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1998 Firebird Production Numbers

The complete history of teh PuRpL3
(Click on a picture to see a larger version)

In the early part of 2003, I decided that it was time to correct the big mistake I made in selling my Trans Am.. I'd been missing it ever since I sold it in March of 2001. It was time to puchase another LS1 powered Firebird. I decided to go with a Formula this time, due to it's lighter weight and sleeker looks.. and since I intended to use it for bracket racing, I preferred it to be a hard top car with a cloth interior and an automatic tranmission.

After looking through local ads, and a few online sites I had a few cars I was looking at.. and by chance I stumbled across a very odd find... this purple Formula..... hard top.. cloth interior.. automatic. Exactly what I was looking for, and I'd always wanted to own a rarer F-body... this color being up there on my list.... I dropped the owner an email, and asked.... and shortly after flew down to Texas for a site get together.. and to check out this unusual beast.

This 1998 Pontiac Firebird Formula was built Sept 2, 1997 at the Ste. Therese assembly plant in Quebec. It was optioned with a 305 horsepower 5.7 liter LS1 V8, 4-speed automatic, 2.73 gears.. and painted Bright Purple Metallic (88U). Only 26 LS1 Formulas were ever painted this color. I bought it with the Suncoast Raptor hood, and a Dynomax mullfer already installed on it, which were installed by the second owner. I am it's third owner.

6/7/03 photos
(taken the day I bought the car)


I remember pulling into the driveway and seeing it for the first time... and noticing just how much pictures didn't do the color justice. I really don't know why this color never sold... my guess is just because people didn't see it. It's a very stunning shade of purple, and it changes in the light from a very deep, rich tone to the loudest, brightest purple you've ever seen.

The car had about 76,000 miles on it, and seemed to be fairly straight, but had some body damage to the nose. It had apparent been run into a pole, and sustained damage to the front fascia, and bumper support. The paint was in fair condition, but it did have it's share of scratches and chips. It was going to take a new nose, and a complete paint job to bring the car back to showroom condition.


Summer 2004 photos


I decided that I liked the car, and left a deposit... and a few weeks later it was in a rail car headed towards Seattle and it's new stomping grounds. The first year I had it, I didn't do much for mods, I mainly focus on getting back into bracket racing. About two months into the season, I killed the carrier in the differential, so it was time to upgrade it to 3.42 gears, which netted me a best E/T of 13.33 @ 105.8 mph. I didn't do much more to the car other than race it throughout the 2004 season.

By the time spring of 2005 started approaching I decided that it was time to get rid of the body damage to the car, and start working towards making it more of a show piece... but still something that could do duty at the track. So it was time to put it into the body shop and get the paint refreshed on it... and do some modifications to give it the looks to match that beatiful color.


Body work, 3/11/05


In mid March, I sent the car to Metro Auto Rebuild in Seattle, and had them start the process of bring the car back to more showable condition. Once we got the nose off the car, it was a relief to see that the damage was limited to just the fascia, impact absorber, and bumper support, so the body work wouldn't be very expensive... what would eat up the cost was the paint job, since it was going to be done nose to tail.

One thing we discovered once the car was disassembled was that it had been wrecked before, as shown by some sloppy paint work that would have to be corrected. We could see that the car had been painted without the body side moldings removed... and since I planned to remove them we would have to make sure the paint on the doors was smooth.


Prep for painting, 3/28/05


Once the body work was complete, it was time to start prepping the car for painting. They decided to go the extra mile on the hood and stripped it down to the bare fiberglas, and smoothed it out so the paint would look glassy and ripple free. It was also time to start roughing up the existing paint so that the new coat would stick well.

I was really looking forward to seeing the car all fixed up.. I'd never even seen a good picture of what it would look like with a straight body and clean paint. It was nice to see them going the extra mile to make the paint job look nice.

Painting, 3/31/05


It was early April before I got my first glimpse at what the improved version of the car would look like. The color looked absolutely brilliant, and at first I didn't believe it was the same color.. until they showed me how well it matched the other portions of the car that didn't get painted. It was a spot-on match.. What made it look more vibrant was that it had less orange peel than it originally did from the factory... so the color came out more vividly.

The hood looked smooth as glass, and the color was deep and very shiny.. I couldn't wait to get some polish on the car and bring out the glitter.


Final finishing, 4/6/05

A week later everything was starting to come together.. the nose was painted and shortly after put on the car. It wouldn't be long. I wasn't looking forward to the massive detailing job I had ahead of me, and the years of filth that would need to be removed from the car. But it was clear that it would be really sharp once everything came to fruition.

They still had protectors on the nose of the car, so I couldn't really get the full impression of what the completed job would look like.. but I knew that I really liked seeing that big mark on the nose gone. It would only be a few more days before the car was complete and ready for mods and detailing


Coming home, 4/8/05


It was a Friday afternoon, after work, when I went to pick up the finished car.. I was really impressed at how much better it looked. It wasn't hard to picture what it would look like after some detailing and TLC.. and I already had wheels and tires that were ready to go on it. But first I needed to clean it up so that I would feel more comfortable showing it off.

The engine compartment was filthy and it was in need of some serious attention.. so I decided to attack that area first. A good dowsing of CD2 Engine Detailer managed to take off most of the nastiness, but I would still need to clean in all of the little hidden areas before I was able to show the car.


F-body get together, 4/9/2005


The next morning, I brought the car out to the Saturday F-body get together to show it off for the first time. It was kind of a slow day, not many people showed up, but my friend Rick showed up with his black Formula, and took some pictures of our cars together. His car had WS6 wheels on it, so it gave me a good indication of what it would look like once I got my wheels on.

It also made a nice picture to demontrate the difference between the stock Formula hood, and the Suncoast Raptor hood that was on my car. I found myself wishing that I could put some Zaino on the car, because I knew that it would just make the color look all that much better.. but I had to allow time for the paint to cure before I could do any major detailing.

Now that I had a good foundation to start with, it was time to start into modifying the car into the beast that it was born to be. Check out the modifications page for a complete pictoral history of everything that's been done to the car since I bought it.