1975 Pontiac Firebird Formula

It's a second-generation Pontiac Firebird! While the snout on the '74-'76 Firebirds was generally the same, they can be distinguished by the placement of their turn signals. A 1974 has them below the bumper, outboard, directly beneath the headlights. A 1976 has them in the intake grilles under the bumper. A '75, like this one, has them in the grille openings above the bumper.

Also, starting with the 1975 model year the rear window was enlarged, wrapping around further, clear to the top of the fenders. Front discs were now standard on all Firebird models for '75, but so were catalytic converters.

This Alpine Green example is a '75 Firebird Formula 400, at least according to the badge. By the mid-Seventies, the L78 400cid 4-barrel had a compression ratio something like 7.6:1 or so and was putting out only 185 SAE net horsepower, even in the Formula's performance-oriented installation. At some 3800ish pounds, it took everything they had to crack the 10-second 0-to-60 barrier and lay down quarters in the high seventeens. This thing would be hard pressed keeping up with an airport rental Kia these days and struggled to top 100mph...

But it sure is a good-looking car, and it didn't take much work to uncork a lot more power out of that big motor.

These photos were taken with a Nikon 1 J4 and the 1 Nikkor 30-110mm f/3.5-5.6 VR zoom lens in November of 2020.