[beltrunner]

So here we go...My car is a 1971 Formula, 455 HO, Ram Air, 4 spd., with 3.08 rearend, and Nordic Silver paint. I've spent about 5 years trying to put this car into decent shape.This forum was a great help...thanks! I'm the 3rd owner of the car. I bartered it from a close friend who purchased it from the original owner in 1978.The car was originally purchased from a dealer in San Jose, California.The original owner lived in the San Francisco area, and intended to commute regularly to the Los Angeles area. He had the dealer install power steering (from a '69 or '70 kit), the Ram Air package, a dress up engine package, and the 3.08 gears for the long drives. The car was involved in a serious accident (extensive damage) 1977. The owner had it repaired, advertised it in Hemmings, and my buddy went up to San Francisco (from our L.A. area) to buy the car. My friend joined the POCI club, and in the early 1980's drove the car to Las Vegas Nevada for a national show. A guy named John Sawruck was one of the judges. He explained to my friend how he had been in charge at Pontiac Division in the early 70's of the 455 HO project. His task was to keep the Pontiacs running strong on unleaded gas. Sawruck showed open affection for my friend's car stating that the Formula was "his favorite car for his 455 HO motor." He awarded my friend a 1st place trophy in some technical category. We have photos of the trophy, but my buddy believes he lost the actual trophy in a move. My eyes tear as I explain this missing trophy...Over the years as a daily driver, the car got banged around, dented up and pretty well worn out (no rust though). I got the Formula, and the 1st year rebuilt the drive train, suspension, and most everything else that moved (or was supposed to move). I was about ready to send it out for the bodywork,paint, and upholstery, when I got a hair-brained idea to learn this stuff myself...that's where the next 3 years came in. So I learned the stuff that I never cared about before (not easy for an old guy). I gutted the car,removed the front clip, and slowly learned to hate the sight of sandpaper. The car came out nice for a back yard job...literally...before the first paint job was dry a neighbor unwittingly fired up his leave blower and,well, I had to do it all over again (lot to be said for a paint booth,I suppose). Anyway, I kept things simple...wire brush, pressure washer, and cans of black paint for most stuff. I tried to keep it mostly stock. A couple things are still missing, but it is pretty complete at his time. Here are some photos...thanks again for the help...

[beltrunner]

The motor got a standard rebuild with a few aftermarket internals for longevity

[beltrunner]

I found a set of original '71 center caps at a dealer in Texas. 1st week out of the shoot I wound up with a big ole door ding...so I put on the "bang strips" for protection.

[beltrunner]

I had a hard time getting the car to sit the way I wanted

[beltrunner]

The interior job was a treat...needed 3 hands to do the headliner...next one should be a whole lot easier. And don't be looking for any rivets on that console...it's aftermarket, but it works for me...the car had the original 8 track stereo, but it weighed about 100 lbs, and seriously tweeked the aftermarket console...so it's in a box on a shelf in my garage...

[beltrunner]

So there it is...and I'm still married (just barely) after this super extended project...and I'm open to criticism...too old to get offended...so let me know what you think folks...and I'll "catch you later!"

[65WJ]

I like it a lot. Congratulations. You built it the way you wanted. Now go for a long ride and enjoy.

patrick

[cliffhanger]

love the car! looks great! would like to see some larger resolution pictures, these are tiny

[Brewster]

Car looks great and it is sporting my favorite Formula color and drive train combo. Awesome, enjoy!

[eaglesan13]

Nice car, and I love that color combo. You said it was sold new in San Jose, was it from Allison Pontiac?

[keith k]

Thanks for posting. Looks like you did a great job!

Very nicely optioned car.... doesn't get any better than that.

[rock]

your car sits perfect, the way it should. Now days most of these cars have the asses in the air.

[x-bird2]

looks great--can't imagine your mental state when the neighbor fired up the leaf blower...

[RicksGTO]

congrats on a great job, I'm 3+ years into mine and beginning to think 5 years is probably what it will take me too. Good thing we all go into these projects thinking 18-24 months Enjoy the car and thanks for posting!

[bird72]

Nice Car! Your simple approach and seems driver status (door ding) are to be admired. I love the restos, and God Bless the caliber of some shown on these pages, but a car one can take to the store and show off around town and not freak out on is really where it is at (to me IMO only)...

I bet the 455HO with 3.08 is interesting with great highway manners and top end. Those gears with an auto would not be fun, but with the 4 speed, I bet around town 2nd and 3rd are real fun places to be.

Looks like you have later pointy spoiler end caps, if that is something that you ever want to correct PM me, I'm getting some old ones ready to get rid off.

BTW, my driver I got in 1990 and I am doing the body, 1/4 panel and rear window rust repair scheduled now in May at shop, so to me 5 years is like a weekend. I will only commit to having mine painted by 2015 is all I can say

[beltrunner]

Hey everybody,thanks for the comments on my car...I do enjoy driving it around and explaining what it is to the youngsters I run across.I like to have different people drive it, but it seems like only the old guys like me know how to drive a stick...of all the friends my kids have, only 2 of them can drive a manual transmission (but they had a blast doing it).And eaglesan13, I am getting more senile by the day...when I looked up the original dealership again I see that it was San Rafael, and not San Jose CA...a dealership called Marin...sorry for the "San Whatever" screwup.And rock, thanks for the compliment on the way the car sits...it wasn't easy getting it there.The car was way lopsided when I got it (collapsed driver side front spring for one problem)...more than one set of aftermarket coils proved to be way too high. So I finally lopped of 1 coil from one of the aftermarket sets and it seems to be okay, handeling and all. To x-bird2, my paint snafu shows that you can plan for everything and then still get clobbered...I had built a tent-cover over my car in the back yard to paint it so that the birds couldn't crap on it...I wet down the entire area at midnight to settle any dust...I sprayed a ton of bug poison around to keep the insects outta my paint...I started painting at the crack of dawn on the best weather-day of the month so that wind was not a factor...and just as I finished the final coat, old George next door fires up this 50 hp leave blower...I tried yelling over the fence to him, but he couldn't hear me thru my mask...I dropped my brand new paint gun in the process of waving my arms to get his attention...my wife thought it was like a cartoon, or something...anyway, I had to sand and repaint my car...then came the big door ding, so here I go again...and with the d#%! front bumper cracking and bubbling several times, I feel like I painted 10 cars.
And bird72, thanks for the offer on the spoiler end caps, but I'll have to pass. The spoiler was pretty well broken-up when I got the car, and it took me forever to locate the pieces that I wound up with...I really don't want to do it again.Too many "re-do's" on this car (5 power steering pumps before I got one that worked...half dozen oil senders...2 sets of seat skins to get a decent fit...3 aftermarket turn signal switches until one actually worked...2 oil pumps (PITA)...etc.).I'm sure I'll have questions down the road on maintaining the car, so thanks in advance for the help!

[CaptCrunch]

Congrats on getting it done!...........like to see some better pictures.........I've been foolin with mine for 20 years and it still isn't back on the road...........great car.........

[beltrunner]

Hey everybody,thanks for the comments on my car...I do enjoy driving it around and explaining what it is to the youngsters I run across.I like to have different people drive it, but it seems like only the old guys like me know how to drive a stick...of all the friends my kids have, only 2 of them can drive a manual transmission (but they had a blast doing it).And eaglesan13, I am getting more senile by the day...when I looked up the original dealership again I see that it was San Rafael, and not San Jose CA...a dealership called Marin...sorry for the "San Whatever" screwup.And rock, thanks for the compliment on the way the car sits...it wasn't easy getting it there.The car was way lopsided when I got it (collapsed driver side front spring for one problem)...more than one set of aftermarket coils proved to be way too high. So I finally lopped of 1 coil from one of the aftermarket sets and it seems to be okay, handeling and all. To x-bird2, my paint snafu shows that you can plan for everything and then still get clobbered...I had built a tent-cover over my car in the back yard to paint it so that the birds couldn't crap on it...I wet down the entire area at midnight to settle any dust...I sprayed a ton of bug poison around to keep the insects outta my paint...I started painting at the crack of dawn on the best weather-day of the month so that wind was not a factor...and just as I finished the final coat, old George next door fires up this 50 hp leave blower...I tried yelling over the fence to him, but he couldn't hear me thru my mask...I dropped my brand new paint gun in the process of waving my arms to get his attention...my wife thought it was like a cartoon, or something...anyway, I had to sand and repaint my car...then came the big door ding, so here I go again...and with the d#%! front bumper cracking and bubbling several times, I feel like I painted 10 cars.
And bird72, thanks for the offer on the spoiler end caps, but I'll have to pass. The spoiler was pretty well broken-up when I got the car, and it took me forever to locate the pieces that I wound up with...I really don't want to do it again.Too many "re-do's" on this car (5 power steering pumps before I got one that worked...half dozen oil senders...2 sets of seat skins to get a decent fit...3 aftermarket turn signal switches until one actually worked...2 oil pumps (PITA)...etc.).I'm sure I'll have questions down the road on maintaining the car, so thanks in advance for the help!

[beltrunner]

And cliffhanger, here's bigger pictures of my car...(I hope...still working on my pixel-kb skills)...

[fbody_mike]

Great Job! Hope to see it driving around some time.