89 formula bird to buy or not to buy
 

A guy at work is selling an 89 forumla bird with a 350, new white with pearl blue paint, new tires and the ws6 package. Im almost hell bent on getting this car but i dont wanna pay too much. it blue books for 2750, but i know he will want more and ill pay more, but how high do you think i should go? it has 75000 original miles on it

Wow, if its in that good shape, I would pay 3000 easily.

He says its in perfect shape, ill probly go drive it sunday.

Cool. Why is the blue book so low though? I thought it would of been higher for a car like that.

THink about how many firebirds are out there. even though it has the 350, it still isnt worth much, just fun to have

Good point. But I was un aware that there were a lot of firebirds out there.

Make sure you try to drive a couple of examples of a Formula 350. Third Gen F-bodies are known for rattles & creaks.

From what he said the body is still tight, but im gunna check the doors and stuff like that to see

where is the car located? if it's in the rust belt area look real close to the unibody subframe at the drivers and passengers feet as with hard driving i have seen more than a couple with cracks in the unibody also check for rust in the trunk/hatch floor area, and in front of the rear wheels where most of the body cladding holds shit next to the sheetmetal and will eat right through the rocker panels on the underside. and also look real close for a "bubble" on top (eng compartment) or under (above the tire/strut) the front wheel wells as the factory did a horible job spraying the sealer to prevent the spot welded panels from rusting fron the inside out.
just a few pointers fer ya! bring a flashlight/jack/cardboard and take a good look!
the TPI 350's are great engines and i have only seen pattern failures of the EGR (vacum leak will run sjitty at idle) and the fuel pressure regulator, and the cooling fan switch in the drivers/passengers cylinder head.
if it has the 4 spd 700R4 auto your lucky, the 89 and later were much improved over the 87-88 ones, if it's the 5 spd manual see how it shifts into second gear under WOT-if it's difficult you will need the 2nd gear synchro's replaced (this depends whether it was driven enthusiaticly for most of it's 75K miles or not)
otherwise they are great cars-easy to go fast (thats what matters right lol)
good hunting!
regards James

Its an auto i know that for sure. THanx for all of the info, that really helps but i still have no idea what a fair price for this car would be

basically, it'swhatever it's worth to you. If you like it, go for it, just play a little hard to get. Can't worry about what others think.

I word of warning F-bodys did not come with a 5 speed with the 350! So if it's stick it's a 305. UNLESS he can prove it got swapped. To be sure check the block behind the drivers side head and it will have 5.0 or 5.7 molded in to it. If he says "oh it's bored" Throw the BS flag cause if he even found a shop to do it the chances are the motors cyl wall can fracture with that much cut out @ once.

Car's all that, I'd say 3k for the car and go 75% of what he paid for paint.

It sux when I was looking for my IROC all the BS people clamed.

BTW if it chugs smoke when it starts up it's fine they all do that, it just need new valve seals.