Sorry, I never even saw this post. I was going back through here to see what I have missed and I never saw this one. Yes, the SE cars had the hood birds that were gold with darker gold highlights. The Non-SE cars had gold with orange/yellow highlights. As far as me decal section, yes, that is a Non-SE bird that is in the photo on a SE car. It is just a photo of the hood bird that I had... it just happened to be taken on top of the hood of an SE car. So, it does not say the decals is correct for the car that it is sitting on.... it is just a stock photo of the hood bird decal. You are also right on the "Formula" Style lettering as well. I think you have found the answer already, but yes, my car IS NOT a SE car. The previous owner added the SE stripes to the car. I like the SE stripes and think it outlines the car nicely, so I left them. In 1978 they chnaged the style lettering. They left the hood bird the same, but the changed the lettering from the "Looping" style lettering found in 1977 and earlier and chagned it to the "Formula" style lettering found on 1979 and later. 1978 was a bad year for changes. Pontiac could not make up their minds about what to do with the cars. Changing decals, changing SE cars, changing t-tops, etc.