Formula X Performance Pontiac - Department X

Anyone who remembers the mid '70s can recall the country being firmly caught up with "Bicentennial Fever." The celebration of the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was the center of a renewed sense of national pride that extended into seemingly every facet of American life. CBS even had its nightly "Bicentennial Minute," a 60-second historical spot that ran from July 4, 1974, to December 31, 1976. Each segment was hosted by a different celebrity and highlighted the 200th anniversary of events that occurred on that specific day. The July 4, 1976, edition featured President Gerald R. Ford.

Product marketers of all types were quick to add Bicentennial versions of just about everything they sold, and Detroit jumped in as well. In 1974, Chevrolet offered the "Spirit of America" option package on Impalas, Novas, and Vegas, consisting of specific badging, striping, and of course, red, white, and blue accents on white exteriors (blue was also offered for the Impalas).

Jeff Denison, a designer and unofficial histo-rian at General Motors came across these never-before-published photos that reveal a piece of Pontiac history that had largely been forgotten. "I found these shots and said to myself, 'What do we have here?'" Denison recalls. "I never saw these before. I showed them around the office and no one else had seen them either."

The mystery was soon solved after Denison suggested a call to John R. Schinella, who was Firebird chief designer at the time and who also headed up the Formula X program. Now retired and living in Michigan, Schinella says Pontiac was also interested in commemorating America's national pride, but the primary focus of the Formula X program was not really about jumping onto the Bicentennial bandwagon. "The Formula X was developed to bring a line of budget performance Pontiacs under one banner," Schinella says. "It was intended to expand the Formula Firebird concept to other lines."

Schinella had a trio of prototypes built during the '73 model year-a LeMans, a Ventura, and a Firebird. All were intended to include performance suspensions and wheel/tire combinations. While they didn't make it to production, they actually pointed the way for some other specialty editions that came later.

While at a casual glance the collection of photos show three identically painted models, there is more going on than initially meets the eye. For instance, the X-bodied car appears to be a '74 GTO, but is in fact, a '73 Ventura. Additionally, the prototypes are shown with different wheels and tires and different turn-signal configurations.

'73 LeMans Formula X - Of the three Formula X cars, the A-bodied LeMans had the highest level of modification. Up front, a Trans Am-style Shaker scoop was used, with the accompanying hole added to the hood. A set of '66 Grand Prix turn-signal lamps were also grafted to the stock grille. The LeMans was photographed with and without the GP signal lamps, as they appeared to be added in a latter portion of the Formula X program.