#Pontiac Fiero

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

1984 Pontiac Fiero

When Pontiac brought the Fiero to pace the Indy 500 in 1984, they unloaded the first 4-cylinder pace car since 1912. It was also the fastest. This was done with a four-cylinder engine and a two-barrel carb.

Motor trend at the time:

"Not quite what you would expect from a diminutive 4-banger. When reported lap speeds of 138 mph started filtering around the speedway, you could hear the murmuring: "Man, that little turbo Fiero sure does run," and "They must be running that prototype V6." Not the case. In fact, the 138 mph lap averages have been achieved with a normally aspired 4-banger with a 2-barrel Holly carb. The engine package is a mild version of pontiac's Super Duty displaying 165 c.i.d and producing 232 horsepower. More is available, but the Fiero so far exceeds requirements now that the driveability (Which is excellent) need not be compromised."

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Hill Valley Police Cruiser, 2015 (1989). From the Back to the Future trilogy, the police cruiser was designed by concept illustrator Tim Flattery. The full size car was built by Gene Winfield based on a Pontiac Fiero. More recently the movie car was restored by the Propstore

[obsessedbyneon]

A street in Beverly Hills, 1982 (2)

Scan

[automotivealchemy]

Pontiac Fiero Mid Engine Coupe V1. Concept.

What if... Pontiac went back to the drawing board and created this classic of the Fiero. In this scenario, it would still be in the 2 seater, mid engine set up as the previous version. Fixing a lot of the issues the plagued the previous model, this version would have a turbo four cylinder electric hybrid system to deliver instant power to the rear wheels. With a bolstered cabin frame and carbon fiber body panels, safety is a high concern for this compact sport coupe. Here, the hybrid system would be on during low speeds, but the four cylinder turbo would kick on fully above 45mph. However, while in sport mode, the turbo four cylinder would be fully utilized along with launch mode.

[diabolus1exmachina]

Enterra Vipre

The Enterra Vipre was developed in the mid-1980s by a group of waiters at the Keg Restaurant on Vancouver’s Granville Island. Somehow they managed to secure a grant from the Canadian Scientific Research Council for $10 million CAD, and perhaps not surprisingly it all went wrong shortly after.

Whoever these waiters were they were astonishingly adept salesmen. Not only did they talk their way into that $10 million CAD government grant, but they also talked General Motors into selling their cars in the USA right out of Pontiac dealerships – with a full manufacturer’s warranty no less.

Exactly how a group of waiters came up with the idea of starting their own car company may be lost to history, but we do know that in the early-to-mid 1980s the waitstaff at the Keg Restaurant on Vancouver’s Granville Island hatched a plan to launch their own custom car brand and call it Cymbria.

Rather than building a car from scratch as Bricklin has done a decade earlier before collapsing into bankruptcy the team at Cymbria decided too instead base their car on a preexisting production sports car to save time and money.

The car they chose was arguably the hottest American sports car of the time, the Pontiac Fiero, an affordable mid-engined car with a lightweight fiberglass body. Cymbria developed their own custom bolt-on fiberglass body for the car, then they developed a more luxurious interior, they doubled the sticker price, and put their car on the market.

By the time the initial problems with the body moulds and ill-fitting panels had been rectified it was 1986 and the company had changed its name to Enterra, possibly as a way to leave some space between themselves and the negative press that the earlier 1984 Cymbria prototype had attracted.

The styling of the Enterra Vipre was perhaps a little misleading. It looked like a mid-engined supercar that was doing 200 mph even standing still. In reality it was powered by the standard 2.8 liter Pontiac V6 making just 140 bhp and 170 lb ft of torque.

When the Fiero was still new and exciting back in 1983 and 1984 many kit car and low-volume automakers hailed it as their savior. Its steel spaceframe chassis, mid-engined layout, and easy-to-remove fiberglass outer body panels made it ideally suited to modification. Countless Ferrari replica kit cars were based on the Fiero, there were also Lamborghini kits, and kits replicating other models. Interestingly one of those Ferrari replica designs was the Pontiac Mera – it had a bodykit designed to emulate the Ferrari 308 GTS which was being used in the popular Magnum P.I. TV series in the 1980s. 159 of them were made and sold through Pontiac dealers in the USA before the Ferrari lawyers got involved and shut the operation down. The Canadian answer to this Fiero phenomenon was the Enterra Vipre. Its design was clearly influenced by the Ferraris of the time including the F40, though it was carefully designed so as not to be a replica of any single model – therefore resistant to the famously litigious Ferrari legal representatives in the United States.

The first prototype was built in 1984 as the Cymbria Vipre, however the poor fitment of the fiberglass body panels and overall build quality left a lot to be desired. The moulds had to be completely redone, by the time they were ready it was 1986. The car was relaunched, now as the Enterra Vipre, with a price of over $30,000 USD – the equivalent to $71,277 USD in 2023 and roughly double the cost of a standard V6 Fiero.

Despite the fact that the car was being sold through selected Pontiac dealerships in the USA it was a complete flop. The lack of brandname awareness for Enterra coupled with the high price and the fact that the car had slightly worse performance than the stock V6 Fiero (due to to the larger/heavier body) resulted in dismal sales.

[viewfromthelake]

Was checking out some record stores yesterday and came across a find that ended up being cooler than it seemed at first glance. In the bin of album covers without records in them being sold for $2, I found this sleeve for Hall & Oates' Big Bam Boom album with some writing and a mysterious sticker on it. Looking closer, the writing matched a Google image search for what their autographs look like. Also, later research showed that their 1985 tour was sponsored by Pontiac and the backstage passes were satin stickers of the kind on this sleeve. Cool stuff!

[pocketdays]

Pontiac Fiero, Marzo 2024

[fierogirl]

I bought a fiero the other day and I’m going to fix it up

[duranduratulsa]

80's Fest Car of the day: Pontiac Fiero #cars #classiccars #sportscars #pontiac #fiero #pontiacfiero #80s #80sfest #durandurantulsas6thannual80sfest

[frankdraw]

Cars premiered 18 years ago today, so here's my first fanart (2006 November) vs my most recent

i had to censor my IRL gamer name in the first one lol

but i chose the 2nd one because i finally bought my first car registered to my name last december

[zweiart]

The 2nd tier of Los Angeles, the new ground level built upon the older city and infrastructure. The middle class looks up to the 3rd tier with dreams of grandeur, while hoping to avoid falling below a literal poverty line into the 1st tier.

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

1988 Pontiac Fiero GT

1988 Pontiac Fiero GT

1988 Pontiac Fiero GT

1988 Pontiac Fiero GT

1988 Pontiac Fiero GT

1988 Pontiac Fiero GT

1988 Pontiac Fiero GT

[rootbeercarguy]

From OK WHIPS SEASON OPENER

[snarthelg]

[simulite]

Pontiac Fiero

[diabolus1exmachina]

Zimmer Quicksilver 

Originally based on a Pontiac Fiero, Quicksilvers had their floorpan stretched 16″ at the Zimmer production facility and had a custom fiberglass body fitted. This example is finished in white with a red leather interior, wood trim, and red carpet. Power comes from a 2.8L V6 paired with a 3-speed automatic transmission.