Need Opinion on Pontiac Formula Survivor

[Tidmack]

If there is a paper trail that supports mileage, I think this is actually a good deal. I think there's some upside to this car down the road, too.

The undercarriage photos were taken with a flash, which always makes rust & scale look worse. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by this car in person.

I like the Evapo-Rust idea, but part of me says to leave it alone. Maybe a coat of WD40 or Boeshield to darken up the scale a bit more? With survivors, I'm in the camp saying excessive fluffing is frowned upon. Once you start taking suspension pieces off, you may not know where to stop. And, once factory fasteners are broken loose, it's one more piece of a very low mileage car that's been altered. Again, just another guy's opinion...

Jeff

[daleone3]

Originally Posted by Tidmack

If there is a paper trail that supports mileage, I think this is actually a good deal. I think there's some upside to this car down the road, too.

The undercarriage photos were taken with a flash, which always makes rust & scale look worse. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by this car in person.

I like the Evapo-Rust idea, but part of me says to leave it alone. Maybe a coat of WD40 or Boeshield to darken up the scale a bit more? With survivors, I'm in the camp saying excessive fluffing is frowned upon. Once you start taking suspension pieces off, you may not know where to stop. And, once factory fasteners are broken loose, it's one more piece of a very low mileage car that's been altered. Again, just another guy's opinion...

Jeff

Jeff
after thinking about this I have to agree. I talked to the dealer and he is no slouch. Has some six figure builds he has done and puts some big dollar cars through Mecum and BJ. Says he has this car because he always wanted it, grew up in PA and knew the car so when it came up he got a call on it. He said the same thing about the undercarriage, it is part of the story and he really did not want to fluff it and take that part of the story away. Appreciate the opinion, right on the money.

[Tidmack]

I can't thank you enough for getting back in touch with your kind words. Preservation is my business and I have a funny feeling you're going to be pretty happy with this car. I can't offer any input on the dealer or their reputation, but I like the way they present cars. Here's the way I look at a car like this: after shipping, tax, and insurance, if you decide to part ways with the car after a season or two, I truly believe you'll end up in the black on this one. Good luck and please keep in touch if you make the deal!

Jeff

Originally Posted by daleone3

Jeff
after thinking about this I have to agree. I talked to the dealer and he is no slouch. Has some six figure builds he has done and puts some big dollar cars through Mecum and BJ. Says he has this car because he always wanted it, grew up in PA and knew the car so when it came up he got a call on it. He said the same thing about the undercarriage, it is part of the story and he really did not want to fluff it and take that part of the story away. Appreciate the opinion, right on the money.

[daleone3]

Originally Posted by Tidmack

I can't thank you enough for getting back in touch with your kind words. Preservation is my business and I have a funny feeling you're going to be pretty happy with this car. I can't offer any input on the dealer or their reputation, but I like the way they present cars. Here's the way I look at a car like this: after shipping, tax, and insurance, if you decide to part ways with the car after a season or two, I truly believe you'll end up in the black on this one. Good luck and please keep in touch if you make the deal!

Jeff

Will do Jeff. He sent me a couple of walk around vids and one driving and to be honest, nothing to pick apart. Paint is not checked, still has good shine and probably a blast to drive. Will let everyone know how it goes and really appreciate the conversation.

[daleone3]

Originally Posted by Tidmack

I can't thank you enough for getting back in touch with your kind words. Preservation is my business and I have a funny feeling you're going to be pretty happy with this car. I can't offer any input on the dealer or their reputation, but I like the way they present cars. Here's the way I look at a car like this: after shipping, tax, and insurance, if you decide to part ways with the car after a season or two, I truly believe you'll end up in the black on this one. Good luck and please keep in touch if you make the deal!

Jeff

I may be parting ways with an 83 C10, 2WD shorty, well preserved as well.
68k miles, southern truck, one repaint. Red/Red, fully optioned and as clean as new underneath

[Tidmack]

I may have some interest in your truck. Please private message me with information if you decide you'd like to part ways. Thanks again and good luck with the Formula...I'm excited to hear how it goes!

Originally Posted by daleone3

I may be parting ways with an 83 C10, 2WD shorty, well preserved as well.
68k miles, southern truck, one repaint. Red/Red, fully optioned and as clean as new underneath

[njsteve]

Looks like a cool car. That's the original falling vinyl headliner that has separated from the foam backing. There's a giant single cardboard backing piece that is very fragile. Needs to be carefully removed and recovered.

Looks like the underside of the car was heavily rustproofed with Ziebart. That is removable with lots of elbow grease and some Gojo. Look what this member did to remove the that gunk just the other day on his '76 Bird. That Ziebart was an amazing preservative for pristine metal underneath.

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=156730

BTW, Evaporust is a buffered solution that just chemically rinses the surface rust away without altering the metal underneath or the paint. Go through my thread and you can see what it can do for a survivor car - see what it did to the rusty driveshaft before and after. But you'd really have to steam cleam/pressure wash the underside to reomve the dirt and Ziebart before you could do anything with Evaporust on any bare metal surface - if there is any grease or dirt in the way, it is a waste of time.

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthre...123936&page=14

By the way, I see in the photos that the key is in the run position and the gas gauge is reading 9:00 PM. :-) That means the fuel tank sender has gone bad. You can go through my other thread and see what is involved in replacing that unit (and finding a new sender for the weird 75/76 year cars).

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthre...113621&page=16

In looking at the photos it appears to have had some paint work. There is overspray on both sides of the cowl in front of the winshield, near the fenders, that should not be there. The overspray is on top of the blacked out section as well as on top of the sealer at the cowl seam. The gas tank has overspray as well on top of the Ziebart. That Ziebart would have been applied at the dealership after delivery.

[daleone3]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Looks like a cool car. That's the original falling vinyl headliner that has separated from the foam backing. There's a giant single cardboard backing piece that is very fragile. Needs to be carefully removed and recovered.

Looks like the underside of the car was heavily rustproofed with Ziebart. That is removable with lots of elbow grease and some Gojo. Look what this member did to remove the that gunk just the other day on his '76 Bird. That Ziebart was an amazing preservative for pristine metal underneath.

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=156730

BTW, Evaporust is a buffered solution that just chemically rinses the surface rust away without altering the metal underneath or the paint. Go through my thread and you can see what it can do for a survivor car - see what it did to the rusty driveshaft before and after. But you'd really have to steam cleam/pressure wash the underside to reomve the dirt and Ziebart before you could do anything with Evaporust on any bare metal surface - if there is any grease or dirt in the way, it is a waste of time.

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthre...123936&page=14

By the way, I see in the photos that the key is in the run position and the gas gauge is reading 9:00 PM. :-) That means the fuel tank sender has gone bad. You can go through my other thread and see what is involved in replacing that unit (and finding a new sender for the weird 75/76 year cars).

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthre...113621&page=16

In looking at the photos it appears to have had some paint work. There is overspray on both sides of the cowl in front of the winshield, near the fenders, that should not be there. The overspray is on top of the blacked out section as well as on top of the sealer at the cowl seam. The gas tank has overspray as well on top of the Ziebart. That Ziebart would have been applied at the dealership after delivery.

Steve
Thank you appreciate the insights. Where I am confused is that overspray under the hood near the windshield is VERY uniform on both side and there is not paint on the edge of the plastic insert closest to the windshield. Does not look like any bolts have been turned or removed. Are you 100% sure that overspray from the factory is not possible?
Also on the overspray on the tank, there is no other over spray on the spring wrapped line or the leaf spring which would certainly be the case if it made it on to the tank and that is also consistent with the other side?
Honestly appreciate what you shared but knowing the history of the car and mileage, I cannot imagine that front and rear were painted and returned to such factory appearance down to the door edge guards, stripes and emblems......
Additional thoughts? THANK YOU AGAIN!

[njsteve]

Here's a comparison with my 73 survivor car - no overspray there, and my 1975 Firebird that my family has owned since new. You'll note there is some tan overspray in the central cowl area in front of the windshield on our 75 - This is the overspray from the saddle colored interior paint on the dashboard.

The cowl on your 76 looks like orange overspray over the black cowl paint and not just poor coverage by the black paint on the cowl over original orange body paint. BTW, the front ends were painted in a different place than the rest of the body so there would be no reason for overspray to be that far down the front of the cowl unless the person in charge of the blackout spray painting was having a bad day?