For such an “iconic” and interesting car, it’s hard to believe that the Pontiac Fiero was only made for five model years, beginning in the fall of 1983 for the 1984 year until the end of 1988. They really are small but are somehow still big enough for someone well over six feet tall to fit inside. At just over 13 feet in length, two of them could be squeezed into a 10×30 storage unit. I’m just thinking out loud…
When a person read about what this car was going to be, it sounded pretty amazing. A two-seat sports car from Pontiac with a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, and composite body panels? Who doesn’t like the sound of that? Sure, it initially had a four-cylinder engine, but so did a Lotus Esprit and many other wedge-shaped sports cars of the 1970s and 80s. The SE was the top model initially.
You can see that this car is appropriately Barn Finds’y-looking, although the seller doesn’t give any hints at the history of this car or how or why it looks the way it does now, which is a bit on the neglected side. You could probably pay off your house with one YouTube video showing this car being detailed back to looking like new again, but it looks pretty rough now. On the good side of the equation, the seller says there is no damage to the body panels, which are a composite called “Enduraflex”, not metal, so no rust, and no dings. Why car companies aren’t still using these panels (similar to the early Saturns) blows my mind.
It looks even rougher inside, unfortunately. If you have claustrophobia, this is not the car for you. Sitting down into this thing and getting down into this thing is either an art form or a circus act, not to mention if you have back issues, game over. By 1985, a lot of American cars had driver’s side airbags, not this one, and this is a car you could use one on.
The engine is Pontiac’s 2.5-liter fuel-injected OHV inline-four with 92 horsepower and 134 lb-ft of torque. The seller says this one runs fine and the five-speed manual transmission works well, but the clutch needs work and there are smaller issues like the passenger door lock not working, etc. They have it listed here on eBay in Monmouth, Oregon and the current bid price is a mere $510 with no reserve. Have any of you owned a Fiero? Let’s hear those stories!
Unrelated to this particular car, does anyone know if they ever redesigned the cooling system so that the unprotected coolant hose wasn’t running the length of the car underneath… where any type of road debris could end the life of the engine in minutes?
Couldn’t they at least have given the car a bath? With a little elbow grease, those panels should clean up nicely. No wonder the bid is so low, the car looks worse than it probably is.
A lot of 1985 American cars had driver side airbags? By 1995, sure.
Bought a new red ‘85 SE like this but mine had the V6 and a stick shift. It was quick with that engine and fun to drive. But, as a young guy playing golf a lot, the lack of storage was too much to overcome as it was my only car. I could fit the golf bag into the tiny trunk behind the engine, but just barely. At the time, Magnum PI was a popular show and at the beginning of every episode there was a scene where he gunned his Ferrari 308 and fishtailed while taking off. I replicated this move in my Fiero after turning around and dropping into first gear and flooring it. I said “just like Magnum!” to my buddy who was impressed. Good times. Traded it in ‘86 on a BMW 325 which had more room.
there was/is a body kit to mimic that car. I like it as it is. Last yr made w/typical usa-“final yr improvements” (then add more on an SCCA-type list). X 1 9, 914 (6 cyl), MR2, ideal package for some. Also w/o mid engine but still affordable? Miata, Karmen Ghia, 850… all fit the bill.
When these came out, I wanted one so bad. I went down to the dealership and the salesman was an a-hole. He didn’t think 19 year old me was serious, so I walked. Bought a nice used 914 instead. Still had it up to about 3 years ago when I sold it for $23k.
The next owner could do a Jeanie Bueller (Jennifer Grey) tribute car. Someone displayed an “85 Fiero with a 4.9 Cadillac transplant at our father’s day car show this year. A supercharged 3800 would be more exciting.
This was almost my daughters 1st car. A red one, automatic, guy wanted $700( in 2003), ran good but it had a bad howl from one of the rear axles, but I could fix that. I liked the car, and was just about to say we’ll take it, when I noticed the coolant tank looked a bit dark. Opening it, it was full of oil. Sorry, but went with a Dodge Shadow that was a great car for her. I still say, it was the coolest mid-engine American exotic for the masses, we could have asked for.
I rode in one in 1985, didn’t get one until around 2018, a 1984 with 60k miles, it made it halfway home before throwing a belt. It seemed like it was running hot when I was working on it, never got any further before moving out of state so there it sits at my Florida house. It is actually in pretty good shape for it’s age, some wear on interior.
Sell it. Don’t let it rot away in your yard. List it on Barn Finds.
The Pontiac dealer in Tampa Fla offered to trade me even up , in 1984, For my Mint condition 69 GTO Judge ( He wanted it for the Show room ) I refused and still think I got the better end by keeping mine for another 18 years !
I’ve had two, an 86 SE with a V6 and a 5 speed that I bought as my son’s first car, and I currently have an 86 GT, which is the “fastback” body style. We put a 3800 Series II Supercharged V6 and a 5 speed in it about two years ago. Quite the step up from the old 2.8 V6 it came with. The car is a lot of fun to drive, it surprises a lot of people with how quick it really is. I’ve owned the car since 1999. There is quite a following for these cars, we held the 40th Anniversary of the Introduction of the Fiero last year in Pontiac, MI, and had over 300 cars show up. Mine took Best in Class in it’s class.
I was working at a Pontiac dealership in their body shop when these came out. Within a year, they started blowing motors. After replacing the motors under warranty, GM’s remedy was a “sticker” warning not to run it low on oil. As it turned out, in order to put the “Iron Duke” 4 cylinder in them, they had to redesign the oil pan from 4 quarts to 3 quarts!
I have the twin to this Fiero sitting in my driveway.
Mine has the V-6 and tan interior.
I have surprised a lot of people with how well these cars handled and ran.
Mid engined exotic fun on a cheap beer budget.
And the engine upgrades are unlimited.
There is a guy in England who was putting a V12 out of a BMW in one.
He cut out the trunk and mounted it longitudinally with a ZF transaxle.
I am unsure if he finished it.
Ha ha! It sounds like he’s finished.
One thing I’ve read about them, don’t know if anybody has done any research into it, under certain conditions the front end lifts and with enough speed the whole car will do a backflip – resulting in injuries and vehicular mayhem.
Sounds likr some internet BS to me!
I used to drive my dad’s 87 fiero when i was in high school. It had the iron Duke 4 cylinder with a 5 speed manual transmission. It was gold with gold interior. My dad always wanted to put the Buick supercharged v6 in it. If I remember right it was guaranteed to keep up with a 90s corvette until 100 mph with the Buick supercharged v6. That is what I heard but I don’t know how true that claim was.
I did own one!
Same year here, and I LOVED IT!!!
Between the handles on the door being the same height as the center console, to the fact was the only car with a 5sp I’ve ever owned that you could be going 60 mph, and with foot on clutch be able to put car in reverse!
Sam61 has the right idea… 4.9 or 3.8SC would be good. The 4.9 will mate up to the Fiero trans, but you will need to find a flywheel. I had McLeod make an aluminum flywheel. Since the 4.9 makes most of its power at lower RPM, I chose to mate it to the 5 speed (Isuzu) trans that was standard with the Iron Duke as it has a higher final drive. There are plenty of other alternatives including the 3.4 V6 (Camaro), Quad4, and even the big Chevy V8.
I’ve owned 2 of these. Kinda cool but very much like a Bic lighter… disposable. Once wrecked a throw away. Iron Duke 2.5 rather weak, chevette front end, poor to fair handling at best. Shifter and clutch issues are common place and like a beetle or a 911 fire prone in early years up to 87.
Don’t walk, run away from these things unless it’s a late model 88 w a V6
per Motor Trend: “For space reasons, Pontiac decided to use a three-quart oil pan instead of a four-quart on the first-year Fieros. The downside was a nasty side effect where the engine would run hot because there wasn’t enough oil to scavenge. Compounding the fire issue was faulty connecting rods and a wiring harness that was mounted far too close to the exhaust manifolds. Fire occurred in one in every 400 cars (which equates to a little over 300 total), it was also the inaugural 1984 year where the problems occurred… The issues had already be corrected for the 1985 model year four-cylinder cars and fires were limited to the ’84 model only…”
Auction update: this Fiero sold for $610!