Will the Pontiac Fiero ever be a collectible? It’s an interesting conundrum, as the model certainly has its place in automotive history and was one of the most exciting cars GM had produced at the time. Though initially slow and unrefined, Pontiac made improvements as time went on to make it a formidable driver’s car, but unfortunately, it was too little, too late. The Fiero became better and better at time went on, and the final era with its powerful engine and improved suspension was a home run – just in time for Pontiac to kill the model, as the General is known to do when it finally gets the recipe right. This Fiero is believed to have under 40,000 original miles and is listed here on craigslist for $5,500.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Scott for the tip. When the Fiero was introduced, it already had its work cut out for it. Using parts bin components to introduce a new model is never grounds for an auspicious start, but the Fiero somehow made it work, introducing a variety of unique design features. The mid-engined layout, pop-up headlights, and sporty cockpit certainly made driving an economical car seem plenty cool, but the Iron Duke four-cylinder engine was a let-down. Under 100 horsepower out of the gate in a car that looked this racy was a bummer to the consumers expected to buy this brand-new model.
Pontiac certainly wanted you to ignore the wheezy engine under the hood, as every ad campaign touted the excitement the Fiero would add to your life. Now, they did get things right shortly after the intro year model like our feature car here, and rolled out a 2.8L V6 and 5-speed manual combination in later years that made for a much more engaging driving experience. However, if you want a low-mileage Fiero in its purest form, the car offered by the seller may be more your style – even with the obvious limitations of the Iron Duke engine. If nothing else, these engines were tough as nails, powering your local mail truck without complaint for decades.
Still, it seemed that the consumer knew there was more to the Fiero than GM was letting them have. After all, seeing the pace car version with that giant air induction tunnel and simply looking at renderings like this that showed how sexy the Fiero was under the skin all combined to leave car shoppers wanting more. Sales were tepid and once the final version arrived with improved suspension tuning, better styling, and even more power, it was too late – and today, the Fiero remains a great example of what could’ve been if GM had given the car the proper equipment and budget it needed to be a home run.
The link goes to a Mercedes wagon… Definitely not even as sporty as this wannabe…!
Yes but it IS a nice wagon and it’s a diesel too!!!!
The link is to a car Lavery wants 😲
This looks like one very nice Fiero. I had a chance to drive one like this when I was younger. It was unfortunately an Iron Duke 4 and an automatic. But the thing was like driving a street legal go cart ( coming from a guy with a ’77 Delta 88).
It has incredible low mileage and looks good. It looks like a really nice find if you’re looking for one.
Driveinstyle, you got lucky with your time driving one – I had rented one which had the same engine/transmission combination (mine was an ’85) and I was very disappointed with the performance. It was peppy, compared to a Chevette (a dangerous disappointment, with the hood that would unlatch at freeway speeds!), but not a great “cut and thrust” car. Fuel mileage for me was miserable for a car this small and an engine that was supposed to be economical – I made a cross-state trip from Seattle to Spokane, and only got 20 mpg. Of course, there was a mountain pass to cross, and that took a lot out of it, but with a 10 gallon tank, long distance driving was going to require a few more stops than I would like. Now, with that V6, even if I had to stop more, the performance would have been better. As a side note on this, I own an Audi S6 with a V10 engine, and I got better highway mileage than the Fiero! I also got better mileage with my ’96 Impala SS on the highway!
looking at the odometer photo. it sure looks like 135672 miles on it. And the craigslist link goes to a completely different vehicle. Is this a Scam posting?
Hey wow you found a low mileage one that someone hasn’t tried to convert into a Lamborghini or Ferrari. Mid engine and small car I’m not sure I could bend myself into the right configuration to even give it a tune up. But I still think it would be a fun little car to have.
https://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/d/puyallup-1984-pontiac-fiero-speed-25/7855893645.html hopefully this works to link to the original list on Craigslist
That Hall & Oates poster……I can’t go for that…kind of ear worm.
I haven’t seen one of these in this condition since they were new. Great fun little run around Car.
I bought an ‘85 brand new but it had the V6 and stick shift. Same colors as this one. With the V6 it was peppy and fun to drive. I got the SE as I didn’t care for the body kits on the GT. Didn’t keep it long, as the tiny trunks weren’t enough as an only car for a young single guy who played golf and struggled to get the clubs stowed.
Probably sold, with the low mileage and reasonable asking price.
Can you say “Plastic FIAT X1/9?
Jeff is pulling the MB wool over our eyes.
Did anyone see 👀 where this little Corvette contender is located?
Probably gonna be history by the time we get everything ironed out. 😎
If this is an 1984, it’s got a 4 speed if it’s a manual. 5 speeds came out mid year 86.
Nice looking example but the early ones had a major design flaw. The got too cold on its way to the front mount radiator. This resulted in excessive thermal cycling and premature cracked engine heads, blocks and blown head gaskets. I know because I bought one brand new, and over time mine suffered all three failures at three different times.Thats what killed the model. By the time they had fixed the car’s image was so bad, even with the mote reliable and powerful 2.8 6 cylinder image, sales were so low they had to kill the car.
Fiat tested the X1/9 before sales started in early 70’s. The similar problem was solved by a steel cage from engine to radiator. It looks like a protection from underneath stones, rocks etc but its true function was to avoid thermal cycling, as i was able to understand, by adding another way to get rid of excessive heat from the engine.
I had not known this. Did GM conduct any thermocycling tests at all during development? It seems indicative of the way the Fiero was thrown together. GM with all of its resources and experience flunked something so fundamental.
This is not true. The issue on the early engines was the connecting rods. The supplier Oliver sent bad rods that would fail.
Head gaskets were the least of the trouble.
The other issue was all Iron Dukes leaked st the valve covers. This was the source of fires in the early cars. Add to that the 4 quart oil pan.
The V6 never had the same issues nor the later 4 cylinders.
Sales declined to where they were expected to be. The plan was to put the GM 80 the FWD F body replacement in the same plant. Once it was canceled that sealed the Fiero fate as the Corvette team was struggling with sales and the new GT was going to be cheaper, lighter and 230 hp.
Chevy sold more cars so the held more power. The C5 was canceled in 1993 but was hidden like the Fiero program. Once the mules were done GM brought it back. The designers were former Fiero designers. They shared some things from the Fiero prototype on the dash. The 4th Gen F body got the Fiero prototype dash.
In the mid 1990’s , I went to a local dealer with every intention to buy this exact model. I brought my wife along to balance my enthusiasm for this idea. We took this on a test drive and she and I were so disappointed with the experience. The iron duke was the absolutely wrong engine for this car. If this was a later model with the 5speed and the V6, it would have been much better experience. I’ve grown to have an appreciation for the Fiero and the relative ease of engine swapping with other GM mills.
I had an ‘87. Fun little car for the commute. Sold when I got too pregnant to fit behind the wheel and we needed a baby-seat compatible car.
Lots of bang and retro style for the buck. With some serious work, you can get 140-150 horsies out of this engine so buying it cheap and throwing 10k at engine enhancements would still make for a cheap fun and quick ride.
For $10k i’d rather swap the engine out for one that doesn’t sound like a tractor
Wow the Fiero in the link is the roomiest and fanciest one I’ve seen. I mean it’s stunningly gorgeous.
We were at a second-hand store in Floyd,VA,& came
across a Pontiac dealer award that had a painting of a
Huffaker Racing Fiero,It said that the driver was Bob Earl.
I talked to Bob & told him about it.He thought that was
interesting,but not interested enough for me to get it for him.
Wish I could see the Fiero add. Incorrect link
If you want to see the ad go to Seattle Craigslist, cars for sale section and search Fiero.
To secure development funding, Pontiac pitched the car as an economical commuter car to GM leadership, who had historically been reluctant to introduce a second two-seat performance car, fearing it would steal Corvette sales. They were given a small (by GM standards) budget which, combined with the “commuter car” pitch, forced Pontiac into some compromises. The redesigned suspension for 1988 transformed the car, but by then, reliability issues had done irreparable damage. A complete restyle was coming for 1990, with Oldsmobile’s strong but noisy HO Quad 4 and 4-wheel steering.
Try this link
https://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/d/puyallup-1984-pontiac-fiero-speed-25/7855893645.html
I’m the one that sent the tip
I was a parts manager at out local dealer when these came out, and this same model was my demo. It was fun to drive in good weather, but when the snow came along I parked it and drove my truck to work. It would not steer whatsoever on slick roads. And the fuel filter recall originated from our area as well. Some GM engineer thought it was a good idea to have the filter just above the exhaust manifolds on the 4 cyl models. We had a melted model in our shop for quite a while.
My daughters 1st car was almost a red 2M4, 4 cylinder and automatic. I liked the car, but a noisy rear axle bearing was the 1st thing. I offered him $700, which he was going to take, when I happened to look at the coolant tank, looked a bit dark. Upon inspection, it was full of oil. That was that.
While working for a “PONTIAC” dealer in 1983 I did a drive-away from the Overland Park, Ks office to Hutchinson Ks, approximately 200 miles. I couldn’t wait to get out of the brand new car! Did not handle well at all. The body material was great and should have been used on other cars.
I don’t know why anyone would want one.
Man, this car may be sold before I finish this comment. All I can say is I’ll buy it for the asking price given it’s condition.
Fieros have been made into powerful speed demons with different engine swaps. Small block Chevy, 4.9 Northstar engines, 3800SC engines.
I have an 88GT T Top,the last year model when they had the improved suspension. I have had it for 20+ years.
There is a big Fiero following at Fiero.nl . A very active and friendly community. Go to the forum section to read all about the Fiero.
I was up in NH visiting my daughter last month and her boyfriend told me that he had a project car in his garage. He didn’t seem the car type (we had never spoken about cars before) and when he opened the garage, he had an ’88 Fiero with a Chevy V8 sitting on an engine stand.
He told me that it was a father-son project that he took with him when he moved. It was in pieces, but he said that at one point the engine was in it and it really cooked. Now, being a homeowner, he has no time to work on it. Welcome to the real world.
It’s hard to get past the first sentence of this.. “…Will the Pontiac Fiero ever be a collectible? It’s an interesting conundrum..” — f-ing stupid these things have been collectible for quite a while now…geeeeze
yes, this is in my list (esp after moded, no, no body kit to look european) w/914, MR2, europa, X 1 / 9, and even (no mid engine affordablity) figaro, just a cutie. Karmine Ghia and more for that latter category~
I drove the X 1 / 9 in SCCA stock car races. Molto Divertente !
Beautiful looking car. Although I was way too young at the time to drive a car, I remember when the Pontiac Fiero was intro’d. I thought it was an awesome looking car. Probably better than Toyota’s MR2.
Had an 84 Iron duke w/ 4 speed in college with the speakers in the head rests. One was shorting out, so I had to bang my head into it to get it to work once in a while. :-) But it was a cool solution to stereo sound, and when it worked, i loved it.
So Sad that the Fiero museum got washed away in the Midland flood of 2020. :-(
The junk yards have found these to be collectable for years!
My bro has one! Going to install the sideways all aluminum Northstar V8 and make a Banshee out of it. Engines are cheap.