91 Firebird Formula - My baby's back!

[dnoraker]

- 1991 Firebird Formula 305 TPI, 5-speed, dual cats, WS6 performance suspension (all the goodies for that year)
- 171k babied miles; saw three winters in my ownership
- I bought from original owner in 2001, sold in 2005 to pay some bills, bought back last week and have been buffing ever since
- took my wife out for our first date, all the dates after, and from our wedding. My biggest printed wedding picture is of the wedding party (the bridesmaids in matching dark red dresses and groomsmen with matching vests) around the car
- I always wanted to get the car back, but thought it was sold after the guy who bought it offered to sell it back to me a few years ago. Last Sunday, I had a dream about the car (not unusual), and decided to see what he Firebird market was like and discovered it was for sale again and he never actually sold it before. I drove it home the following night!

What's funny about this car is that I sold it right when I started getting on detailing forums. That thing I did to it was hand polish it with Scratch-X, if I remember correctly. I bought a G100 that following summer and the rest is history. The interim owner was great about fixing mechanicals, but lousy at taking care of the paint. I caught him wiping off water spots with a dry, cheap terry cloth. Needless to say, the car was covered in scratches. He was also clumsy and left several scratches into the primer and dings all over the sides (there were precisely three when I sold it).

Process:
D300 with GG 5" (usually only one lap- paint thickness was around 95-110 microns, so I played it safe)
M205, rotary with Megs polishing pad
85rd (4500 or whatever it's called now), rotary with LC blue finessing pad
Fuzion

I'm still working on my photography skills, but I have a Canon S90 point and shoot that actually does pretty well when I get it dialed in. I still plan on getting some nice shade shots. I have some "befores", but not "afters" yet. I've stalled my life for long enough to get it buffed out and the tires dressed up!


Wedding picture (pardon the picture of a framed picture behind glass)




Dirty windows- decided to do a tape line. Clay, D300 by DA and hand, and Invisible Glass




The biggest transformation on the car




Various tape line and before/after shots










Loooooooots of rock chips. The wheels stick out way past the lower panels.

Before:




After:




And now for the before and after sun shots:











A few inside "afters":







And some outside sun "afters":

[KillaCam]

Wow! Those 50/50 shots look amazing. Looks like a completely different color. What'd you use on the rock chips?

[dnoraker]

Wow! Those 50/50 shots look amazing. Looks like a completely different color. What'd you use on the rock chips?

The shots where there was a tape line are the most telling of the swirl removal, causing the darkening effect. Some of the shots where it was two separate pictures was just my incompetence with my camera. I was just trying to dial in the brightness for each shot and ended up making it look like different colors.

I didn't actually touch up the rock chips. I just buffed the area, which removed the lightest ones, softened the medium ones, and left the deepest ones. I will go back when I have time and touch them up, but that's a big project that I might save for the Spring.

[dnoraker]

I forgot to mention mechanical mods I hope to do. I have already put in an SLP flow booster (like 8 years ago). I put in Pioneer speakers and the interim owner put in an Alpine head unit. I want to get a sub/amp setup to fill in the bass, but not rattle any windows or anything. It just sounds too lean right now.

The next thing I hope to do is replace the exhaust and add headers. I'm thinking Magnaflow exhaust, as I like the tone a little better than the Flowmasters and I want something that doesn't have an annoying drone at freeway speed. The Borla seems appealing with its adjustability, but it's a lot more expensive.

I'm considering some chrome Torque Thrusts or something of the sort, but I want to make it go faster first.

[timaishu]

Is this gonna be your daily driver?

It looks really hot! Going by looks alone, I would take that over 95% of everything out there. These older cars are really starting to look more appealing now that new cars are getting bloated, heavy, and ugly.

EDIT: How funny! I loaded up autotrader, clicked pontiac, and whatayaknow! A cherry red 1991 Firebird is first on the list! Not a formula though. What are the chances ya know.

[HotRodJoe]

Wow, man! Great work and how rewarding that must be to get it back to how you remember it!

[Mike Phillips]

Awesome thread!


It's really cool watching your transform and restore your car back to show car status. Love the wedding picture, that's too cool.


You should send the link to this thread to the last owner, show them what they had...

[dnoraker]

Is this gonna be your daily driver?

It looks really hot! Going by looks alone, I would take that over 95% of everything out there. These older cars are really starting to look more appealing now that new cars are getting bloated, heavy, and ugly.

EDIT: How funny! I loaded up autotrader, clicked pontiac, and whatayaknow! A cherry red 1991 Firebird is first on the list! Not a formula though. What are the chances ya know.

Thanks! This will be a toy car. I plan on keeping it under 2000-3000 miles a year. It was always a money pit when I had it, and the interim owner spend several thousand on repairs (clutch, differential, A/C, a few other small parts)

Wow, man! Great work and how rewarding that must be to get it back to how you remember it!

Better than I remember it, actually. I didn't own any buffers back then. Even my wife noticed it had way more gloss and depth of color after I was done. The only things that are worse are the owner had some body work done after a coworker ran into it and it was a cut rate collision shop, so it has a lot of dust nibs in it and they didn't put the firebird logo back on the right side pillar. And, the drivers seat needs new foam as the owner was a much heavier guy.

Awesome thread!


It's really cool watching your transform and restore your car back to show car status. Love the wedding picture, that's too cool.


You should send the link to this thread to the last owner, show them what they had...

thanks! Means a lot.

Actually, I'm working on the previous owner's other 91 Formula that his wife drives, plus his black 09 Cadillac DTS (part of why he sold my Firebird). He dropped the price down to $4500 for me, then I negotiated $800 in detailing work. His cars will get a 2-step exterior job. He will also need an education on caring for the paint! Yikes!

[dnoraker]

My wife and I figure we can do a re-enactment photo shoot with the car for our 10-year anniversary, which is next June. But instead of the wedding party around the car, our three kids will be around or maybe in it (they will be 6, 3, and 1.5 at that point). My wife could probably still fit in her dress, and I own a tux.

[dnoraker]

Awesome thread!


It's really cool watching your transform and restore your car back to show car status. Love the wedding picture, that's too cool.


You should send the link to this thread to the last owner, show them what they had...

I actually just sent an email to the who I think is the guy that sold the car to the FIRST owner. He's at a different dealership, as the one that the Firebird was sold from is gone. Waiting o a response. From the looks of his picture, he would have been like 25 when he sold it, so maybe he'll remember.