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| The resurrection of Petey the Formula (Page 1/6) |
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jessesmith121
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APR 13, 11:29 AM
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Recently I was looking for a project Fiero ( I tried to escape the Fiero world but always get sucked back in) and GTGEFF out of Minnesota happened to be selling the car both of his kids drove through high school named affectionately "Petey". When discussing this car with Jeff , I could tell that there was a deep connection between him and this car. A connection I would love to develop with a car again. Was the car perfect? No, it was in good shape and well taken care of, but lets face it.... A Minnesota daily driver with 160k will have some issues. The most concerning one is rust.
After a week or so of chatting we struck up a deal and off to Minnesota I went. It was only fitting that I decided to drive to Minnesota in a snow storm with a borrowed truck and trailer. Took me about 5 hours to get there but in my opinion it was well worth the drive. The car was what I expected, maybe a little better than expected ( the interior was in exceptional shape) the real gem was chatting with Jeff.
We just sat and chatted for about an hour (going to go get straps my buddy said he threw in his truck but didnt) and talking about cars we have had in the past. This was probably my favorite part of the project so far. Jeff discussed the car at length with me, talking about all it had been through and all the years he has had it. I could tell he really didn't want to sell it. So I promised him I would keep him up to date on all the progress and projects with the car. He gave me some Tyler Shipman & 35 year anniversary badges and we shook hands. I am proud to say I consider him a friend now.
On to the car... A white Formula Auto with 160k.... I promised myself I would never have an auto again... I loathe the TH125, ive only had one other out of the 30 some odd fieros ive owned and swore I would never have one again. That being said beggars cannot be choosers... I decided before I even picked it up I would be swapping it out. That got me thinking.... I have a 3.4l DOHC sitting in my shop as well... I am going to be doing a lot of work swapping trannys and repairing rust... so what the hell... might as well swap that in at the sometime. So here we are... 88 Formula auto conversion to a 3.4 DOHC with a "shifty boi" as my friend Larkin would put it.
Got the car home, Jeff threw a couple of bumpers in the deal with replace the damaged front. First thing was unloading it and getting him into the garage. It was a great feeling to have a Fiero in the garage again. I have something with these cars... I must be a mental case... My first car was a Fiero and I have typically always had one since. Including some unicorns I should have never sold.
Here are some pictures of Petey on the trailer on the way home...
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jessesmith121
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APR 13, 11:36 AM
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Here's Petey with Jeff
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jessesmith121
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APR 13, 11:38 AM
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Me with Petey wearing my old school Fiero Farm "got fieros" t shirt
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cam-a-lot
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APR 13, 11:39 AM
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Car looks nice- hopefully it is not rotten to crap underneath from being winter driven... I have seen far too many FIeros ruined by salt. Good luck with the project!
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jessesmith121
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APR 13, 11:40 AM
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After a long overdue bath... It was a long wet, snowy drive home from Minnesota
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jessesmith121
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APR 13, 11:43 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by cam-a-lot:
Car looks nice- hopefully it is not rotten to crap underneath from being winter driven... I have seen far too many FIeros ruined by salt. Good luck with the project! |
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Yeah, ive started the process... there is definitely some rust.. but in for a Penny in for a Pound... I will document the entire project and speed bumps in the process. I am determined to get him back to tip top.
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jessesmith121
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APR 13, 11:49 AM
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So I wanted to dig in pretty quick to working on this. First I wanted to see how bad the structure under the bumper was... It took a light hit in the front and damaged the bumper and left front fender. Soooooo off with it all... Time to get to work.... I have a philosophy, any project car I start working on I MUST work on it every day... even if its only for 5 min or so. If you dont.... Then one day away turns into two.... Then a week... then you blink and that car has been sitting in the garage taking up space for 5 years with no progress. Here are the pictures of the fender, front bumper and hood off.
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jessesmith121
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APR 13, 11:50 AM
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Hood, driver fender and bumper off, excuse the mess in the garage... I've got a few other house projects going on as well... It's getting cleaner all the time. Lol
 [This message has been edited by jessesmith121 (edited 04-13-2020).]
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jessesmith121
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APR 13, 11:54 AM
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Well, the bumper bar isnt too bad off, and I dont see any other damage to any of the structure. There is a bit of rust.... but its only surface so far... nothing "rotted" as of yet... So I get out my grinder and wire wheel and get to work on the bumper bar...
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jessesmith121
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APR 13, 11:56 AM
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