Well kept New Jersey fiero find (Page 1/2)
Cameron416 AUG 22, 07:51 PM
Found a 1985 gt with 99k miles that had been in a garage for over 20 years. The guy accepted 350 for it. This is my third purchase, my first needs frame rail repairs, the second was totally rusted out and for parts, but this one is completely spotless! I am buying it from technically the original owner, It was a dealership car until his father bought it in 1988, where he adored it, its got all sorts of custom glass etchings and paintwork on various body panels. The interior is a little dirty but no rips in the seats or cracks in the dash. Apparently it ran when parked as it was an extra car and its usage fizzled out intil they parked it and forgot about it. I will post pics soon!
theogre AUG 22, 09:59 PM
Nice find.
Make sure you fix things before driving. Besides changing All fluids, Car sitting years often have many parts that are bad now or soon will be.
Example: Water pump can die because seal fails in hours, days to weeks. Weak/no coolant attacks it from inside and rust on outside of shaft attacks it from outside.
Brake and Suspension parts can "wear" even park for years too.

Caution...
Anything on glass can have problems. Is not just aftermarket tint level that's a problem w/ cops.
Even if legal locally, drive in/thru other states/cities can stop you.

Was common to pin strip or etch windows in 70's to 80's and cops stopped them at that time too.
Worse doesn't have uniform rules like Some states allowed some % of clear glass on front side windows but % changes from state to state.
Most states have rules for windshield too.

Only the rear glass on a Fiero is mostly free of tint and related rules in most places.

------------------
Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave

olejoedad AUG 23, 12:02 AM
If the window treatments on your car are legal in your state, other states cannot cite you.
Zeb AUG 23, 06:53 PM
Nice! Where in Jersey did you find it?
JohnWPB AUG 24, 05:22 PM

quote
Originally posted by theogre:

Car sitting years often have many parts that are bad now or soon will be.




So glad you posted this! Most of us, if not all were under the assumption that a car sitting for 20 years would be in perfect shape, and ready to take it on the highway.

You mentioned illegal window tint, illegal glass etching , illegal stickers on the glass, illegal pin striping ect..... but you missed a few more very important things to consider:

If the headlights are burned out, you can get a ticket for driving it at night. Make sure to check the headlight switch as well, as even if the headlights are in working order, a faulty headlight switch can prevent the headlights from working the way that they were designed by the factory.

Many people do not realize that If the lights do not work, it can be difficult to drive at night, and can even cause you to be pulled over by a law enforcement officer. Be it local police, County and even State Police! There are times that you may even have to make a court appearance, which can cause you to miss a day of work, depending on the court date, and your work schedule.

Also, if your brake lights are burned out, someone can easily and unexpectedly run into the back of you car and total it, when you come to a stop. Whether it is totaled or not depends completely on the rate of speed they were going when their car made contact with you.

Lastly, and certainly not least, make sure the seat belts are in good working order, as many states have laws stating that you must wear a seat belt when riding in a motor vehicle. This includes any and all county, city, state and federal roads.

[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 08-24-2019).]

Notorio AUG 26, 12:21 AM
Congratulations on the excellent find!

For the forum ... is there a recommended start up procedure that the OP should use for a car that has sat this long?
theogre AUG 27, 03:46 PM

quote
Originally posted by JohnWPB:
So glad you posted this! Most of us, if not all were under the assumption that a car sitting for 20 years would be in perfect shape, and ready to take it on the highway.

You mentioned illegal window tint, illegal glass etching , illegal stickers on the glass, illegal pin striping ect..... but you missed a few more very important things to consider:

If the headlights are burned out, you can get a ticket for driving it at night. Make sure to check the headlight switch as well, as even if the headlights are in working order, a faulty headlight switch can prevent the headlights from working the way that they were designed by the factory.

Many people do not realize that If the lights do not work, it can be difficult to drive at night, and can even cause you to be pulled over by a law enforcement officer. Be it local police, County and even State Police! There are times that you may even have to make a court appearance, which can cause you to miss a day of work, depending on the court date, and your work schedule.

Also, if your brake lights are burned out, someone can easily and unexpectedly run into the back of you car and total it, when you come to a stop. Whether it is totaled or not depends completely on the rate of speed they were going when their car made contact with you.

Lastly, and certainly not least, make sure the seat belts are in good working order, as many states have laws stating that you must wear a seat belt when riding in a motor vehicle. This includes any and all county, city, state and federal roads.

Yup, Cars parked for years to decades often have all kinds of problems. If you have salt on road, parked on dirt/grass, etc. can be far worse like Salt in/on the car will draw any water from the air to rust even when parked. Even if you don't get salt on roads, Coastal NJ and others get Sea salt that eat cars too. Tires and many rubber parts are likely bad even if they look good. AC/Heater box often have mice etc. that can burn the car down.

Yup, most states is a Primary Offense so Cops can stop you Just for No Seat Belt. Has Always been a ticket magnet for dead, dim or too bright light(s) and many other problems on a car. You may even pass your local State Inspection w/ many iffy items for various reasons but Cops can and do stop people for equipment problems Any Where you drive in/thru because they Do Not Care about pretty much everything maybe being legal at home and go by their own state/city laws. If you go to Court, expect can eat Hundreds to Thousands of $ you won't get back even if you win. Even more if the car was impounded too.

That ignoring Many cops use any crap mods and other "minor" problems to legally stop anyone then go fishing to issue big tickets w/ points or arrest you.
That is how many drug and gun arrests started out on I95, PA NJ Turnpikes, in "Speed Trap" towns anywhere, etc.

If wreck because your lights are dim/out or whatever... Many now have dash cams that will blame you for a wreck. Not like "old days" when anyone rear ends you are automatically blamed by default for tailgating etc. Cops may ticket them anyway but many could fight that w/ dash cam video and sue you too w/ same video. You can get dash cams under $100 now but even cheap $20 - $50 dash cam can finger you in a wreck. (I buy cheap ones because if damage/lost/stolen don't bother as much and just buy another.)


quote
Originally posted by Notorio:
For the forum ... is there a recommended start up procedure that the OP should use for a car that has sat this long?

Not Really.
Have you check everything and clean, fix, etc.

Examples:
"dim" HL then See my Cave, Headlights
Clean AC/Heater box? PFF Search: blower resistor fire in all active forums first. In short pull resistor and blower to look inside the box.
Cameron416 AUG 27, 04:08 PM
I appreciate all the feedback guys! I will be answering all of your questions on saturday when i het it home. In terms of rust, I had the owner pull the carpet back and take pictures of where the frame rails are and it is spotless so the floors should be fine. Ill check the seatbelts and stuff but there shouldnt be any problems the car was inspected when it was parked and the car was cared for. I dont think the etching should be an issue because its small on the bottom back corner of the windows but how had id it to swap out window glass? I dont really like how they look and i have two extra doors. (the extra doors are manual control and one has a mice nest in it so i only want the glass)
theogre AUG 27, 05:41 PM
Little areas should be legal but you don't like then just change them.
Best is you fix/clean entire window machine when changing glass.
Some of that is in my cave too. will need to remove outer door skin...
See my Cave, Doors and Windows

Isn't too hard but take pictures to keep track of what go back where to reinstall.

Inspection before store means little.
Even if kept good can still have problems.
Like brake parts can get stuck in several spot when parked for years. Brake fluid likely needs "flushing" too because fluid pulls water for air right thru all rubber parts and get very wet.
See my Cave, Brake Fluid and many other sections as needed.
Cameron416 AUG 31, 04:01 PM
WOW! I am impressed. I spent almost 8 hours on the road today but it was well worth it! Turns out the car used to be a show car and actually did quite well. The owner bought it from the dealership with 13k miles in 1988 and drove it until 1993 when he decided he was putting too many miles on it and parked it just under 95k. The car has a very clean interior and every electronic works except for one tail light bulb! We started the car on starter fuel and it runs great! Fuel pump still works we just have to drain the tank. Upon closer inspection of the engine we realized the car had recived service right before it was parked with perfect fluids and new filters installed(we will still be replacing all fluids) but after that all it needs are pads and rotors and its road ready. Not even dryrot on the tires the guy had a dehumidifier running constantly next to it. This was really this guys baby and Im so excited shes mine! I can test for my license the 18th of october