will give that a try!

I paid $3,000 for it. I thought I might have been able to haggle that down more for an even better buy, but considering the condition and everything that has already been done, it felt good at that price. It was also about half of what some of the 88 GT owners were looking to get for cars in the area (one was $5500, another $6700) and neither of those had t-tops.

quote Originally posted by nitroheadz28: Man is the new Formula clean! Congrats on the acquisition. I HATE those new NY plates, they stick out like a sore thumb on every car.

I agree, the new plates are terrible! I may end up transferring my personalized plates over to it if I do not keep the other car registered. Then I can ditch the new ones.

quote Originally posted by nitroheadz28: Very Nice!! I was waiting for you to put some pics up, and they don't disappoint. And hey it was nice seeing the old neighborhood... just a little extra added bonus Rich

Sorry it took so long Rich. I was doing some minor detail work on the interior to fix small things, and hadn't washed or waxed it until yesterday. It was grimey even though it had been covered.

quote Originally posted by fieroguy123: Beautiful formula! I noticed that your ds seat bottom is torn, I have two perfect beachwood seat bottoms from my t-top formula if you need them, I replaced them with mr. mikes ;-)

Hmm, I might be interested in them! I intend to go with Mr Mikes too, but my money right now has been going into getting the car, and then will go towards mechanicals first to be sure the car is in top shape.

quote Originally posted by Onefiero: Correct me if I'm wrong but your car does have a nice option. The rally gauges above the radio. In my Haynes it says that Fieros did come without those on some models.

Your right. Having the guages is nice! I believe they were standard on all 88 V6's, and might have been standard on most V6's. I have seen 85SE V6's without them, but cannot recall seeing a later year V6 that did not have them.

quote Originally posted by faaaaq: if you dont mind me asking, what'd you pay for it? just wana know if i will be getting a better deal than you . hope i buy the one i found. if i do, i will be ECSTATIC lol, and have a thread all about it with pics out the wazzoo. anyways, nice car. the interior looks find to me, and cant that tear just be patched?

Now you know... how does your deal compare? I hope you get a better one! Nothing like a terrific deal!

I think it is funny, however, that I paid more for this car than I did for my other one (which was $2850 at 67K miles in 1997). Now that was a deal, and now... it is appreciating values!

The interior is nice, overall. I am just kind of picky. My other Formula has 160K miles on it, and the interior is in better shape overall.

The seat cannot really be patched effectively. They are a bit rotted, probably from the t-top water leaks. The passenger seat is all torn too, right down where the material pieces are sewn together.

the one im looking at has 88k miles, and only needs the distributor replaced and something else minor (i think it was the rear ball joints, idr). $2k. edit to add: IIRC, and he was honest, the current owner said it has little to no frame rust anywhere on it, which obviously is a plus

and i just meant the tear in the center console/armrest lol

[This message has been edited by faaaaq (edited 05-16-2010).]

I'll give you the seat bottoms for the cost of shipping. Let me know, I just want them to go to a good home.

quote Originally posted by faaaaq: the one im looking at has 88k miles, and only needs the distributor replaced and something else minor (i think it was the rear ball joints, idr). $2k and i just meant the tear in the center console/armrest lol

$2K sounds like a real good deal! Good luck with getting it! I hope you do! They are a lot of fun!

thanks. hoping i might be able to drop the price a bit by including my current fiero in the deal for a trade+cash situation (and make it so i dont have 2 cars lol, cannot afford two cars at one time xP).

your car is nice tho. not a big fan of red fieros, and not a big fan of t-top Fieros (makes em look too similar to a camaro/firebird or whatever), but its still a fiero and a Formula, so it still looks nice

quote Originally posted by fieroguy123: I'll give you the seat bottoms for the cost of shipping. Let me know, I just want them to go to a good home.

Sounds terrific! I sent you a PM.

there ya go xD. notchies FTW, and white is pretty nice on Fieros. the Formula i will (hopefully) get soon is white