Found this on craigslist, ugly but the guy took my lowball offer so I went for it. This thing is UGLY! The lines are waaaaay off the real thing. I hate the bolt on rear quarter windows, plus the guy painted the side and rear window black so people couldnt see the lil v6. I dunno how he drove it, U cant see anything from the blind spot or the back window. This things been neglected in every way. Fiberglass cracks everywhere, rear wing was about to fall off, some goober tried to bondo it back on lol).
Anywho, Ima clean this up and probably resell it.
Got tons of fiberglass reshaping to do and a buncha misc stuff to fix. No fuel gauge or temp, speedo and tach are all over. motor runs but like crap
stay tuned for the madness(n Ill have lotsa mechanical questions too)
That nose is so far off from the real thing it kills the whole car for me, Cant even see the front wheels, theyre 3" inside the wheelwell! The rear wheels are 11.5" wide and he has a bald 245/50/16 on there and the sides of the tire go outward to fit the wheels.
Look at the lines on the hood Ugghh
these bolt on acrylic windows are so cheesy u could make a quesadilla
So Ive had this for 3 weeks now. Got it running reliably, got a new cat and it passed smog so I got my reg. Took 3 cans off goof off to clean the back window enough so I can see out of it and my new side windows give me a blind spot view. I made a fiberglass sill between the windows so the new back window will tuck in behind it and only has screw thats hidden. Pulled off the drip rail the other day trying to get these windows looking better. Ive cut the fenderwell twice now trying to get the over the wheelwell shape and make the hood lines match up to the doors. Raised the front of the doors 1.5" so the lines line up w the hood. narrowed the front 4 inches in the front to get a better curve to the headlights, The whole noe looks too boxy. Hood is still 3 inches too long and the curve around the headlitghs is too shallow, and the groove is too low. See where I put electrical tape where the line should be. Then I can make the lower front scoops bigger as theyre too small too. Also found some hex aluminum and made the back grille. Wonder what the guy was smoking when he made this kit
Yeah the hood just kills it for me lol. That and the front wheels being almost 3" inside the front wheelwell. The rest of the cars pretty darn close( minus the scoops are too big, the fiero roofline is yuuge compared to the real one, wheels wrong size, interior wasnt done, etc etc). Def not going to be making molds its fiberglass, cut and paste. The trick is getting the lines right so its a 1/99th scale f40 lol. Wheelbase is 3" short. When works dead its dead and I have tons of free time. Just got a buncha work so I wont be able to do anything for a few weeks. Its running reliably now so Ill try to venture to the wheels shop to get the right spaced wheels n tires for it. Yeah im an old fart but def not patient!
Next big thing is cutting the hood every which way but ill have to fab a new hinge setup first. The way the hood hooks to the car now is in my way of cutting the front line and making the scoops bigger. Im going to make a inner hood structure from box tubing that supports the whole hood. The current setup only supports the nose and it makes the rest of the hood pretty flimsy. was almost done fabbing up a rear support structure before work picked up. Thats things so damn heavy the discs in my lower back are starting to bug from lifting it up and down. Gotta get some hood shocks in there hence the new rear frame. Good news is after this week job Ill have the money for rims n a paint job. And work will probably keep me too busy to go buy them lol
Tried that buddy, still looks bad lol. Certain angles the car looks terrible, others it looks ok(better now that ive done so much to it already) W some new wheels and a hood that looks very close to the real deal the car will look good. (and a paint job) Already got all the body lines to match up, door edge to rear panels were 1/2" off. Having trouble finding wheels to fit. I may have to get some wheels w a diff lug pattern and get adapters for them to find something. ive got 16x10 in the front w 205/55 and 16x12 out back w 245/45.
Not my favourite style of Ferrari to make a replica of. However, if you've got it running smoothly, then you should be able to make some body improvements with less effort than building from scratch. Just don't try to do it all at once. Fix it a little at a time. I'm looking forward to watching this car evolve over time.
Was that listed in the sf bay area craigslist? I think I remember seeing it there for a while. Good luck on the fix up!
You know, there used to be a shop in Redlands California that did a bunch of these Fiero based kit car builds. I used to drive by it and see partially built Ferrari and Lamborghini kits as well as pretty sharp looking completed kits. Every now and then I'd see them loading them up on a car carrier. Makes me wonder how many of them are still out there and often when I see a kit restore/rebuild thread like this, if maybe that isn't one of the cars that came from that shop.
This has always been my fav ferrari. I tell people its a fierarri. say it with a new york gangster accent n its sounds right lol. yeah fuggetaboutit wiseguy! Yeah it was on the bay area craigslist. You dont happen to remember the name of that shop? Might be able to find more info on this car. Ive heard there were only 2 or 3 places in Ca doing these. A guy on madmechanics said these kits were made by a company called xillion. I see these kits pretty often, looked like archie was doing them too. Same ugly lines and 300zx headlights. Ive seen some better looking kits but they seem more rare, mine seems pretty common.
Im hacking away at this thing little by little. Work just picked up again but i got a little done in the morning. I set a few layers before work n if I get home early enough ill sand. Heres how I glass, archaic but it works
working on making the quarter window lines better. This thing has sharp edges when its supposed to flow smoothly on the real thing
You dont happen to remember the name of that shop? Might be able to find more info on this car. Ive heard there were only 2 or 3 places in Ca doing these.
Unfortunately, I don't . That was back in the early to mid 90's. I've searched the web trying to discover it a few times, but while I found the building it was in on google street view, I couldn't find what the name of it was.
Larry- I got it from a kid in san jose. He said he only had it for 8-9 months so he mighta bought it from the guy in clearlake. I can barely read " dave james bonds" and "your special agent" that someone tried to buff outta the sides and back. Theres a 1 800 number (lmao) barely visible if you get close enough and there were some stickers on the back that said ddi realty or something like that. I did a search on those n nothing came up.
Khw- thanks for the replies and checking I appreciate it! Trying to find some past info on the car. Yeah its ugly but somebody put a small fortune in money and time to make this turd back in the early 90's(im guessing). The fact its still around and running is a testament to the skills.
Got the quarter vents extended and the scoops look much better but im still not happy w the window line. Ill keep cracking at it lol. Man look at the front wheel gap, that just pisses me off. Having trubble finding wheels. Im now looking for wheels w the deep dish and ill but whatever wheel adapters I need to make the wheels fit. One shop quoted me 4-5k for custom made wheels, I told the guy I didnt pay that much for the car and he laughed.
Im looking for 18s, trying to fill the wheel gap. I cant lower the car its already 5.5" off the ground. I may consider 20s in the back and 18s in the front. Id love to find some star shaped wheels similar to whats there now but everythings 5 spoke or has a more solid look nowadays. Just got the car back today from a local mechanic. New belts, fuel system flush, and timing set. Car has lots more power, the pep is back but cranks for 3-4 seconds before it fires up. They said it ran outta gas lol I gotta fix the fuel gauge
Took a short nap after work and didnt feel like doing anything on the car but ive been bitchin about the hood forever so I cut it into pieces.
I cut the groove out and moved it up a few inches so its closer to the headlights. Also took 4" of length outta the hood. Got the pieces lined up w plumbers tape and the 1st round of top fb done
Still have to do the lower section w the hinges but ran outta cutting discs. Pure madness lol. My neighbor came over to see what all the commotion was and told me im crazy as if he didnt know lol. Said the hood looks much better already, way more proportional to the rest of the car. I wont know until its all back together. My driveway is covered in fb dust I did more cutting on that hood today than ive done on the whole car since I had it. Damn im really itchy tonight
Got a light day tomorrow but the brakes on wifeys car are makin noise so I may hafta work on that tomorrow shem
This isn't your first rodeo with these cars is it? Got a few spare body panels in the basement? I must admit if I was your neighbor, I'd have called 911 by now.
My first kit car yeah, im always working on stuff. Just usually not making so much dust. The neighbors love me, I fix their stuff. Just did the next door neighbors kitchen few months ago.
Thats my last project a 66 stang w t-tops mostly finished(needs headliner), another craigslist turd lol. custom body kit, 5.0 roller efi. Cannot keep those tires from spinnin lol, cougar lights, everyone does the tbird lites
One of these cars gotta go, im outta room. Might go back to flippin bikes n jetskiis. Anybody looking for a 69 bultaco?
shem
[This message has been edited by shemdogg (edited 05-19-2017).]
Hey, Shemmdog--do you know about our Golden Gate Fieros club? May mtg. was just last Tuesday, but next one will be the third Tues. of June, June 20, at the Hobee's, 800 W. Ahwanee Ave., Sunnyvale, at 6:30 in the back room. We'd love to meet you as some of us follow your project and see how you're doing!
Hey, Shemmdog--do you know about our Golden Gate Fieros club? May mtg. was just last Tuesday, but next one will be the third Tues. of June, June 20, at the Hobee's, 800 W. Ahwanee Ave., Sunnyvale, at 6:30 in the back room. We'd love to meet you as some of us follow your project and see how you're doing!
JC
Hi, does Golden Gate Fieros have a facebook presence?
Def down to meet up! Still cracking on the hood. Got almost everything reinforced and built up w fb to where I need just a smear of filler to get the small dings out. Im really almost done cutting and sand ing. Totally getting burned out on cutting and sanding lol
got the pass side whellwell arch done
got the front scoops equal
This thing looks like a hot wheels car I love the way the hoods coming out
Hi, does Golden Gate Fieros have a facebook presence?
Sorry we don't, 2.5. We're still trying to get someone to get our website back up or establish a new one. We're just active on Yahoo! groups still in addition to our monthly meetings and occasional events. I think you have the Yahoo! link already in your club contact thread. Thanks for checking. If we get something else going I'll be sure to add it.
. That was back in the early to mid 90's. I've searched the web trying to discover it a few times, but while I found the building it was in on google street view, I couldn't find what the name of it was.
