![]() ![]() For four years, the owner enjoyed the rare Formula, between residences in Minnesota and sunny Arizona. Mattison states this was probably a dealer sale with a manufacturer’s certificate of origin. Mattison’s theory seems spot-on, since the CARFAX shows one owner from Minnesota purchasing the car with 12,899 miles on it at a Midwest Region Auto Auction in late January 1999. Mattison suggests that this Formula’s clandestine existence and lack of eyes on it, when its paperwork went across someone at GM’s desk, is how it slipped through the corporate cracks and was sent to auction and sold as a topless Trans Am. He adds that this car should never have ended up in public hands for the above-mentioned reasons, and no window sticker will exist either. With invaluable input from the founder and head of Pontiac Historic Services (PHS) and Poncho guru, Jim Mattison proposes that with the very low VIN number, and since no convertible Formula WS6 cars were supposed to exist, the car was assumed to be a Trans Am. This is also the case on the previous owners’ buyer’s guide/warranty paperwork, but more on that later. According to this detailed history, our convertible Formula WS6 is not even identified as such but is recorded as a ‘98 Firebird Trans Am convertible. With that, we’ll take it from the top and our first piece of evidence: the vehicle CARFAX. As for the six-speed, white-topped example with no real evidence of its present-day whereabouts, except for some unconfirmed internet rumor, it most likely met with the crusher or was dismantled for parts or SEMA modification, as is common practice for vehicles of this type.įor both the present owner and us, no stone was left unturned in telling this story with the utmost accuracy. ![]() The invoice also shows North American Operations (NAO), Company Vehicle Fleet Ypsilanti, Michigan, as a possible delivery destination.įrom there, one doesn’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to apply deductive reasoning as to the early life of our subject car - only what happened after. According to extensive research and the paperwork provided by our owner, his car was invoiced by the Pontiac division and produced in May of 1997 and then shipped to GMs Fleet Operations in Milford, Michigan. Both were pre-production proposal ASC WS6 cars in red (81U) pewter cloth(14B) interior, with our owner’s car having an automatic, black top, and the other, fitted with a six-speed and white top. With all this transference going on and seemingly before the final decision was made to ax the ragtop Formula option, two topless Formulas were built as test and tune vehicles. ASC was also responsible for fourth-gen convertible conversions an honored task bestowed upon them since the third-gen cars. ASC now conceived a new WS6 package, with a revised hood and Ram-Air intake integrated with the Firebirds fresh fascia. SLPs Tier-1 relationship with GM/Pontiac had developed/manufactured the Ram Air revival for the ‘96-’97 LT1 V8 Firebirds. Most integral was American Sunroof Company (ASC), taking over the WS6 Ram Air program from Street Legal Performance (SLP). The one negative, based on very low 1994-’97 orders:there would be no convertible Formulas offered from 1998-‘02, with open-air cruising relegated to the base ‘bird and Trans Am only.Įarly Birds And Acronyms: ASC, SLP, And WS6īy mid-1997, the Firebird line was in flux with the aforementioned changes being readied for the 1998 model-year production. It was all good for Pontiac’s other V8, bird-sharing drivetrain with standard and optional features with its Trans Am sibling, while retaining the silky-smooth sleeper shape of the base Firebird. The Formula (W66) was fitted with the Gen III 5.7L LS1 and, like all birds, wore a new front fascia, fenders, hood, headlights, and taillights. Not to be redundant, but this story demands reiteration of some key details about Firebird Formula production for the ’98 model-year. Shoulda’, Coulda’, Woulda’: The 1998 Formula So now in an exclusive feature, LSX Magazine uncloaks this piece of late-model Poncho history, sharing all we know about this rarest of the last of the breed birds…and of course, we’ll show her to you, as well. In fact, a Pontiac that, by all accounts, shouldn’t even exist, but it does. Well, with that said and as a follow-up to “Formula-Driven” The Final Firebird Formula ’98-’02, have we got a rare Pontiac for you. It seems more often than not that when we write about a Pontiac, the word ‘rare’ becomes part of the story.
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