This 1987 Pontiac Fiero GT with an impressively low 16,000 miles on the clock reminds me of a story that’s familiar about its original owners: young couple buys Fiero, barely uses it, trades it in when the first child comes along. The original owner of my ’87 BMW 325is told the same tale about why the two-door was traded in in the early 90s, but unfortunately, it didn’t end up as well-preserved as this one. The Fiero GT can be found here on craigslist with a $16,000 asking price.
The GT was effectively the swan song of the Fiero, and in my opinion, right when the General got these cars right. More power, better looks, and excellent handling. Of course, the car was terminated shortly thereafter, and GT examples remain desirable today. It had the right stuff on paper, with four-wheel disc brakes, a mid-mounted V6 and killer looks (well, for the era, at least), but it wasn’t enough to keep the Fiero on the production line.
This car isn’t necessarily the best color combination, with brown on tan as unflattering as it gets. However, the condition show is impressive, with an unmarked body and interior. It was traded in with a tick over 8,000 miles and then remained in the dealer’s care until being offered up for sale again with 16K on the clock. The Fiero features a removable roof panel in addition to the desirable “basketweave” alloy wheels that came on the later cars.
Will these late-production Fiero GTs ever become more collectible? The seller calls it an “overlooked” specimen, which I’m inclined to agree with. However, prices for all but the best examples seem stagnant, and I’d be shocked to see this one sell for the $16K asking price. Do you think these Fieros will ever get their due? Thanks to Barn Finds reader Ian for the find.
I think you gave them their due. A decent car in it’s day sullied by all the years it took to get there. Another defeat saved from the jaws of victory by GM bean counters.
These would have been real winners IF: They were a little larger and had V-8 power. Why build a rear engine sports car and drop a weazy six in the back? Seems stupid, because these things would have flown out the door if they were closer in dimension and design to a Ferrari 308/328. It could have been done and cheaply too.
The Fiero was designed to be a mid-engine economy car – not a sports car. By the time GM got the idea that it might be a viable sports platform it was too late.
Given the opportunity to have survived corporate short-sightedness, the Fiero could have become everything Pontiac wanted it to become. Let’s see, we have the new GM 4 cylinder, turbo-charged engines with over 300 ponies, replacing V6 Vortecs. But as usual with Pontiac, GM brass kept the division under wraps whenever Pontiac designed anything that would have challenged the plastic Camaro…uhhh, I mean the Corvette.
I’d agree that $16K is about the highest this could possibly sell for. If it were the same condition in pretty much any other color, particularly Black or Red, I think $16K would be attainable in the current market. There have to be a half dozen guys out there that want one this nice. Interesting cars from the late ’80’s are starting to tick up… faster than stuff from the early ’80’s and about the same rate as non SUV’s from the ’70’s. I think if you could get this for $12-$14K, drive it sparingly, that you could look back 10 years from now and realize it was more of an investment than a toy…
Here’s my 1987 Fiero with only 15k original miles.
I stand corrected, it has 17k original miles.
Lovely looking car.
A 1988 model could go for 16K. That was the only year the Fiero had the suspension and steering it should have had from the beginning.
True, any time Pontiac is told to use Chevy Citation parts; the value and performance drop immediately!
I guess nobody remembers that it was originally built on a Chevette chassis.
Kelley – it wasn’t a Chevette chassis, it had Chevette steering & some front suspension components. The rear subframe/engine cradle was from the Citation (as well as other models/makes). The “bean counters” made Pontiac “raid” the parts bins… by late 86 they were miles better than the 84’s! By 87 things were even better & by 88 they had gotten so much right that they would beat Corvettes! Anyone that nows anything about GM knows that this would be the kiss of death!
Yes the 1988 model had an upgraded suspension but the design of the Fiero alone is intriguing to people who like two seat sport cars. Condition, rarity, and design will sell these cars in 2018, especially low mileage examples such as these two Fieros.
I had no idea the market for Fieros had risen this high. When I was a teen, these cars were jokes. I never looked into them seriously, but I can see why there’s interest.
Worked at a P/B dealer. Were visited by a rep from a custom company who brought one of their supercars w them. A GT w a 2′ extension on the nose, ground effects and more… what a POS! Looked like it was designed by a third grader!!
At 6’4″ I had no prob w these cars and really liked driving them
Rarely will you see one of these Fieros running down the road these days. Back in the day most Fieros were driven hard and abused. Being an 80’s GM designed car they didn’t hold up well or last. Fast forward to today most people find them intriguing thus the higher prices, especially at auction venues such as Barrett Jackson or Mecum.
Robert is correct–IIRC, the first editions of this dog used chevette front suspension and citation drivetrain, You cant make chicken salad out of chicken s*it. the turning radius of these was like a city block. Hmm here’s GM’s chance to make a small powerful sports car and they use components from some of the worst POS’s they ever made. And Mike B, loved your comment-snatching defeat from the jaws of victory….Perfect description. Yet some enthusiasts love em. To each his own!!!
Sweet looking car. I remember when the Pontiac Fiero was on the market. At the time, I found it more attractive than Toyota’s Mid-Engined car, the MR2. It’s a damn shame that it didn’t remain on the market for very long. Yes, it had problems the first year or two on the market. But you’d think that would’ve been solved after the first year of being on the market. Apparently not enough by the end of the car’s time on the market. Too bad, so sad.
Like I said, in 2018 it’s the rarity and intrigue of these cars that spark interest despite design features or model years.
16k seems really high to me, and I’m a Fiero fan/owner.
My ’88 Yellow GT has just 33k miles, and I honestly don’t think it would sell for anywhere near 16k. Probably more like 12k for both mine and this one.
But that’s just one guy’s opinion.
Hmmmm…so, since mine only has 5,600 miles and is the 86 SE 2M6, I could sell it for 22K to 25K…???
I know you were being sarcastic, but mileage is just one of many factors that determines a cars “value”.
Unfortunately, even with lower miles, In General your 2M6 SE wouldn’t be worth what this ’87 GT is worth.
That’s not to say that you couldn’t find someone with a sentimental attachment to a SE model who would be willing to pay more. But having followed the market for Fieros for years (and having owned 5 of them), I can pretty easily say that an ’86 SE with 5600 miles won’t bring as much as an ’87 GT with 16k miles, or an ’88 GT with 30k miles. There is an added boost in value to the ’88 models due to the new steering and suspension systems. 84-87 models have Chevette suspension up front and Citation suspension in the rear. ’88 had an all-new set-up that was head and shoulders above the previous years.
All this is just my opinion of course, but I’ve followed the sales of literally thousands of Fieros over the past 15 years, and it’s pretty easy to see what’s desirable and what’s not.
I can fondly remember looking forward to these – probably 74ish – they were talked about in Popular Mechanics?? Fast forward 10 years & I’m 19.. still intrigued me, just not with the Iron Lung (I mean Iron Duke). The following year I went to work at a Large Pontiac Dealer & got to drive them all of the time. They definitely got better as new models/updates came out! I have a friend that has owned at least a dozen of them stock to modified show cars, as well as someone I hung around with in their early days that installed one of the first small block’s into one. I would love to have one, it’s just not in my cards right now.
I can pretty much guarantee you the Fiero wasn’t even a glimmer in the eye of anyone at generic motors in 1974. Their “sporty” cars of the day were the Astre, Monza and Vega, plus the Malibu Laguna or Pontiac LeMans Can Am if you really want to stretch it. Considering it was introduced in 1984, I’d say they started planning it circa ‘80-82 at the earliest.
Actually, 1978 was when the corporate agreed to move forward with the concept, but only allowed a budget of 400 million dollars, not even close to being enough to get a prototype into production. But, after digging into the parts bins, and cutting corners, they made it.
Totally galvanized structure, plastic exterior panels, and off the shelf mechanicals, what’s not to like here?
“If it had been something from Iacocca, we’d been singing the praises!”
I’ve always liked these, like the color on this too, but it is all the money for this.
Looking at the bank account, maybe $10k?
It is funny you called this color brown.
When I worked at a Chevy dealer back in 1987 the flooring agent was looking for a brown Beretta that he couldn’t find.
The owner told me to find it for him.
The agent said he was looking for a brown Beretta and I said to him, the Beretta doesn’t come in brown.
He pointed one out and I said, Oh, you mean a gold one. Ok that makes more sense.
I never saw this color as brown.
My dad had a 87 fiero that was the same color inside and out with the 4 tec 4 cylinder engine with the 5 speed manual transmission with over 100k miles on it when he bought it for like 2 Grand but his was not the gt like this 1 is and the 5 speed manual transmission is actually a 4 speed with a splitter to get the 5th gear and the 4 cylinder fieros handled pretty good also and my dad always wanted a fiero with the Buick supercharged v6 with the 4 speed manual transmission
Somebody buy this Steve some punctuation for Christmas! LOL
I forgot to add I drove it to school when I was in high school also
OK Jeff,
Why are you spending so much time omn my local craigslist?
There’s been some cool cars come up,but a ratty ’84 GTI for
$650 has been the only one I went to look at.
I’d call it gold, and I happen to think it’s a great color on these cars…
I am a huge Fiero fan, but given the rate at which these self-destruct I don’t think the value is there long-term…$8K – $10K is more realistic IMO. These sit forever on the market, regardless of price and condition.
The very early 84 fieros caught on fire they fixed the problem later in 84
I’ve been told that a period correct Caddy V-8 is an easy swap. I have a friend that bought one of these brand new, and a bud that installed a 2.8 with 55K miles. Both cars were a blast o drive, very comfortable. Great body styling, and rust worries on the body. Kinda quirky with the cooling system, though.
I’ve owned three Fieros in the past and loved them all – an 84 2M4, 86 GT, 88 Formula. Now that I’m retired I was looking for a hobby car to play with. I just bought an 88 Formula, 1 of only 299 factory authorized Formula T-Tops built. It’s it good mechanical shape but the paint and interior need work, which was just what I was looking for!
Hal, maybe you can tell us if the ’88 suspension is all it’s cracked up to be???
Tom, Perhaps Hal will chime in as well. But I’ll give my 2 cents on the ’88 suspension. For the record, I’ve owned an ’84 SE (4 cyl/4speed). An ’85 GT (V6/Automatic). A second 85 GT (V6/4speed). An ’88 Formula (V6/Auto), and now I have an ’88 GT (V6/Auto).
The ’88 Suspension and steering is noticeably better. All three of my pre-88’s have the same choppy ride and couldn’t be pushed very hard before giving out. When I got my first ’88 (the Formula) I expected mostly the same, but was pleasantly surprised. It’s still far from a perfect set-up, but significantly better. If you were to put the two on a scale of 1-10, I would give the pre-88 models no better than a 5. I would give the ’88 models a 7, perhaps a 7.5 Not world class suspension, but better.
A good little 10 minute video is available on youtube, just search “fiero mr2 motorweek”. As the search suggests, it is a comparison by Motorweek of the ’88 Fiero and Toyota MR2. they address the suspension improvements with the Fiero that you might find interesting.
Absolutely! My 86 GT was lowered with Eibach springs and had HD F&R sway bars (I don’t remember the size). On an autocross course, the 88 in stock form ran circles around it. Brakes are superior, too.
Thanks both of you, my only experience was in an ’84 2m4 a college mate bought new…we were really impressed with it! Living in Detroit, it was neat to drive to Pontiac, MI where there was a huge Fiero banner on Woodward Ave, good times…
Three Fieros in our family. Two ’84 2M4’s and one ’86 GT. No issues with fires, but the seats were stolen out of one of the 84’s for those integrated speakers I do believe!
Well heck, with all this superior 1988 suspension talk I guess I should trash my 1987 Fiero, it doesn’t have that much praised 1988 suspension! Must be no good……….sheeezz
These vehicles screamed “chick mobile” when they first were introduced, they were just too anemic and blah. The end product scratched the surface with better looks, more power and reliability, and sharper looks. Pontiac could have been a leader if someone would have let them. This was truly a missed opportunity by GM.
Since my garage is full, I will just drop this here…seems like a pretty good deal based on the discussions
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/kitchener-waterloo/1988-pontiac-fiero-gt/1397708111?utm_campaign=socialbuttons&utm_content=app_ios&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ios_social
That was quick. Looks like the car I put up is now sold
My cousin bought a GT identical to this one new. Not sure if it was an 87 or 88, though… It was a fun car, nonetheless… I wonder if it is possible to retrofit the pre 88 suspension to the 87 and earlier cars (?)
Enough with the 1988 suspension already, pre 88 Fieros drive just fine. I know because my 87 Fiero handles great. shezzzzzz
That’s like saying “Enough with the disc brakes already, the drum brakes on my ’63 Corvette stop just fine”.
Not every car is a collectible just by its sheer age. This happens to be one of those cars. Anyone can ask for any $$$ amount for their car. Unfortunately there’s no return on sentimental or nostalgic value. Hopefully a perspective buyer finds you. This is the highest price Fiero I’ve ever seen though, and the color is not highly sort after. It’s in pristine condition as is many others I’ve seen. Good Luck