My wife used to own a notchie Fiero that she bought new from the dealer. She says that she remembers that it was an '88 with a V6 but had never heard of the Formula. She does not remember Formula door decals on it. Were the door decals a dealer installed thing? Was it possible to order a car and delete the decals? Would a dealer remove the decals? Maybe another buyer was interested in the car before she bought it and asked for the Formula script to be removed then backed out of the deal. Of course she could be mistaken about the model year but she's pretty good about that sort of thing. The car was stolen and recovered at some point so I'd say she had to describe it and view paperwork where 1988 was shown as the model year. By the way, it was recovered because the gas tank ran dry when the gauge showed 1/4 of a tank full! Haha! That's pretty cool.

Jonathan

To my knowledge no, one could not specify that door decals for the Formula be removed or not installed at the dealer, otherwise there would be OEM examples of non-installed decals floating around. All Formulas with original paint should have 'FORMULA' door decals and proper repaints with proper decal replacement should have the same.

The only Fiero that had a particular option for a particular decal to either be or not installed was the Indy Fiero Pace Car replica.

There have been some postings on this forum where Formula owners said they had vehicles without the decals applied. Some said they had found them in the vehicle.

I suspect that the decal was a dealer add on just like the Indy Fiero decals.

[This message has been edited by Old Lar (edited 10-22-2012).]

If it was a non delete item they would have put them all on at the factory, not at the dealers.

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Rodney Dickman

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I just found out that she did not order this car. She bought it off the showroom floor where it was on display. It was black and obviously good looking enough to be on display inside. Maybe the dealer couldn't bring himself to put the decals on it. Maybe they needed to fill an empty space on the floor and didn't want to wait for the service dept to apply the decals.

Jonathan

GM (like any manufacturer) wants to control quality the best they can. Installing them in the factory would generally get the best fit and finish instead of depending on an employee at a dealership to install them. GM would not want to see them applied in the wrong place, crooked etc. I'm pretty sure they were all installed at the factory.

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Rodney Dickman

Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page:
All new web page!:www.rodneydickman.com
Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories
7604 Treeview Drive
Caledonia, WI 53108
Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575

The pictures I've seen of the last truckloads to leave the factory were all Formulas, and all had door stickers.

quote Originally posted by Rik: The pictures I've seen of the last truckloads to leave the factory were all Formulas, and all had door stickers.

Did you see mine on that load?

It would have been the Red one !!!

Yeah I have to say Rodney elaborated more on it and why I too think they all had to be installed at the factory. Quality control. Also, I have to reiterate what I said before, in that if they weren't all installed at the factory then there would be non-installed OEM examples floating around for sale. Like the Indy Pace Car decals that show up from time to time that were never installed. I have never seen a 'FORMULA' OEM door decal up for sale, other than reproductions. And it actually took some time for reproductions to start showing up, since no one had a non-installed decal to work off of.

And in regards to the Indy Pace Car replicas, remember there are versions of them without the door decals installed simply because this was how GM presented the car. They knew that not everyone would want all of that large script and wording on the doors. So it was given as a dealer option to either install or not the door decals. Either way, the Indy Pace Car decals would have ended up in the hands of the owner of the car (typically), hence why there exists a good handful of never-installed OEM Indy Pace Car door decals out there (that I would be afraid to use by this point...).

quote Originally posted by Fiero84Freak: Either way, the Indy Pace Car decals would have ended up in the hands of the owner of the car (typically), hence why there exists a good handful of never-installed OEM Indy Pace Car door decals out there (that I would be afraid to use by this point...).

And that's why some pace cars (not necessarily Fieros) have considerable variations in the decal placement, or some decals not applied, etc.

quote Originally posted by VikingRedBaron: It would have been the Red one !!!

Well, THAT narrows it down.

quote Originally posted by fierofool: There have been some postings on this forum where Formula owners said they had vehicles without the decals applied. Some said they had found them in the vehicle.

I sure wish some of those guys would chime in. The only real way to put this to bed is to find an original owner (other than my wife) that can confirm that their car didn't have the stickers or that they were found inside the car, etc.

I asked Tammy if she could look for her old insurance papers and pictures but she wasn't keen on the idea. She doesn't get the whole nagging question/ car trivia thing. I'll prolly bring it up to her again. Hehe

Jonathan

Most probably was a 4cyl coupe confused to be a V6. Do you have the VIN#?

I have to say that they were applied at the factory. Their location and the number of them means that only the factory could have done it. Some people may ask to have them removed before purchasing (or after), but we would see more without them if dealers were the installers.

The Fiero Formula just as the Firebird Formula came with the decal on from the factory. Just as Rodney pointed out it was a matter of quality.

As if it could be deleted I am sure if you got ahold of the right person it may have been possible but I have never seen a documented case.

I worked down the street from a Pontiac dealer in the 80's and ever Formula came in on the truck with the deal in place.

As for pace cars it has always generally been the norm to leave the door decals and quarter panel deals in the box in the trunk. Not everyone wants them on so they leave it to the buyer to decide if they want them on. Often in some cases the owner may only use part of them like on many 78 pace cars I have seen them with only the Indy wings ont he quarter and the door stickers left in the box.

The bottom line is if the dealer installed them the Formula would be in a different place on all of them. Look around and they are all in the same place since they all used the same templet at the factory.

I did a search and could find no reference to Formula decals being inside the vehicle. It may be as Fiero84Freak posted that it was the Indy. That may be what I recall. So I retract my statement as it applies to Formulas.

Here's a possible example. Not sure of the story here. Figured I'd post the link and then try to ask the seller about any paint history, etc.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymot...3472&forcev4exp=true

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Jonathan

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The abused white '88 I saw didn't have the side decals or the decklid Fiero decal. It had been sitting for a lone time though.

quote Originally posted by Boostdreamer: Here's a possible example. Not sure of the story here. Figured I'd post the link and then try to ask the seller about any paint history, etc. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymot...3472&forcev4exp=true

^^^ That car has been repainted - and very poorly I might add. Look at the photograph of the door open on the lower rocker.

quote Originally posted by Rodney: GM (like any manufacturer) wants to control quality the best they can. Installing them in the factory would generally get the best fit and finish instead of depending on an employee at a dealership to install them. GM would not want to see them applied in the wrong place, crooked etc. I'm pretty sure they were all installed at the factory.

Have to agree with Rodney. Having worked for GM I know know how picky they are about these type of details, and great pains are made to provide Assembly Plants with correct fixtures to assure decals / stick on emblems are applied properly. If any vehicles were delivered without them installed, my guess would be that they were short on manpower and someone missed car when it was at the install station on a given day.

My red formula has original paint and no decals.

So far, no one seems to know for certain if Formula decals were always installed by the factory. Ed Parks may know if anyone can contact him. It was Ed that showed me a GM "Formula" decal still in the box in 1998. Therefore Formula decals were available from GM at one time, maybe only as a replacement part, but possibly as a dealer-installed item.

GM's Formula decal was made in a way that anyone could easily install it in the correct location without fear of location error. (Details are shown near the bottom of the page at this link if you are interested: http://fierosails.com/decal.html ) So the quality control issue may not have been a serious concern by GM.

Can anyone give Ed Parks a call?

Paul McKibben
Norcross, GA

[This message has been edited by paulmckibben (edited 05-04-2013).]

But the Silver "PONTIAC" is also missing from the rear. Aren't there holes when the rear emblem is removed?

quote Originally posted by rpro: My red formula has original paint and no decals.

I was 2nd owner of a Formula and 100% certain original paint, no doubt. NO formula Decals at all. I purchased the car from original owner who was a Pontiac car salesman, now he owns his own auto shop. He bought it because he was banking selling Fieros when they 1st came out and wanted to grab the last year. He said the Fiero was the only GM car they sold at the dealership that they would not come off sticker price, ever.
I asked about the Decals not being present and he said "yuup, that's a how I ordered it boy, don't want no trashy decal lookin thang on my FierA"
I will never forget that statement as funny as it was, That's what he said to the word. Kinda hurt my feelings because I like the Formula Decal.
I had it painted Ford Zinc Yellow and ADDED the decal myself..... call me trash.

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Put the blow torch down please, its just a Fiero.

[This message has been edited by tntcary (edited 05-05-2013).]

I bought a brand new Formula back in the day and the decals were in the trunk. That dealer had a few Formulas on the lot at the time and mine was not the only one without the decals on the doors.

I have the order book for 1988 and there is no mention of the decal being an option. Now that is not to say a few were delivered with out.

Also you can have original paint and no decal as they are easy to remove and not harm the paint.

As I remember it the decals were installed at the plant but I am sure if you requested it they could leave it off if you instructed.

Other odd things can also happen. my 1985 2M6 was delivered with a factory deck lid and wing. They swapped it over for me to make the sale from a GT. The 2M6 Was going to be put back on but I told them to leave it off and I still have it in the box new yet today. So many things could leave the decal on or off regardless of the norm.

Bottom line is the decal was not an option but that does not mean you may have gotten a car without one.

quote Originally posted by johnyrottin: I bought a brand new Formula back in the day and the decals were in the trunk. That dealer had a few Formulas on the lot at the time and mine was not the only one without the decals on the doors.

My wife says the same thing. She bought hers new off the showroom floor in '88 and said it did not have the FORMULA decals.

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Jonathan

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