[Tom Spafford]

About a year ago I bought a well-used '77 Firebird Formula W72 with the original 400 4-speed combo. I've since verified through PHS documentation that the car is original, sold out of Paul Phillips Pontiac Pontiac of Medfor OR.

The car runs and drives well but need ALOT of attention. No rust anywhere, but it has been repainted at least once and need it again. No T-tops either, a preference of mine.

Its Starlight Black (exterior) on a blakc houndstooth/lombardy interior. The build sheet says it has the W50 Formula Appearance Package ($127), though the repaint did not have these.

What color should the stripe/formula package be? The only panel that seems original is the rear panel between the tail lights; that is silver. Also, the previous owner told me that the scoop inserts used to be silver, but they are primed right now.

Can anyone suggest which stripe kit is correct for this vehicle? The resto will be painless, I do paint and bodywork as a living, but I WANT to have that W50 package installed!

Thanks in advance; Merry Xmas to all.

[78w72]

check your cowl tag for the paint codes. if the rear panel is silver...i am willing to bet the car was originally silver. once you determine the original color of the car you can determine what color the formula decals were.

check your cowl tag!

[Tom Spafford]

Originally Posted by 78w72

check your cowl tag for the paint codes. if the rear panel is silver...i am willing to bet the car was originally silver. once you determine the original color of the car you can determine what color the formula decals were.

check your cowl tag!

Car was originally Starlight Black as indicated by the cowl and PHS documentation.

The rear panel appears to be original and has the only remaining stripe on the car, but its so sun-faded that I cannot make out the color of it.

Any other suggestions? I REALLY like the W50 appearance package on these cars, and want to re-do this one as original as can be.

[78w72]

sorry i misunderstood that to mean the entire back panel was silver, i aasumed the car may have been silver.

i have seen black formula cars with a gold/bronze lower, but can't say i have seen silver lower.

sorry i couldn't be more help.

[2manyT/A'S]

I believe that the 76,77,& 78 Pontiac (Firebird) showroom brochures should have W50 Formula pics in them.

I will check mine to see when I get a chance.

[Mr W72]

A black Formula with W50 appearance package the lower areas, hood scoop inlet areas and decals would have been gold.

Congrats you have one of the 1,735 1977 Forumlas produced with the W72 Performance Package with 4-speed manual transmission.

[LeighP]

Yep, gold was the detail 2nd colour for W50 Formulas for both black and white cars - other colours used a low gloss black. Can't say I've ever seen silver used and nothing I've read on them indicates it was available. Does the Trim Tag show a different code for the lower colour.....ie 19U XXL ? If so, the XX would be the lower trim colour, although I'm not sure the W50 cars had the second trim colour listed at all.
Very desireable car you've got there.....nice one!

[Tom Spafford]

Originally Posted by Mr W72

A black Formula with W50 appearance package the lower areas, hood scoop inlet areas and decals would have been gold.

Congrats you have one of the 1,735 1977 Forumlas produced with the W72 Performance Package with 4-speed manual transmission.

Thank you all for your replies. I'd be tickled pink(!) if this car was indeed originally black and gold; in my humble opinion there was no better color combo than that for this era firebird.

Trim tag says this:

TR 19B A51 19L 19UPNT
11A W50 BLK

Mr W72, I bought the car after reviewing your excellent information posted online. I was ~90% sure it was the "real deal" but couldn't figure out why no stripe appearance package and a few other anomolies. Engine trans rear etc are original and the body is exceptionally straight and rust-free. BUT...the guy I bought it from basically saved it from a kid who was doing BAD things to the car...I've reversed most of that but there's still a basic restoration to do. I'll post some pics in a bit.

[dbhigdon]

This is what my 78 W50 formula door looks like an the car has never had point work.

[transamfan1981]

I see how you may think the stripe was silver. On my T/A the hood bird origonally was gold. The body of the bird, which was gold, is very very faded and it turned white. Some parts of it look gray. The decals on my trunk lid spoiler did the same thing. Your decals most likely did the same as mine. Faded and turned colors. With the W50 pack you need to put black paint and gold decals on it if you want the car to be the way it came from the factory. If you want to see what I'm talking about with my decals check out building and bandit under 77-81 T/A tech. Steve

[Tom Spafford]

Yeah!

The wife and I took a close look at the remaining rear tail panel pinstripe; there is definitely gold in that pinstripe. Yahoo!

I've been a Pontiac/Oldsmobile person since my teens years. One of my brother's friends had a 1976 Formula 400 4-speed, yellow with black/orange(??) stripe package, pretty rare around my neck of the woods (Eastern Massachusetts, Holyoke, specifically). For the time it was very fast and handled beautifully; I always told him I wanted to buy it from him when I was out of college. I do remember that at about 6 months old the engine spun a bearing and was replaced under warranty with a service replacement block. Even then (as a 15-year-old kid) I was bummed that the original engine was gone in so short a period; in those days there was no idea of keeping an original block for what may have become a fairly rare collectible.

FWIW, after college I did visit the '76 Formula owner to see if I could purchase the car. We went and looked at it; it was cancerous from the ice-melting salt they used to prevalently in the east coast during those year: The unibody frame was in pieces, as was the removable front member.

[transamfan1981]

I've seen a car with those colors, not to good looking in my opinion. Sounds like a sweet car though. Someday I want to put a muncie M-22 rockcrusher in my T/A. Could you post some pics of the whole car? I'd like to see it.