My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Tell everyone about the progress of your project! Please respect people's threads.

Moderator: Moderators

My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cammerjeff » Tue Nov 30, 2010 12:46 pm

Well this is the long story of how I got involved with H-bodies, I was always a Pontiac GTO and Firebird guy, my only experiance with H-bodies were my Older Sisters 71 Vega, that wan well enough, but rusted out within its 12 month warranty and had the front fenders replaced and a repaint at the dealer. And a friend in high school that delivered papers and found that a $50.00 Vega wagon was the perfect car for his rought (after it had his modified 225 Jeep odd fire V-6 in it of course.) I helped him swap that engine into at least 3 Vega Wagons.
I had never given Astre's much thought, and in 1999 I started looking for a 1979 Yellow Firebird Formula to replace my HS/Collage car I remembered fondly. I looked for a couple of years letting all the car guys I knew to be on the look out for one, when in 2002 a Pilot I knew (I worked for Northworst Airlines as a Jetmech at the time) said he had recently seen one in a towing yard near DFW Airport. He gave me an aprox. location, but I had to track down someone willing to look for it for me, Well a friend of a friend of a friend agreed to look for it in his spare time, and found it in an impound yard near the airport, and sent pic's of it to me from about 50' away, you could clearly see the blacked out tail light panel , spoiler, yellow color, but from the tail lights I could tell it was not a F-body but a Yellow Astre Formula!!! Well Alittle disappointed at 1st, I thought that at least it would make a good 1/4 mile car being 500-800lbs lighter than a Firebird to start out, so I had the guy from Dallas try to see if the car was for sale, and its condition.
Well it took him over a year to find someone actually at the yard it was at, the gate was always locked, and there was no phone number posted anywere, when he did finally find the yards owner, he was allowed inspect the car, was told that it had been there for at least 5 years, that it had been stolen and recovered without its engine/trans, the insurance totaled it, and he was supposed to crush it but had never gotten around to it, as he liked the car. He did not have a title for the car, but he said he would get a salvage title for it. Well after seeing the pic's I was definatly interested now as it was a solid car, and I found out from the then head of Pontiac Motor Sports Fred Simmonds (he is the man that actually saved all the billing documents that the owner of Pontiac Historical serviced now owns, he used to look up the records of you car for you if you asked nice enough, and I could pic up copies of the records at his home. Great Guy!!!!) That they made less than 350 77 Astre Formula's and that it would be a very rare car, as the only color combo's they even had pic's of were White or Silver cars. So I now had the paper work on this car, but still no asking price. It took the owner of the yard well over a year to actually get a title for it, but getting ahold of him was nearly impossible, he would never return calls, and never seemed to be in his office.
Well it is now Aug of 2005 I was on Strike never to return to NWA (thank God for that!!!!! I should have bailed on that company as soon as they bought Republic Airlines were I then Worked!!!!) I got a call from the guy in Dallas that he now owned the car and I could come and get it for $1800.00. While I though that was reasonable for all the leg work he had done, I could not justify buying it when I did not know were the next mortgage payment was coming from, so I had to pass. A few months later I saw the car sell on E-bay for around $2200-2400 and never though I would see the car again. Then in 2008 I got a call from a guy looking for 77 Astre parts, I sold him a few parts over the course of a year or so before I finally asked him to e-mail me a pic of his car, he did and it was a Yellow Astre Formula, and when I saw the VIN I realised it was the car from Dallas, and it was now 65 miles from my house, go figure. Then this spring the owner offered the car and all the parts he had gathered for $2400.00 I could not pass it up, but didn't have the $$$ and he agreed to hold the car until the end of Aug 2010 for me. I picked up the car in Mid Aug thinking we were destined to be together. Here are some pic's I took of the car in Flint Michigan in as bought Condition.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Last edited by cammerjeff on Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jeff R

1971 Catalina Freeway Enforcer
77 Astre Formula, some day soon powered by a 215 Buick V-8
1973 4-speed Lemans Safari STOCK!!!!! 1978 Catalina Safari
2006 Mallet Solstice, 6.0 LS2, 6-speed manual
2009 Solstice Coupe, 2.4, 5-speed Manual
User avatar
cammerjeff
 
Posts: 2264
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:59 am
Location: Belleville Mi

1978 Pontiac Sunbird Safari Wagon


Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cammerjeff » Tue Nov 30, 2010 1:06 pm

Well After Getting the car home, and doing some more research I found out this car was odd, it was built on the 1st day of Astre Formula Production Dec. 17th 1976, the Formula package is supossed to include the following Items,
1 - Formula Apearence package - the car has this (without the optional hood decal that was a $46.00 option) that consists of Blacked out Grills and Head light buckets, lower body and Tail light panel painted Charcoal, pin stripes and formula Decals on the doors, header panel and rear spoiler, Fiberglass 3-piece rear spoiler, Formula Steering Wheel (that the original owner paid $18.00 not to get and substitute a Delux wheel in its place, go figure that one!!!!) The formula wheel required both Tilt Column, and power steering both at extra cost. And Charcoal painted Mirrors and no bright trim on the side glass, my car differs here as the mirrors are body colored, and the doors and fixed side glass both have the stainless trim. Could this have been a 1st day production mistake? Who knows, but both seem to be original to this car.

2- RTS Suspension

3- Rally or Snowflake wheels

4 - GT instrument Cluster

My car has the required documentation to prove it is a Formula, but at least the interior had been patched together it should have the Delux door panels, not the base model ones it has, it does have Delux seats in very bad condition, and it should have a Delux dash pad with the grab handle. Other than that it looks to be original. Here are some pic;s of it on my trailer the day I brought it home.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Jeff R

1971 Catalina Freeway Enforcer
77 Astre Formula, some day soon powered by a 215 Buick V-8
1973 4-speed Lemans Safari STOCK!!!!! 1978 Catalina Safari
2006 Mallet Solstice, 6.0 LS2, 6-speed manual
2009 Solstice Coupe, 2.4, 5-speed Manual
User avatar
cammerjeff
 
Posts: 2264
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:59 am
Location: Belleville Mi

1978 Pontiac Sunbird Safari Wagon

Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cammerjeff » Tue Nov 30, 2010 1:15 pm

And A few shot of the car before and after going to the paint stripper. The only rust issues I knew about were the drivers side floor board, battery tray, and suspected around the fixed side glass.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Jeff R

1971 Catalina Freeway Enforcer
77 Astre Formula, some day soon powered by a 215 Buick V-8
1973 4-speed Lemans Safari STOCK!!!!! 1978 Catalina Safari
2006 Mallet Solstice, 6.0 LS2, 6-speed manual
2009 Solstice Coupe, 2.4, 5-speed Manual
User avatar
cammerjeff
 
Posts: 2264
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:59 am
Location: Belleville Mi

1978 Pontiac Sunbird Safari Wagon

Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cammerjeff » Tue Nov 30, 2010 1:20 pm

And after the strip shop was done with it, It went off to the paint shop after Gordon Stripe came out to do traces of all the Formula Decals, and color match the stripes as best as they could.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Jeff R

1971 Catalina Freeway Enforcer
77 Astre Formula, some day soon powered by a 215 Buick V-8
1973 4-speed Lemans Safari STOCK!!!!! 1978 Catalina Safari
2006 Mallet Solstice, 6.0 LS2, 6-speed manual
2009 Solstice Coupe, 2.4, 5-speed Manual
User avatar
cammerjeff
 
Posts: 2264
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:59 am
Location: Belleville Mi

1978 Pontiac Sunbird Safari Wagon

Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cammerjeff » Tue Nov 30, 2010 1:29 pm

The previous post was the good news, we did find that the rust was slightly worse around the fixed side glass frames, and found that the spare tire well had some pin holes as well, but the windshield frame is almost perfect, that is good news.

Well that is the progress to date as of 11-30-2010, I plan on installing a Buick 215 V-8, BW T-5 trans, and doing a 5 lug conversion and adding the set of 15 X 7 snowflake wheels I have to the car. I have yet to make my mind up if the wheels will be the Yellow body color, or Charcoal to match the lower body panels, Any sugestions?
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Jeff R

1971 Catalina Freeway Enforcer
77 Astre Formula, some day soon powered by a 215 Buick V-8
1973 4-speed Lemans Safari STOCK!!!!! 1978 Catalina Safari
2006 Mallet Solstice, 6.0 LS2, 6-speed manual
2009 Solstice Coupe, 2.4, 5-speed Manual
User avatar
cammerjeff
 
Posts: 2264
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:59 am
Location: Belleville Mi

1978 Pontiac Sunbird Safari Wagon

Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby speedphreake » Tue Nov 30, 2010 3:07 pm

Funny, my Vega came from the Dallas area too.
71 Vega hb
11 2500HD duramax
User avatar
speedphreake
 
Posts: 634
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2006 11:12 pm
Location: Cape Cod, MA

1971 Chevrolet Vega

Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby chevy art » Tue Nov 30, 2010 8:51 pm

all my ex s live in texas art
chevy art
 
Posts: 1124
Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2010 11:33 pm

Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby RONS PROVEGA » Tue Nov 30, 2010 9:01 pm

Um, I like Texas Garlic Toast with Cheese! :th:
Ron

'72 Vega GT, 388 chevy stroker (500 HP), TH350 (3800 stall), Ford 9" (4.11 & spools)
User avatar
RONS PROVEGA
 
Posts: 591
Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2010 8:10 pm
Location: Dearborn Heights, Michigan

1972 Chevrolet Vega GT

Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby res0o7eb » Thu Dec 02, 2010 2:57 am

Nice progress Jeff. Should be an awesome Astre when you get it done.
cammerjeff wrote:I have yet to make my mind up if the wheels will be the Yellow body color, or Charcoal to match the lower body panels, Any sugestions?
Charcoal. Definitely.
User avatar
res0o7eb
 
Posts: 3783
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:53 pm
Location: Near Seattle, WA

1977 Pontiac Sunbird Hatchback

Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby vegon71 » Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:48 am

What a neat story,,, the car looks solid, you got a good one :th:
User avatar
vegon71
 
Posts: 438
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:33 pm
Location: Southern, Indiana

1974 Chevrolet Vega Kammback

Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby stage169 » Thu Dec 02, 2010 1:07 pm

That is a great story do you still have the Pontiac documentation? That would help with numbers for the Safari Formula.

Brian
User avatar
stage169
 
Posts: 1751
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:43 pm

Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby NixVegaGT » Mon Dec 06, 2010 11:32 am

Got any pix of the motor yet? I know they used the "Buick" version in the Pontiac Tempest. I wonder what the badging of the engine looked like? maybe it was no different. Might be cool to emulate it though.
- Nic '73 Vega GT "DogBoxx" Batwing LS1
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2357894
User avatar
NixVegaGT
 
Posts: 2196
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 2:24 am
Location: Minnesota

1973 Chevrolet Vega GT

Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cammerjeff » Wed Dec 08, 2010 12:18 pm

Well here is what I have of the motor, the heads and Edlebrock intake are out getting ported and gasket matched, but I have e few shots of it when still complete, with the Rover shorty headers I plan on using, I think I will have to modify the drivers side header to clear the steering column. But the passenger side should clear the A/C box. Also some pic's of the PONTIACIZED Rover valve covers going on the little 215. Just some pic's to show the difference just a valve cover swap can make. The 75 Vega parts car actually has late Buick 350 Valve covers, and they make the engine look much more modern, but I really like the Aluminum rover covers!!! All the extra $$$ is going into Body and paint at the moment, so work on the engine has slowed down.

As for using a 61-62 Tempest 215, they were actually the Olds Version of the engine, and the valve cover angle on the Olds engine is flatter, and I just think the Buick version lends itself to look more like a Pontiac engine with the valve cover swap.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Jeff R

1971 Catalina Freeway Enforcer
77 Astre Formula, some day soon powered by a 215 Buick V-8
1973 4-speed Lemans Safari STOCK!!!!! 1978 Catalina Safari
2006 Mallet Solstice, 6.0 LS2, 6-speed manual
2009 Solstice Coupe, 2.4, 5-speed Manual
User avatar
cammerjeff
 
Posts: 2264
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:59 am
Location: Belleville Mi

1978 Pontiac Sunbird Safari Wagon

Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby NixVegaGT » Fri Dec 10, 2010 10:42 am

That's right. I think I remember us talking about these covers before. That valve cover flange being more level with the ground turned out to be a bit of a challenge with my '64 300 heads. I installed roller rockers and .544 lift and they were hitting the valve covers. After I made adaptor plates I had to index them even farther outward to avoid the rockers. LOL. On the Olds vs. Buick I guess I've heard it both ways now. LOL!

All that said I'm with you on the Buick heads looking more PMD. I'll be staying current with you project. Thanks for the post.
- Nic '73 Vega GT "DogBoxx" Batwing LS1
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2357894
User avatar
NixVegaGT
 
Posts: 2196
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 2:24 am
Location: Minnesota

1973 Chevrolet Vega GT

Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cammerjeff » Tue Jan 04, 2011 1:59 pm

Not much more to report, I went to visit the car today, and they had done most of the metal patching, and had removed the doors and were working on them. I have only been working on the Formula steering wheel I traded for back in December, I traded some Late 70's Pontiac V-8 engine mount brackets for an F-body for a decent used Formula Wheel with Hub and Horn Button. It had been dyed Red and after stripping it I found that it was actually a tan wheel that had been sprayed tan, and them sprayed red. Here are some begining shots.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Jeff R

1971 Catalina Freeway Enforcer
77 Astre Formula, some day soon powered by a 215 Buick V-8
1973 4-speed Lemans Safari STOCK!!!!! 1978 Catalina Safari
2006 Mallet Solstice, 6.0 LS2, 6-speed manual
2009 Solstice Coupe, 2.4, 5-speed Manual
User avatar
cammerjeff
 
Posts: 2264
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:59 am
Location: Belleville Mi

1978 Pontiac Sunbird Safari Wagon

Next

Return to Project Journals

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests