I’m certain that you can recall at least one Pontiac that left an impression upon you during your formative years. I vividly remember the Chesterfield Brown 1978 Trans Am 400 4-speed that my dad bought new and the 455-powered 1973 Grand Prix SJ that my mom drove daily, which I shared past memories of in past blog posts.
Another Pontiac that left a huge impression upon my young psyche was my dad’s 1974 Formula 350. A used car when he bought in the early-80s, I wasn’t immediately in love with it. He assured me that my opinion would change—and was he ever correct! I commuted to school with him every day and quickly racked up more miles in its passenger seat than any other Pontiac I rode in up to that point. And because of that car I hold a very special place in my heart for 1974 Formulas.
My dad purchased this 1974 Formula 350 in 1981 as his daily driver. I spent many mornings and evenings riding with him to and from school. It’s one car I often thought about over the years.
“Prior to buying the 1974 Formula, we lived close enough to work that I walked each morning, so my Trans Am saw little use and we took the Grand Prix whenever we went anywhere as a family,” my dad, Jim Rotella said. In 1980 we moved to a larger house and it was several miles from our old neighborhood, but work, school, and family remained there.
Facing a much longer commute, my dad recalled, “I didn’t want to drive the ‘78 Trans Am. It only had a few thousand miles on it and it never saw rain or snow. I started looking for a daily driver and checked the newspaper each week. I was looking for a Formula or Trans Am, but I really wanted a Formula. They were easier to find than Trans Ams, and they were more affordable, too.” The first car that caught my dad’s eye was a 1974 Trans Am 455 in Des Moines, Iowa. “I called the seller and told him we were on the way to look at it. By the time we arrived a couple of hours later, he’d already sold it,” he added.
My dad saw this ad in the February 8, 1981 printing of the Omaha World Herald and immediately called about it.
The Sunday Edition of the Omaha World Herald arrived on February 8, 1981 and in it was an ad for a 1974 Formula 350 at a small used car dealer in Omaha. “I never forgot the Florentine Red ‘73 Formula 400 I bought nearly new,” he said. “The scoops were a big selling point for me—I loved them. I immediately called and the dealer said it was dark blue with black interior and that it was clean inside and out. It was parked inside his showroom, so I made arrangements to look at it.”
I accompanied my dad on the visit. I remember that the show room was little more than an old repair garage and the Formula was parked in a stall nose in. “The first features that immediately drew me in were the Admiralty Blue paint, the small rear window, Rally II wheels with white lettered tires, chrome exhaust extensions, and the rear spoiler with the blue Firebird decal,” my dad said. “When I saw those two scoops on the hood, I knew I had to have it.”
Google Maps street view reveals the exact location of what was once Gates Auto Sales at 834 Park Avenue in Omaha. It was just inside that garage door and to the right that the 1974 Formula sat nose-in when my dad took me with him to look at it.
The Formula was equipped with 15 x 7-inch Rally II wheels, which included Trans Am suspension, a Formula Steering Wheel, full instrumentation with tachometer, AM/FM radio with 8-track tape player, and a limited slip differential. “It was basically a 350-powered Trans Am minus the front spoiler and wheel flares,” he said. “I’d have preferred a larger engine, but I had the ’78 Trans Am and 455-powered Grand Prix for going fast, and having went through two fuel crises, the 350 2-barrel was fine for a daily driving.”
My dad and I took the Formula for a test drive. “It rode, handled, and drove well,” he said. “It had about 60,000 miles on it and had obviously been well cared for. The warranty papers in the glove box showed it was sold new in Fremont, Nebraska and the owner had traded it for a new car. It was then wholesaled to this dealer, who was asking $1900. I really liked the color, the small rear window, and the fact that it wasn’t equipped with a catalytic converter, which meant I could run leaded gasoline (cheaper) and it had real dual exhaust. After some negotiating, I paid somewhere around $1,750 for it.”
Me, at about age 5 with my Big Wheel, the 1974 Formula 350, and the 1973 Grand Prix SJ. Is it any wonder that I still love Pontiacs today?!
When we got the Formula home, I remember not being as enamored with it as my dad was. The original Admiralty Blue paint was faded, it had an exhaust leak, and it didn’t seem to catch my eye as much as his ’78 Trans Am. Of that my dad recalled, “You really didn’t like it at first, but I told you, ‘You will!’”
The muffler had a hole in it and the original chromed exhaust extensions were rusty, so my dad order new extensions from General Pontiac in Council Bluffs, Iowa and took it House of Muffler on 24th and Harney, where they replaced the muffler and tailpipes. “I had them leave the chromed extensions off so I could install them in the correct position at home,” he said. “The car needed tires and Ross Lorello had told me that his wife’s new 1981 Z28 came with 225/70R15 Uniroyal steel belted radial tires and he wanted Firestones. He was looking to sell the Uniroyals, which were brand new, so I bought them and had them mounted on Formula’s Rally IIs.”
Always a fan of real Ram Air and the Formula’s unique dual-scooped hood, my dad intended to make his Formula’s scoops functional. “I cut the scoop openings with a hacksaw and inserted some homemade screens,” he explained. “I went to General Pontiac and ordered the ‘Ram Air’ decals and priced out the Ram Air components and found that the cost was outrageous. Plus, I’d have to find a matching 4-barrel intake manifold and carburetor. I decided it was too much of a hassle, so I left the 2-barrel in place.”
The Formula’s beautifully-sculpted dual scooped hood ties is unique to that model and was used from 1970 to 1975. I can’t recall of any other production vehicle that’s had anything quite so elaborate before or since. The scoops certainly tie in well with the Firebird’s newly revised front end for 1974.
Within the first couple of weeks my dad took the Formula to Ray Rossi at Rossi Motor Truck Service in Omaha to have it repainted. “The car still had most of its original lacquer paint,” said my dad. “The hood and fenders had checked badly and someone filled some small rust holes in the quarter panels with body filler. Ray stripped it down and hand-created patch panels for the quarters. During the repair, he found newspapers were used to fill the holes and print dates showed they were only a few weeks old!”
Ray painted the Formula’s body in Admiralty Blue lacquer. “He had it for two or three weeks and for less than $1,000, I had a car that looked like brand new. He buffed the finish before he gave the car back to me and it looked really nice. I asked him for the rubbing compound he used, and I hand rubbed it at home. The paint looked show quality when I was finished with it,” he said. With the body finished, my dad added body side moldings to prevent door dings since it was his daily driver, and Seat Cover Center of Omaha performed some patchwork on black standard front bucket seats.
This silhouette captivated my young mind and its one that I still love to this day. Notice that the rear springs were sagging, which indicates that this photo was likely taken not long before my dad sold it.
My dad then drove the Formula daily for the next three years. “It was very reliable and beyond normal maintenance, the only real repair was replacing the fuel pump,” he said. “Once it started pushing 100,000 miles, it began needing other attention. The body started rusting and the rear leaf springs were sagging. In May 1984, I found a Nocturne Blue ’79 Trans Am with the 403 Olds. The car was like new and the WS6 suspension rode and handled better the Formula. I purchased it for my daily driver and sold the Formula to (nephew) Steve Weak,”
“I had the ’74 Formula for about four years,” Steve Weak recalled. “I always liked the car when your dad had it and bought it from him and planned to restore it. I replaced the rear springs right away and bought new quarter panels from GM, but it so badly needed wheel houses and they weren’t available any longer, so the project stalled. When I got married in 1988 and my priorities changed, I sold it to a friend of mine that lived in Woodbine, Iowa. Unfortunately, he flipped it within a month, which kind of bothered me. I’m not sure what became of it after that.”
Pontiac’s second-generation Firebird styling is timeless and immediately recognizable. Nothing else on the road then (or today) could ever be confused with GM’s 1970-1981 F-body.
Looking back today, my dad fondly says, “That ’74 Formula was a really nice car. With the new transverse-mounted muffler installed, it sounded great. It wasn’t as deep as my ’73 Formula 400, but still had the same tone unique to second-gen Firebirds. And it ran pretty well for a 350 2-barrel. It wasn’t as fast the ’73 Formula 400, and nothing like the ‘78 Trans Am’s T/A 6.6, but it was peppy. It would chirp second-gear every time! And people would complement its appearance all the time.”
While I’ve contemplated purchasing many Pontiacs over the years and aspire to own dozens of the Division’s most coveted examples, like you, asking price and/or garage space seemingly brings me back to reality. My lust for a ’74 Formula hasn’t waned since those days of the early 1980s though. Over the years I have looked at several examples that weren’t original and/or realistically priced, but I proceed undeterred, hoping someday that I discover a ’74 Formula that’s perfect (for me)!
Was there a Pontiac that hooked you too?