Fiero's off spring (Page 4/4) hyperv6 JUN 28, 02:33 PM quote Originally posted by longjonsilver: Any auto company that produces a 2 seater, like a sports car, has to understand that it is basically competing with things like motorcycles for the public's money. i say my Fiero is my motorcycle, because like most motorcycles, you can only take two people. jon Might note the sales of Motorcycles are really on a decline. Most MFGs are having a difficult time with new sales. Harley has really been down. Culture is changing for them too. AWautoworks JUN 28, 04:34 PM I find this odd that we are talking about Fiero's Offspring and no one here has yet to mention Saturn. Saturn is credited with the first gm production car to have electronic power steering. Saturn also had the All New dent less composite body according to their sales info back in the early 90's Saturn also started with space frame and similar construction as the fiero. I’ve always felt like a little piece of the fiero lived on until saturns death. That and I always Tease the Fierbird and Camaro guys when they talk about their car and Diss mine and ask just where they think the design for their car came from? then proceed to show them this photo Now im not saying they stole the design. Im sure it was the same design team who worked on both cars. just my 2 cents. hyperv6 JUN 28, 09:51 PM quote Originally posted by AWautoworks: I find this odd that we are talking about Fiero's Offspring and no one here has yet to mention Saturn. Saturn is credited with the first gm production car to have electronic power steering. Saturn also had the All New dent less composite body according to their sales info back in the early 90's Saturn also started with space frame and similar construction as the fiero. I’ve always felt like a little piece of the fiero lived on until saturns death. That and I always Tease the Fierbird and Camaro guys when they talk about their car and Diss mine and ask just where they think the design for their car came from? then proceed to show them this photo Now im not saying they stole the design. Im sure it was the same design team who worked on both cars. just my 2 cents. Not just your two cents but fact. The 4th gen F Body was based on the after 2nd gen GT. I was there the night John Schinella the lead designer at GM told the story. He is the guy behind many of GM’s best designs. He fought to save the Fiero. But when it was canceled he was faced with a Fiero design he loved and a need to replace the GM 80 F body replacement that also was canceled. John said the Fiero was too good to throw away so they adapted it to the 4th gen body. It was done intentionally. Also you may note the dash face on the Fiero prototypes and 4th gen were nearly identical. So when you tell the story it is a fact the 4th gen design is a Fiero legacy. The story came from the man who oversaw both cars. It was stated in the early 90’s at the Silverdome where the Fiero nationals banquet was held. I was there and heard it first hand. Note too that was the first night the 1990 photos were shown. Really good night to have been there. olejoedad JUN 29, 12:08 AM Wow! Thank you for sharing that! hyperv6 JUN 29, 01:16 PM quote Originally posted by olejoedad: Wow! Thank you for sharing that! No problem. I was just glad I was there. This is what happened. John was the primary speaker and that day they were to show the 1990 Fiero to us at the show. Well it was like 1991-2 or about and feelings were still pretty sore at GM and with the UAW over the Fiero cancelation. Also their were some pretty sore feeling inside GM in general. John spoke that night and was pissed off they would not bring the car out. So he brought sides of the photos we all see today to the dinner and showed them to us. That is when he related the story on trying to save the Fiero and much of the politics involved. He also related how that he had the challenge to redesign the GM 80 and as he said "the Design was too good to just throw away". The photos he showed that night later show up in a magazine quietly a couple months later. I have a feeling he may have leaked them out. John said that the photos were not to leave GM but he was about to retire and they could not do anything to him. Many always go on about Hulki but John was with the Fiero program from the start to finish unlike Hulki who left in 1984. John was a maverick at GM and was not afraid to speak up. He is someone that really knows the full story of the Fiero and has worked to protect it. John is the one who wanted the bird on the hood of the Trans Am and was vetoed by his boss Bill Mitchell. So he took a 455 SD TA and painted it the black and gold Mitchells John Player Special Triumph was painted. Well Bill was taken by the colors and pin stripes and approved the bird for production. With out Johns efforts the Bandit may not have had a black and gold TA. That was also the night I sat with the Gentleman from Cars and Concepts and got the whole T top story as he was the one responsible for going to Pontiac and showing it could be done in 1983. These stories need to be shared as if we do not pass them on or record them they will be lost.