The Fiero was Pontiac’s first 2-seat automobile in more than 50 years. Launched in 1984 and in production through 1988, it was a sports car with a mid-engine layout. The Fiero used plastic body panels like the later Saturn, and 370,000 copies were made. Yet the car didn’t get a second generation. This 1985 edition was driven into a barn 25 years ago and has recently resurfaced. Located in Pulaski, Wisconsin, this running project is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $1,500 OBO. Thanks for the tip, “Lothar… of the Hill People”.
Pontiac’s designation for the Fiero was 2M4 for 2-seat, mid-engine, and four-cylinders (the “Iron Duke” engine was standard). When you ordered one with a V6, we assumed the code was 2M6. Besides being a first for Pontiac, it was the U.S. auto industry’s first car of its type to be in mass production. Though a 4-speed manual transmission was standard, this one has an automatic, a THM-125.
We assume this Poncho was parked around the turn of the century because of some body damage it has to the front. Or the fuel pump that the seller says needs to be replaced. The seller has pulled it out into the daylight and given it a rinse, and says it runs, fuel pump notwithstanding. The listing says the auto is “like new,” but that seems like an overstatement. The car was first listed four months ago, and no action may have been seen, so the price has been dropped by 50%.
The damage to the front end appears to include the pop-up headlights whose doors are missing. And the interior is quite dirty and will need detailing. Supposedly, you could fix its mechanical ills and drive the Pontiac as-is, as long as that’s not at night. These cars were noted for reliability issues the longer the production run lasted, which may be why Pontiac discontinued the car for 1989.
Whew,,dodged a bullet here. When my daughter got her license, we began looking for a car for her. The 1st car we looked at, was this car, only an 4cylinder/automatic. She liked it, I was indifferent, but went for a test drive. It ran okay, had a howl in the back sounded like a wheel bearing, no biggie, came back, I was about to offer them $700, when for gits and shiggles, the coolant tank looked a bit dark. It was full of oil, and that was that. I got her a Dodge Shadow that was a much better car. Great for parts, if any good ones still exist.
Keep looking, this ones not worth the trouble.
Driven into a barn, literally.
A good thousand dollar parts car….
Too much damage on a “unicorn” to demand an asking price like this. I would charge to remove this vehicle . . . . .
One of these damned near killed me. My neighbor parked it in my garage while he “made other storage arrangements”. After a year I had had enough and another neighbor was willing to house it in his yard.
It started up with the help of starting fluid, and I backed it out of the garage slowly. Then when I went to exit the driveway, the gas pedal stuck in full on mode and was catapulting me onto the road. Just shy of a major ditch, I pumped the squishy brakes enough and turned the ignition off.
I then called a tow truck to get it out of my life, which I should have done in the first place.
I owned three of these in the 90s, a black one, a gold one and a silver one. All 2M4 automatics .The black one threw a rod on the freeway and burned to the ground on the shoulder. It took about 10 minutes for the fire dept, but by then the car was toast.
The gold one I got t-boned in while cruising University Ave in St Paul. The silver one I sold without driving it because I decided I wanted to live. (I had bought the second two as a pair). Still, fun cars to have experienced.
yeah, why don’t you put it back in the barn where it can’t hurt anybody.
I had this car before the 2000. I bought it for 200 dollars in NJ. in fact, it drove good and fast, even on the snow of NJ and NY. They funny part is that sometimes it died and the only thing to fix was to stop the car and play with the carburetor distributor, and back to business 😂. I ended up selling it to somebody who claimed that he was the body designer of the car.
Honestly it was a good car regardless of the negative views.
Good days…….😁😁😁😁
Having owned ten Fiero’s, they were/are great cars. This one however is well overpriced for what it needs. Russ, you might want to research the REAL reason the Fiero was discontinued…
Yep. The ’88 V6 was a much better sports car, and that was its downfall. Chevy hated Pontiac intruding on their sports car dominance and the size of the divisions still mattered.
“87 & ’88 GT’s & SE’s were seriously entering Corvette spec.s & GM could NOT have that!! There’s actually a running/driving prototype of what “was” to be the next generation Fiero that has been kept & is occasionally brought out to shows. GM (Chevy) have been shutting down and/or detuning anything (even Chevy models) that ever came close to Corvette numbers for years. I worked for a quite large Pontiac Dealership from ’85 – ’88 & more or less watched/felt how the Fieros evolved through the years… ’85’s were a better build quality then the ’84’s. Late ’85 came the SE (notchback) & the V6 (2.8). ’86 brought the GT & then mid-year the 5 speed replaced the 4 speed. ’87 – both the 4 & the 6 cyl were updated – later in the year saw the (VERY MUCH) improved suspensions (the chevette parts were gone!!).
Keep in mind that this car was originally designed around the time of the first gas crunch (’73-74) & by the time it was green lighted, the corporate bean counters really chopped it up. So much of the ’84’s was “parts bin raiding” due to the bean counters… Chevette front suspension & brakes, Citation subframe/engine/transmission/rear suspension…
A lot has been said before about the numerous issues from the first 2 years… Iron Duke’s had “porous” engine blocks – We would put a dye into the oil, drive them for a short time & then hang “drapes over the lifted car & go over with black lights… you would see the “purple zits” all over the block – the oil was literally like bleeding through the block. This is almost primarily the reason for most of the fires – oil leaking out & the cramped engine area getting very hot.
Remember when these came out. Always kinda liked them but I certainly wouldn’t be opening my wallet for this one. Price drop or not.
Didn’t they come out with a GT model with a 305 small block v-8?
Pontiac Motorsports collaborated with outside engineering groups that experimented with small (very small, 4.0L) V8’s but GM would not sanction any actual corporate participation.
Chevrolet would have never allowed it…