Because the ViaRETRO team consists of Europeans (and yes, I include us Brits in that, contrary to what some might have you believe), I suppose it’s kind of inevitable that we tend to gravitate towards, and be more knowledgeable about, classics from our home markets. Nevertheless, there are pockets of genuine enthusiasm for Japanese classics and US metal among us, but it’s true that most of our focus tends to be European.
To counter this a little, for this week’s Prime Find we have ventured across the Atlantic not only for the marque, but the actual car itself. As is probably already apparent from the title of this piece, it’s not a typical American car – some might even say it’s almost European, certainly in concept – but it does represent something quirky and uncommon in American terms, so we like it already, and if it’s as good as it looks, not expensive – even adding shipping to Europe would leave change from our hypothetical £20k budget limit.
As the headline photo shows, it’s a Pontiac Fiero GT, a 1988 model in black with grey cloth interior. It’s for sale with a dealer in Pontiac, Michigan itself – a nice and wholly unintentional coincidence – and is one of the last examples of the first American mass-produced mid-engined sports car.
Introduced in 1983 by General Motors Pontiac division as an oil-crisis friendly sporty car, designed to resemble a Ferrari 308GTB (and many Fiero’s ended up being transformed into 308GTB replicas – apparently one reason why relatively few of the 370,000 made survive as original examples), it looked the part, but constraints imposed by the bean-counters in head office meant it was more show than go, lumbered as it was with the “Iron Duke” 2.5-litre 4-cylinder lump that produced less than 100bhp and use of many components from other GM economy car ranges made it less of a sports car and more of a two-seater commuter car. It did, however, have a very stylish and very 1980’s dash!
Fiero…………….Ferrari
The name has several possible meanings, including “proud”, “bold” or even “fierce” in Italian and Spanish; I would argue that “bold” is perhaps the most apt, although in all likelihood, it was meant to demonstrate a link to its big brother muscle-car, the Firebird. With a claimed top speed of 111mph and a 0-60mph saunter in 11.8 seconds, “fierce” certainly didn’t apply. A marketing tie-in with blue-eyed soul duo and kings of yacht rock Hall and Oates made clear who GM saw as the target market for the car, but genuine sports car fans were unenthused. This disappointment was exacerbated by reliability issues, particularly with regard to engine fires in 1984 models, though this was addressed in time for the 1985 model year. Reliability problems, caused in part by drivers trying to drive the car as per its sporting pretensions, took longer to resolve.
The Fiero model range for 1984 consisted of three variants – the Coupé, the Sport Coupé and SE, with prices ranging from $7,999 through $8,499 and up to $9,599 for the top of the range SE. A limited-edition “Indy Pace Car” version to celebrate the Fiero being chosen for that very job for the 1984 Indianapolis 500 was also available.
By 1985, as fears of a prolonged oil crisis began to fade, Pontiac felt confident enough to introduce a GT version boasting a considerably more powerful V6 engine of 2.8-litres, though still producing a relatively modest 135bhp, and upgrades to the suspension and tyres to increase its sporting appeal. By the time the 1988 model came onto the market, performance had been boosted considerably over the base 2.5-litre coupé, enabling a theoretical maximum speed of over 125mph and taking almost four seconds off its 0-60 time, according to the factory.
The Fiero was subjected to regular updates for the remainder of it’s five-year production run, but it wasn’t until that final year that the car came closest to what many believe it really should have been from the start. The 1988 model year car got vented disc brakes, rear wheels and tyres wider than those at the front and further suspension improvements (believed to be the set-up as originally envisaged by the car’s designers before corporate intervention effectively neutered the car) that make it the best and most sought after of all Fiero’s. The fact that fewer than 16,000 of that model year were built before manufacturing ceased in August 1988 adds to the desirability, and it’s one of these models that is our Prime Find this week.
As stated, “our” car comes with black paint and original grey cloth interior, and seems to have seen very little use, showing just 15,172 miles on the clock, though this does not seem to be fully documented. Not all of its history is known, though it has been in the same ownership since 2007 and stored in a climate-controlled garage for that time. It has the 2.8-litre engine, mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox, and among an extensive description, the dealer claims the car to be in “excellent condition throughout”. This Fiero comes with some documentation and is available for what seems like a pretty reasonable $15,000, or a little under £11,500 at post-General Election exchange rates. If any of our UK readers are interested, I did get an online shipping quote, which came in at £2,120 – so this Fiero could be yours for well under £15,000.
By ending production after just five years and not introducing a replacement, it might be thought that the Fiero was a failure, yet while it may be true that it didn’t set the sports car world alight it remains a remarkable car for a major US manufacturer and is still the only mass-produced mid-engined sports car to come out of the US.
With this car being located in Michigan, personal inspection is obviously somewhat difficult, but I’m sure it’s possible to arrange an independent examination without too much difficulty. An original Fiero such as this is uncommon even in its own market, even more so in Europe. Being relatively compact at 13.75 feet in length and 5.75 feet wide, it will also be more suitable for European roads and traffic- not to say parking – than many American cars, and whoever buys it will have something that will surely attract attention both at shows and on the road.
We’ve borrowed some photos from the dealer website, and you can see many more, and a very detailed description, there – https://lbilimited.com/offerings/1988-pontiac-fiero-gt/
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us inspire by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk